On December 1, 2008, Kennedy received a final honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Harvard University, his own undergraduate alma mater.[9] The University President Drew Gilpin Faust chose to honor Kennedy at a special ceremony, after the initial commencement awarding had to be postponed due to Kennedy's ongoing battle with a brain tumor.[9] Kennedy became only the fourth person to receive such a special ceremony from Harvard, following George Washington, Winston Churchill, and Nelson Mandela.[9]
Kennedy released a statement saying he was "deeply grateful" for the "extraordinary honor". "I have always prized the opportunity to work with the British government and strengthen and deepen the role of our two countries as leading beacons of democracy in the world", Kennedy said. "So for me this honor is moving and personal—a reflection not only of my public life, but of things that profoundly matter to me as an individual".
In 2006, Kennedy received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems.[20]
In 2007, Kennedy was awarded the Esperanza Leadership Award at the 2007 National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. for his endeavors for comprehensive immigration reform.[21]
Kennedy received the Order of the Aztec Eagle in July 2008 in recognition of his support for immigrants' rights. The order is the highest decoration that the Mexican government can bestow upon a foreigner.[22]
On September 23, 2008, Kennedy was presented with the Order of Merit of Chile (Grand Cross class) by the Chilean President Michelle Bachelet for Kennedy's dedication to human rights and his support of the Chilean people during the country's years under a military regime. The Order is Chile's highest civilian award.[23][24][25]
In 2009, Kennedy received the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards[26] (not to be confused with the Heinz Award of the Heinz Family Foundation).
On March 10, 2009, it was announced that Kennedy would receive the National Association of State Boards of Education's Lifetime Achievement Award, for his contributions to public education during his time as a senator.[28]
On June 26, 2009, Kennedy received the Henry Clay Medallion for Distinguished Service from the Henry Clay Memorial Foundation, in recognition of his record of bipartisan collaboration in the Senate.[30]
On September 15, 2009, three weeks after Kennedy's death, it was announced by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees that Kennedy had been given its annual Nansen Refugee Award for "his achievements as an unparalleled champion of refugee protection and assistance for more than 45 years." The statement also reads: "UNHCR is grateful it was able to inform Senator Kennedy of the Nansen Committee's decision in June, and deeply saddened by his passing."[32]
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy was presented with a grant of arms for all the descendants of Patrick Kennedy from the Chief Herald of Ireland. The arms of the Kennedy family are black with three gold helmets depicted upon it, within a border that is divided into red and ermine segments, and strongly alludes to the symbols in the coats of arms of the O'Kennedys of Ormonde and the Fitzgeralds of Desmond from whom the family is believed to be descended. The crest is an armored hand holding four arrows between two olive branches, elements taken from the coat of arms of the United States of America and also symbolic of Kennedy and his brothers. The coat of arms is described in heraldic terms as, Sable three helmets in profile Or within a bordure per saltire gules and ermine, and the crest is, Between two olive branches a cubit sinister arm in armor erect the hand holding a sheaf of four arrows points upward all proper on a torse Or and sable, while the mantling is gules doubled argent.[34]
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The University of Dublin, corporately designated as the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a research university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dublin. It was founded in 1592 when Queen Elizabeth I issued a royal charter for Trinity College as "the mother of a university", thereby making it Ireland's oldest operating university. It was modelled after the collegiate universities of Oxford and Cambridge, but unlike these affiliated ancient universities, only one college was ever established; as such, the designations "Trinity College Dublin" and "University of Dublin" are usually synonymous for practical purposes.
John Robert Lewis was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville sit-ins and the Freedom Rides, was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1963 to 1966, and was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington. Fulfilling many key roles in the civil rights movement and its actions to end legalized racial segregation in the United States, in 1965 Lewis led the first of three Selma to Montgomery marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where, in an incident that became known as Bloody Sunday, state troopers and police attacked Lewis and the other marchers.
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases honoris causa or ad honorem . The degree is typically a doctorate or, less commonly, a master's degree, and may be awarded to someone who has no prior connection with the academic institution or no previous postsecondary education. An example of identifying a recipient of this award is as follows: Doctorate in Business Administration (Hon. Causa).
Rita Frances Dove is an American poet and essayist. From 1993 to 1995, she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She is the first African American to have been appointed since the position was created by an act of Congress in 1986 from the previous "consultant in poetry" position (1937–86). Dove also received an appointment as "special consultant in poetry" for the Library of Congress's bicentennial year from 1999 to 2000. Dove is the second African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, in 1987, and she served as the Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2004 to 2006. Since 1989, she has been teaching at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where she held the chair of Commonwealth Professor of English from 1993 to 2020; as of 2020, she holds the chair of Henry Hoyns Professor of Creative Writing.
Arthur Mitchell was an American ballet dancer, choreographer, and founder and director of ballet companies. In 1955, he was the first African-American dancer with the New York City Ballet, where he was promoted to principal dancer the following year and danced in major roles until 1966. He then founded ballet companies in Spoleto, Washington, D.C., and Brazil. In 1969, he founded a training school and the first African-American classical ballet company, Dance Theatre of Harlem. Among other awards, Mitchell was recognized as a MacArthur Fellow, inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame, and received the United States National Medal of Arts and a Fletcher Foundation fellowship.
Victoria Anne Kennedy is an American diplomat, attorney, and activist who presently serves as the United States Ambassador to Austria since 2022. She is the widow and the second wife of longtime U.S. senator Ted Kennedy.
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↑ Brown, Gordon (March 4, 2009). "In full: Brown's speech to Congress". BBC News. Retrieved 4 March 2009. Northern Ireland is today at peace and happiness, more Americans have health care, more children around the world are going to school, and for all those things we owe a great debt to the life and courage of Senator Edward Kennedy. And so today, having talked to him last night, I want to announce that Her Majesty The Queen has awarded an honorary Knighthood for Sir Edward Kennedy.
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