2008 Commencement-Honorary Degree REcipient, Thomas J. Cottle, PhD

The honorary doctorate is the highest academic recognition that a school can bestow. It is conferred on those whose life and work have demonstrated the highest standards of excellence in academics, professional practice, personal integrity and service to the community.

This degree is offered “honoris causa” or “out of respect or admiration.” A medieval tradition allows institutions of higher learning to waive the usual academic work that is the requirement of the doctor’s degree for those who have so distinguished themselves in the academy of life that their accomplishments warrant the recognition and the academy wants them to be among its committee of professors. Since these special people become alumni of the school, it is also a way for the institution to claim them as their own.

Honoree Dr. Thomas Cottle will be introduced by last year’s recipient of the MSPP Excellence in Teaching award, Dr. Ethan Pollack.

Before asking Tom to come up, let me share a part of an essay of his about catching a foul ball at Fenway Park. For a man who never had such a trophy, this was an honor to be prized, not given away to some random child, as the crowd urged. He left the park clutching the ball in his pocket, lest someone take it from him. He writes: “Lying in bed that evening, I felt I wanted someone to have that ball. At my age, after all, there will never be another one…this is the only baseball I shall ever have to give away. And you, my precious grandchild, are the only one I would ever want to have it.

If you feel self-conscious about receiving such a gift, you can say you found it somewhere. Who would ever know? If you don’t wish to play with it, you can always use it as a paper weight. But don’t do what I did on a few occasions as a child: throw it through a neighbor's window and then run like crazy.

If someone were to ask, “is this really a ball from a Major League game?” you could say with assurance that it is. And they would inquire, “yeah, but how do you know?” And you would answer: “Papa said in the Major Leagues before they are put into play, all the balls are dirtied slightly with mud from some bog in New Jersey.” At least I think this is true. They are not the pristine balls that come directly out of neatly packaged boxes. They are, in a word, one might say, slightly aged, slightly marred, noticeably imperfect. They look a little old, a little worn, but they are, inside, fresh, young, eager for action.

When I imagine you having this baseball, no matter where you might store it, you who are so beautiful, I know I would smile the smile of a child who just got his first baseball at a Big League game. And if I learned that you lost it, or even chose to give it away, it wouldn’t matter, for at least there was that moment when you held it. Which means you held, even for an instant, a tiny piece of me, and my history.

—Nicholas A. Covino, PsyD

Introduction by Ethan Pollack, PhD

It is a privilege to introduce Dr. Tom Cottle, and a challenge to fully capture his many achievements in a relatively brief fashion.  Dr. Cottle’s career encompasses more than four decades, and includes multiple academic appointments; memberships in professional organizations ranging from the American Psychological Association to the Federation of Television and Radio Artists; many academic and professional honors.  He had his own nationally televised TV program long before Dr. Phil hit the airwaves. He has authored of more than 30 books; and has a publications list which exceeds 575 entries.  My calculations put the numbers at nearly one book per year, and approximately 15 articles per year over the course of his career.  To say he continues to be productive is an understatement!

Dr. Cottle was born in Chicago, earned his B.A. from Harvard in 1959, and returned to Chicago and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago.  His numerous academic appointments include institutions such as Harvard, M.I.T., Boston College, Amherst College, and he is currently a Professor of Education at Boston University and maintains a private practice in Psychology.  Dr. Cottle received his clinical training at Children’s Hospital, Boston, Tavistock Clinic and Anna Freud Clinic in London.

His honors include a Young Psychologist Award from the American Psychological Association; a Guggenheim Fellowship; a fellowship from the Field Foundation; a National Television Broadcast Executives Award; and a Career Contribution Award from the Massachusetts Psychological Association.  He has also received special recognition awards from the Juvenile Diabetes Association, and the National Head Injury Foundation.  Along the way he found time to lend his expertise to a developing graduate school, The Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, through service on its Board of Trustees from 1989 to 2002.     

The range of topics about which Dr. Cottle writes is nothing short of remarkable.  They incorporate the personal, the psychological, and the social.  He has written about Busing, Education, Unemployment, and the struggles of minority children.  His most recent book, When The Music Stopped: Discovering My Mother, (published in 2004) recounts the story of his mother.  She was a woman who gave up a brilliant career as a concert pianist to be a mother, and then returned to the concert stage at the age of 80.

Lest one get the impression that Dr. Cottle is solely professionally driven it is most important to recognize that Dr. Cottle and his wife Kay, a high school teacher, will celebrate their 44th wedding anniversary later this month.  They have three children ranging in age from nearly 40 to 31, and have four grandchildren.  On a personal note I want to share a story about how Dr. Cottle and I nearly became family.  (This is a story I suspect he is not aware of!)  His children attended the Runkle School in Brookline where my wife Brenda was the Guidance Counselor for many years.  One year she brought our daughter, then in the fifth grade, to see the annual school play in which Dr. Cottle’s son

Jason had the lead (it was West Side Story).  Our daughter developed an instant crush on Jason, but alas it was from afar, so Dr. Cottle and I never closed that loop!

Dr. Tom Cottle truly represents all the components and characteristics of what we hope a good psychologist can become:  Imbued with a finely tuned sense of social justice, a keen ear for the clinical process, and a talent for conveying ideas to those outside the classroom and consulting room.  He is truly deserving of the honor we are bestowing upon him today.

Citation

Thomas Cottle, PhD
Psychologist, educator, author, social critic, artist

You walk where others have not; speak what we need to hear; write about matters of consequence; and introduce us to ourselves and to each other.

Whereas, you are a productive scholar with more than 500 publications and 30 books that address critical social, psychological and developmental issues, and

Whereas, your multifaceted career as an educator, psychologist, author, social commentator has spanned four decades and improved the lives of thousands of people, and

Whereas, you were among the very first psychologists in the country to bring the tools and talents of our discipline to the pubic through television, radio, newspapers and public appearances and you did so with competence and dignity that benefited our profession, and

Whereas, you have instructed generations of students, clinicians and educators and are an advocate for the disenfranchised and a voice for those who are often silenced, and

Whereas, you are an open and approachable man who has given generously of your time and talent to serve on committees and boards of professional and community agencies and to further their work and their agenda though your writing and counsel, and

Whereas, you are a most engaging storyteller who brings attention to the needs and concerns of adolescents, the poor and those who are frequently overlooked and who uses his artistry to capture the intricacies and subtleties of relationships and to reveal us to ourselves. 

By virtue of the authority invested in me by the Board of Trustees and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I confer upon you the degree Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, and invest you with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto.  In token, thereof, I hand to you this Diploma and direct that you be vested with the hood appropriate to your degree.

Updated 6/13/08