Past Speakers
2007
Thomas Friedman '75, columnist, New York Times
2006
El Hassan bin Talal, prince of Jordan
2005
Margaret Marshall, chief justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
2004
James D. Wolfensohn, president, World Bank
2003
Aharon Barak, president, Supreme Court of Israel
2002
Ted Koppel, anchor, ABC News "Nightline"
2001
Peter S. Lynch, vice chairman, Fidelity Investments
William Schneider
Provost Marty Krauss (left) hoods William Schneider as he accepts his honorary degree.
William Schneider is a leading U.S. political commentator.
A senior political analyst at CNN and a contributing editor to the National Journal and Atlantic Monthly, Schneider has been labeled “the nation's electionmeister” by the Washington Times. Campaigns and Elections magazine called him “the most consistently intelligent analyst on television.'' Washingtonian Magazine has named him one of the 50 most influential Washington journalists.
In 2001, the American Association of Political Consultants granted Schneider the Julian P. Kanter Award for Excellence in Television. In 2003, Harvard University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences awarded him its Centennial Medal. He has also received the Brandeis University Pride Award and the Alumni Achievement Award.
Schneider is coauthor of "The Confidence Gap: Business, Labor and Government in the Public Mind." He has written extensively for the Los Angeles Times, the New Republic and the Washington Post. His analysis appears on CNN's "The Situation Room," "Anderson Cooper 360," "Lou Dobbs Tonight," "American Morning," CNN Headline News and CNN International.
Schneider received a bachelor’s degree in politics from Brandeis in 1966 and a doctorate from Harvard, where he subsequently taught. He was the Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Visiting Professor of American Politics at Boston College from 1990 through 1995 and the Fred and Rita Richman Distinguished Visiting Professor at Brandeis in 2002.
Honorary Degree Citation
Author, incisive analyst, respected journalist, and political commentator.
In a lifetime of achievement marked by your contributions to American political discourse, you have fulfilled the promise your professors here at Brandeis saw in you many years ago. American democracy depends upon an educated citizenry, and we have been informed and inspired by the analyses you have provided in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and other leading publications, and as contributing editor to the Atlantic Monthly and National Journal.
Your political commentary encourages us to embrace and respond to the call for effective citizenship. Campaigns and Elections magazine named you “the most consistently intelligent analyst on television,” and the Boston Globe has called you “the Aristotle of American politics.”
You have served on the faculties at Harvard University and Boston College, and, here at Brandeis, as the Fred and Rita Richman Distinguished Visiting Professor, and you invited students to serve a cause greater than themselves.
In recognition of your contributions to the health of our democratic process and to the lives of students you have taught and inspired, Brandeis University is proud to bestow upon you its highest honor.
