Photo courtesy of Washington Speakers Bureau

World-renowned neurosurgeon Benjamin S. Carson will be the featured speaker at Rensselaer’s 197th Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 17. The ceremony will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Harkness Field on campus followed by a festive celebration picnic held on the ’86 Field.

Carson, who will be awarded an honorary doctorate of science, has been director of the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins since 1984. He walked into the world spotlight in 1987 when he led a medical team that successfully separated West German conjoined twins who were connected at the cranium, the first time this kind of surgery was performed. Both children survived.

Ten years later in 1997, Carson led a team of South African doctors in the first successful separation of twins at the top of the head, establishing a technique that has since saved the lives of hundreds of hopelessly ill children. At 33, Benjamin Carson became the youngest ever chief of pediatric neurosurgery in the U.S. The techniques he developed have saved the lives of hundreds of children.

“Dr. Carson is a brilliant, gifted surgeon who has received many honors and has continued to pioneer new surgical techniques to improve the lives of patients, especially children. He is an extraordinary role model and an inspirational speaker with a message of hope in the human mind and spirit.” —Shirley Ann Jackson —

“Dr. Carson is a brilliant, gifted surgeon who has received many honors and has continued to pioneer new surgical techniques to improve the lives of patients, especially children,” said Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson. “He is an extraordinary role model and an inspirational speaker with a message of hope in the human mind and spirit.”

Born into poverty, Carson knows what it takes to beat the odds. His father abandoned the family when he was 8, but his mother encouraged him to learn, and he was transformed from a fifth-grade "dummy" to a top scholar.

Carson is the author of three best-selling books, Gifted Hands, Think Big, and The Big Picture. All three incorporate his belief that discipline and exhibiting good character are at the core of true success. He earned a scholarship to Yale University, then graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School.

Rensselaer also will bestow honorary degrees on Nobel Prize winners Robert Solow and Richard Smalley, philanthropist Morris “Marty” Silverman, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, and State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

For more information on these honorary-degree recipients, please click here.