Pappajohn, Dalai Lama proposed for honorary Iowa degrees

Noted Iowa philanthropist John Pappajohn and the 14th Dalai Lama are among the people recommended for six honorary degrees from Iowa's regent universities.

Honorary degree recommendations from the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa will go to the state Board of Regents on Wednesday for approval.

UI officials plan to confer an honorary doctor of humane letters on Pappajohn, a UI graduate and donor, at spring commencement. John and Mary Pappajohn over the years have donated nearly $40 million to the UI, including a $26.4 million gift last year.

The UI also wants to confer this spring an honorary doctor of humane letters to Arthur Neu, a former lieutenant governor and former regent.

ISU officials recommend an honorary doctor of humane letters in spring 2011 for Charles Manatt, an ISU graduate and attorney who has served as U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic, chairman of the Democratic National Committee and co-chairman of the Clinton/Gore campaign.

UNI plans an honorary doctor of humane letters for the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, this spring. The Dalai Lama will visit campus in May.

UNI officials also want to award an honorary doctor of literature to author and professor Mildred Kalish this spring, and an honorary doctor of humane letters to Stephen J. Rapp at the winter commencement. Rapp was chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the Special Court for Sierra Leone.