POTSDAM -- John Lancaster of Potsdam, along with Bernard Amadei and T. Berry Brazelton will be awarded honorary degrees at Clarkson University's 118th commencement on Saturday, May 7.

Each will speak briefly to the students, their families and guests about a topic central to their success in life.

John Lancaster is the treasurer and a trustee of Handicap International Federation. He recently retired as the executive director of the National Council on Independent Living. From 2000-2004, he served as a policy advisor to the Vietnamese government and the U.S. Agency for International Development in developing disability law, policy and programs in Vietnam. From 1995-2000, he distinguished himself as the President's Committee's Executive Director in the Clinton administration in the formulation of disability employment policy.

Bernard Amadei is the founding president of Engineers Without Borders - USA and the co-founder of the Engineers Without Borders-International network. He is a professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder and faculty director of the Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities at CU Boulder.

Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, professor of pediatrics emeritus at Harvard Medical School, is one of the world's foremost authorities on pediatrics and child development. Author of more than 200 scholarly papers, he has also written 40 books on pediatrics, child development, and parenting.

Commencement weekend will also be marked by the commissioning of United States Army and Air Force ROTC officers on Friday, May 6.