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Brown to confer honorary degrees on seven distinguished leaders at Commencement 2025

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — During its Commencement and Reunion Weekend from May 23 to 25, Brown University will confer honorary doctorates on seven candidates who have achieved great distinction in a variety of fields. The candidates are: Jon Batiste — Award-winning musician Allyson Felix — Olympic gold medalist Eileen Hayes — Social services leader […]

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — During its Commencement and Reunion Weekend from May 23 to 25, Brown University will confer honorary doctorates on seven candidates who have achieved great distinction in a variety of fields. The candidates are:

  • Jon Batiste — Award-winning musician
  • Allyson Felix — Olympic gold medalist
  • Eileen Hayes — Social services leader
  • Suleika Jaouad — Author and artist
  • William Kentridge — Artist
  • Timothy Snyder — Historian
  • Kevin Young — Award-winning poet

Recipients will receive prominent recognition at the University Ceremony on Sunday, May 25. Felix, who is a five-time Olympian and the most decorated American track and field athlete in history, will deliver the Baccalaureate address to the University’s undergraduate Class of 2025 on Saturday afternoon at the First Baptist Church in America. The ceremony will be livestreamed on Brown’s Commencement website.

Honorary degrees are awarded by the Board of Fellows of the Corporation of Brown University and are conferred by University President Christina H. Paxson during Commencement exercises.

While the Board of Fellows awards the degrees, many of the recipients were recommended by the Advisory Committee on Honorary Degrees, a faculty and student committee chaired this year by Professor of English Richard Rambuss. The committee offered recommendations for leaders who have demonstrated excellence in a variety of fields, including based on nominations received from Brown faculty, staff and students.

Honorary degree recipients do not serve as Commencement speakers; since its earliest days, Brown has reserved that honor for members of the graduating class. Additional details on Commencement forums and other events during the weekend will be posted on Brown’s Commencement website.

Honorary degree candidates

Jon Batiste
Jon Batiste. Photo by Jonny Marlow.

Jon Batiste
Doctor of Music
Award-winning musician 

Jon Batiste is a seven-time Grammy and Academy Award-winning singer, songwriter and composer who is among the most prolific and accomplished contemporary musicians globally.

Born in New Orleans, Batiste is known for powerful music that draws on classical, jazz, R&B and soul. He has released eight studio albums and won, among many honors, an Academy Award for “Best Original Score” for the 2020 Disney-Pixar film “Soul.” His 2021 album “We Are” was nominated for a historic 11 Grammys Awards across seven categories. In 2024, he released his most recent studio album, “Beethoven Blues (Batiste Piano Series, Vol. 1),” which is the first in his solo piano series, reimagining classical works through a fresh lens.

Along with his wife — author and artist Suleika Jaouad — Batiste was the subject of the Oscar and Grammy-nominated 2023 documentary “American Symphony,” which won a Grammy for “Best Music Film” along with an Oscar nomination for “Best Original Song.”

Batiste serves as a creative director for the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. From 2015 until 2022, he served as the bandleader and musical director of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on CBS. ​ 

Batiste earned a bachelor’s degree and a master of music from the Juilliard School.

 

Allyson Felix
Allyson Felix. Photo by Wes Felix.

Allyson Felix
Doctor of Humane Letters
Olympic gold medalist

Five-time Olympian Allyson Felix is the most decorated American track and field athlete in history.

With a record 20 world championships and 11 Olympic medals, including seven golds, Felix retired in 2022 leaving a historic legacy in competitive running. In 2024, she was elected to the International Olympic Committee, the governing body of the Olympic Games.

An influential voice in women’s athletics, Felix publicly advocated for improved maternity policies in the sports apparel industry and helped spur maternity protections for sponsored athletes. Ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, she led an initiative to create the first-ever family space in the Olympic Village to support parent-athletes during the games.

Felix is the founder of Saysh footwear for women, a company that challenges traditional gendered sneaker design, and co-founder of Always Alpha, a women’s sports management firm. She serves as an ambassador for Right to Play, which supports underserved children across the world, and co-founded the Power of She Fund at the Women’s Sports Foundation to help provide childcare support for athletes who are mothers.

