NOTED GERMAN PHILOSOPHER TO RECEIVE HONORARY DEGREE AT UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH HONORS CONVOCATION

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 24 -- University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg will confer an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters to Jürgen Mittelstrass, Ph.D., one of Germany's most distinguished and influential philosophers, at the University's annual Honors Convocation beginning at 3 p.m. on Monday, February 28, in the Carnegie Music Hall.

Born in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1936, Mittelstrass is professor of philosophy and philosophy of science at the University of Konstanz, Germany, where he also directs the Center for Philosophy of Science. Consistently active in fostering German-American relations, Mittelstrass has served as visiting professor at several American universities, including a position as visiting fellow in the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Philosophy of Science.

Among Mittelstrass's awards and honors are the 1989 Leibniz Prize of the German Research Society, the 1992 Arthur Burkhardt Prize, the 1998 Lorenz Oken Medal of the Society of German Scientists and Physicians, and the 1999 Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. He has been published widely, and has served as organizer and editor of Enzyklopädie Philosophie und Wissenschaftslehre, a German encyclopedia of philosophy.

Mittelstrass's memberships include the German Science Council; the selection committee of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; the Senate of the German Research Society; the German-American Academic Council (founding member); the German Chancellor's Council for Research, Technology, and Innovation; the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Science; and the German Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina). He also has served as president of the German Philosophical Association and as vice president of the Academia Europaea.

Mittelstrass studied philosophy, German literature, and Protestant theology at the universities of Bonn, Erlangen, Hamburg, and Oxford, and in 1961 received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Erlangen.

The Honors Convocation allows the University of Pittsburgh annually to recognize undergraduate, graduate and professional academic achievement; student leadership; and faculty accomplishments.

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