I am honored

Dear Ms. Bonomo,

Congratulations! [...] You’ve been elected to membership in the Stanford Associates [...] an honorary organization founded in 1935 to recognize exceptional and sustained volunteer service to the University. Fewer than 1% of Stanford Alumni have earned this special distinction [...]

XXX and YYY nominated you for this honor because of your accomplished volunteer work and support of the University. [...] I’m delighted to help honor your continued effort on behalf of this great institution. [...]

Rich Jaroslovsky, ’75

Chair, Board of Governors

This is the letter I received this week, and I was pleased and humbled. It was totally unexpected.

You know I am very fond of Stanford and I admire the University leadership, as demonstrated multiple times in recent years (in the financial crisis, in its thought leadership on the future of university education, and even in having a “geek president”).

As a curiosity, along with two more of my classmates, this year’s intake of new members of Stanford Associates includes venture capitalist Peter A. Thiel, who has both a Stanford undergraduate degree in philosophy and a Stanford law school degree, and who made some waves recently for speaking out against the college education bubble. This will definitely make for interesting debate.