Humanitarian and Political Activist Mamphela Ramphele to Give 109th Commencement Address, May 21

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New York, NY, April 22, 2002—Activist, educator, and managing director of the World Bank Mamphela A. Ramphele will address Barnard College’s Class of 2002 at the 109th Commencement Tuesday, May 21. The main gate to the campus will close at 2 p.m., with the 119th St. gate remaining open, and the procession will start at 2 p.m. The ceremony will take place on Lehman Lawn at the College at 117th St. & Broadway.

At the ceremony, a Barnard Medal of Distinction will be awarded to Barbara Novak ’50, professor and renowned art historian; Alice M. Rivlin, economist and author; and Harold Varmus, a recipient of the Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking work in cancer research. Ramphele received the Barnard Medal of Distinction in 1991.

Mamphela A. Ramphele

In the last 30 years, Mamphela Ramphele has worked as a medical doctor, a civil rights leader, a community development worker, an academic researcher, and a university administrator. Ramphele began her career as an advocate and activist as a student in South Africa’s Black Consciousness Movement during the 1970s. From 1977 to 1984, Ramphele was banished to Lenyenye in the nation’s Northern Province. There, she continued her work with the rural poor and established the Ithuseng Community Health Programme.

In 1984, Ramphele received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Hunter College in New York City, and in May 1991 Tufts University awarded her an Honorary Doctor of Science degree for her devotion to the health and social welfare of the poor in South Africa. She also holds an Honorary Doctorate in Medicine from the University of Natal in South Africa, where she was elected to the Institute of Medicine.

Ramphele has served as a research fellow at the University of Cape Town and was appointed deputy vice-chancellor in 1991. Five years later, Ramphele became the first black woman to hold the position of vice chancellor at a South African university. She has chaired the Board of Trustees of the Independent Development Trust, the largest development capacity-building NGO in South Africa, and the Advisory Board of the World Bank’s Economic Development Institute. Ramphele holds a medical degree from the University of Natal, a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the University of Cape Town, a B.Com. in Administration from the University of South Africa, and diplomas in Tropical Health and Hygiene and Public Health from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.

In May 2000, Ramphele was appointed managing director of the World Bank where she is responsible for managing the institution’s human development activities with regard to education, health, nutrition, population and social protection. Among the World Bank’s most recent human development policy reforms is the decision to evaluate all its projects for their impact on gender equality and their effects on women and girls worldwide. Ramphele is the author and editor of several books including: Mamphela Ramphele - A Life, her autobiography; A Bed Called Home on life in the migrant labor hostels in Cape Town, and Restoring the Land on ecological challenges facing post-apartheid South Africa.

Barbara Novak

Barbara Novak ‘50, Barnard Professor Emerita of Art History, was the Helen Goodhart Altschul Professor from 1984 until her retirement in 1998. The recipient of numerous national book awards, Novak earned both an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Radcliffe College.

In addition to her work in academia, Novak is also the author of several books. Her first work, American Painting of the 19th Century, branded her as a serious scholar who possessed integrity and insight in her examination of American art. Novak’s second book, Nature and Culture: American Landscape Painting, 1925-75, was described as "the most important contribution to the understanding of 19th century American art that has been written in our generation" by John I.H. Baur of the Whitney Museum of American Art.

She received the Distinguished Teaching of Art History Award from the College Art Association in 1998. In describing her contribution, the association called her "a spirited and inspired scholar with two ground-breaking studies…[who] helped to infuse the study of American art with new life and new academic rigor and respectability."

Widely recognized as one of the most influential theorists of American art, Novak has also received the Woman of Achievement Award from the Barnard Alumnae Association in 1985. Novak served on the Advisory Council of the Archives of American Art and the Editorial Boards of American Art Journal and College Art Journal. She has also been Commissioner of the National Portrait Gallery and a Fellow at the Society of American Historians.

Alice M. Rivlin

One of the most influential policy makers in Washington, Alice M. Rivlin is renowned as a visionary thinker with a keen eye on the changing state of the national economy. As Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institute, Rivlin tracks the effects of rapid technological change and the movement toward globalization. She is also currently Henry Cohen Professor of Urban Management and Policy at the Milano Graduate School, New School University. A graduate of Bryn Mawr and Radcliffe Colleges, Rivlin is an expert in the fields of fiscal and monetary policy, social policy, and urban issues.

Before returning to Brookings, Rivlin served as vice chair of the Federal Reserve Board 1996-1999. Her other positions and awards include: Chair, District of Columbia Financial Management Assistance Authority; President, American Economic Association; Founding Director, Congressional Budget Office (1975-83); Director, White House Office of Management and Budget (1994-1996); recipient, MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellowship (1983).

Rivlin is a frequent contributor to newspapers, magazines, and journals, and has written numerous books. Her latest work, Reviving the American Dream, has been called an "important book, one likely to draw extensive attention from American policy experts as well as a wider public," by Political Science Quarterly.

Harold Varmus

Harold Varmus, a graduate of Amherst, Harvard, and Columbia, began his career as a surgeon in the U.S. Public Health Service before moving to San Francisco, where he joined the University of California Medical Center. It was at UCSF that he met Michael Bishop. Their partnership and subsequent research into cancer genes would change the course of cancer research.

Varmus and Bishop’s research has led to great strides in the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of a variety of cancers. The men were celebrated by the Nobel committee in 1989 for their work.

Varmus later became the first Nobel Laureate to be appointed head of the National Institutes of Health. He became responsible for managing the largest medical research entity in the world and controlled an annual budget of $11 billion. He also created new training programs for clinical researchers and recruited to the agency top scientists from universities and medical schools across the country.

"He re-energized and revitalized the N.I.H. with his vision and creative leadership in a way that has had a tremendous impact on the entire scientific community," said Philip R. Lee, who served as the Assistant Secretary for Health at the Department of Health and Human Services 1993-1997.

In addition to authoring over 300 scientific papers and four books, Varmus has been an advisor to the Federal government, pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, and many academic institutions. Currently, Varmus is the President and CEO of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and serves on the World Health Organization’s Commission on Macroeconomics and Health.

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