Felix earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California. She and her husband live in Los Angeles with their two children.

 

Eileen Hayes
Eileen Hayes. Photo by Jessica Salter.

Eileen Hayes
Doctor of Humane Letters
Social services leader

For 24 years, Eileen Hayes has served as president and CEO of Amos House, a Rhode Island social services organization that has supported generations of individuals and families.

A compassionate visionary who began her career as a social worker, Hayes helped transform Amos House from a soup kitchen to a multifaceted organization that offers employment programs, services and housing to individuals facing poverty, hunger, homelessness and addiction.

Under her leadership, Amos House launched two social enterprises, More Than a Meal Catering and Amos House Builds, both of which employ graduates of its training programs and generate income to support the organization. Its housing portfolio has grown to house hundreds of individuals, families, children and older adults in apartments, rooming houses and shelters. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization managed a warming center in Providence that served more than 200 individuals a night. 

Hayes has channeled her experience, success and dedication to serving as a mentor and trainer across her field and an adviser on program design and implementation for other organizations. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Hunter College and a master of social work from New York University. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and has four children and two grandchildren.
 

Suleika Jaouad
Suleika Jaouad. Photo by Sunny Shokrae.

Suleika Jaouad
Doctor of Letters
Author and artist 

Suleika Jaouad is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, artist, advocate and New York Times bestselling author of “Between Two Kingdoms” and “The Book of Alchemy.”

After a leukemia diagnosis at age 22, she launched her widely read New York Times column and video series “Life, Interrupted” from her hospital bed. Her essays and reporting have appeared in publications including the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic and Vogue.

Jaouad created the Isolation Journals, a newsletter founded at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that helps 200,000 people from around the world tap into the transformative power of creativity. She and her husband, musician Jon Batiste, are the subject of the Oscar-nominated and Grammy Award-winning documentary “American Symphony,” which portrays the artists during a year of extreme highs and lows. 

An advocate for health care reform, Jaouad served on Barack Obama’s Presidential Cancer Panel and received the Inspire Award from the National Marrow Donor Program (Be the Match) for her work to expand and diversify the national bone marrow registry.

A citizen of Tunisia, Switzerland and the United States, Jaouad attended the Juilliard School’s pre-college program for the double bass. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and an MFA from Bennington College.

 

William Kentridge
William Kentridge. Photo by Norbert Miguletz

William Kentridge
Doctor of Fine Arts
Artist

William Kentridge is a leading South African artist whose works have been exhibited globally. Working across drawing, writing and film, Kentridge grounds his creations in politics, science, literature and history. He is renowned for his original works for the stage, which combine performance, projections, voice and music.

Since the 1990s, Kentridge’s art has been exhibited at major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Albertina Museum in Vienna, the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Louisiana Museum in Copenhagen, the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, and the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

He has directed Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” Shostakovich’s “The Nose” and Alban Berg’s operas “Lulu” and “Wozzeck” at venues including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, La Scala in Milan, the English National Opera in London and the Salzburg Festival. In 2023, he received an Olivier Award for outstanding achievement in opera for “Sibyl” in London.

Kentridge was born in Johannesburg, where in 2016 he co-founded the Centre for the Less Good Idea, an incubator for experimental performance. In 2024, he was an artist-in-residence at the Brown Arts Institute as part of a series to commemorate the inaugural year of Brown’s Lindemann Performing Arts Center.

 

Timothy Snyder
Timothy Snyder. Photo by Jamie Napier.

Timothy Snyder
Doctor of Letters
Historian

Timothy Snyder is a leading historian on Ukraine, Central Europe, the Soviet Union and the Holocaust who earned his bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Brown University in 1991.

An influential scholar and writer on authoritarianism, politics and health, Snyder offers insightful commentaries and in-depth historical analyses that have inspired artistic expressions ranging from film to rock opera. He has authored or edited 20 books that have been published in 40 languages. Those include “On Tyranny: 20 Lessons from the 20th Century,” “The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America,” and “Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin,” for which he won the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award.

