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McGill University to award eight honorary degrees at Spring 1997 convocations

Published: 21 May 1997

McGill University will confer honorary degrees on eight eminent leaders in their fields at its Spring Convocations in several ceremonies from May 27-June 10, 1997 as follows:

Health Sciences: Tuesday, May 27, 1997, 3:00 pm, Place des Arts

DSc Alvan Feinstein, M.D., Sterling Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, Yale University. Dr. Feinstein has been a seminal leader in the establishment of the discipline of clinical epidemiology in North America. In particular, he has played a major role in nucleating the fields of clinical epidemiology at McMaster University and McGill and was mentor, both direct and indirect, to many of the McGill Faculty in the Departments of Medicine and of Epidemiology & Biostatistics.

D.Sc. René Simard, O.C., M.D., Ph.D., F.R.C.P., F.R.S.C., Rector of the Université de Montréal. In addition to his administrative leadership at the Université de Montréal, Dr. Simard is a well established medical researcher and the former President of the Medical Research Council of Canada. He is the author of 200 publications and communications on cell and molecular biology, virology and carcinogenesis, and a member of a number of learned societies. Dr. Simard will speak at the ceremony.

Law: Friday, June 6, 1997, 9:30 am, Pollack Music Hall

No honorary degrees.

The speaker will be the Honourable Justice Morris Fish of the Cour d’appel du Québec.

Agricultural & Environmental Sciences: Friday, June 6, 1997, 2:30 pm, Macdonald Campus

D.Sc. Catherine Bertini, B.A., Executive Director, UN World Food Program. Ms. Bertini is the first woman to head the largest food aid organization in the world. A former United States Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Food and Consumer Services, she is the recipient of numerous awards for her achievements in advocacy, leadership and management of programs related to poor women, infants and children. Ms. Bertini will speak at the ceremony. She will also be the closing speaker at the International Symposium on World Food Supply, which will be held at McGill University on Thursday, June 5, 1997.

Education (graduate)/Engineering/Continuing Education: Monday, June 9, 1997, 9:00 am, Place des Arts

D.Sc. Kenneth Thompson, B.S., M.S., Fellow, AT&T Bell Laboratories. One of the computing community’s most distinguished contributors, Mr. Thompson conceived the UNIX operating system and, jointly with D.M. Ritchie, developed it into a family of portable operating systems that have become an international standard, and ushered in open systems.

The speaker will be Dr. Pierre Bélanger, Vice-Principal (Research) and Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, McGill University.

Education (undergraduate)/Science: Monday, June 9, 1997, 2:00 pm, Place des Arts

D.Sc. Jack Halpern, B.Sc.(McGill 1946), Ph.D.(McGill 1949), Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago. The impact of Dr. Halpern in Chemistry has been enormous and on science his influence continues to expand through his service as advisor to governments and as Vice-President of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

LL.D. Maxine Greene, B.A., M.A., Ph.D, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Greene was the founder and first Director of the Centre for Social Imagination, the Arts, and Education at Teachers College. She has heightened the awareness of students, parents, and teachers regarding the importance of the arts in the education of individuals across the life-span. Dr. Greene will speak at the ceremony.

Arts (graduate)/Social Work/Management/Music/Religious Studies: Tuesday, June 10, 1997, 9:00 am, Place des Arts

LL.D. Said Syed Babar Ali, President of the World Wide Fund for Nature, succeeding Prince Phillip. Mr. Ali is credited with the development of industry in Pakistan, and the establishment of the Lahore University of Management Sciences, regarded by many to be the leading management school in Pakistan and with which the McGill Faculty of Management has collaborated for several years in the LUMS-McGill Linkage Project, funded by CIDA. Mr. Ali will speak at the ceremony.

Arts (undergraduate): Tuesday, June 10, 1997, 2:00 pm, Place des Arts

D.Litt. John Ralston Saul, B.A.(McGill 1969), Ph.D. Mr. Saul is the widely acclaimed author of numerous writings, fiction (The Birds of Prey, Baraka, The Next Best Thing, The Paradise Eater) and non-fiction (Voltaire’s Bastards, The Dictatorship of Reason in the West, The Doubter’s Companion: A Dictionary of Aggressive Common Sense). He explores the relationship of power, politics and belief; above all he attempts to challenge convention and received wisdom. Mr. Saul will speak at the ceremony.

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