President Richard C. Levin received an honorary degree on Nov. 23 from Oxford University, where he studied before coming to Yale to earn his doctorate in economics.

In a special joint ceremony, Levin and Harvard University President Neil L. Rudenstine, who also studied at Oxford, received the degree of Doctor of Civil Law in recognition of their contributions to education and to acknowledge the long-standing links between Oxford and leading American universities. Oxford officials noted that 20 percent of the 270 senior American scholars at British universities are at Oxford, and there are more than 600 American students currently studying at Oxford.

The honorary degrees were conferred by Oxford Chancellor Lord Jenkins of Hillhead. At the degree ceremony, a Public Orator, speaking in Latin, declared Yale's president to be "an outstanding economist, a great academic leader, and a highly valued public adviser." The Public Orator also noted that Levin's wife, Jane, also has an Oxford degree.

University Vice President and Secretary Linda K. Lorimer, who attended the ceremony, said, "It was a wonderful recognition of President Levin's leadership and of Yale's international stature."

While he was at Oxford, Levin attended a reception for Yale graduates studying at Oxford as well as a reception held in his and Rudenstine's honor at the American Embassy by the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, Patrick Lader, who also attended the honorary degree ceremony at Oxford. The Oxford audience also included Mary Louise Phillips Brewster, wife of the late Yale President Kingman Brewster, who received an honorary degree from Oxford in 1979, and who served as master of Oxford's University College in the late 1980s. Levin was also interviewed by the Times of London, which wrote about Yale's progress in recent years on a number of fronts, including the successful completion of the "... and for Yale" capital campaign.

Recent recipients of the Doctor of Civil Law degree from Oxford have included U.S. President Bill Clinton, President Mary Robinson of Ireland and President Nelson Mandela of South Africa.

Following his graduation from Stanford University, Levin went to Oxford's Merton College to study philosophy and politics, earning a B. Litt. degree in 1971.