Neuroscientist, Cultural Historian, and Media Executive to Be Swarthmore College Honorary Degree Recipients

Adele Diamond

Saidiya Hartman

David T. Linde

Swarthmore College President Valerie Smith will award honorary degrees to neuroscientist Adele Diamond ’74, African American cultural historian Saidiya Hartman, and media executive David T. Linde ’82, at Swarthmore College’s 148th Commencement on May 24. 

Adele Diamond is a pioneer in the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience. Her research concerns the brain’s executive functions, which enable people to resist temptations and impulsive reactions. Her work on the unusual properties of the brain’s dopamine system led to discoveries that have improved medical treatment for countless children. 

Diamond graduated from Swarthmore with a dual degree in psychology and in sociology and anthropology, obtained her Ph.D. from Harvard University in developmental psychology, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale Medical School in neuroanatomy. She holds the Canada Research Chair Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver.

Saidiya Hartman studies what she calls “the afterlife of slavery.” Her work examines the enduring presence of slavery’s racialized violence in contemporary America, asking readers to reckon with the stories of “unknown, dispossessed, exploited, and disposable” black Americans whose lives have left little trace.

Hartman graduated from Wesleyan University in 1984 and holds a Ph.D. from Yale University. She is a professor of English and comparative literature, and director of graduate studies of the Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality, at Columbia University. She is also a 2019 MacArthur “genius” Fellow.

David T. Linde is chief executive officer of Participant (formerly Participant Media), a company dedicated to entertainment that inspires audiences to engage in positive social change. Movie and television projects he has overseen have won 10 Oscars, including two for best picture (“Spotlight” and “Green Book”) and two for best foreign language film (“Roma” and “A Fantastic Woman”), as well as two Emmys (“When They See Us” and “RBG”).

At Swarthmore, Linde studied history and was motivated to pursue a career in film after producing and screening a film satirizing the James Bond franchise. As a student, he was also member of the Swarthmore Anti-Apartheid Committee, a vital first step in his learning the power of social advocacy. He is married to Felicia Rosenfeld ’83.

Published in partnership with Swarthmore College. Photos courtesy of their subjects.