HONORARY DEGREES AWARDED AT SPRING COMMENCEMENT posted 5/2/05

Three people received honorary degrees at Adrian College's spring commencement ceremony on May 1.

STEPHEN GRAY

Stephen T. Gray, managing publisher of The Christian Science Monitor, received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree at Adrian College’s spring commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 1.

Since 1997, he has directed all non-editorial operations for the Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper, which has a national and global distribution. He worked at the Monroe Evening News for 25 years, rising through the ranks from reporter to CEO. During his tenure there he served as president of two Michigan newspaper associations.

Gray’s family has a long history with Adrian College. His great-grandfather, John W. Gray, graduated in 1883 and later returned as a professor. His grandfather, J.S. Gray, class of 1910, was editor of the College World (and later founded the family’s newspaper dynasty with the purchase of the Monroe Evening News). Harriett Taylor Gray, Stephen’s grandmother, and her brother both attended Adrian.

Gray is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. His office is in Boston.

WILLIAM LIEBOLD

William H. Liebold, II, president of the Michigan Colleges Foundation, received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree at Adrian College’s spring commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 1.

The Michigan Colleges Foundation (MCF) is a not-for-profit corporation that serves as a link between 14 independent, liberal arts colleges in Michigan and the state’s corporate and foundation communities. Since 1991, Liebold has led the organization through the most successful period in its history. Under his leadership MCF has established named scholarship programs with many of Michigan’s leading corporations and foundations. MCF has also facilitated collaborative, cost-savings programs that have saved member institutions nearly $3 million over the past three years.

Liebold earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan-Dearborn and a master of public administration degree from the University of Southern California’s Washington, D.C. Public Affairs Center. He has worked as a VISTA volunteer teaching reading and math, and served as special assistant and cabinet secretary to Governor James J. Blanchard. In 2001, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the University of Michigan–Dearborn College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters. He is vice chair of the Washington, D.C.-based Foundation for Independent Higher Education.

STANLEY CAINE

Stanley P. Caine, president of Adrian College, received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at Adrian College’s spring commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 1.

Caine will retire this summer after 16 years of service. Prior to his time at Adrian, he served as vice president of academic affairs and professor of history at Hanover College in Indiana. Earlier in his career, he served as history department chair at Lindenwood College in Missouri and held a number of faculty and administrative positions at DePauw University in Indiana.

He earned a bachelor’s degree from Macalester College, and master’s and doctoral degrees in history from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has been honored with two other honorary degrees: doctor of laws, Hanover College (2000), and doctor of letters, MacMurray College (Illinois, 2003).

Caine’s professional involvement includes serving as director and president of the National Association of Schools and Colleges of the United Methodist Church and as Division III president and board member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). He is the author of “The Myth of a Progressive Reform; Railroad Regulation in Wisconsin, 1903-1910.”

Adrian College, located in southeast Michigan, is a private liberal arts college related to The United Methodist Church. Established in 1859, it has a long tradition of providing educational opportunities to students from a wide range of backgrounds.

Because it was a surprise, Caine's honorary doctorate was not included in the original announcement about commencement.