Honorary Degree, Doctor of Science

Robin Wilson Morgan

Renowned molecular biologist, after earning your bachelor’s degree at Meredith College and your doctorate at Johns Hopkins University, you did postdoctoral research at the University of California at Berkeley. You began teaching at the University of Delaware in 1985. Your research on Marek’s disease and cancer in chickens earned you four poultry vaccine patents. You also earned the gratitude of farmers whose livelihood you saved during an outbreak of avian influenza in the early 2000s. For your commitment to agriculture through education, research, and encouraging the next generation of agriculturalists, you were honored with the Distinguished Service to Delaware Agriculture award.

Respected academic leader, in 2001, you were named acting dean of the UD College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, a role you took on permanently the following year, becoming the first woman to hold that position. During your tenure as dean, which lasted until 2012, you oversaw the opening of the Carvel Research and Education Center in Georgetown and the establishment of the UDairy Creamery. In 2014, you became interim chair and then chair of the Department of Biological Sciences.

Esteemed administrator, you served as the University’s chief academic officer from 2017 to 2022, charged with the administration of all programs of instruction, research, and service and with facilitating the success of the University’s faculty and students. Achievements during your tenure included the establishment of the Honors College and the Graduate College and the hiring of new faculty to promote interdisciplinary programs and inclusive excellence.

Throughout your long tenure here at UD, you have shown extraordinary commitment to scholarship, teaching, administration, and the future of the University and its people.

Therefore, under the authority of the Board of Trustees of the University of Delaware, I have the honor of conferring on you, Robin Wilson Morgan, the degree of Doctor of Science. In testimony thereof, I am pleased to present to you this diploma.

Terri L. Kelly
May 24, 2025