Honorary Degrees of Retiring Faculty
Robert M. Rosenberg, Robert McMillan Professor of Chemistry, 1991
"Robert M. Rosenberg, your career as a physical chemist embodies your own adage about the discipline and the professorial life: 'One who understands physical chemistry,' you have said, 'can teach anything.' You have been true to your word. In 35 years at Lawrence, you have taught virtually every course the Department of Chemistry has ever offered: from organic to physical, which you teach in the succinct lucid style that informs your own textbook, Principles of Physical Chemistry, itself a miracle and model of concision in an age of mega-books; from the seminar on nuclear weapons that applies science to one of your own deepest concern, to the notorious and meritorious Principles of Physical Chemistry, which you helped create, and which generations of Lawrentians recall with the pride and nostalgia of Marines remembering boot camp. Even your office taught 'Chem-Phys,' as one alumnus has testified: only when he beheld it did the concept of entropy become clear.
Your commitment to your students' education extends far beyond graduation: you have remained a continuing part of the careers of many chemistry alumni, as the symposium honoring you next weekend at Reunions will attest. And your commitment to your college and your colleagues has found expression in a stint in a decanal role, wise and sensible counsel in faculty meetings, and principled advocacy of positions you deem worthy of our attention and convictions. The entire university--administration, faculty, students--will miss the clear-headed advice and constructive criticism with which you have voiced, for more than three decades, your love for Lawrence and liberal learning.
By the authority vested in me, I now confer upon you the degree of Master of Arts, ad eundem, and admit you to its rights, its privileges, and its obligations."