Submitted by University of Puget Sound
University of Puget Sound will award honorary degrees to four exceptional individuals at the 2014 Commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 18. The following biographies describe the four honorands, who have excelled in their professional fields and in public service.
Amitav Ghosh is an internationally acclaimed writer and author of The Circle of Reason, The Shadow Lines, In An Antique Land, Dancing in Cambodia, The Calcutta Chromosome, The Glass Palace, The Hungry Tide, and Sea of Poppies, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2008. Born in India, Ghosh currently splits his time between Goa and New York. His work, which explores the nature of national identity, has garnered numerous literary awards and been translated into more than 20 languages. Ghosh also has written for The New Yorker, New Republic, and The New York Times. He has been a fellow at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences in Calcutta, and Centre for Development Studies in Trivandrum, India. In 1999 Ghosh joined the faculty at Queens College, City University of New York, as distinguished professor of comparative literature. He has been a visiting professor at Harvard University since 2005. Ghosh was educated at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi; Delhi School of Economics; and University of Oxford.
Rachel Martin ’96 began her career at public radio KQED in San Francisco, and later served as NPR’s foreign correspondent, reporting from Afghanistan, Iraq, London, and Berlin. Prior to hosting Weekend Edition Sunday, from fall 2012, Martin was NPR national security correspondent, covering defense and intelligence issues, and traveling to Iraq and Afghanistan. She began reporting from Afghanistan in 2003, and has covered everything from the U.S.-NATO fight against the insurgency to women’s issues in the military and in the Middle East. As a foreign correspondent for NPR and for ABC News (2005–07), she covered the London terrorist attacks, German federal election, and 2006 World Cup. Martin also reported on the changing demographics of the U.S. military, including the debate over whether women should fight in combat units and the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. While serving as NPR’s religion correspondent (2006–07), her piece on Islam in America was awarded Best Radio Feature by the Religion News Writers Association. Martin graduated from Puget Sound in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in politics and government and earned a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University.
Mark Pigott is a business leader and philanthropist. Currently executive chairman of PACCAR, he is the fourth generation of the Pigott family to lead the world’s third-largest maker of medium-and heavy-duty trucks, headquartered in Bellevue. Wash. He was named by Harvard Business Review as one of the top 50 CEOs in the world in 2009 and as Washington State CEO of the year in 2003. He is also among this region’s most prominent philanthropists and advocates for higher education and the fine arts. Pigott has supported environmental stewardship and promoted innovation and quality control, leading to new aerodynamic designs and hybrid vehicles at PACCAR. For his business and philanthropic leadership he was awarded Knights Cross of the Order of Merit (Hungary), Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, and numerous honorary degrees. At University of Puget Sound, the PACCAR Foundation supported the construction of Harned Hall and Wyatt Hall, in addition to funding an endowed scholarship and faculty research in the sciences. Pigott graduated from Stanford University with two bachelor’s degrees in industrial engineering and humanities, and a master’s degree in business.
James L. Walton was Tacoma’s first African-American city manager, and has earned a reputation as a distinguished citizen, public servant, human rights activist, and volunteer. Walton entered public service in 1970 as director of Tacoma’s Human Relations Department, and rose to city manager in 2003. His leadership has been critical in addressing issues of equality, in establishing health programs for the underprivileged, and in encouraging and rewarding student achievement in our community. A leader in the civil rights movement in the 1960s, he attended San Diego Community College, University of Puget Sound, and Tacoma Community College, establishing himself as one of the core leaders of the African-American community and one of the founders of Tacoma’s Black Collective. He continues to contribute to community businesses, government, education, and the arts.
For more information regarding University of Puget Sound’s 2014 commencement ceremony, click here.
