Nobel winner headlines McGill list of honorary degrees

Recipients include Harvard’s Dean of Law, Canadian jazz legend, aboriginal leader and top scientists

McGill alumnus Jack Szostak, who went on to share the 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology, is among a stellar list of scholars and renowned individuals who will be awarded honorary degrees at McGill’s 2011 Spring Convocation ceremonies.

Others on this year’s list (in order of presentation) include Julian Davies, a world leader in antibiotics; neuroscientist, McGill alumnus and Rhodes Scholar Marc Tessier-Lavigne, who is now president of Rockefeller University; Herménégilde Chiasson, a leading Acadian poet and educator and former Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick; Norman R. Augustine, retired chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp.; groundbreaking aboriginal leader Roberta L. Jamieson; Vivienne Poy, the first Canadian of Asian descent to be appointed to the Senate of Canada; Martha L. Minow, Dean and Jeremiah Smith Jr. Professor of Law, Harvard Law School; and Phil Nimmons, whose spectacular career as a bandleader, jazz teacher and composer has spanned six decades.

Biographical sketches are included below. More honorary degree recipients will be announced in the coming weeks.

These notable individuals join a pantheon of McGill honorary degree recipients that includes, among others: Sir Frederick Banting (1939); British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1944); President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1944); UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld (1956); politician and diplomat Adlai Stevenson (1959); Mayor Jean Drapeau (1965); painter Jean-Paul Riopelle (1968), writer Saul Bellow (1973), writer and human rights activist Elie Wiesel (1994), linguist and public intellectual Noam Chomsky (1998), writer Mordecai Richler (2000), director Atom Egoyan (2003), singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell (2004); former Governor-General Michaëlle Jean (2006), former President of Bibliothèque et Archives nationales Lise Bissonnette (2007) and President Bill Clinton (2009).

Convocation ceremonies will be held on McGill’s lower campus the week of May 30 – June 3, with the exception of the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences ceremonies, which will be held Friday, May 27 at the Macdonald campus in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue.

For more information: http://www.mcgill.ca/students/graduation/convocation/

About McGill University

Founded in Montreal, Que., in 1821, McGill is Canada’s leading post-secondary institution. It has two campuses, 11 faculties, 10 professional schools, 300 programs ofstudy and more than 36,000 students, including 8,300 graduate students. McGill attracts students from over 150 countries around the world, with more than 7,200 international students making up 20 per cent of the student body. Almost half of McGill students claim a first language other than English, including more than 6,200 francophones.

Biographies:

Julian Davies (Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences)

A world leader in the field of antibiotics, Welsh-born Julian Davies has significantly increased the understanding of antibiotic resistance. In 1973, at the University of Wisconsin, Dr. Davies made his seminal finding that antibiotic resistance in pathogens is evolutionarily related to antibiotic production in actinomycetes. In 1987, Dr. Davies moved to Vancouver, where he became head of the Microbiology Department at the University of British Columbia, where he remains today as an emeritus professor and a member of a Canadian team developing ways of suppressing resistance mechanisms during the treatment of infectious diseases.

Jack W. Szostak (Faculty of Science)

Nobel Prize recipient, McGill alumnus (a BSc at  the age of 19) and a former Montrealer, Prof. Szostak is Professor of Genetics at the Harvard Medical School, the Alex A. Rich Distinguished Investigator of the Department of Molecular Biology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Prof. Szostak has made seminal contributions to a wide range of disciplines within molecular biology and genetics, including the mechanisms of genetic recombination, the catalytic capabilities of RNA molecules and, most recently, to questions surrounding the origin of life.

Marc Tessier-Lavigne (Faculty of Science)

McGill alumnus and Rhodes scholar, Dr. Tessier-Lavigne is described as having a virtuosic combination of physics, biology, physiology, and neuroscience. A world leader in the study of the mechanisms of brain development and repair, he has identified molecules that regulate the connections between nerve cells,which, in turn, form neuronal circuits in the mammalian brain and spinal cord. The processes he has singled out are now vital for the understanding of how the brain forms and also for conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. Morespecifically, his discovery of netrins, the chemicals that guide axons to their destinations, solved a problem that had stumped neurobiologists for more than a century. From 2003 until recently, Dr. Tessier-Lavigne was executive vice-president and chief scientific officer of Genentech, leading a staff of 1,400 in disease research and drug development in cancer, immune disorders,infectious diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases. In March, Dr. Tessier-Lavigne took the helm of Rockefeller University as its 10th president.

