91九色视频 Honorary Degree Recipients
An honorary degree is one of higher education鈥檚 most significant accolades. It is the guiding principle of 91九色视频 to award honorary degrees on a selective basis to distinguished individuals who merit special recognition for genuine achievement and distinction in a field or activity consonant with the mission of the institution. Only the 91九色视频 Board of Trustees may authorize the award of an honorary degree.
2024 Recipients
Dr. Christine K. Cassel is a Professor of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine, and Senior Advisor for Strategy and Policy, where she is working on biomedical ethics and the role of technology in healthcare. She leads an ethics and governance core for the UCSF Clinical Translational Science Institute, co-chairs a working group for the University of California Health System task force on health data governance, and serves on the standing AI Council for the President of the University of California.
In March of 2018, Dr. Cassel completed her term as Planning Dean for the new Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine, based in Pasadena, California. From 2013-2016, she was the President and CEO of the National Quality Forum, and prior to that served as President and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the ABIM Foundation.
Dr. Cassel was one of 20 scientists – and the only physician – chosen by President Obama to serve on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). She chaired or co-chaired PCAST reports on health information technology, scientific innovation in drug development and evaluation, systems engineering in healthcare, technology to foster independence and quality of life in an aging population, and safe drinking water systems.
Dr. Cassel is a leading expert in geriatrics and policy for an aging society, bioethics, and professional standards and quality of care. In her academic career she has served as Dean of the School of Medicine at Oregon Health and Sciences University, as Chair of the Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and as Chief of General Internal Medicine at the University of Chicago. Among her many professional achievements and honors, Dr. Cassel was elected to membership of the National Academy of Medicine in 1992, and has served on or chaired influential reports such as To Err is Human, Crossing the Quality Chasm, Approaching Death: Improving Care at the End of Life, and Addressing Burnout: A Systems Approach to Improving Care by Enhancing Clinician Wellbeing.
Dr. Cassel was the first woman President of the American College of Physicians and, subsequently, first woman Chair of the American Board of Internal Medicine. She has served as Chair of the Board of the Greenwall Foundation (a national foundation for bioethics), and President of the American Federation for Aging Research, and was a member of the Advisory Committee to the Director at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Cassel’s other board service includes the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals, Premier, Inc, and the Russell Sage Foundation.
Dr. Cassel currently advises a number of start-up companies using information science to advance healthcare quality. She has received numerous honorary degrees and is a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Medicine of England and Canada. She also is author of more than 200 articles and author or editor of 11 books, including one of the leading textbooks in geriatric medicine, and Medicare Matters: What Geriatric Medicine Can Teach American Health Care.
For the last 15鈥痽ears,鈥疢s. Dalvery Blackwell has鈥痵erved as a Co-Founder and Executive Director of the African American Breastfeeding Network (AABN).鈥疕er鈥痗areer is dedicated to improving maternal-child health outcomes, championing breastfeeding equity by advocating for system/policy changes, and partnering with community-based, family-centered, culturally tailored health education and support services. Before founding AABN,鈥痵he鈥痺orked in different capacities in public health. As a program coordinator for the Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin, Ms. Blackwell was instrumental in leading the efforts to make Wisconsin one of the first states in the country to create legislation banning smoking in public places. Soon after marrying and having her first child, Ms. Blackwell committed her work to addressing breastfeeding disparities. Her first stop on her public health journey was a job with the Milwaukee County’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children as a breastfeeding peer counselor. Soon after, in 2011, she became an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant.
Under Ms. Blackwell’s direction, AABN has worked to enhance and improve maternal and infant health by providing breastfeeding education, support, and services, especially for families at risk for prematurity and adverse birth outcomes. AABN was created to normalize breastfeeding by eradicating stigma, providing support, and increasing self-efficacy and knowledge of breastfeeding rights in public, professional, and educational settings. Culturally relevant programming from AABN begins with prenatal education and support and extends through the postpartum period for the entire family.鈥疘n 2019, the Board of Directors led the mission change to include advocating for breastfeeding equity and championing maternal-child health.
