LEWISTON – A philanthropic leader, a molecular biologist, a climate researcher and a literary scholar will receive honorary degrees and speak at Bates College’s 142nd commencement ceremony at 10 a.m. Sunday, May 25, on the college’s historic quad, at Campus Avenue and College Street.

The event concludes the undergraduate careers of some 430 members of the Bates Class of 2008, representing 37 states and 29 countries.

The Bates honorees are:

• Former Ford Foundation President Susan Berresford, who has dedicated her philanthropic career to the fulfillment of human potential;

• Phillip Sharp, a scientist whose RNA research holds great promise for cancer therapeutics;

• Warren Washington, a pioneer in computerized climate modeling and an authority on climate change; and

• Pauline Yu, a literary scholar who is expert in the languages and cultures of East Asia.

Berresford will receive the Doctor of Humane Letters degree. As Ford Foundation president from 1996 to 2007, she directed billions of grant dollars worldwide to strengthen democracy, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement.

Sharp will receive a Doctor of Science degree. A world leader of research in molecular biology and biochemistry, the Nobel laureate is an institute professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Washington also will receive a Doctor of Science degree. Senior scientist and head of the Climate Change Research Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, he has advised five U.S. presidents on climate change.

Yu will receive the degree of Doctor of Letters. A distinguished literary scholar and a dedicated guardian of academic reflection, innovation and research, she has championed the life of the mind.