The University of Utah will award five honorary degrees - including one to Time magazine senior writer Roger Rosenblatt - at June 10 commencement exercises.
Rosenblatt, who will address U. graduates during commencement, will receive an honorary doctor of humanities degree. He has been a senior writer at Time since 1980 and currently serves as an essayist for the public television MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. He has also been a Fulbright Scholar and winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Book Prize for his book, "Children of War," which has been published in seven languages.The other honorary degrees will go to Rear Admiral Maxine Conder of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps; Robert Earl Holding, president and chief executive officer of Sinclair Oil Corp.; Samuel D. Thurman, U. distinguished professor of law emeritus; and The Rev. William K. Weigand, Catholic bishop of Salt Lake City.
Conder, a Utah native, will be awarded a doctor of science degree. She served as director of the Navy Nurse Corps in Washington, D.C., from 1975 until 1979 when she retired.
Holding is a U. graduate with a degree in civil engineering and will be awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree. He is president of Sinclair Oil Corp. and various Little America companies and ranching operations. Sinclair Oil operates in 22 states and owns branded stations, a network of pipelines and terminals and three refineries.
Joining the U. faculty in 1962, Thurman was a professor of law and later dean of the College of Law. He will be given an honorary doctor of laws degree by the U. He received his Juris Doctor degree from Stanford University where he was a member of the faculty for 20 years. Thurman is also a co-author of two law books and a past president of the Association of American Law Schools.
Weigand, who will be given a doctor of humane letters degree, was ordained the seventh bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City in 1980. He opened Marillac House and St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen and serves on several committees of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.