Professor C Duncan Rice, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen, is in the United States this week to receive a prestigious honour from New York University.
Professor Rice will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at NYU's 172nd Commencement Exercises, on Thursday (May 12).
The event will see NYU's community of 20,000 graduates, parents and friends, gather in historic Washington Square Park for the traditional ceremony.
This accolade is a great compliment for Professor Rice, who spent over a decade at NYU, playing a key role in helping the University achieve its current stature as a world-renowned research institution.
He joined NYU in 1985 as Dean of Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. He was appointed as University Vice-Chancellor in 1991, a post he held until 1996, prior to taking up his post as principal at the University of Aberdeen.
Professor Rice is delighted about this award. He said: "I am overwhelmed by this honour.
"New York University is a great international university, and I was privileged to work there with some truly inspirational individuals.
"NYU is now one of the great universities of the highest quality, and prides itself on its long tradition of developing innovative research. I am privileged to have played a part in its recent outstanding achievements."
Professor Rice is one of five academic dignitaries to receive honorary degrees at Thursday's ceremony. These include Richard Parsons, Chairman and CEO of Time-Warner; Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency; Judith Ronin, outgoing president of the University of Pennsylvania, and Tatsuro Toyoda, senior advisor to the board of the Toyota Motor Corporation and an alumnus of NYU's Stern School of Business.
Prior to the presentation of the degree on Thursday, the Board of Trustees at NYU will host a dinner for Professor Rice and his fellow honorary degree recipients on Wednesday (May 12).
Professor Rice was born in Aberdeen in 1942, and took a first in history at the University of Aberdeen in 1964. He taught briefly at Aberdeen and completed an Edinburgh doctorate before spending much of his professional life at Yale and New York University.
Professor Rice has published widely as a professional historian. He is the recipient of many academic awards and honours, including fellowships and Harvard and Yale, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
He serves on the Board of Scottish Opera/Scottish Ballet, and is Vice-Chairman of Scottish Enterprise Grampian. He is Chairman of the UK Socrates-Erasmus Trust, and has been Chairman of the Circumpolar Universities Association.
Professor Rice is married to Susan Rice, the Chief Executive of Lloyds TSB Scotland. They have three children and live in Old Aberdeen.