Herménégilde Chiasson (Centre for Continuing Education)

New Brunswick-born, Herménégilde Chiasson is a poet, painter, playwright, editor, educator, film maker, and statesman and considered one of the most important representatives of modern-day Acadia. With deep roots in academia, through five university degrees and an outstanding teaching career, Dr. Chiasson directed more than 15 films, published more than 25 books, penned 30 plays, and showed his artworks in more than 150 exhibitions. Dr. Chiasson served with distinction as New Brunswick’s Lieutenant-Governor from 2003 to 2009.

Norman R. Augustine (Faculty of Engineering)

Retired chairman and chief executive officer of Lockheed Martin Corporation, Mr. Augustine has committed his life to promoting understanding of the crucial roles that innovation and fundamental scientific research play in ensuring economic prosperity and long-term security. He believes innovation is essential to ensure our place in the global economy and that engineering must not be perceived simply as a collection of technical knowledge. Engineers must be educated in a manner that produces broad thinkers who appreciate the critical links between technology and society. He is an internationally recognized expert in the area of technology workforce development and led the 2005 National Academies commission that produced the landmark report, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm:  Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future.”

Roberta L. Jamieson (Faculty of Education)

In 1970, Roberta Jamieson enrolled at McGill University to study medicine. Through her involvement with the James Bay Cree defence of their territory being taken over by the James Bay Hydro Development Project, she turned her attention to the defense and promotion of indigenous peoples and switched from medicine to law. Ms. Jamieson was the first First Nations woman to earn a law degree in Canada, the first female and longest tenured Ombudsman of Ontario, and in 2001, the first woman to be elected Chief of the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. Ms. Jamieson has devoted her career to promoting and raising awareness of the potential Aboriginal Peoples offer to Canada.  In 2004, Ms. Jamieson was appointed chief executive officer and president of the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, dedicated to realizing the ability of First Nation, Inuit and Métis youth through scholarships and other supports. A founding board member of the Centre for Research in Women’s Health, she has served as a board member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, and a member and vice-chair of the Health Council of Canada. In 2010, Ms. Jamieson was named a mentor with the Trudeau Foundation. When appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 1994, Roberta Jamieson was described as a an early leader in the field of alternative dispute resolution and as a “a mediator and a role model for those seeking to make a contribution to public life, particularly women and Aboriginal people.”

Hon. Vivienne Poy (Faculty of Arts)

Born in Hong Kong, Dr. Poy came to Canada in 1959, obtaining a BA from McGill and graduate degrees in History from the University of Toronto. In addition to being an historian, she is a successful fashion designer, entrepreneur and corporate leader, the author of four books, a much sought-after public speaker and a dedicated community and university volunteer. In 1998, Dr. Poy was the first Canadian of Asian origin to be appointed to Canadian Senate. That Canada now formally recognizes the month of May as Asian Heritage Month is the result of a motion she introduced in the Senate in 2001.

Martha Minow (Faculty of Law)

Dean of Harvard Law School and Jeremiah Smith Jr. Professor of Law, Dr. Minow is an outstanding scholar, passionate teacher, dedicated mentor, and inspiring leader. Through her influential writing, her innovative pedagogy, and her important public service, she has left an indelible mark on the learning, practice and potential of law. Since joining Harvard’s law faculty 30 years ago, Dr. Minow  has taught civilprocedure, family law, constitutional law, law and education, jurisprudence, and international criminal justice. Dr. Minow’s leadership is evidenced by service on the Independent International Commission Kosovo, involvement in the Imagine Co-Existence peace project, and Board membership of the Legal Services Corporation, the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, and the global educational program Facing History and Ourselves.

Phil Nimmons (Schulich School of Music)

In a career spanning more than six decades, Mr. Nimmons, a jazz musician, composer, bandleader, jazz educator and pre-med student at the University of British Columbia has been a passionate and tireless advocate of music. The depth of his influence is shown by a host of achievements, many of them firsts in the field. He was the first director of the jazz program at the Banff School of Fine Arts, a teacher for more than 30 years, and is now Director Emeritus of Jazz Studies at the University of Toronto. A founding member of the Canadian League of Composers, Phil Nimmons was the recipient of the first-ever JUNO to be awarded for Jazz in 1977 and of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award. In 2001, he was inducted into the Jazz Educators’ Hall of Fame.