Bush receives rare honorary degree from Nanjing

Former U.S. president George Bush visited The Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies in Nanjing, China, on Oct.17 to receive an honorary degree from Nanjing University and to meet with students of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center.

The conferring of an honorary degree to a foreign national is a rare, if not unheard of, event in China. It may be the first time in history that such an honor has been offered and accepted by an American president. "It's quite unusual for a Chinese university to give an honorary degree to an American," said Anthony J. Kane, executive director of the Hopkins-Nanjing program, which began in 1986.

Bush has been a long-standing supporter of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, the only institution in the People's Republic of China where Chinese and non-Chinese students live and study together in an environment designed to enhance their capacity to interact with each other as professionals. This is his first visit to the center in his capacity as honorary chair of the Hopkins-Nanjing Council.

Talk on 'Making Your Money Dreams Come True'

Eileen B. Michaels, first vice president of investments at Legg Mason Wood Walker (New York), will give a talk titled "Making Your Money Dreams Come True," at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 28, in Shriver Hall on the Homewood campus. Part of the Wednesday Noon Series presented by the Office of Special Events, the lecture is free.

A single mother of two, Michaels left a career in nursing after 10 years to pursue a career in finance. She has been in the investment field nearly 20 years and now serves as a Legg Mason broker in Manhattan, with 600 accounts and some $65 million in assets under her management.

Her book, When Are You Entitled to New Underwear and Other Major Financial Decisions, was published by Charles Scribner & Sons in January 1997. Her unique approach to investing, which addresses the powerful psychological components of dealing with money, has been profiled on Bloomberg News Radio, CBS News, National Public Radio, Dow Jones Television and CNN-FN. She has been a featured speaker for Business Week and Money and a guest on The NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw.

Adult literacy advocate to receive Schweitzer Prize

Sharon Darling is considered among the nation's leading advocates for adult literacy. She also is developer of the model for the family literacy programs that since 1989 has served more than 60,000 individuals in all 50 states.

On Oct. 26, the founder and current president of the National Center for Family Literacy, based in Louisville, Ky., will be honored with the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism. The award, which carries a $15,000 cash prize, was established in 1986 by Alfred Toepfer, an international grain merchant from Hamburg, Germany, to advance the cause of humanitarianism by recognizing exemplary contributions to humanity and the environment. The prize is given under the auspices of the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation, in New York, and administered by Hopkins. Past recipients include author Norman Cousins, former U.S. surgeon general C. Everett Koop and former president Jimmy Carter.

The award presentation will be held at 3:30 p.m. at Evergreen House, 4545 N. Charles St. Admission is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.