University of Hartford to Award Honorary Degree to Sargent Shriver
University to Award Honorary Degree to Sargent Shriver
Special Olympics Chairman Emeritus Sargent Shriver will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of Hartford on Friday, May 21, at 5 p.m. in Wilde Auditorium in the University’s Harry Jack Gray Center, 200 Bloomfield Ave., West Hartford.
The day after the ceremony, the University and Special Olympics Connecticut will host the 2004 Eastern Region Games. Following the opening ceremonies, being held in the University’s Sports Center at 9 a.m., the competitions will be held at the Sports Center complex and the adjacent Weaver High School track and field complex. For more information on the Games, visit .
The honorary degree ceremony is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. To obtain tickets, contact the University box office at 860.768.4228 or 800.274.8587.
Shriver, who was chairman of the board of Special Olympics from 1990 to 2003 and was president of the organization from 1984 to 1990, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor, by President Bill Clinton in recognition of Shriver’s long and distinguished record of statesmanship and humanitarianism.
As an international lawyer and administrator, ambassador and an advocate for the poor and powerless, Shriver has compiled an unparalleled record of public service at every tier, from the local level to the world community. From 1961 to 1966, Shriver served as the organizer and first director of the Peace Corps, where he developed volunteer activities in more than 50 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. From 1964 to 1968, he served as the first director of the Office of Economic Opportunity under President Lyndon Johnson, and between 1964 and 1968, he created such programs as VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), Head Start, Community Action, Legal Services, and the Jobs Corps.
Shriver was the U.S. Ambassador to France from 1968 to 1970. In 1972, he was nominated by the Democratic Party as its candidate for vice president to run with Presidential nominee Sen. George McGovern. A graduate of Yale University and Yale Law School, Shriver served in the U.S. Navy for five years before ending his military career as lieutenant commander.
