Professors honored during commencement
Professors Herrington Bryce of the Mason School of
Business and Paul Marcus of the William and Mary Law School were
honored during the College’s commencement ceremonies. Bryce was named
the recipient of the 2006 Thomas Ashley Graves Jr. Award. Marcus
received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award.
About Bryce,
President Gene Nichol said, “He abides no shortcuts in his unwavering
commitment to enhancing the learning and development of his students.
Students and colleagues alike describe him as a role model and mentor
whose infectious and disciplined thirst for learning has profoundly
influenced them for the good.”
Bryce has served as a member of
the Treasury Board of the State of Virginia, as president of the
Carlogh Corporation, as vice president of the National Academy of State
and Local Governments, as director of research for the Joint Center for
Political and Economic Studies and as senior economist at the Urban
Institute.
The Graves Award is given annually in recognition of
sustained excellence in teaching to honor Graves, who retired in 1985
after nearly 14 years as president of the College of William and Mary.
Since
joining the law faculty in 1992, Marcus, the College’s R. Hugh and
Nollie Haynes Professor of Law, has received many awards for his
commitment to scholarship and instruction, including the law school’s
John Marshall Award and the Walter L. Williams Jr. Memorial Teaching
Prize.
“Today, we honor him for the spirit with which he gives of himself—especially to those in need,” President Nichol said.
For
the past several years, Nichol said, Marcus has served as a mentor to
middle-school and elementary-school students through the Big Brothers
Big Sisters organization, and he was named the group’s 2004 Volunteer
of the Year.
Marcus also has founded a law and literature
program at the Central Virginia Regional Jail, where he and law
students visit inmates once a month. He currently heads up the national
committee on the Right to Counsel Initiative of the Constitution
Project, which is a massive effort to examine defendants’ rights in
criminal cases across the country, and volunteers his time to work with
Habitat for Humanity.