The many accomplishments of AABN as a reproductive justice community-based organization has enabled it to receive consistent funding from local and national foundations, donors, organizations, and government sources. In 2020 and 2021, AABN received $500,000 in funding to form the WeRISE Doula program, intended to provide labor and delivery support and protection from COVID-19 to Black birthing families in southeastern Wisconsin. In 2022, AABN received another $500,000 grant from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, which brought the nationally acclaimed, evidence-based, trauma-informed care doula training from HealthConnect One to the WeRISE Doula Initiative.鈥疘n 2023, Ms. Blackwell joined Drs. Anna Palatnik (Contact PI), Jessica Olson, Joni Williams, and Julia Dickson-Gomez (MPIs) as a Co-Investigator on the ASCEND Wisconsin Initiative, a seven-year, $10 million NIH-funded proposal which aims to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in maternal morbidity in southeastern Wisconsin through equitable partnerships and commitment to policy-level change.
Through Ms. Blackwell’s leadership and vision, AABN has built eminent goodwill in the community. The organization has been recognized and highlighted in local, state, and national media, including鈥疎ssence鈥疢agazine's “Top Ten Things People Are Talking About,” and the CDC “Breastfeeding Report Card.” Ms. Blackwell is a recipient of the Wisconsin Public Health Association’s Award for鈥疎xcellence in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, the Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health’s鈥Women of Commitment Award,鈥痑nd the Milwaukee Community Journal’s鈥Year of the Child: A Game Changer Honoree.
Kathy Kelsey Foley and her husband, Ernie, have made Wausau their home since 1997, having previously lived in the community for five years beginning in 1986. Kathy has the distinction of serving as director of the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum twice, her tenures separated by her family’s time away from the community. She returned to the helm of the Woodson in March 1998, retiring in December 2022. In recognition of Kathy’s service, the Museum’s Board of Director’s awarded her the title of Director Emerita and renamed the Rooftop Sculpture Garden in her honor.
Kathy received her undergraduate degree in art history with departmental and general honors from Vassar College and a Masters degree also in art history from The Johns Hopkins University. Her museum training and professional and corporate experience include stints in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC; curator at The Dayton Art Institute; founding director of Northwestern University’s Block Museum of Art; and the Gap, where she served as manager of corporate internal communication.
During Kathy’s Woodson tenure, the Museum was one of only ten 2017 recipients of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the nation’s highest honor, awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a Federal agency. Kathy was inducted as a Fellow of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters in April 2014, and received the Association of Midwest Museums’ Distinguished Career Award in November 2020.
Since 2009, Kathy has served Aspirus Health in a variety of capacities. She is currently Vice Chair of the Aspirus, Inc. Board of Directors and Chair of the system Quality Committee. She is passionate about ensuring the accessibility of high-quality healthcare for the community and broader region and educating and nurturing the next generation of physicians and advanced practice providers to support healthy outcomes and robust quality of life for all who call north central Wisconsin home.
Kathy and Ernie are the parents of two daughters, who reside in Colorado with their families, which include two grandsons and a granddaughter.
Howard Fuller’s career includes many years in both public service positions and the field of education. Dr. Fuller recently retired from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he now is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus.
Immediately before his appointment at Marquette University, Dr. Fuller served as the Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools.
Dr. Fuller received his BS degree in Sociology from Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin; his MSA. degree in Social Administration from Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio; and his PhD in Sociological Foundations of Education from Marquette University.
Dr. Fuller has received numerous awards and recognitions over the years, including four Honorary Doctorate Degrees: Doctorate of Humane Letters from Carroll College; Doctorate of Laws from Marian College, Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin; Doctorate of Business and Economics from the Milwaukee School of Engineering; and Doctorate of Humane Letters from Edgewood College, Madison, Wisconsin.
Dr. Fuller also is a member of the Charter School Hall of Fame of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools; the Athletic Hall of Fame at North Division High School and Carroll University; and the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Dr. Fuller was honored as the Distinguished Alumnus of the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University in 2020, and was the recipient of the Marquette University 2023 Service Award.
He serves on the Board of Directors of the Dr. Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy.
