• facebook
  • twitter
  • rss

KISS Guitarist TOMMY THAYER Receives Honorary Doctorate From Oregon's Pacific University: Photos

May 23, 2018

Oregon's Pacific University awarded an honorary doctorate to longtime university Trustee Tommy Thayer, the lead guitarist for legendary rock band KISS, at the university's spring undergraduate commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 19 at Hanson Stadium on the Forest Grove Campus.

Thayer, who grew up in Beaverton and graduated from Sunset High School in 1978, has served on Pacific's Board of Trustees since 2005. He has helped the university generate more than $3.5 million for its NCAA Division III intercollegiate athletics program, primarily through a highly successful celebrity fundraiser Legends, which ran from 2007 to 2016. In 2016, the 10th anniversary Legends event launched the creation of the Tommy Thayer Endowments for Music and Athletics, benefiting students in both programs at Pacific.

Last spring, the Pacific University Board of Trustees approved awarding Thayer a doctorate of humane letters degree for his philanthropic leadership efforts that have directly helped thousands of Pacific student-athletes.

Prior to receiving his degree during the ceremony, Thayer gave the keynote address to the class of 2018 consisting of approximately 350 bachelor's degree candidates.

Check out photos and an interview with Portland's NBC affiliate KGW below.

#KISS guitarist #TommyThayer received a doctorate of humane letters degree from Pacific University and delivered the...

Posted by KISS on Wednesday, May 23, 2018

In 2009, as a Pacific trustee, Tommy Thayer helped present his father, Gen. James. B. Thayer, with an honorary doctorate...

Posted by Pacific University on Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Find more on Kiss
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).