Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan to Deliver Address and Receive Honorary Degree at IIT Commencement May 12
Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Arne Duncan will receive Illinois Institute of Technology's (IIT) highest academic honor, the Honorary Doctor of Science and Letters, honoris causa, when he delivers the address at the university's commencement on May 12.
Duncan is being honored for his tireless work on behalf of Chicago school children, working to improve the quality of teaching, the quality of school facilities, and giving inspiration to a whole generation of young Chicagoans. He is particularly committed to seeing more CPS students go on to college. In November, IIT announced it will offer Chicago Public School graduates who meet IIT's admission requirements and whose parents (or guardians) have household incomes of less than $40,000 the opportunity to attend the university with full financial support for all tuition, books and fees.
Mayor Richard M. Daley named Arne Duncan Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Public Schools in June 2001. Duncan was previously Director of Magnet Schools and Programs and Deputy Chief of Staff.
Duncan graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1987, majoring in sociology. He was co-captain of Harvard's basketball team and was named a first team Academic All-American. From 1987-1991, Mr. Duncan played professional basketball in Australia, where he also worked with children who were wards of the state. He returned to Chicago in 1992 to direct the Ariel Education Initiative, which seeks to create outstanding educational opportunities for children on the city's South Side. In 1998, he joined the Chicago Public Schools.
Duncan currently serves on the Boards of the Ariel Education Initiative, Chicago Cares, The Children's Center, the Golden Apple Foundation, the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, Jobs for America's Graduates, Junior Achievement, the Dean's Advisory Board of the Kellogg School of Management, the National Association of Basketball Coaches' Foundation, Scholarship Chicago, South Side YMCA and the Harvard Board of Overseers. He also serves on the Visiting Committee for the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration. He was a fellow in the Leadership Greater Chicago's class of 1995, and a member of the Aspen Institute's Henry Crown Fellowship Program, Class of 2002. In May of 2003, he received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Lake Forest College.
Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting university with more than 6,700 students in engineering, sciences, architecture, psychology, design, humanities, business and law. IIT's interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum is designed to advance knowledge through research and scholarship, to cultivate invention improving the human condition, and to prepare students from throughout the world for a life of professional achievement, service to society, and individual fulfillment.