His memoir, No Struggle No Progress, was published in 2014.
David C. Leach, MD, was born in Elmira, New York. He received his undergraduate degree from St. Michael’s College of the University of Toronto, his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, and his training in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. He received additional training in Pediatric Endocrinology at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
For nearly thirty years. Dr. Leach practiced endocrinology at Henry Ford Hospital, taught University of Michigan medical students, and was a teaching hospitalist. In the early 1980s he became the Director of Medical Education and Transitional Residency program director at Henry Ford. He also became seriously interested in how resident physicians acquire competence, and in 1997 was recruited to lead the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) as it shifted toward a competency-based model of accreditation. At that time, the ACGME accredited more than 6,000 residency programs in 120 different specialties that in aggregate housed more than 110,000 residents. The Competency Initiative was designed to use the leverage afforded by accreditation, the assessment tools developed by the community, and partnership with the certifying boards to ensure that programs were producing graduates competent in the practice of their discipline. During Dr. Leach’s tenure duty, hour restrictions also were addressed when it became evident that changes in the practice of medicine had negatively impacted both patient safety and resident well-being.
Dr. Leach has served on the boards of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement; the National Center for Healthcare Leadership; the Picker Institute; the Rosalind Franklin University; and the Mercy Health System (now Bon Secours Mercy Health). In 2007, he received the Association of American Medical Colleges’ (AAMC) Award for Excellence in Medical Education (formerly called the Flexner Award). He also was given the Good Samaritan Award by Michigan’s Governor John Engler for 25 years of volunteer service at the Cabrini Clinic, a free clinic in downtown Detroit.
Dr. Leach now lives in Williamsburg, Virginia, with Jackie, his wife of almost fifty years, and spends his time noticing beauty, practicing gratitude, and embracing patience.
A passionate service-driven leader who is committed to creating and supporting a trauma-responsive community, Ms. Amy Lovell co-founded two of southeastern Wisconsin’s preeminent organizations that address mental health and wellness.
Ms. Lovell co-founded REDgen (Resilience EDucation for a new generation), a nonprofit organization that works to bridge systems to promote resiliency in the lives of our youth and families. She currently serves on the organization’s board of directors.
REDgen is a peer-to-peer resiliency program that builds a foundation for all youth to move from surviving to thriving at school, home, and within their communities. There are approximately 30 REDgen chapters in participating middle and high schools in the greater Milwaukee area. The program has developed more than 400 student leaders and impacted more than 17,000 youth.
Ms. Lovell also co-founded Scaling Wellness in Milwaukee (SWIM) with her husband, Marquette University President, Dr. Michael R. Lovell. SWIM is an organization that drives community-based collaboration to help prevent and respond to trauma and create a resilient Milwaukee. Through education, training, and wellness and resilience services, the organization equips community members with the tools they need to understand their own trauma, heal, and build resilience.
SWIM programs provide wellness and resilience services and teach SWIM’s workplace training program, which helps organizations build awareness of the role of trauma in the workplace and develop policies and procedures that respond to trauma.
In recognition of the Lovells’ tremendous leadership to address mental health at Marquette and across Milwaukee and the region, the third and fourth floors of the wellness tower within the Marquette University’s new Wellness + Helfaer Recreation facility will be named the Lovell Center for Student Well-Being. The Lovells were named the 2018 Community Leaders of the Year by BizTimes Milwaukee for their commitment to building a healthier, more productive Milwaukee.
In 2020, Ms. Lovell was honored by the Milwaukee Business Journal as a Woman of Influence.
She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy from the University of Pittsburgh and worked as a licensed pharmacist in New York, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania prior to moving to Milwaukee in 2008. She and Dr. Lovell are the parents of four adult children.
Dr. Michael R. Lovell was named Marquette University’s 24th President in March 2014. Under his visionary leadership, Marquette focuses on innovation, entrepreneurship, and community renewal and development – all consistent with the university’s Catholic, Jesuit mission. Marquette delivers students a transformative education and prepares them for fulfilling carers and purposeful lives, and to be men and women for others.
