Environmental leader to speak at commencement
Entrepreneur and author sets the tone for commencement ceremony
Jessie Hethcoat
Issue date: 4/16/09 Section: News
Paul Hawken, a globally known environmental business entrepreneur is speaking at the University of Portland's 2009 Commencement on May 3.
Hawken, whose start in business stretches back more than 30 years when he and a colleague opened a garden tool store, has become a household name among people involved in the marriage of business and sustainability.
Hawken is also a prolific author whose books have sold more than two million copies and are read widely on college campuses across the country, including UP.
Hawken's address would seem to signal that environmental consciousness is the theme of this year's commencement. In addition to being the featured speaker, Hawken will receive an honorary doctorate from the University. He is joined by the Most Rev. William Skylstad, the bishop of Spokane, Wash. Dan O'Neill, Alaskan journalist and writer, will also be receiving the award, along with contemporary classical music composer Chen Yi. Nobel Prize winner Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, one of the world's most regarded opponents of the South African apartheid, will receive a doctorate among others.
Josef Zohrer of Salzburg, a friend and benefactor of the University's Salzburg program for many years, received an honorary doctorate in Austria from University President the Rev. E. William Beauchamp, C.S.C., late last year.
Steve Kolmes, director of UP's environmental studies program, considers Hawken one of the most important, if not the most important, figures in the environmental sustainability world.
Kolmes believes that Hawken's books have been incredibly influential, namely two of his first books, "The Ecology of Commerce" and "Natural Capitalism."
Both of these books changed the face of environmentalism, Kolmes said. "The Ecology of Commerce," in fact, was voted in 1998 as the best college text on business and the environment by professors in 67 business schools.
"'The Ecology of Commerce,' in many ways, set the tone for what environmental commerce would be like," Kolmes said. Of the other, "'Natural Capitalism," Kolmes said, "it is one of the most important books that has ever been written about the environmental world."
Hawken, whose start in business stretches back more than 30 years when he and a colleague opened a garden tool store, has become a household name among people involved in the marriage of business and sustainability.
Hawken is also a prolific author whose books have sold more than two million copies and are read widely on college campuses across the country, including UP.
Hawken's address would seem to signal that environmental consciousness is the theme of this year's commencement. In addition to being the featured speaker, Hawken will receive an honorary doctorate from the University. He is joined by the Most Rev. William Skylstad, the bishop of Spokane, Wash. Dan O'Neill, Alaskan journalist and writer, will also be receiving the award, along with contemporary classical music composer Chen Yi. Nobel Prize winner Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, one of the world's most regarded opponents of the South African apartheid, will receive a doctorate among others.
Josef Zohrer of Salzburg, a friend and benefactor of the University's Salzburg program for many years, received an honorary doctorate in Austria from University President the Rev. E. William Beauchamp, C.S.C., late last year.
Steve Kolmes, director of UP's environmental studies program, considers Hawken one of the most important, if not the most important, figures in the environmental sustainability world.
Kolmes believes that Hawken's books have been incredibly influential, namely two of his first books, "The Ecology of Commerce" and "Natural Capitalism."
Both of these books changed the face of environmentalism, Kolmes said. "The Ecology of Commerce," in fact, was voted in 1998 as the best college text on business and the environment by professors in 67 business schools.
"'The Ecology of Commerce,' in many ways, set the tone for what environmental commerce would be like," Kolmes said. Of the other, "'Natural Capitalism," Kolmes said, "it is one of the most important books that has ever been written about the environmental world."