We wish for you the view of apricot trees flowering on the road from the Potala to the Norbulingka. Awake, alert, mind ranging far in disciplined curiosity, you build a bridge between East and West for the sake of all who seek enlightenment. A butter lamp we light in veneration. Your principled refusal of the world's too-easy reliance on violence, confrontation, and demand points the path from the wildness of the human heart to the peace of the Tsangpo River flowing through the Land of Snows. The humility and mindfulness of your visage frame a Buddha's smile, tracing bemused and gentle kindness.
Pragmatism melds the courage of eagle, the mildness of dove.
As we mark, by your visit, the historic affiliation of our two great institutions, Emory and Drepung Loseling, we praise your example while bestowing on you the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa. He wrote the leading textbook in cell biology, The Molecular Biology of the Cell. A biochemistry professor at the University of California at San Francisco and president of the National Academy of Sciences since 1993, Alberts has taken the lead in establishing outreach programs in elementary and secondary schools. His Health Education Partnership program, which links scientists with students, has served as one of the models for Emory's own Elementary Science Education Partners program. Despite the blandishments of San Francisco and a tenured post at the laboratory bench and classroom lectern, you accepted the calling of your national colleagues and became an impassioned advocate of the scientific common good.