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ONEONTA, N.Y. -- The SUNY College at Oneonta will present honorary
SUNY doctorates to two distinguished associates of the College this year.
Don Garber, Commissioner of Major League Soccer and a 1979 graduate of
SUNY Oneonta, will receive the honorary SUNY degree Doctor of Humane
Letters. Robert Olen Butler,
Pulitzer Prize-winning author, will receive the honorary SUNY degree Doctor
of Letters.
Don Garber is an international figure in professional sports, a leader in
public service, and a devoted alumnus of SUNY Oneonta. His career includes
service as head of public relations for the National Wheelchair Athletic
Association, Senior Vice President of the National Football League and
Managing Director of NFL International, and since 1999, Commissioner of
Major League Soccer.
Garber has fostered the development of soccer in the United States and
extended its community outreach by establishing MLS WORKS to address
important issues affecting young people throughout America. He has served on
the boards of directors of the United States Soccer Federation, National
Soccer Hall of Fame, and United States Soccer Foundation.
Since his days as senior class president, Garber has demonstrated his
commitment to SUNY Oneonta by speaking at alumni events, serving on the
College Advancement Advisory Council, and hosting a meeting of the College
Foundation Board of Directors.
Robert Olen Butler has distinguished himself as a novelist, short-story
writer, and teacher. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for his
short-story collection "A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain." He has also
received the National Magazine Award for Fiction, the Richard and Hinda
Rosenthal Award, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts
and the Guggenheim Foundation.
One of the major American writers of our time, Butler has published ten
novels, five collections of short fiction, and a book on the process of
writing fiction. He teaches at Florida State University, where he holds the
title of Francis Epps Professor and the Michael Shaara Chair in Creative
Writing.
Butler presented a reading from his work at SUNY Oneonta last year as an
installment of the College's Red Dragon Reading Series. He also conducted a
writing workshop for SUNY Oneonta students.
Don Garber and Robert Olen Butler will receive their honorary SUNY
doctorates at the College's 2009 Commencement ceremony on May 16. Both
recipients will address the graduates as Commencement speakers.
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