A professor of history at Yale University, Snyder holds the inaugural chair in modern European history at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. 

Among many recognitions, he has received the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought, the Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding, and Guggenheim and Carnegie fellowships. He is a fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna and head of the academic advisory council of the Ukrainian History Global Initiative. 

Snyder, who speaks five languages and reads 10 European languages, earned a Ph.D. from Oxford in addition to his degree from Brown.

 

Kevin Young
Kevin Young. Photo by Melanie Dunea.

Kevin Young
Doctor of Letters
Award-winning poet

Kevin Young is an acclaimed poet, essayist, poetry editor and curator who earned his master of fine arts in creative writing from Brown University in 1996. 

A prolific poet who has authored 15 books of poetry and prose and edited 11 volumes, Young is the poetry editor at the New Yorker. Among many recognitions for his books of poetry, “Stones” was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, “Book of Hours” won the 2015 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets, and “Jelly Roll: a blues” won the Paterson Poetry Prize and was a National Book Award finalist.

Young served as director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture from 2021 to 2025, prior to which he directed the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. From 2005 to 2016, he was Candler professor and curator of the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library at Emory University.

A recipient of Guggenheim, Stegner and MacDowell fellowships, Young was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016 and was named a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2020.

Young received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University before earning an MFA from Brown.



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NVL newcomers part three – Telford

In the third of a summer series of articles on the new teams who will join the NVL for the 2025-26 season, Volleyball England runs the rule over Telford men, who will take a place in Division 3 Central.    Year formed: 1973.  NVL Coach: Patrick Samsom.  Social media handles: Telford Volleyball Club (Facebook), @telfordvolleyballclub […]

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In the third of a summer series of articles on the new teams who will join the NVL for the 2025-26 season, Volleyball England runs the rule over Telford men, who will take a place in Division 3 Central.   


Year formed: 1973. 

NVL Coach: Patrick Samsom. 

Social media handles: Telford Volleyball Club (Facebook), @telfordvolleyballclub (Instagram), @telfordvolleyballclub (TikTok)  


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Telford gave notice of their ability to compete at national level last season when they enjoyed a successful campaign in the National Shield. 

In September, they claimed an impressive 3-0 success (25-15, 25-20, 25-22) over fellow West Midlanders Tamworth Spartans 2 at the Last 64 stage. 

Next, in November, they continued their run against another NVL Division 3 Central side in the shape of Darkstar Derbyshire 2, this time coming through in four sets in the Last 32 clash (25-22, 25-23, 23-25, 25-19).   

That took their campaign into the New Year where they next faced Nottingham Rockets at the David Ross Sports Centre in January, bidding for a hat-trick of victories against teams from the same league. 

Things started well as the visitors took the first set, but the Rockets came back strongly to take the next three (13-25, 25-15, 25-16, 25-11). It soon became clear that there was no disgrace in that Last 16 exit as their opponents went on to win the league title without losing a game. 

Those performances will certainly have given Telford confidence they can hold their own when they begin their 2025-26 season in the NVL – and the club has already made preparations ready for it when playing their 2024-25 campaign in the West Midlands Volleyball League. 

“We had a good, strong start to the season in WMVL Division 1 and, with a secure place in the table, we took the the decision was made to transition and give more court time to the juniors in preparation for their transition into the NVL squad,” said Anna Mottershaw, the club’s Fixtures and Training Rota Secretary and Junior Development Officer. 

“That obviously impacted the teams predicted overall position in the league, but proved very useful for both the young players and the coach to plan their progression. 

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“We are particular looking forward to returning to the NVL after a previous spell in it as it will enable us to compete consistently at a higher level. 

“For this first season back, competing at this level whilst putting some wins under our belts will be the aim. 

“Alongside that, we want to give our club members the opportunity to play at a higher level – as well as give players from across the club a goal for their own personal volleyball journey.” 

Telford last played in the national set-up in the 2019-20 season, while their men last took part in the 2002-03 campaign, winning Division 3. 

