CSD Director Michael Sherraden was awarded an honorary doctorate in philosophy in May at Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJ). 
“I am completely thrilled,” Sherraden said. With Albert Einstein as one of its founders, HUJ is among the great universities in the world. “There are so many excellent people in the world to choose from, so I feel very, very fortunate.”
The honorary doctorate was the first one presented by HUJ to someone in social work and social welfare, he said he was told. “Perhaps this represents a growing appreciation of social challenges we all face,” he said.
In academic sessions at HUJ and at Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Sherraden said he emphasized that social innovation is the foundation of human progress.
“In the 21st century, at the top of this list is living together with inclusion, respect, and opportunity for everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, or other differences,” he said. “As I told my colleagues in Israel, I live near Ferguson, Missouri, and they live in the Middle East. We all have more work to do. Completely new social strategies must be conceived and tested.
“Fortunately, today we have tools of applied social science, a marked improvement over the trial and error of human history. In the university, our task is to be conceptually bold and clear, then apply science to test social innovations.”