ROBERT and DOROTHY KING, as humanitarians of the highest order, you have dedicated your lives to the noble cause of alleviating poverty.

Bob, after earning your degree in economics from Dartmouth in 1957, you immersed yourself in business as an MBA student at Stanford while Dottie, you studied child development at the University of Wisconsin. You combined your experiences and expertise to start R. Eliot King and Associates together, growing it into a highly successful investment management firm.

Dottie’s transformative experience of hosting an exchange student while growing up in Wisconsin led you to welcome more than 50 international students into your home over the past five decades, fostering relationships as well as an international understanding that inspires and informs your philanthropy.

As co-founders of the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies, the Thrive Foundation for Youth, and the Food, Nutrition, and Rural Livelihoods Initiative in Myanmar, you have demonstrated a passion for helping those less fortunate by educating and empowering students to make a lasting global impact.

At Dartmouth, you launched the King Scholars Leadership Program, offering full scholarships to exceptional students from developing nations to facilitate their intellectual and social growth. As a result of your support, the inaugural King Scholars, hailing from Jamaica and Burkina Faso, will graduate in today’s commencement ceremony equipped with the skills to lead in their communities, serve as positive role models for others, and inspire action toward a better and more prosperous future.

For your compassion, generosity, and profound commitment to improving the quality of life in impoverished nations around the world, it is our distinct pleasure to award you both honorary degrees of Doctor of Humane Letters.