UVA Darden Professor Ed Freeman Receives Honorary Doctorate from University of Tampere
By Emma D'Arpino
For his work in management, the Faculty of Management at the University of Tampere in Finland awarded University of Virginia Darden School of Business Professor Ed Freeman with an honorary doctorate.
The Finnish university noted that the title of an honorary doctor is the highest tribute a university can pay to an individual, and it only bestows the honor to a select few who have achieved accomplishments outside the academic world or have promoted scientific research exceptionally well.
Freeman, who was also recently honored by the Academy of Management with a lifetime achievement award, is renowned for the development and continued advancement of stakeholder theory — a fundamental concept in management.
Freeman was recognized for his work at a conferment ceremony in Finland, held 16–18 August. The ceremony was a three-day festive occasion for doctors and doctors honoris causa from different fields of science who were conferred doctoral degrees.
At this ceremony, doctors and doctors honoris causa were conferred their doctoral degrees and received the academic symbols of the hat and the sword. The hat symbolizes the freedom of science and is specifically a round shape because its bearer must give clear and natural answers to the questions that are posed to her or him, and she or he is not allowed to split hairs. The sword symbolizes sharpness of intellect and truth.
This honorary doctorate marks the fifth time Freeman has been recognized with the prestigious honor. Freeman also holds honorary doctorates from Comillas University in Madrid; The Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands, and University of Sherbrooke in Quebec, Canada.
In addition to these numerous honors and awards, Freeman also serves as an an academic director of Darden’s Institute for Business in Society and Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics and is a senior fellow at the Olsson Center for Applied Ethics.
The University of Virginia Darden School of Business prepares responsible global leaders through unparalleled transformational learning experiences. Darden’s graduate degree programs (MBA, MSBA and Ph.D.) and Executive Education & Lifelong Learning programs offered by the Darden School Foundation set the stage for a lifetime of career advancement and impact. Darden’s top-ranked faculty, renowned for teaching excellence, inspires and shapes modern business leadership worldwide through research, thought leadership and business publishing. Darden has Grounds in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the Washington, D.C., area and a global community that includes 18,000 alumni in 90 countries. Darden was established in 1955 at the University of Virginia, a top public university founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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