Presented by Catharine R. Stimpson H’90, Trustee, for Doctor of Laws

President Hansen, I am honored to present Daisy M. Soros.

At Bates we acknowledge and celebrate the power of education to transform lives. Today we honor two individuals whose own experiences illustrate the capacity of education to enhance opportunity, foster wise citizenship, and advance our society.

Like so many of our international students—who contribute in such extraordinary ways to the intellectual and cultural life of this college—Daisy Soros came to the United States from Hungary as a student. From New York University she earned a degree in social work; she went on to serve terminally ill patients and their families. Daisy Soros and her husband, Paul, share philanthropic endeavors that are remarkable in their scope and largesse. They are major benefactors of educational, health care, and arts institutions, and Daisy Soros’s record of volunteer service to these organizations is dedicated and sustaining.

Among the great gifts the Soroses have bestowed on their adopted country are the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans, which provide generous support for individuals of great promise—who are immigrants or the children of immigrants—to pursue graduate study in preparation for their own lives of leadership and service.

For her ethos of service to others in all its forms, for her wise guidance of institutions that enrich our country, and for her desire to help other new Americans reach their fullest potential, I present Daisy M. Soros for the degree Doctor of Laws.

President’s Conferral:

Daisy M. Soros, yours is a life of generosity, defined by selfless commitment to individuals and families, leadership in educational and cultural institutions that serve us all, and support for rising generations of new Americans. Therefore, by the authority vested in me by the Board of Trustees, I hereby confer upon you the Degree of Doctor of Laws, with all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities which here and everywhere pertain to this degree.