Honorary Degrees of Retiring Faculty
Ronald W. Tank, Professor of Geology, 1991
"Ronald W. Tank, in your 29 years of service at Milwaukee-Downer and at Lawrence you have emphasized the close relationship between your science of geology and the aims and aspirations we hold in common. While doing research and teaching in your specialties of clay mineralogy and sedimentology, you added leaven to the geology curriculum by developing courses appealing to a broad spectrum of Lawrentians. You brought to Lawrence the distinction of being the first college in the country to offer Environmental Geology. Your Seminar in Legal Aspects of Geology affords another example of the distinctive and extensive perspectives you have imparted to the Lawrence curriculum. And your recent interest in the geology of our national parks has not only enlivened your teaching, but provided you with an exceptionally attractive travel itinerary.
You have not only taught Lawrentians, but have instructed your colleagues and their students beyond the college as well. The textbooks you have published for and from your courses here have found a wide reading. These works manifest the energy, intelligence, and skillful organization that characterized your teaching and your research. And your students' postgraduate successes, not only in geology, but in fields including ministry, medicine, and law provide testimony to the high standards you set for yourself and for them. By your efforts and your example, you prompted and promoted their lives after Lawrence. As you now take that step as well, we salute you for your service to the college and to all Lawerntians who have profited from your tutelage.
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."