Commencement Address Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa Jean Auel JEAN AUEL is author of the internationally successful Earth’s Children hooks, a series of six novels set in prehistoric Europe that explore the interactions of Cro-Magnon people with Neanderthals. Starting with Clan of the Cave Bear published in 1980, her novels have sold more than 50 million copies worldwide. The Land of Painted Caves, the final book in the series, was published just last year. Ms. Auel became a novelist through a circuitous route. Married at 18, she had five children by the time she was 25. In 1964 at the age of 28, she started night classes at Portland State University while raising her children and working full time. Ms. Auel earned her first university degree at age 40 and soon after quit her job and started researching and writing. Always meticulous and a voracious reader, she immersed herself in the available historical and scientific data, learning everything she could about life more than 30,000 years ago. Her extensive, precise research became a hallmark of her work, earning her the respect of archaeologists, anthropologists, and paleontologists worldwide for her subtle interpretation of facts and artifacts. Ms. Auel’s idea for a short story grew into an outline for a novel and that outline grew into a plan for six epic novels. A chance encounter with a New York-based literary agent at a local writers’ workshop eventually resulted in one of the largest advances paid to a writer at the time. Through the years, Ms. Auel has supplemented her research with field courses in making stone tools, building a snow cave, and brain-tanning buckskins. These experiences, plus visits to painted caves around the world, have helped to flesh out the details for the Earth’s Children books, which also include The Valley of the Horses, The Mammoth Hunters, The Plains of Passage, and The Shelters of Stone. Today, two of Ms. Auel’s grandchildren are among the Portland State University graduates, and she will receive an honorary doctorate. 10
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