IIT President John L. Anderson

John L. Anderson, president of Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), will receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree during the Shimer College Commencement ceremony at 2 p.m. in Hermann Hall on IIT’s Main Campus on Saturday, May 2, 2015.

Anderson, who will be resigning as president this summer to teach classes at IIT, embraced Shimer’s move to rented space on IIT’s Main Campus in 2006, which provided Shimer students with more dining and residential options along with access to IIT’s facilities such as the library, athletic department, and health services. “I am honored to receive this honorary degree from Shimer College,” said Anderson. “I am proud to have been part of this unique partnership between Shimer and IIT, and look forward to continued collaboration between the two institutions.”

Susan E. Henking, president of Shimer College, will present the degree thanking President Anderson for welcoming Shimer College onto IIT’s Main Campus and for creating a culture of collaboration between the two institutions. “As president, John Anderson has led the transformation and renewal of IIT and welcomed Shimer—and me—to an increasingly strategic partnership,” said Henking. “With this honorary degree, we express our gratitude and our recognition that through his commitment to educating students for the future we are enriched.”

Located minutes from the Loop in Chicago, Shimer College is an independent, four-year, liberal arts college that enrolls approximately 150 students. Founded in 1853 as Mount Carroll Seminary, Shimer today provides a comprehensive, regularly reviewed core curriculum that brings foundational books of the liberal arts to bear on pressing problems of our time. The core values informing education at Shimer are free inquiry, dialog, critical open-mindedness, and integration of disciplines. Shimer College is committed to a primary-source and textbook-free curriculum, seminars of 12 or fewer students, and an ethos of community and service within a diverse group of students, scholars, and staff.