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Marilyn C. Link to receive honorary degree

Four honorary degrees will be awarded during Binghamton University’s Doctoral Hooding Ceremony at 3 p.m. Friday, May 17, at the Events Center on campus. Marilyn C. Link, Voya Markovich, Nancy Wackstein ’73 and George Whitesides will each be honored.

Marilyn C. Link

A pioneering pilot, educator, philanthropist, and managing director of an oceanographic institute, Marilyn C. Link’s illustrious career has given her a breadth of experience and inspired generations of students at Binghamton University and other educational organizations.

She attended Syracuse University and graduated from the aviation and flight training program at Stephens College. She earned her bachelor’s degree in education from New York University and her master’s degree from the University of Illinois-Champaign.

The first managing director of the Harbor Branch Foundation, now the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI), she is now director emerita. HBOI recovered remains of the Challenger and promotes exploration, protection and wise use of the oceans’ resources.

Link has been integral to carrying out the mission of the Link Foundation which has provided grants totaling more than $13 million to universities, including Binghamton University, and non-profit organizations since its inception.

Her personal support in six figures, coupled with Link Foundation donations, has endowed the Edwin A. Link Organ Professorship, the Marion Clayton Link Endowment Fellowship in Creative Writing and the Marilyn C. Link Endowed Scholarship for Women in Finance, as well asf the Edwin A. Link and Marion Clayton Link Collections at the Binghamton University Libraries.

Through the Link Foundation, Link supported establishment of the Edwin A. Link Instructional Laboratory for the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science.

She is a member of Binghamton University’s Esther W. Couper Heritage Society, a Leadership Society member, recipient of the Alumni Association Award for Distinguished Service and the Watson School Founders Award, and an honorary life member of the Binghamton University Forum.

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