Moses to Receive Honorary Degree

Moses to Receive Honorary Degree


Two-time Olympic gold medalist and National Track & Field Hall of Famer Edwin Moses will be the recipient of an honorary degree at the University of Massachusetts Boston commencement ceremonies on May 29, 2009.


Moses will receive the degree of doctor of science, honoris causa, for his outstanding contributions as a three-time Olympic track and field medalist, champion of drug-free athletics, motivational speaker and chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy, an organization that promotes sporting activities for youth worldwide for the purpose of social change. Moses developed and advocated for the Athletes' Trust Fund to help support amateur athletes. His philanthropic involvement includes the Hughes Spaulding Children's Medical Center, the College Fund, Special Olympics, UNICEF, 100 Black Men of America, and the Inner-City Games. A financial consultant with the Salomon Smith Barney Group, Moses is also a professional motivational speaker. He shares the stories of his academic and athletic triumphs as incentives to achieving excellence.


As the world's dominant 400m intermediate hurdler for more than a decade, Moses authored one of the sport's most famous winning streaks, where over a span of nine years and nine months, he won 107 consecutive finals. A physics major at Morehouse College, the long-striding Moses quickly developed a new technique, taking an unprecedented 13 steps between hurdles throughout a race instead of the usual 14. A two-time Olympic gold medalist (1976, 1984), Moses was the 1983 and 1987 world 400m hurdles champion. He set the world record of 47.02 seconds on August 31, 1983, which lasted until 1992.


The 1981 Jesse Owens Award winner, Moses was the 1983 recipient of the AAU Sullivan Award presented to the nation's top amateur athlete. He was inducted into the National Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1994.


Joining Moses as recipients of honorary degrees will be Joseph Kennedy, former U.S. Representative and founder of Citizens Energy, and Sister Margaret Leonard, founder of Project Hope. U.S. Senator John Kerry will deliver the commencement address.


For more information on this event, visit: http://umb.edu/news/2009news/releases/april/kerry_spotlight.html

About USA Track & Field

USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, some of the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States.

For more information on USATF, visit www.usatf.org

Keith Conning: I had the pleasure of sitting next to Edwin Moses for two hours at a press conference for the Modesto Relays a number of years ago. He is a great ambassador for our sport.