Chinua Achebe and Bill Russell To Receive Honorary Degrees

By Anne-Marie Kent

With commencement less than a month away, excitement on campus is building in anticipation of the big day, heightened by the announcement of two more honorary degree recipients. Honorary degrees are given to individuals nominated by members of the university community and officially chosen by the Board of Trustees for achievements reflective of UMass Boston’s mission.

Last month, Chancellor Jo Ann Gora announced that Tim Russert, moderator of “Meet the Press” and political analyst for NBC’s “Nightly News with Tom Brokaw” and “Today” show would receive an honorary degree and deliver the commencement address. Now, she announces that internationally acclaimed Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe and famed basketball player Bill Russell also will receive honorary degrees.
Achebe’s first novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), won him international acclaim with its portrayal of rural Africa and the beginning of colonialism. He followed it with the books No Longer at Ease (1960), Arrow of God (1964), A Man of the People (1966), and, most recently, Anthills of the Savannah (1987). Achebe’s literary career has focused on the contact and conflict between the Igbo culture of Nigeria and British culture.

These themes emerge in his novels, as well as throughout his many essays, poems, and children’s stories. His works have been translated into more than 50 languages. The recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, Achebe has been considered for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

He has also played a leading role in the development of African literature as a writer and through his support of other African writers. In 1971, he founded Okiki: An African Journal of New Writing. In 1982, he founded the Association of Nigerian Writers and later helped develop the Heinemann African Writers Series, which publishes more African writers than any other publishing house.

“At UMass Boston, Chinua Achebe’s books are required reading in courses in five different departments, a record not remotely approached by any other writer,” says Gora. “His presence at our commencement symbolizes, in the strongest way possible, the importance of an inclusive view of world cultures and the community of nations at time when it is so strongly needed.”

Also honored for his achievements, Russell won 11 championships in 13 seasons with the Boston Celtics and coached the team to two of those championships. Named the “Twentieth Century’s Greatest Champion” by Sports Illustrated, Russell is the subject of an HBO documentary. “Bill Russell needs no introduction for most Bostonians,” says Gora. “We admire his ability as a basketball player, coach, and announcer as well as the post- basketball career that he has forged with his business interests, his current book, his speaking engagements, and the role that he plays in the public life of Boston.”

Throughout his career, success has followed Russell. In high school, he played all-state. In college, he played for the University of San Francisco, and the team won National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) titles in 1955 and 1956. He played on the gold-medal-winning U.S. team at the Olympics. In 1966, he became a player-coach for the Celtics, the first black head coach in major league professional sports, and won two more championships before he retired in 1969.

He scored more than 14,000 points in his career and was voted the NBA’s most valuable player in 1958, 1961, 1962, 1963, and 1965. He became a television sports announcer and later coached the Seattle SuperSonics and the Sacramento Kings. He remains a presence on the Boston scene as an author and restaurant owner, doing public relations work for the Celtics, and lecturing on his book Russell Rules: 11 Lessons on Leadership from the Twentieth Century’s Greatest Winner.

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