ANN ARBOR— Neeme Jarvi, music director of the Detroit
Symphony Orchestra, Grace Paley, author and poet, and
Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission, will
receive honorary degrees from the University of Michigan at
its winter commencement Dec. 19.

The U-M Board of Regents, at its Nov. 18-19 meeting,
approved the recommendations for honorary degrees.

Jarvi became the 11th music director of the Detroit
Symphony Orchestra in 1990, his first such position with an
American symphony orchestra. Internationally acclaimed for
his performances with orchestras and opera houses around
the world, he is also one of the world’s most recorded
conductors. He was born in Estonia where he made his
conducting debut at the age of 18. He became music
director of the Estonian Radio & Television Orchestra and
was appointed chief conductor of the Estonia Opera House in
Tallinn. In 1980, he and his family left the Soviet Union
and settled in the United States.

He will receive an honorary doctor of music degree
from U-M.

Paley, known primarily for her short stories, is also an essayist, poet and novelist. She has lived most of her life in New York City which provides the setting for many of her short stories. Her first collection, “The Little Disturbances of Man,” was published in 1959. In 1989, New York Gov. Mario Cuomo named her the first official New York State Writer. Paley also spent many years as an anti-war and peace activist, and was the founder of the Greenwich Village Peace Center. She has taught at Columbia University, Syracuse University and Sarah Lawrence College.

She will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters
from U-M.

Prodi, former prime minister of Italy, is president of the European Commission, which acts as the quasi-government of Europe. Prodi began his academic career at the University of Bologna in 1963, becoming professor of industrial organization and industrial policy in 1971.He was called to governmental service, first as Italy’sminister of industry in 1978-79 and was chairman, in 1982-89 and 1993-94, of the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction, the holding company that controlled most of Italy’s public enterprises. In 1995, he formed his own political coalition, which in 1996 won the Italian election and he became prime minister.

Prodi, who will receive an honorary doctor of laws
degree from U-M, will be the main speaker at the U-M
commencement.