John Hope Franklin, considered by many as one of the greatest historians of the twentieth century, was born in Rentiesville, Oklahoma, in 1915. His grandfather had been a slave.
A member of the faculty at the University of Georgia, he will spend the remainder of the academic year as the Allen Boeing Endowed Chair and Distinguished Professor of Education at Seattle University.
Patrena N. Benton was the assistant vice president for academic affairs and director of the Edwin P. McCabe Honors Program at Langston University in Oklahoma.
Professors Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford and Gloria Ladson-Billings of the University of Wisconsin are among the first three recipients of honorary degrees in education from the University of Alicante.
He has served in a number of leadership posts in higher education, most recently as chair of the board of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.
The president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will be given an award at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
He was named associate dean for diversity in the division of biology and medicine and director of the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs at the Warren Alpert Medical School.