A pioneering researcher in life sciences and biotechnology; a visionary leader in higher education and distinguished scholar; an innovative leader in health care and philanthropist; and an outstanding public administrator and a champion of democracy will be awarded honorary degrees by Syracuse University during Commencement exercises Sunday, May 15, at the stadium.
Nina V. Fedoroff ’66, a molecular biologist who has contributed to the development of modern techniques used to study and modify plants and an Emeritus Evan Pugh Professor of the Pennsylvania State University; Thomas Magnanti ’67, former dean of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) School of Engineering and Institute Professor and professor of operations research at the MIT Sloan School of Management; Howard “Howie” Phanstiel ’70, G’71, past chairman and CEO of PacifiCare Health Systems and a Syracuse University Life Trustee; Gloria Somolekae G’94, senior research fellow and head of the governance unit for the Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis, will be recognized during Commencement exercises for their distinguished accomplishments in their professional careers and in service to others.
Nina V. Fedoroff ’66
Doctor of Science
Nina Fedoroff
Fedoroff has pursued her curiosity in the basic foundations of animal and plant life through decades of research. A leading geneticist and molecular biologist, Fedoroff has completed fundamental research in the molecular biology of plant genes. Her research focuses on the improvement of agricultural plants, animals and microorganisms through modern molecular methods. Fedoroff’s best-known research investigates how plants transpose “jumping genes,” or transposable genetic sequences, which is foundational for plant gene cloning.
Fedoroff graduated summa cum laude in 1966 from Syracuse University with a dual major in biology and chemistry from the College of Arts and Sciences, and in 1972 earned a Ph.D. in molecular biology from The Rockefeller University. In 1978, she became a staff member at the Carnegie Institution of Washington and a faculty member in the biology department at Johns Hopkins University. In 1995, she joined the faculty of Penn State, where she founded and directed the multidisciplinary organization the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences; in 2002, she was appointed an Evan Pugh Professor, Penn State’s highest academic honor.
Fedoroff received the University of Chicago’s Howard Taylor Ricketts Award in 1990, the New York Academy of Sciences’ Outstanding Contemporary Woman Scientist Award in 1992, the Sigma Xi’s McGovern Science and Society Medal in 1997, Syracuse University’s Arents Pioneer Medal in 2003, the 2010 Leadership in Public Service Award of the American Society of Plant Biologists, and the 2013 Nevada Medal. She is a 2006 National Medal of Science laureate.
Along with her scientific discoveries in the lab, Fedoroff has elevated that knowledge to a wider audience, helping advise policymakers in matters of science and strongly advocating for the use of genetically modified organisms for the future of food production. She served as the science and technology adviser to Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton, as well as to U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Henrietta Fore. She served as Distinguished Professor of Biosciences at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia from 2011-14, establishing its Center for Desert Agriculture. She is currently serving as the senior science advisor to OFW Law in Washington, D.C.
The author of dozens of technical and non-technical publications, Fedoroff is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She has served on the boards of the NAS, the AAAS, the Genetics Society and the Sigma-Aldrich Chemical Company.
Thomas Magnanti ’67
Doctor of Science
Thomas Magnanti
A Syracuse native, Magnanti has led a distinguished professional career devoted to education that combines engineering and management with teaching and research in applied and theoretical aspects of large-scale optimization. Influenced by his father, who was a mathematician, Magnanti earned an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Syracuse University, and earned master’s degrees in statistics and mathematics and a doctoral degree in operations research at Stanford University.
While still a student at Stanford, Magnanti was recruited by MIT to join the faculty of the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he eventually served as head of the management science area, and has had an outstanding career at the institute. Magnanti, who was dean of MIT’s School of Engineering from 1999-2007, co-founded and led several centers and programs at MIT. He was the founding co-director of MIT’s Leaders for Manufacturing and System Design and Management programs, and was founding director of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART).
As dean, Magnanti focused on educational innovation, industrial and international partnerships, technology-based entrepreneurship, and diversity in innovation in emerging domains. He was instrumental in creating the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation and was a strong advocate and supporter of programs in entrepreneurship, such as the MIT $100K competition, which brings together students and researchers to launch their ideas into companies. To recognize his accomplishments, MIT appointed him as an Institute Professor, the highest title awarded to an MIT faculty member.
In 2009, Magnanti went on to become the founding president of the Singapore University of Technology and Design, serving until 2017. Magnanti propelled the development and advancement of the university that is focused on nurturing leaders who are technically grounded and innovators through a focus on design in interdisciplinary clusters. For his work developing higher education in Singapore, he was awarded the Public Administration Medal in 2018 by the government, as part of its National Day of Singapore.
Magnanti has served as president of the Operations Research Society of America and of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences. He has written numerous research articles and is the co-author of two textbooks, “Applied Mathematical Programming” and “Network Flows: Theory, Algorithms and Applications.” The recipient of many research awards and honorary degrees, Magnanti is a member of the prestigious U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Howard “Howie” Phanstiel ’70, G’71
Doctor of Humane Letters
Howard “Howie” Phanstiel
Phanstiel has held leadership roles in the public and private sectors, in the areas of health care, banking and finance, transforming organizations and programs, always focused on progress and the public good. Phanstiel earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the College of Arts and Sciences and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and a master of public administration from the Maxwell School. He is past chairman and CEO of PacifiCare Health Systems, one of the nation’s leading consumer health companies that eventually merged with UnitedHealth Group.
