Spring Convocation 2009: Four Honorary Degrees To Be Granted; Chancellor's Installation

The University of Victoria, at spring convocation ceremonies to be held during the week of June 15, will award honorary degrees to four individuals distinguished by their accomplishments in the fields of language, entrepreneurship, physics, and academic leadership.

Spring convocation will begin with the formal installation of the university’s 10th chancellor, Murray Farmer, BA ’68.

Below are biographical summaries of each of the honorary degree recipients and the new chancellor, along with a daily schedule for the eight spring convocation ceremonies:

Language and the Judiciary—Dr. Edward Berry, Honorary Doctor of Laws

Since the early 1980s, Dr. Edward Berry has taught legal writing and oral judgment delivery to hundreds, if not thousands, of judges in Canada and internationally. His work has been instrumental in reinforcing a principle at the heart of the justice system: that a judge’s reasons for decision should be clear, cogent and comprehensible.

His work with the judiciary sprang from his first career as a highly regarded UVic English professor and Shakespearean scholar. He retired from the university in 2006.

His book, Writing Reasons, is in its third edition and is the leading textbook on judicial writing in Canada. It provides the foundation for the workshops and seminars he regularly leads.

In 2005, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin invited him to deliver a writing program for members of the Supreme Court of Canada. Over the course of two days, Berry lectured and met with individual judges to comment on their writing and give them guidance for improvement.

An Immigrant’s Success—Ms. Rebecca MacDonald, Honorary Doctor of Laws

Rebecca MacDonald is a self-made entrepreneur who exemplifies success in the face of adversity. Born in Yugoslavia, she came to Toronto in 1974 with training in medicine and classical piano but with few resources and limited English. She discovered a natural flair for sales and started a door-to-door marketing company.

In the 1980s, when Ontario opened natural gas retailing to competition, MacDonald launched Energy Marketing. It grew to become the largest energy marketer in Ontario. Then, in 1996, she started Ontario Energy Savings Corporation, which now has annual sales of approximately $1.5 billion and has 600 full-time and 600 part-time employees.

MacDonald raised two children as a single parent, following her husband’s death in a 1992 car accident. She has also overcome severe rheumatoid arthritis. In 2002 she gave $3 million to help build the Rebecca MacDonald Centre for Arthritis and Autoimmune Disease at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital.

Victoria College to U.S. Science Policy—Prof. A.J. Stewart Smith, Honorary Doctor of Science

Prof. A.J. Stewart Smith is a leading researcher in high-energy particle physics and is known in the United States for his influence on national science policy.

A graduate of Victoria College, UVic’s predecessor, he continued his education at UBC and earned his PhD from Princeton University in 1966, joining the faculty of Princeton’s physics department the following year. He has held various administrative positions at Princeton, including chair of the physics department, dean for research, and chair of the university research board.

Smith has carried out a number of major experiments and, since 1995, has served as team leader of an international collaboration of 600 scientists from 10 countries participating in a major project based at the Stanford Linear Accelerator.

Smith has also kept an interest in Canadian physics research. In 1998, he chaired a National Research Council review of the TRIUMF lab in Vancouver, with recommendations that led to a stable funding environment for the particle and nuclear physics facility. He was also instrumental in ensuring Canadian involvement (including that of UVic physicists) in the “BaBar” high energy physics experiment.

A Canadian Academic and Research Leader—Dr. David Strangway, Honorary Doctor of Science

Dr. David Strangway is a noted scientist, respected academic administrator and a senior statesman of Canadian research administration known for his innovative leadership skills.

He joined the University of Toronto in 1968 as an associate professor of physics and in 1970 accepted an invitation from NASA to become its chief of geophysics and physics at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. He was responsible for geophysical aspects of the Apollo moon missions, including experiment selection and attendant astronaut training, site selection and real-time mission support.

He returned to the University of Toronto in 1973, holding a series of senior administrative positions until 1985 when he was named president of UBC. In his 12 years as president, UBC established itself as a world-class academic institution.

Strangway later led the Canada Foundation for Innovation, which allocated $2.7 billion in research infrastructure to universities, colleges and research hospitals during his six-year term. He also founded Quest University Canada—the country’s first private, secular, not-for-profit liberal arts and science university, located in Squamish.

Honorary degrees are conferred by the University of Victoria Senate based on nominations received from members of the university committee. Recipients are selected based on exceptional records of distinction and achievement in scholarship, research, teaching, the creative arts, or public service.

UVic’s 10th Chancellor

Members of convocation elected Chancellor Murray Farmer to a three-year term in 2008. He succeeds Ron Lou-Poy, who completed six years as chancellor on December 31, 2008.

Farmer graduated from UVic in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He went on to become president of Farmer Industries Group and a key volunteer leader of a number of community organizations in the capital region.

He is a past chair of the UVic Board of Governors and in 2007 received the UVic Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumni Award for Lifetime Achievement.

The chancellor is the titular head of the university, confers degrees, and serves on the UVic Board of Governors and the UVic Senate.

 

Schedule: 2009 Spring Convocation – University Centre Farquhar Auditorium

Monday, June 15
10 a.m.:         Installation Ceremony for Chancellor Murray Farmer
                                       Faculties: Human and Social Development (Nursing);
                                       Law; Graduate Studies
2:30 p.m.:      Honorary Doctor of Laws, Rebecca MacDonald
                                       Faculties: Business; Human and Social Development;
                                       Graduate Studies; Continuing Studies

Tuesday, June 16
10 a.m.:         Honorary Doctor of Laws, Dr. Edward Berry
                                       Faculties: Education; Graduate Studies
2:30 p.m.:      Faculties: Engineering; Fine Arts; Graduate Studies

Wednesday, June 17
10 a.m.:          Faculties: Social Sciences (Economics, Political Science,
                        Sociology); Graduate Studies
2:30 p.m.:      Honorary Doctor of Science, Dr. David Strangway
                                      Faculties: Social Sciences (Anthropology,
                                      Environmental Studies, Geography, Psychology);
                                      Graduate Studies

Thursday, June 18
10 a.m.:           Faculties: Humanities; Graduate Studies
2:30 p.m.:        Honorary Doctor of Science, Prof. A. J. Stewart Smith,
                          Honorary Doctor of Science.
                                         Faculties: Science; Graduate Studies

 

 

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