Four hundred and forty degrees and diplomas and nine honorary degrees were conferred today by Yeshiva University at its 31st annual commencement exercises which ended the University’s year-long 75th anniversary celebration. Among those receiving honorary degrees were Avraham Harman, Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Senator Kenneth B. Keating, New York Republican, and Mayor Robert F. Wagner.
In addition to his own honorary degree, Ambassador Harman picked up a Hebrew Teacher’s Diploma awarded to his son, David, 18, in absentia. The youth is now serving in the Israel Army. He graduated from Yeshiva University High School for Boys last June and attended the Teachers Institute for Men while in the United States. Called into military service soon after his high school graduation, he completed the last of his Teachers Institute examinations in Israel and therefore was awarded his diploma.
Dr. Samuel Belkin, University president, awarded 226 undergraduate and 214 advanced degrees to graduates of ten of the University’s 17 schools and divisions. Separate exercises to be held by the other schools will raise the total number of degrees and diplomas awarded this month to 853.
Dr. Albert B. Sabin, discoverer of the oral anti-polio vaccine bearing his name, received the Mordecai ben David Award, established in 1940 by the late Enrico Garda, Ambassador from San Marino to France. The award is presented to the person who has been judged to have most advanced “self-respect, independence and courage among members of the Jewish faith.”
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