Earlier in his career, as a state financial executive in Wisconsin and Illinois, he supported efforts to expand homestead property tax relief for seniors and to provide home financing assistance to low- and middle-income consumers. He also provided leadership to overhaul the states’ financing systems. At the federal Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Phanstiel provided executive leadership in the formation of the administrative infrastructure for a new federal agency, the Health Care Financing Administration, now known as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Phanstiel joined PacifiCare Health Systems as executive vice president and chief financial officer in July 2000. In late 2000, he was named to PacifiCare’s board of directors, and was appointed president and chief executive officer. In February 2004, PacifiCare’s board of directors elected Phanstiel chairman and CEO. In December 2005, he led PacifiCare in its merger with UnitedHealth Group prior to retiring in April 2007. In recognition of the company’s efforts to become a leader in corporate governance Phanstiel received the Director of the Year Award from the Forum for Corporate Directors.
During his tenure at PacifiCare the company transformed into a leading consumer health organization by providing consumers more choice and enhanced information regarding physician and hospital cost and quality. He also refocused the company’s brand to produce a consumer health enterprise to serve the unique health care needs of widely diverse communities. Under Phanstiel’s leadership the company also established several diversity initiatives regarding recruitment and development of colleagues of widely diverse backgrounds. As a result of these efforts, Phanstiel and PacifiCare have been honored by such groups as the National Committee for Employer Support of the U.S. National Guard and Reserve, Seven Seals Award for Patriotic Employers, FORTUNE Magazine’s “50 Top Employers for Minorities,” the Orange County Black Chamber of Commerce, LatinaSTYLE’s “50 Best Companies for Latinas,” Hispanic magazine’s “Corporate 100/Best Places for Hispanics” and Asian Enterprise magazine’s “Best Companies to Work for Asian Americans.”
A staunch supporter of Syracuse University, along with his wife, Louise, a Board of Trustees member, Phanstiel has served the University and its students through his leadership roles on University committees, and as co-chair of the University’s second major Capital Campaign, which raised over a billion dollars. He has served as a mentor to students, including financial support to more than 80 Phanstiel Scholars through an innovative program designed to recognize students who engage in community service along with their academic pursuits. In support of faculty, the Howard G. and S. Louise Phanstiel Chair in Leadership was established by the couple. More recently, the Phanstiels provided support to the Forever Orange campaign for the student-athlete experience as part of an Athletics fundraising initiative—in tribute to the late Floyd Little ’67, H’16. His philanthropy also extends into a range of causes for the arts and health care, including a new emergency room medical center on Long Island’s East End.
Gloria Somolekae G’94
Doctor of Humane Letters
Gloria Somolekae
A barrier-breaking academic in her home country of Botswana and a dedicated public servant, Somolekae has been a leader in women’s rights, democracy and development in Botswana and throughout southern Africa. Somolekae, who earned a Ph.D. in public administration from the Maxwell School, was the first citizen of Botswana to earn a Ph.D. in public administration, and the first woman in the Department of Political and Administrative Studies at the University of Botswana—a trailblazer as one of only a small number of women in academics at the university at the time.
Somolekae earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration and political science from the University of Botswana and Swaziland in 1981. She then earned a master’s in public policy and administration at the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague in 1983, before coming to Syracuse.
After her studies, Somolekae returned to Botswana where she became a senior lecturer at the University of Botswana. She then worked in various policy advisor and director roles for foundations in Botswana, including as a policy advisor on rural development for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, before entering government service. The president of Botswana appointed her first to a position in the 10th Parliament of Botswana, and then to the position of deputy minister of finance and economic development. It was another first for the nation—the first woman to serve in a senior position in the Ministry of Finance. She was tasked by the president to review the country’s rural development; the Somolekae Report led to major policy shifts in the country’s rural development programs.
Along with her public service, Somolekae has had a deep presence in leading civic engagement projects, helping to energize voters and engage more citizens in politics in Botswana. She co-founded and directed the “Democracy Project” in Botswana, which was organized to help preserve and strengthen democracy through education of the public on their rights and responsibilities in a democracy and monitor elections. She was a board member of the organization Emang Basadi, which successfully challenged a number of laws that discriminated against women, and helped conceptualize the organization’s effort to encourage women to get involved in politics.
Currently, she serves as senior research fellow and head of the Governance and Administration Unit in the Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis. She is working to build capacity in governance, advocating for evidence-based policymaking.
In recognition of her public service and engagement with the citizenry, she was awarded the Presidential Order of Honour by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Botswana, the highest civilian honor in Botswana, in 2008; was named one of Botswana’s 50 Inspirational and Formidable Women by W.A.V.E. as part of Botswana’s independence celebrations in turning half a century in 2016; and was named by the All Africa Council of Churches, based in Kenya, as an Eminent Persons for Peace in Africa.
