Political Science Professor Morimichi Watanabe is Inaugural Winner
of Distinguished Service Medal at C.W. Post

Brookville, N.Y. -- Morimichi Watanabe, one of the world’s foremost authorities on the 15th century German cardinal and philosopher Nicholas of Cusa and a professor since 1963, will receive the Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Service at the Commencement exercises at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University on Sunday, May 14, 2006.

Popular with students for his personal warmth and generosity with his time, Watanabe is also held in high regard by his faculty colleagues for his integrity and commitment to teaching and scholarship.

“There is no one who doesn’t have the highest respect for him, not only as a scholar and a teacher but as a man,” said Roger N. Goldstein, chairman of the Department of Political Science/International Studies at C.W. Post.

The Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Service is a new medal to be given to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to campuses of Long Island University. C.W. Post Chancellor Theresa Mall Mullarkey will bestow the medal on Watanabe.

Watanabe has been a recipient of the Dean’s Award from C.W. Post and the Trustees Award for Scholarly Achievement from Long Island University.

A teacher and law student in his native Japan, Watanabe came to the United States on a fellowship in 1950 to study at Princeton University. He then attended Columbia University, where he received an M.A. and a Ph.D. in political theory and comparative government. After a visiting professorship at Kansas State College of Pittsburgh and a position as instructor at Queens College, Watanabe accepted an appointment as assistant professor at C.W. Post in 1963. He became an associate professor in 1966 and a full professor in 1971. While on the faculty at C.W. Post he has been a visiting professor at several Japanese universities and established an exchange program with Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo.

His scholarship has greatly elevated Nicholas of Cusa’s standing among medieval scholars. Nicholas is the subject of Dr. Watanabe’s monograph, two books and dozens of papers, presentations and articles.

Watanabe is the president of the American Cusanus Society and editor of its newsletter, as well as a member of the Scholarly Advisory Board of the Cusanus-Gesellschaft in German and an honorary advisor to the Japanese Cusanus Society.

More than 2,300 students will graduate on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 14, 2006 at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University’s 48th commencement exercises. The Campus has awarded more than 92,000 degrees in its 51-year history, through a broad range of undergraduate and graduate programs. The Class of 2006 includes 949 baccalaureate degree candidates, 1,376 master's degree candidates, 16 graduates receiving the Psy.D. in clinical psychology and three receiving the Ph.D. in information studies. This year, C.W. Post’s commencement ceremonies also include graduates from Southampton College and the Southampton Graduate Campus of Long Island University.

Posted: May 12, 2006