The Conferring of Honorary Degrees
William A. Berggren '52

Citation Presented by Marcus M. Key, Professor of Geology
Conferring of the degree by William G. Durden, President

William A. Berggren , we honor you today as an alumnus and a leader in the global scientific community.

Following your childhood in New York City , you came to Dickinson College and graduated in 1952.  You went on to become a leader in biostratigraphy which is a cross-discipline of biology and geology that uses the evolution of fossil species to determine the timing of events in the history of our planet.  You once wrote that, "the biostratigrapher occupies a position unique in the earth sciences.... He is the high priest of time itself."  Geology is often considered the science of time, and your work on global stratigraphy led to the adoption of the new majorly revised international geologic time scale in 2004.  This publication has kept you in the center of a heated debate about the new Cenozoic periods.  Your work on Cenozoic boundaries provides an unparalleled historical and contemporary synthesis of the work done on Paleogene stratotypes since the time of Lyell.  Your unique ability to synthesize lots of disparate information is one of the reasons you have the distinction of being the only living Dickinson alumnus to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Your species of choice are Cenozoic foraminifera, microscopic protists that lived 65 million years ago to the present.  You study their morphology and evolutionary relationships from samples taken from rock outcrops and deep sea sediment cores from around the world.  Dickinson prepared you to engage the world as your global research took you from Carlisle to Houston , Stockholm , Russia , Libya , India , France , Panama , and to Egypt .  When home, you settled at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution where you made your most important contributions. Upon your retirement, you moved to Rutgers University to be with your wife in the geology department where you continue your curiosity-driven life today.

Mr. President, I am honored to present to you Dr. William A. Berggren, class of 1952, for the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Geology.

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William Berggren , upon the recommendation of the Faculty to the Board of Trustees, and by its mandamus, I confer upon you the Degree of Doctor of Geology, with the rights, privileges, and distinction thereunto appertaining, in token of which I present you with this diploma and cause you to be invested with the hood of Dickinson College appropriate to your degree.

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