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Former Syracuse University men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim will receive an honorary degree during SU’s 2024 commencement ceremony, according to a Friday news release.

Boeheim, who spent 47 years as Syracuse’s head coach before retiring last school year, is one of five who will receive degrees next month. Hilton Als, William “Bill” Brodsky, Joan Breier Brodsky and Lynn Conway will also receive degrees, the release states.

During Boeheim’s tenure as head coach, the Orange made 35 trips to the NCAA Tournament and five Final Four appearances. Boeheim led the team to a national championship victory in 2003.

Boeheim was an SU men’s basketball walk-on in 1963 and played on the team until 1966. Before being named head coach in 1976, he was an assistant under Roy Danforth. Boeheim was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005 and also received the John R. Wooden “Legends of Coaching” award.

Hilton Als is currently a staff writer at The New Yorker and a teaching professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He has received several awards for his work, including a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2017.

Joan Breier Brodsky graduated from SU’s College of Arts and Sciences in 1967 and then went on to receive a master’s degree in 1968 from its School of Information Studies, the release states. She was appointed to the National Museum and Library Services Board by President Joe Biden in 2022.

Breier Brodsky has served on SU’s Libraries Advisory Board since its founding and previously sat on the Advisory Board for the School of Information Studies. She and her husband William “Bill” Brodsky funded the Conservation Lab and the Joan Breier Brodsky Media Preservation Vault at Bird Library in 2022.

Brodsky is an alumnus of Arts and Sciences and SU’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, where he received an undergraduate degree in 1965. He also earned a law degree from its College of Law in 1968.

Brodsky is chairman of Cedar Street Asset Management, LLC. — an investment management firm based in Chicago, Illinois. He was also named co-chair of Illinois’ Pension Consolidation Feasibility Task Force by Governor J.B. Pritzker in 2019, according to the release.

He was inducted into The Order of Lincoln, Illinois’ “highest honor for professional achievement and public service” in 2022, the release states.

Lynn Conway is a computer scientist who “revolutionized global information technology” by inventing very large scale integrated (VLSI) silicon chips. Conway is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for the invention of VLSI in 2023.

Boeheim, Als, Breier Brodsky, Brodsky and Conway will be awarded their honorary degrees during SU’s spring 2024 commencement ceremony — which will occur on Sunday, May 12, in the JMA Wireless Dome.

Published on April 19, 2024 at 6:33 pm

Contact Griffin: gbrown19@syr.edu