However, player retirement, a drop in numbers and a lack of a junior club eventually led to the withdrawal of both teams, not helped in the case of the women’s side by the onset of Covid-19. 

But now Telford have worked hard to make their player pool wider by focusing in on their junior system and ensuring there is a strong conveyor belt of talent coming through. 

They have recognised that developing their own is likely to be key to success, with Anna (née Perkins), along with husband and Club Chair Kevin, leading the way. 

They were both pupils at Phoenix Secondary School in Telford where the club was founded by teachers Trevor Knowles and William (Bill) and have remained active members of the club since first getting involved. 

Anna said: “To progress our club, we want to be able to offer a wide range of volleyball from juniors upwards, as well as having a fully homegrown NVL team in the future. 

“As with all clubs post-Covid 19, we saw an influx of players with the introduction of the cartoon series Haikyu… with it our junior section grew and grew. 

“In 2015, our junior club consisted of four people and now we regularly have 35. With the increase in numbers also comes more teams, coaches, sports hall availability and equipment. 

“But all of these have enabled us to offer a full range of volleyball, re-enter the NVL and make sure that our teams are made up of homegrown talent. 

“With a thriving junior section, we are now able to have two ladies teams and currently three men’s teams, all of which represent the club in the same league but in different divisions.” 

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Another challenge in the not-too-distant past saw the club forced to move from its roots in 2013 when the old school closed. 

It was then that the club changed its name to Telford Volleyball Club, planting its roots at Telford College of Arts and Technology (TCAT). 

The move has proven successful, with coaches giving their time to coach the college team whilst at the same time recruiting new players, ensuring a strong club – college partnership. 

For the 2025-26 NVL season, Coach Patrick Samsom will be looking to two key players to lead from the front. 

Telford will go up against the likes of Coventry and Warwick Riga 2, Black Country 2, Sheffield 2, Wombourne, Nuneaton Inferno, the two sides they defeated last season – Darkstar Derbyshire 2 and Tamworth Spartans 2 – and fellow newcomers Birmingham City. 

“Based on last year’s performances Daniel Searle and Patryk Piecuch are going to be important for us as we settle in,” he said. 

“They out together so many beautiful combinations and I could see straight away when one wasn’t there. 

“Patryk is probably the best Libero in the West Midlands competition so it’s great to have him in our team. 

“The combinations Daniel lets the attackers run is amazing and he reads the game quite well too.”


Find out more about the NVL by clicking here.



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Three Jackets Compete in Friday’s Action at NCAA East Prelims – Men’s Track & Field — Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

THE FLATS – Eight members of the Georgia Tech track and field teams have been named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Teams, the organization announced on Tuesday afternoon. Nominated student-athletes must have at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average and have participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s competition. […]

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THE FLATS – Eight members of the Georgia Tech track and field teams have been named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Teams, the organization announced on Tuesday afternoon.

Nominated student-athletes must have at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average and have participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s competition. The student-athlete is eligible once they complete one full calendar year at their institution and is at least a sophomore athletically/academically.

Women’s Academic All-District Honorees:
Kate Jortberg

Carla du Plessis

Kendall Ward

Grace Driskill

 

Men’s Academic All-District Honorees:
Devin Wade

Myles Collins

Billy Carlton

John Watkins

Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.

For the latest information on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, follow us on X  (@GT_tracknfield), Instagram (GT_tracknfield), Facebook (Georgia Tech Track and Field) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com

 





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COLLEGE CALLS: Five BC track and field athletes moving to next level, including four at CCSU | Sports

BRISTOL — The Bristol Central boys’ track and field team turned in another special season, and you don’t do that without special athletes. Julieen Lopez, Isaiah Fabrizio, Tristian Toussaint, Nate Davis and Will Postell all medaled at the state meet, and all five seniors are off to the next level. Lopez, Fabrizio, Davis and Toussaint […]

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BRISTOL — The Bristol Central boys’ track and field team turned in another special season, and you don’t do that without special athletes.

