Honorary Degrees of Retiring Faculty
Cliffe D. Joel, Professor of Chemistry, 1997
"Cliffe Joel, for twenty-nine years you have guided and nurtured Lawrence undergraduates in the fields of chemistry and biochemistry. The first member of the department's faculty trained as a biochemist, you have been the originator and instructor of at least five departmental and interdisciplinary courses in the field and were the prime mover in the establishment of the program in neuroscience, in which you have taught since its inception.
Your research projects, the most percent of which dealt with the role of Vitamin E in protecting against the potentially damaging effects of light on the eye, have often involved student collaborators, and over the years you have produced at least 20 publications and meeting abstracts with student co-authors. You have also been an active participant in the department's 'Chemlinks' project, funded by the National Science Foundation, for which you have authored a course module to introduce basic chemical concepts through an exploration of techniques we use to discover how the brain works.
Beyond the classroom and the laboratory, you have been a concerned and compassionate advocate for students, through the Lawrence University Community Council, as faculty associate in Trever Hall, and in your work to revise the Lawrence University honor system. Most important of all, and most meaningful to you, has been your engagement with individual students, especially those confronting some personal dilemma. 'I've tried to be a good listener,' you have said, 'help them get things off their chests, put things in perspective, and steer them toward a solution.' You have accomplished those aims with great sensitivity and success.
Beyond these forms of service, you have also been a devoted participant in marathons, regular attendee of student and faculty recitals and concerts, and the master chef at the annual Chemistry Department picnic.
Many of your values and convictions are expressed on what one colleague has called the most decorated office door on campus, with clippings and stickers promoting everything from Greenpeace to zero population growth, cartoons dealing with the brain, and sayings and quotations of various sorts, among which is this one from Malcolm Forbes: 'Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.'
You have opened many minds in your years on the faculty and the college is honored to recognize you on the occasion of your transition to your life after Lawrence.
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."