At the 195th commencement, taking place on May 12 at the Pepsi Arena in Albany, Rensselaer will present honorary doctoral degrees to entertainer and educator Bill Cosby; technological innovator Vinto G. Cerf; and sociologist William Julius Wilson
Cosby, the commencement speaker, will be given an honorary doctoral degree in Arts and Humane Letters, Wilson will be made a Doctor of Law, and Cerf will receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering.
As a very famous and well sought-after commencement speaker, Cosby is devoted to his commitment to education; he usually speaks at a commencement ceremony each year.
Cosby, who is one of America’s richest entertainers, has worked in the entertainment business since the early 1960s.
He is most known for starring as Cliff Huxtable in "The Cosby Show," a the top-rated ’80s TV show, and for a series of best-selling humorous books about everyday living, including Fatherhood.
The Hello Friend/Ennis William Cosby Foundation was created by Cosby in 1997 after his son’s death to promote assisting individuals having learning disabilities.
Cerf currently serves as the senior vice president of Internet Architecture and Technology for MCI Worldcom.
Often called the "Father of the Internet," he is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and a chief architect of the Internet. In December 1997, Cerf and his partner, Robert E. Kahn, were bestowed the U.S. National Medical of Technology by President Clinton for their participation in the development of the Internet.
Cerf played a key role in the development of concepts related to the Internet’s framework and Internet-related data packet and security technologies while working at the U.S. Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency from 1976 to 1982.
Williams, a well-known scholar and authority on the urban poor and racial divide, is one of only 18 Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professors, the highest professional distinction a Harvard faculty member can achieve.
He has been elected to numerous prestigious organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Education, the American Philosophical Society, and the Institute of Medicine, and was the Macarthur prize fellow from 1987 to 1992.
He is also the author of numerous books including, The Declining Significance of Race, winner of the American Sociological Association’s Sydney Spivack Award, The Truly Disadvantaged, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor, and The Bridge Over the Racial Divide: Rising Inequality and Coalition Politics.
