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A renowned literary biographer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper
editor, the deputy secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department, an All-American
football standout and a distinguished environmental engineering professor
emeritus will receive honorary degrees May 21 from the University.
Recipients are:
* Joseph L. Blotner, professor emeritus of English at the University of
Michigan and a former Carolina professor whose biography of William Faulkner is
regarded as the finest guide to America's pre-eminent 20th-century novelist.
The Charlottesville, Va., resident will receive a doctor of letters degree.
* Walter Horace Carter, owner, editor and publisher of the Tabor City Tribune,
which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for taking on the Ku Klux Klan. A
University alumnus originally from Stanly County, he lives in Tabor City and
will receive a doctor of laws degree.
* Stuart E. Eizenstat, deputy secretary of the treasury and a Carolina alumnus
who credits his undergraduate days in Chapel Hill as the impetus for his career
in public service. A resident of Chevy Chase, Md., he will receive a doctor of
laws degree.
* Charles "Choo-Choo" Justice, a two-time All-American tailback who is among
the greatest athletes in Carolina history. A native of Asheville, he lives in
Cherryville and will receive a doctor of laws degree.
* D. Daniel A. Okun, one of the world's most famous environmental engineers
and Kenan professor emeritus and former environmental sciences and engineering
department chair at the School of Public Health. The Chapel Hill resident will
receive a doctor of science degree.
Recipients will be honored during a commencement ceremony beginning at 9:30
a.m. in Kenan Stadium. Eizenstat will be the featured speaker, and Interim
Chancellor William O. McCoy will preside.
Blotner
Blotner, an expert on the life of William Faulkner, is the author of a
two-volume work, Faulkner: A Biography, published in 1974 and a revised version
in 1984. He was co-editor of the Library of America's four volumes of
Faulkner's novels. Blotner's other works include an acclaimed Robert Penn
Warren biography in 1997 as well as books on the modern political novel and the
author J.D. Salinger.
Blotner, who grew up in Scotch Plains, N.J., taught at the universities of
Idaho and Virginia -- where he was that school's first writer-in-residence. He
also has been a visiting professor at the universities of Mississippi, Arizona
and Rome. At Mississippi, Blotner was the first William Faulkner lecturer. He
twice was a Fulbright lecturer at the University of Copenhagen.
Among several honors, Blotner twice has been named a Guggenheim fellow and is
a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers and an officer in the French
Legion of Honor. A graduate of Drew University, he earned a master's degree
from Northwestern University and a doctorate from the University of
Pennsylvania.
Carter
Carter earned a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1943 from Carolina,
where he was editor of The Daily Tar Heel and was inducted into the Order of
the Golden Fleece. He founded the Tabor City Tribune in 1946 and in the early
1950s used it to battle the Ku Klux Klan.
He secretly attended KKK meetings and wrote critical editorials and stories,
exposing him and his family to harassment and threats. His work helped convict
nearly 300 Klansmen, and 62 received fines and prison terms. The Tribune was
the nation's first weekly newspaper ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for
Meritorious Public Service, the most prestigious of the Pulitzer awards.
Carter donated his Pulitzer medal to the School of Journalism and Mass
Communication and has contributed to its long-awaited renovation of Carroll
Hall, completed last year.
Carter was inducted into the N.C. Journalism Hall of Fame, housed at the
School of Journalism and Mass Communication, in 1983. The News & Observer
of Raleigh recently named him to its list of the 100 most influential North
Carolinians of the 20th century.
Eizenstat
Eizenstat, the U.S. treasury's second-highest ranking official, has
worked for democracy and human rights in Cuba, justice for Holocaust victims
and much more to make the United States a force for good around the world.
Previously, he was an under secretary of state, winning a Distinguished Honor
Award; under secretary of commerce, establishing a center that monitors foreign
government compliance with U.S. trade agreements for the first time ever; and a
U.S. ambassador to the European Union, winning the Foreign Affairs Award for
Public Service, the highest award to a non-career ambassador. He served in the
White House during the Johnson and Carter administrations in posts including
chief domestic policy adviser.
Eizenstat graduated with honors in political science from Carolina in 1964 and
was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and the Order of the Old Well. He also
participated in the Hillel Foundation, Zeta Beta Tau fraternity, student
government and the student attorney general's office.
Justice
Justice, a member of Carolina's class of 1950, led the Tar Heels to
their first major bowl game. In all, the football teams he starred on competed
in two Sugar Bowls and one Cotton Bowl. The 1948 team finished third in the
final national standings, Carolina's best showing ever. He twice was runner-up
for the prestigious Heisman Trophy. Justice's school record for yardage gained
operating from a single-wing formation stood for 44 years. His on-the-field
accomplishments inspired a famous song, "All the Way Choo Choo," recorded by
Benny Goodman and Johnny Long, that sold by the thousands.
Justice played professionally for the Washington Redskins. He has been
inducted into the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame and recently received the Triangle
Chapter National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Distinguished
American Award.
A longtime insurance executive in Cherryville, he served on the University
Board of Visitors and in 1980 received the UNC General Alumni Association's
Distinguished Service Medal.
Okun
Okun chaired the department of environmental sciences and engineering
from 1955 to 1973. Under his leadership, the department grew from a traditional
sanitary engineering program to a prestigious environmental engineering program
that is widely regarded as one of the best in the world.
Okun's expertise in water supply and pollution control issues contributed
heavily to development of environmental sciences and engineering programs for
major universities around the globe. His work has influenced organizations such
as the World Bank, UNESCO and the World Health Organization.
Among his many honors, Okun received the University's Thomas Jefferson Award,
which recognizes faculty who best exemplify the ideals and objectives of
Jefferson. He holds a master's degree from the California Institute of
Technology and a doctorate from Harvard University. Okun was the first N.C.
engineer to be elected to the National Academy of Engineering and one of the
few U.S. engineers also to be elected to the academy's Institute of Medicine.
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