One thing lost in all the obits is that Carnegie Mellon was the first school to award August Wilson with an Honorary Doctorate. This occurred in 1987 or 1988 (I believe) and was spearheaded by Akram Midani and yours truly.
We had quite a struggle getting it approved by the honorary degree committee because August Wilson, with only FENCES staking his national reputation, was deemed such a newcomer and as yet untested. I recall how we said, "trust us, this guy has *it*" and we were able to carry the day.
Of course, he went on to receive numerous honorary degrees, but we were indeed the first.
Cheers,
Don Marinelli
2 comments:
one of the many reasons I LOVE DON MARINELLI! - lindsay
another personal account: http://volanskyism.blogspot.com/2005/10/sad-sad-news.html
- lindsay
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