4/20/2023

USI to recognize two honorary degree recipients during Spring 2023 Commencement

Image copyright: USI Photography and Multimedia and Richard Hunt, provided

Two University of Southern Indiana honorary degree recipients will be celebrated at Spring 2023 Commencement during the 5 p.m. Friday, May 5 School of Graduate Studies Ceremony in the Screaming Eagles Arena.

Honorary degree recipients are celebrated in the USI community for their continued dedication to higher education. The recipients are credited for actively shaping their respective communities and have made significant contributions to the arts and sciences at USI and beyond.

Dr. Marlene Shaw will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree, and Richard Hunt will receive an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree.

Dr. Marlene Shaw to receive honorary Doctor of Science degree

Dr. Marlene Shaw, Professor Emerita of Biology, is receiving an honorary Doctor of Science degree for her commitment to teaching and continuous service to the University of Southern Indiana. Shaw served as a USI biology faculty member from 1973 to 2009, enriching the lives of countless students through her enthusiasm for science and continuous mentorship of students.

In addition to Shaw’s commitment to teaching, she created the Annual Shaw Biology Lecture in 2011, with support from the USI Foundation. The annual event exists to enhance the academic environment for students, faculty, and the community by hosting scholars whose work interfaces biology with areas such as medicine, ethics, law, agriculture, chemistry, public health and politics.

Throughout her teaching career, Shaw made it top priority to remain current in the field of biology, studying cutting-edge advances in genetics, cell and molecular biology. Former students credit her teaching as motivational, encouraging and influential, and many say she is the reason they have seen success in their respective professional paths.

Shaw served as Project Director for DNA: The Blueprint of Life, a 1983-84 exhibit developed for the Evansville Museum of Arts and Sciences. The exhibit was invited for tour by the American Association of Science and Technology Centers. Next, she worked as a visiting scholar at Vanderbilt University in 1983-84 and again for three summer terms in the 1990s. In 1991, she attended a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Enhancement Program in biotechnology at Boston University, and the next year, received an NSF grant that funded the purchase of molecular biology equipment that provided new, hands-on opportunities for students in teaching labs and research at USI. Also in 1991, Shaw was selected as the USI Distinguished Professor, USI’s highest award given in recognition of significant achievement in teaching, scholarship and service.

During her career at USI, Shaw was selected to participate in several national research conferences, including Medical Genetics: 1987 at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland; Short Course in Medical and Experimental Mammalian Genetics, presented by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Jackson Laboratory at Bar Harbor, Maine; and Molecular Neurobiology of Human Disease, presented at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York.

During retirement, Shaw has expanded her knowledge of advances in genetics and microbiology and has been particularly interested in European and American history as it provides context for understanding the development of biology in the 1800s and 1900s. She has stayed active with the USI Biology Department and the Annual Shaw Biology Lecture. Shaw has researched family genealogy, visited family and friends and enjoyed world travels.

She received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Wittenberg University in 1964 and a doctorate in microbiology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1969. From 1969-71, she held a post-doctoral research position in biochemistry at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Richard Hunt to receive honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree

Richard Hunt, the world-renowned sculptor, is receiving an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree for his significant contributions to the world of art with over 150 public sculpture commissions gracing prominent locations in 24 states and Washington D.C., over 150 solo exhibitions displayed throughout the duration of his continual career and representation in more than 100 public museums across the globe.

In August 2014, USI commissioned Hunt for an outdoor sculpture to fittingly commemorate the 50th anniversary of the University’s founding. Richard Hunt’s “From Our Past Toward Our Future” is a stainless steel, abstract piece that is the generous gift of the late Dr. James A. Sanders, Director Emeritus of Corporate and Foundation Relations. Situated near the southeast side of the main lawn of The Quad, the eye-catching piece faces the Liberal Arts Center, allowing students, employees and visitors passing by to admire Hunt’s work.

Born in Chicago in 1935, Hunt developed an interest in art at an early age. From seventh grade on, he attended the Junior School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). He went on to study there at the college level, receiving a bachelor’s degree in 1957.

While still a student at SAIC, Hunt began exhibiting his sculpture nationwide, and during his junior year, one of his pieces, “Arachne,” was purchased by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. In 1962, he was the youngest artist to exhibit at Seattle’s World Fair.

Hunt has received honors and recognition throughout his career and, in 1971, was the first African American sculptor to have a major solo exhibition at the MoMA in New York. His work can be found in numerous museums, as well as public and private collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery and National Museum of American Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the MoMA.

In 1968, he was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson as one of the first artists to serve on the National Council on the Arts, the governing board of the National Endowment for the Arts. He has received many fellowships and holds memberships in the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Academy of Design.

In 2009, Hunt was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Sculpture Center. In 2015, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Partners for Livable Communities in Washington, D.C. In 2022, President Barack Obama commissioned Hunt as the first artist to create a work for the Obama Presidential Center on the South Side of Chicago.

Hunt, one of our country’s greatest living artists, currently resides in Chicago where he works from his studio in the Lincoln Park neighborhood.

For more information on Spring 2023 Commencement Ceremonies, visit the Commencement webpage.

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FOOTNOTE: Founded in 1965, the University of Southern Indiana enrolls nearly 9,200 dual credit, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in more than 130 areas of study. A public higher education institution, located on a beautiful 1,400-acre campus in Evansville, Indiana, USI offers programs through the College of Liberal Arts, Romain College of Business, College of Nursing and Health Professions and the Pott College of Science, Engineering, and Education. The University offers study-abroad opportunities in more than 60 countries and hosts international students from around the globe. USI is a Carnegie Foundation Community Engaged University and offers continuing education and special programs to more than 15,000 participants annually through Outreach and Engagement. USI is online at USI.edu.