Former Vice President Gore to Receive Honorary Degree
To: UT Knoxville Students, Faculty and Staff
From: Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek
Date: February 26, 2010
A press release will be sent announcing this information shortly, but I wanted you to know first that we have decided to grant an honorary doctorate to former Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore. The degree was approved by the Board of Trustees at their meeting today in Martin.
The degree—an honorary Doctor of Laws and Humane Letters in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology—will be granted at the commencement exercises for the College of Arts and Sciences on May 14. Mr. Gore will be the featured speaker at the ceremony, addressing graduates and their families along with the gathered faculty.
This will be only the third honorary doctorate granted by our campus, and it is fitting that it be bestowed on one of Tennessee's most successful sons, whose career in public service and in business has been marked by visionary leadership and has made him a leading global figure and a respected voice on vital issues facing our planet.
Mr. Gore, whose career in public service and business has spanned four decades, is currently chairman of Current TV, an Emmy-award-winning, independently owned cable and satellite television nonfiction network for young people based on viewer-created content and citizen journalism. He also serves as chairman of Generation Investment Management, a firm that is focused on a new approach to sustainable investing.
Mr. Gore's appreciation and personal interest in the institution of higher education is apparent as he serves as faculty member/visiting professor at various institutions across the country. The University of Tennessee is fortunate to have a faculty member hold the Nancy Gore Hunger Chair for Excellence in Environmental Studies, endowed by Vice President Gore to honor his late sister. Mr. Gore also is a distinguished member of the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy Board of Directors and honorary co-chair of the Tennessee 4-H Club Foundation, Inc. with UT Extension.
A native of Carthage, Tenn., Mr. Gore was inaugurated as the 45th vice president of the U.S. on Jan. 20, 1993, and served eight years in that office. During that time, he was a central member of President Clinton's economic team. He served as president of the Senate, a Cabinet member, a member of the National Security Council, and as the leader of a wide range of administration initiatives. Prior to his service as vice president, Mr. Gore was twice elected to the U.S. Senate from Tennessee, in 1984 and 1990, and represented Tennessee's 4th Congressional District—the seat held by his father, Al Gore Sr., before his own service in the Senate—in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1976 to 1982.
Mr. Gore received a degree in government with honors from Harvard University in 1969. After graduation, he volunteered for enlistment in the U.S. Army and served in the Vietnam War. Upon returning from Vietnam, he became an investigative reporter with the Tennessean in Nashville, where he also attended Vanderbilt University's Divinity School and then Law School.
Mr. Gore was the co-winner, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for informing the world of the dangers posed by climate change. He is the author of the bestselling books "Earth in the Balance" and "An Inconvenient Truth" and also is the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary.
In addition to his roles with Current TV and Generation Investment Management, Mr. Gore is a member of the board of directors of Apple Inc., a senior adviser to Google Inc., and a partner with the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. He is a visiting professor at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and chairs the Alliance for Climate Protection, a nonprofit organization designed to help solve the climate crisis.
We are proud to honor Mr. Gore this way, and look forward to the opportunity for him to share his thoughts with us this May.
Posted February 26, 2010