2002: LAPPÉ, SMALL, SUSSMAN, ROKKE TO RECEIVE HONORARY DEGREES AT MUHLENBERG COLLEGE

LAPPÉ, SMALL, SUSSMAN, ROKKE TO RECEIVE HONORARY DEGREES AT MUHLENBERG COLLEGE

Muhlenberg College will award Frances Moore Lappé and William J. Small Honorary Doctorate of Humanities degrees at Commencement on Sunday, May 19, 2002 at 2 p.m. Dr. Elliot J. Sussman, MD will receive an Honorary Doctorate in Science and Ervin J. Rokke will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Laws.

Wednesday, April 24, 2002 03:51 PM

Frances Moore Lappé created a nutrition revolution in 1971 with her "Diet for a Small Planet." She has authored or co-authored eleven books which have been used in a broad array of college courses including economics, nutrition and sociology. Lappé has received numerous awards for her work. In Sweden in 1987, she became the fourth American to receive the Right Livelihood Award, sometimes called the "alternative Nobel" for her "vision and work healing our planet and uplifting humanity." She is currently the director of the Center for Living Democracy in Brattleboro, VT.

William J. Small is a professor emeritus of Communications and Media Management for the Graduate School of Business Administration at the Lincoln Center Campus of Fordham University in New York City.

Small received his MA in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago in 1951. Prior to his employment in higher education, Small was a communications executive employed as president and chief operating officer of United Press International wire service from 1982-1984. He also had a lengthy career in broadcasting and was vice president and director of news for CBS, but had previously started his career in journalism in 1951 as news director for station WLS in Chicago. Currently, Small serves as vice-chairman for news and documentaries awards at the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Elliot J. Sussman, MD has been the president and chief executive officer of Lehigh Valley Health Network since 1993. He is the first physician to hold this management position at the hospital, and in 1995 he was appointed a professor of medicine at Pennsylvania State University's College of Medicine. Also, that year he was named chairman of the board and president for PennCare, Inc.

Sussman earned his bachelor's degree from Yale University in New Haven, Conn. in 1973, and then received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, Mass. in 1997. Sussman has also earned an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business at Penn, where he was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar.

Sussman is also a member of the board of the Allentown Art Museum, Minsi Trails Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and the Shakespeare Festival. He was the recipient of the 5th Annual Community Leader of the Year Award in 1999 from the Lehigh Valley chapter of the Eastern Pennsylvania Arthritis Foundation.

Ervin Jerome Rokke, a Minnesota native, has served as the 14th president of Moravian College and Moravian Theological Seminary since 1997. Dr. Rokke studied at St. Olaf College before joining the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. After graduating from the USAF Academy in 1962 with a bachelor's degree in public affairs, Dr. Rokke went on to receive both an M.P.A. (1964) and Ph.D. in Political Science (1970) from Harvard University.

Rokke is a decorated veteran whose military honors include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal and Legion of Merit award among others. The retired Air Force lieutenant general still serves as a lecturer and consultant on international politics. Having directed intelligence operations at the European Headquarters in Stuggart, Germany, he was able to work stateside as a senior staff member of the National Security Agency during the Gulf War.

During the 1980s, Rokke was a diplomatic defense and air attaché for the American embassies in Moscow and London, and then returned to the Air Force Academy as dean of faculty and a permanent professor. Rokke's expertise in military intelligence brought to Moravian College and the Lehigh Valley one of five think tank conferences held throughout the U.S. in 2000.

The Reverend Heidi Neumark will serve as Baccalaureate speaker at 10 a.m. and will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity. CBS broadcast journalist Bob Schieffer of "Face the Nation" will serve as Commencement speaker at 2 p.m., and will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.