John Jay’s 2024 Honorary Degree Recipients
May 16, 2024
To: The John Jay College Community
Re: John Jay’s 2024 Honorary Degree Recipients
It is with great pride that I announce John Jay’s 2024 honorary degree recipients:
Dr. Elijah Anderson and Ambassador Julissa Reynoso Pantaleón. Each of these celebrated scholars is known both nationally and internationally for their steadfast dedication to issues of justice.
Dr. Elijah Anderson is the Sterling Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Yale University. The Sterling Professorship—awarded to a tenured faculty member thought to be one of the best in the field—is the highest academic rank the university bestows. Dr. Anderson is also a Stockholm Prize Laureate in Criminology. His work explores race relations, urban inequality, ethnography, cultural sociology, and social deviance—all of which he is considered a leading authority. The numerous award-winning books, articles, chapters, and reports he has written and edited on the Black experience in America put our country’s ever-shifting race relations in an unflinchingly clear focus. Dr. Anderson’s 1999 book, Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City, won the Komarovsky Award from the Eastern Sociological Society. Its sobering reflection on Philadelphia’s cultural divides, etiquettes, and codes to survive has served as a valuable resource to many John Jay College faculty members and students. His latest book, Black in White Space: The Enduring Impact of Color in Everyday Life, demonstrates how Black people perpetually navigate negative presumptions and stereotypes. Dr. Anderson earned his bachelor’s degree at Indiana University, his master’s degree at the University of Chicago, and his doctorate at Northwestern University. Dr. Anderson, who will be receiving a Doctor of Humane Letters, was nominated by Dr. Mangai Natarajan.
Julissa Reynoso Pantaleón is the current United States Ambassador to Spain and Andorra. She is an experienced diplomat, policymaker, lawyer, and member of the Council of Foreign Relations and the American Law Institute. Prior to her current position,
Ambassador Reynoso served in the Biden-Harris Administration as an Assistant to President Joe Biden and Chief of Staff to First Lady Dr. Jill Biden. Under President Barack Obama, she served as U.S. Ambassador to Uruguay, making her the youngest ambassador appointed to the position and the only Dominican American to serve in the role.
Ambassador Reynoso moved to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic when she was 12 years old. She was raised in the Bronx, graduated from Harvard, earned her master’s degree from Cambridge University, and obtained her law degree from Columbia Law School. Ambassador Reynoso was the editor of the “Columbia Journal for Transnational Law,” worked as an attorney at the law firm of Simpson Thacher, & Bartlett LLP, and became a partner at Winston & Strawn LLP, as well as Chadbourne & Parke LLP. Ambassador Reynoso, who will be receiving a Doctor of Laws, was nominated by Dr. Edward Paulino.
We are excited to welcome Dr. Anderson and Ambassador Reynoso to the Bloodhound family during our 57th Commencement ceremony on May 28th. I am confident their words will inspire the Class of 2024 to be change agents for a more just society.
Thank you,
Karol V. Mason
President
John Jay College of Criminal Justice