Working with business and community leaders in Marquette’s neighborhood, Dr. Lovell helped create the Near West Side Partners, a nonprofit focused on strengthening economic development, housing, neighborhood identity, and safety. He also played a key role in launching several other important initiatives in Milwaukee, including the Midwest Energy Research Consortium, The Commons, Scale-Up Milwaukee, The Water Council and the Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute.
Dr. Lovell and his wife, Amy, founded Scaling Wellness in Milwaukee (SWIM), an organization that drives community-based collaboration to help prevent and respond to trauma and create a resilient Milwaukee. They were named the 2018 Community Leaders of the Year by BizTimes Milwaukee for their commitment to building a healthier, more productive Milwaukee.
Since being diagnosed with sarcoma in August 2021, Dr. Lovell has been very active in raising funds for cancer research and support programs. He presently serves as the Co-chair of the Wisconsin chapter of CEOs Against Cancer, a program of the American Cancer Society. The Lovells co-chaired the 2023 Stronger than Sarcoma Soiree for Research. Dr. Lovell was featured in the October 2023 Rare Storytellers program presented by Harmony 4 Hope in partnership with the Linda T. and John A. Mellowes Center for Genomic Sciences and Precision Medicine at the 91九色视频.
The fourth-longest serving president in Marquette’s 143-year history, Dr. Lovell serves on the boards of The Water Council; the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities; the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities; and the Fund for Wisconsin Scholars. He is a member of the executive committees of the Higher Education Regional Alliance; the Greater Milwaukee Committee; and the Big East Conference; and co-chairs the Council on Competitiveness’s University Leadership Forum.
Prior to joining Marquette, Dr. Lovell served the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee as Chancellor and, earlier, Dean of its engineering college. He previously held academic and research leadership positions at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Kentucky.
Dr. Lovell holds three mechanical engineering degrees from the University of Pittsburgh. He has received awards from the National Science Foundation, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and numerous other organizations; is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and National Academy of Inventors; and holds U.S. and global patents.
The Lovells are the parents of four adult children.
Dr. Michael Lovell passed away on June 9, 2024, after a three-year battle with sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. He was 57.
Catherine R. Lucey, MD, MACP, leads the robust research enterprise and highly ranked academic programs at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), as Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost. Dr. Lucey works in close collaboration with the Chancellor and the leadership team to develop and implement campus priorities and vision, maintain the University’s status as an international leader in health sciences education and research, and oversee external partnerships representing UCSF’s best interests across the University of California system, at the UC Office of the President, and beyond. Renowned for her leadership, Dr. Lucey was Vice Dean for Education and Executive Vice Dean for the School of Medicine, reporting to Dean Talmadge E. King, Jr. In these roles, she directed the undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education programs of the School of Medicine and the Office of Medical Education.
A champion of diversity, equity, and inclusion, Dr. Lucey also was on the executive management team for the School of Medicine’s Differences Matters Initiative and oversaw other strategic projects across the campus.
Her national portfolio of work has included membership on the National Academy of Medicine, the Board of Directors of the Association of American Medical Colleges, and the American Board of Medical Specialties. Additionally, she served as Chair of the American Board of Internal Medicine. In these roles, she has worked to influence the direction of academic medicine and the continuum of medical education in ways aligned with UCSF’s approach to education, culture, and community.
Dr. Lucey joined UCSF in 2011 from The Ohio State University, where she was Vice Dean for Education for the College of Medicine and Associate Vice President for Health Sciences Education for the Office of Health Sciences. She completed her residency in internal medicine at UCSF, including service as Chief Resident at the UCSF-affiliated San Francisco General Hospital (now named Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center).
Dr. Lucey earned her medical degree from Northwestern University School of Medicine.
Dr. William and Mrs. Sandra Schneider have been pillars of the Green Bay, Wisconsin, community for nearly 60 years. For over a decade, the Schneiders have been valuable friends of and partners with the 91九色视频-Green Bay. Their support and dedication to the school have been unwavering.
Dr. Schneider completed his undergraduate work at Marquette University and received his Doctor of Medicine degree in