Skip to main content
Tags: columbia | honorary degree | patrick gaspard

Former DNC Exec Gets Honorary Degree From Columbia

Former DNC Exec Gets Honorary Degree From Columbia
(Getty Images)

By    |   Friday, 06 April 2018 10:52 AM EDT

Columbia University has announced it will award an honorary degree to Patrick Gaspard, who has served as former executive director of the Democratic National Committee, director of the White House Office of Political Affairs, and U.S. ambassador to South Africa under President Barack Obama.

Gaspard — now president of the Open Society Foundations, an international philanthropy founded by billionaire George Soros to financially support civil society groups around the world — is one of five people who will receive the degree in May.

Born in the Congo to Haitian parents, Gaspard moved with his parents to the U.S. at the age of 3 and attended Brooklyn Technical High School and Columbia University.

Others to be feted, according to The Columbia Spectator, are:

  • Elizabeth Diller, an architectural design professor whose studio designed New York City’s High Line park and led the reconstruction of Lincoln Center.
  • Lynn Sykes, a primary contributor to both the original proposal and development of plate tectonic theory, and a Higgins Professor Emeritus of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
  • Thelma Golden, director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, who is known for her curatorial work in the Whitney Museum of American Art.
  • Bradley Efron, a statistics professor at Stanford University, who has made notable contributions to the field of statistics, including a proposal for the first computer-driven technique that allowed for data simulations.

The degrees are awarded to individuals who have had significant accomplishments in a variety of fields.

© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


US
Columbia University has announced it will award an honorary degree to Patrick Gaspard, who has served as former executive director of the Democratic National Committee, director of the White House Office of Political Affairs, and U.S. ambassador to South Africa under...
columbia, honorary degree, patrick gaspard
247
2018-52-06
Friday, 06 April 2018 10:52 AM
Newsmax Media, Inc.

Sign up for Newsmax’s Daily Newsletter

Receive breaking news and original analysis - sent right to your inbox.

(Optional for Local News)
Privacy: We never share your email address.
Join the Newsmax Community
Read and Post Comments
Please review Community Guidelines before posting a comment.
 
TOP

Interest-Based Advertising | Do not sell or share my personal information

Newsmax, Moneynews, Newsmax Health, and Independent. American. are registered trademarks of Newsmax Media, Inc. Newsmax TV, and Newsmax World are trademarks of Newsmax Media, Inc.

NEWSMAX.COM
America's News Page
© Newsmax Media, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Download the Newsmax App
NEWSMAX.COM
America's News Page
© Newsmax Media, Inc.
All Rights Reserved