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Thursday, April 25, 2002
Contact: Peter Bailley
news@knox.edu
309-341-7715
Jonathan F. Fanton, President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Chairman of Human Rights Watch, will give the commencement address at Knox College on Saturday, June 8, 2002. Knox will award Fanton an honorary doctor of humane letters degree. (Download publication photo)
As president of the MacArthur Foundation since 1999, Fanton oversees one of the nation's ten largest philanthropic organizations. The foundation, which has $4.7 billion in assets, awards grants totaling in excess of $180 million annually, with emphasis on human and community development, education, the environment, international security, human rights, creativity and media.
Fanton also is chairman of Human Rights Watch, the largest U.S.-based human rights organization, which has affiliates in more than 70 nations and investigates human rights violations worldwide. He joined Human Rights Watch in 1986 and has been chairman since 1998.
"Jonathan Fanton is a world leader in philanthropy and in the continuing struggle for human rights and dignity," said Roger Taylor, President of Knox College. "Senior class officers and Knox trustees are to be commended for selecting a graduation speaker who has set an outstanding example of dedication to both education and community service."
Prior to joining the MacArthur Foundation, Fanton served as vice president for planning at the University of Chicago, as associate provost of Yale University, and as president of the New School University in New York. Under his leadership New School University, founded as the renowned New School for Social Research, integrated seven divisions and expanded its campus and endowment.
Fanton has undergraduate and doctoral degrees in history from Yale University.
Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with students from 47 states and 42 nations. Knox's "Old Main" is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.
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