Honorary Degree Recipients and Honorees

Each year, Yeshiva University confers honorary doctorates upon individuals who have exemplified true leadership and philanthropic values.

Our honorary degree recipients for 2008 are:

MR. ABRAHAM H. FOXMAN

Doctor of Humane Letters
National Director, Anti-Defamation League

Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) since 1987, is world-renowned as a leader in the fight against anti-Semitism, bigotry and discrimination and the author of The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control, published in September 2007 by Palgrave Macmillan, and Never Again? The Threat of the New Anti-Semitism (HarperSanFrancisco, 2003).

In the forefront of major issues of the day, including the rise of global anti-Semitism, the war on terrorism, church/state issues, religious intolerance and issues relating to the Holocaust, he consistently speaks out against hatred and violence wherever they occur.

Mr. Foxman regularly confers with elected officials and community leaders here and abroad. He has had consultations in Europe, Russia, Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, China, Japan, South Africa and Argentina, and with Palestinian leaders, on problems of ethnic hatred, violence, terrorism and promoting democracy. He had six audiences with Pope John Paul II.

Mr. Foxman is a passionate supporter of the State of Israel and a voice for peace in the Middle East. A Holocaust survivor, Mr. Foxman was a member of the President’s United States Holocaust Memorial Council, appointed by Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton. He has been a participant of official Presidential delegations to special events in Europe and Israel.

Born in Poland in 1940, Mr. Foxman was saved from the Holocaust by his Polish Catholic nursemaid who baptized and raised him as a Catholic during the war years. His parents survived the war, but 14 members of his family were lost. He arrived in America in 1950 with his parents.

A graduate of the Yeshiva of Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY, Mr. Foxman has a B.A. in political science from the City College of the City University of New York, graduating with honors in history. He holds a J.D. degree from New York University School of Law, and did graduate work in advanced Judaic studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and in international economics at The New School for Social Research. Mr. Foxman is fluent in several languages. He joined ADL in 1965.

Mr. Foxman appears frequently on national news programs and is quoted often in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time and Newsweek, among other media. His op-eds have appeared in newspapers across the country.

DR. EDIE N. GOLDENBERG

Doctor of Humane Letters
Professor of Political Science And Public Policy,
University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

Presently an Academic Affairs Committee at Yeshiva University, Dr. Goldenberg is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. She is also the Director of the University of Michigan in Washington Program.

From 1989 to 1998, Dr. Goldenberg was the first female dean of the College of Literature, Science and the Arts at the University of Michigan, where she has been since joining the Political Science faculty in 1974. Under her leadership, the College completed what is believed to be the most successful fund-raising campaign done by a public arts and sciences college at that time, which raised $110 million. Dr. Goldenberg also instituted the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, which increased the number of endowed chairs and enhanced the quality and number of undergraduate seminars.

In 1998, Dr. Goldenberg resigned from University of Michigan and was named Executive Vice President and Provost of the University of Texas at Austin. However, she withdrew her acceptance for personal reasons and subsequently returned to the University of Michigan.

From 1978 to 1981, Dr. Goldenberg took a brief break from the University of Michigan, to work for the federal government in the Office of Personnel Management, heading the office's Civil Service Reform Evaluation Management Division. Prior to joining the faculty at Michigan, Dr. Goldenberg taught at Stanford, where she received her doctorate in Political Science. She has also worked as a reporter for the Boston Globe.

Currently, Dr. Goldenberg is conducting a collaborative study of the structure of decision-making in research universities, with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Her past research has focused on the role of the media and public policy and she has received research grants to conduct studies in topics such as the role of the mass media in congressional campaigns, gender differences in U.S. Senate campaign coverage and AIDS news coverage. Dr. Goldenberg has published numerous articles and two books, Making the Papers: The Access of Resource-Poor Groups to the Metropolitan Press (1974) and Campaigning for Congress (1984).

The recipient of numerous awards, Dr, Goldenberg received the Goldsmith Research Award from Harvard University in 1993, and was named one of Detroit's 100 Most Influential Women by Crain's Detroit Business in 1997.

Previously, Dr. Goldenberg was a Director at the Great Lakes Bancorp Inc. Since 1994, Dr. Goldenberg has been a life member of the Corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Board of Trustees). Dr. Goldenberg is an Academic Fellow of the Carnegie Corporation.

Special Degree Recipients

Rabbi Zevulun Charlop

Rabbi Zevulun Charlop, The Max and Marion Grill Dean of YU’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), will receive Yeshiva University’s Presidential Medallion in recognition of his leadership of RIETS. For more than 35 years, Rabbi Charlop has been dean of the seminary and under his distinguished leadership, RIETS experienced enormous growth, graduating thousands of rabbis, educators, and Jewish scholars. He is relinquishing his position effective June 30, 2008. He will continue to serve as one of the Masmichim, those who administer ordination exams, and will maintain his special relationship with the Kollelei Elyon (advanced study groups). Rabbi Charlop will remain full time as dean emeritus of RIETS, and will serve as special advisor to the YU President on Yeshiva University affairs with cabinet rank.

Dr. Sheldon E. Socol

Dr. Sheldon E. Socol, Special Advisor to the Dean and to the Chairman of the Board of Overseers Building Committee at YU’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine, will be presented with a proclamation in recognition of his 50 years of service and dedication to Yeshiva University. A graduate of YU class of ’58, he began his career as Assistant Bursar that same year. His many posts included that of Director of Student Finances, Secretary of the University, and Vice President for Business Affairs. Effective July 1, 2008, Dr. Socol will serve as Advisor to the Office of the President of YU.