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Citation conferring an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree on Andrew B. Kirkpatrick Jr.

5:23 p.m., Jan. 7, 2006--Treasured adviser to the University of Delaware, you served with distinction for 21 years as a member of the Board of Trustees and as chairman of the board for 11 of those years. With your vision and perseverance, you led the University to a place of true distinction and prominence among institutions of higher education.

During your tenure, more than 30 buildings were acquired, built and dedicated, including such impressive facilities as the Bob Carpenter Sports/Convocation Center, Gore Hall, Trabant University Center and Rullo Stadium. The quality of these facilities is a witness to your unwavering commitment to provide the best living and learning environment for our students and faculty. In 2003, upon your retirement from the board, you were named honorary counselor to the Board of Trustees.

Esteemed lawyer, you have made the pursuit and attainment of justice your life’s work and have, thereby, enriched countless lives in the state, nation and the world. You have inspired us by your search for truth and good, adhering to an admirable guiding sense of duty and obligation. Beginning your career as law clerk to the late Chief Judge John Biggs Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, you worked over 40 years with the Wilmington law firm of Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell, principally in litigation. You now serve in the position of counsel to the firm. In addition, you have served as president of the Delaware Bar Association, as a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and as a member of the American Law Institute and the American Bar Association. You have been recognized by the American Judicature Society for your “outstanding contributions to the improvement of the administration of justice.”

Dedicated public servant, during the Korean War, in 1951-53, you served as 1st lieutenant in the Army, primarily with the 31st Infantry Regiment. You received the Combat Infantryman’s Badge and the Army Commendation Medal.

Later, your public service continued in your positions as chairman of the Delaware Supreme Court’s Censor Committee, as chairman of the Kennett Pike Association and as chairman of the Governor’s Committee on Organized Crime. You were awarded the Governor’s Order of the First State for “meritorious service on behalf of the citizens of the state of Delaware.” You have been gifted with conduct guided by a fundamental belief in and search for equity and justice, and you are admired for you resoluteness in matters of principle.

Tireless advocate for excellence in education, you received your bachelor’s degree cum laude from Davidson College, where you were elected to Phi Beta Kappa. You received your law degree magna cum laude from Harvard University, where you were a member of the Harvard Law Review. You have served as a trustee of The Tatnall School and as a trustee of the Unidel Foundation. In recognition for your many years of service to the University of Delaware, the Andrew B. Kirkpatrick Jr. Chair in Writing in the Department of English was established. The chair was created to recognize and encourage extraordinary proficiency in teaching others to listen and read with penetrating analysis and understanding and to write with adroitness and simplicity.

Andrew B. Kirkpatrick Jr., your signature appears on more than 35,000 diplomas granted by the University of Delaware. The words I am about to say have been spoken by you at many Spring and Winter Commencement ceremonies and indeed at 17 honorary degree presentations presided over by you. How well you know the empowerment the following words bring to our graduates. They are as follows:

And now, under the authority of the Board of Trustees of the University of Delaware, I have the pleasure and honor of conferring upon you the degree for which you have been recommended and do declare you entitled to all the rights, honors and privileges to that degree appertaining throughout the world. In testimony thereof, I am pleased to present you the diploma officially signed and bearing the seal of the corporation. And it is my honor to welcome you to the distinguished body of University of Delaware alumni. May I also add that it is an honor to call you a True Blue Hen.

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