Jacqueline Novogratz, founder and CEO of Acumen Fund, a non-profit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty, will speak and receive an honorary degree May 20 at Gettysburg College's 177th Commencement.

In addition to Novogratz receiving a Doctor of Public Service, honorary degrees will be presented to two individuals who are accomplished in their fields. The individuals and their degrees include Barbara Ehrenreich, a social critic, journalist, author and activist known for both nonfiction and investigative journalism, Doctor of Humane Letters, and Karl Mattson, former Gettysburg College Chaplain and founder of the Center for Public Service, Doctor of Divinity.

The 11 a.m. ceremony will take place – rain or shine – on the Beachem Portico on the north side of Pennsylvania Hall.

Graduates and their families can access all things Commencement, such as the complete schedule and information for graduates, at http://www.gettysburg.edu/commencement/2012/.

A link will be available on the College’s website May 20 that will allow for a free livestream of the Commencement ceremony.

Read on for more about each of the honorary degree recipients.

About Novogratz

Jacqueline Novogratz is founder and CEO of Acumen Fund, a non-profit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty. She has led the Acumen Fund since its launch in 2001, and under her leadership Acumen Fund has invested $40 million in over 35 companies serving 25 million low-income customers in the developing world.

Before establishing the Acumen Fund, Novogratz founded and directed The Philanthropy Workshop and The Next Generation Leadership program at the Rockefeller Foundation. She began her career in international banking with Chase Manhattan Bank and she founded Duterimbere, a micro-finance institution in Rwanda. She has acted as a consultant for the World Bank and UNICEF.

Novogratz currently serves on the Board of the Aspen Institute as well as the advisory councils of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and MIT’s Legatum Center. She is an Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow, a Synergos Institute Senior Fellow and has received such honors as Ernst & Young’s 2008 Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the 2009 CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) Leadership in Social Entrepreneurship Award and AWNY’s (Advertising Women of New York) 2009 Changing the Game Award.

She is a frequent speaker at international conferences, including the World Economic Forum, the Clinton Global Initiative and TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), a small non-profit devoted to ideas worth spreading.

Novogratz is also author of the bestselling memoir, The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World, which recounts her quest to understand world poverty and to find ways of tackling it. Novogratz has a B.A. in Economics/International Relations from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from Stanford.

About Ehrenreich

Barbara Ehrenreich is a social critic, journalist, author, activist and feminist known for both her nonfiction and investigative journalism. Although she received a degree in physics from Reed College and a Ph.D. in cellular biology from Rockefeller University, she chose political activism over science because of her interest in social change.

Her activism took her to a non-profit organization in New York City that advocated for better health care for the city’s poor. The organization put out a monthly bulletin, for which Ehrenreich wrote investigative stories.

The birth of her first child widened her interest in health care, and she became involved in what was then called the women’s health movement after experiencing sexism first hand. This concern led to the publication of Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers, co-authored with Deirdre English.

Her big break came, with a feature story for Ms. Magazine on the myth that feminism causes heart disease. It became a cover story and more assignments followed. Her work life settled into three tracks, which continue to this day: journalism; book-length projects on subjects that intrigue her; and activism on such issues as health care, peace, women’s rights and economic justice.

Ehrenreich has written for Time magazine, The Progressive, The New York Times, Mother Jones, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, Z Magazine, In These Times, salon.com and more. Among her many books are Nickel and Dimed, which plunged her into the nascent living wage movement, and Bait and Switch, which inspired her to do something new. In 1998, the American Humanist Association named her the Humanist of the Year.

About Mattson

Karl Mattson was born in East Orange, N.J., and settled in Rock Island, Ill. as a teenager, later graduating from Augustana College and Augustana Seminary (now the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago). After meeting his wife Marge, the pair moved to Buffalo, where they started a mission congregation.

From there the Mattsons moved to Yale, where he earned a Masters in Sacred Theology, and then to Brooklyn, where his attentions focused on forging a ministry that bridged the traditional Swedish congregation and the neighboring Hispanic community. Mattson’s ministry was in the forefront of transitioning urban churches, providing neighborhood outreach to the largely Puerto Rican community in which his church was located. Tutoring programs, street theater, after school activities for kids, and more filled his days.

For three years, Mattson put the ministry aside, and worked jackhammer construction in New York City and studied anthropology and cinema at NYU before moving back to Chicago’s South Side, plunging once again into the life of the inner city ministry.

In 1979, he accepted the position as College Chaplain at Gettysburg College. Week after week he graced the campus community with thoughtful sermons and inspiring prayers. He introduced countless people to the joy of service learning and to the centrality of social justice. He put a human face on issues of civil rights and intercultural understanding.

He was instrumental in bringing Habitat for Humanity to Gettysburg and in initiating an annual celebration of Martin Luther King’s birthday. He was the founding spirit behind Project Gettysburg/Leon, a sister city project which has taken many Gettysburgians to Nicaragua. He founded the College’s Center for Public Service in 1992 and left the College with a legacy of projects and relationships that will continue to mold and enhance the college experience for students and faculty alike.

Founded in 1832, Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences with a strong academic tradition. Alumni include Rhodes Scholars, a Nobel laureate, and other distinguished scholars. The college enrolls 2,600 undergraduate students and is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.

Contact: Nikki Rhoads, assistant director of communications, 717.337.6803