Julieen Lopez, Isaiah Fabrizio, Tristian Toussaint, Nate Davis and Will Postell all medaled at the state meet, and all five seniors are off to the next level.



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Softball adds transfer Taylor Anderson from Oklahoma State

Story Links AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Softball has signed transfer utility player Taylor Anderson to the roster for the 2026 season, head coach Mike White announced Wednesday. Anderson, who played her freshman season at Oklahoma State in 2024, will be immediately eligible with three years of eligibility remaining. The Dripping Springs, Texas, […]

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AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Softball has signed transfer utility player Taylor Anderson to the roster for the 2026 season, head coach Mike White announced Wednesday. Anderson, who played her freshman season at Oklahoma State in 2024, will be immediately eligible with three years of eligibility remaining.

The Dripping Springs, Texas, product appeared in 43 games with five starts at OSU in 2024. She hit .250 with a .438 slugging percentage and .368 on-base percentage in 16 at-bats, totaling four hits, 16 runs scored, one home run, two RBI and three walks. A top-option on the base path for the Cowgirls, she was successful on four of her six stolen base attempts. She earned her first career start in left field against BYU on March 22, 2024, and launched a solo home run – her first career home run. In the rubber match against the Cougars on March 23, 2024, she went 2-for-2 at the plate with two runs scored while drawing a walk, reaching base on all three plate appearances.

During high school, Anderson was a three-time all-state honoree, a District MVP (2022), a Texas Girls Coaches Association All-Star (2022) and a District Offensive Player of the Year (2021), leading Dripping Springs to multiple district championships. She also competed in track and field for Dripping Springs, winning bi-district titles as part of the 4×100 meter and 4×200 meter relay teams.



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Kingsford community funds track and field renovations

KINGSFORD, Mich. (WLUC) – Compactors and loaders carry gravel across what was grass only a few weeks ago. Right now, Flivver Field could pass for a parking lot, but soon, new turf will be placed as part of a renovation of the track and field. Breitung Township School District Superintendent Aaron Yonke says the field […]

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KINGSFORD, Mich. (WLUC) – Compactors and loaders carry gravel across what was grass only a few weeks ago.

Right now, Flivver Field could pass for a parking lot, but soon, new turf will be placed as part of a renovation of the track and field.

Breitung Township School District Superintendent Aaron Yonke says the field will see more use afterward.

“This is like a prime piece of location in Dickinson County,” Yonke said. “Right now, with our football and track events, usually you’re going to see some event going on here 12-15 times a year. With the completion of this project, that’s going to be at the minimum doubled.”

The field could also be used for marching band or the school’s physical education program.

Yonke says the renovations will help the school host more events.

“We have the annual U.P. track final here,” Yonke said. “We hold a bunch of camps with soccer and football. That’s something that, with this new upgraded facility, we’ll be able to attract more of those events like that.”

The entire project cost almost $1.75 million, but the money came from community donations, not tax hikes.

Kingsford High School Athletic Director Chris Hartman says community support has been consistent.

“It started out really, really hot with a boatload of people coming in,” Hartman said. “Then, it kind of cooled off, but now, the people are walking by and driving by and seeing the project come to life and I’ve had some more calls here in the past couple weeks now that they are really seeing it.”

Donors get their names placed on the track or the field. There are still 15 spots available.

If you are interested in donating, contact the Kingsford High School office.

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Four Penguins Named CSC Academic All-District®

Story Links The Youngstown State men’s and women’s track and field teams had four student-athletes named to the 2025 Academic All-District® Men’s Track & Field teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, the organization announced on Tuesday. The four student-athletes recognized as some of the nation’s top individuals for their combined performances on […]

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The Youngstown State men’s and women’s track and field teams had four student-athletes named to the 2025 Academic All-District® Men’s Track & Field teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, the organization announced on Tuesday.

The four student-athletes recognized as some of the nation’s top individuals for their combined performances on the track, in the field, and in the classroom were Emily Bee, Nia Williams-Matthews, Ainsley Hamsher and Thomas Caputo.



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