News

McGill caps students, leaders of society

Published: 27 May 2005

2005 spring convocation at McGill from May 27 to June 3

A former ballerina, several leading businessmen and a biologist are receiving honorary degrees from McGill University this spring. They are among 14 society leaders whose contributions are being recognized by McGill, from May 27 to June 3, during the University's spring convocation. About 5,960 students will also be graduating from McGill's 21 faculties and professional schools.

The 2005 honorary degree recipients are:

  • Jeffrey Sachs, environmentalist and author
  • Joanne Marshall, health sciences scholar
  • Rick Hansen, athlete, coach, advocate for the disabled
  • Jane Eaglen, soprano
  • Haile T. Debas, surgeon, physiologist and scholar
  • Martin Charles Raff, biologist
  • Andrew Benedek, environmental engineer
  • Paul Tellier, corporate leader
  • Jack Rabinovitch, philanthropist, entrepreneur and publisher
  • Veronica Tennant, ballerina, narrator, actor, broadcaster and lecturer
  • L. Yves Fortier, international lawyer
  • Rodolfo Sacco, legal scholar
  • Donald Dawson, mathematics and statistics probabilist
  • Leonard Pinchuk, inventor and entrepreneur

"These honorary degree recipients are leaders in their fields and have made a positive impact on society," says McGill Principal Heather Munroe-Blum. "Together, they reflect the quality, diversity and international scope of McGill's educational mission and the University is proud to recognize their achievements."

McGill's convocation ceremonies, with the exception of those for the Faculties of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and Music, will be held under a tent on McGill's lower campus, west of the Roddick Gates. The ceremony for the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences will be held at the Macdonald Campus (21,111 Lakeshore Rd., Ste. Anne de Bellevue; map available here). The ceremony for the Faculty of Music will be held at Pollack Hall, 555 Sherbrooke St. W.

Jeffrey D. Sachs, director of the United Nations' Millennium Project, kicks off convocations with an address to students and their parents on May 27 at Macdonald Campus. All media wishing to attend convocations should contact Sylvain-Jacques Desjardins, associate director, Communications and Public Affairs, McGill University, at 514-398-6752. Please read on for biographies of honorary degree recipients. Photos available upon request.

Friday, May 27, 2005 - 2:30 pm, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Jeffrey D. Sachs, Doctor of Laws

Jeffrey Sachs is director of the Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development and professor of health policy and management at Columbia University. Before joining Columbia in 2002, Sachs spent two decades at Harvard University, most recently as director of the Center for International Development. Sachs is internationally known for advising governments on how to reduce poverty. He is director of the Millennium Project, an independent body which advises the United Nations on strategies to meet its targets for reducing poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women. He is author or co-author of more than two hundred scholarly articles and has written and edited several books. In 2004, Sachs was named one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world.

Monday, May 30, 2005 - 10:00 am, Faculty of Education/Library Sciences
Joanne Gard Marshall, Doctor of Letters

McGill grad Joanne Gard Marshall is president of the Medical Library Association, a major health sciences information organization with more than 1,100 institutional and 3,600 individual members worldwide. She is internationally recognized for her contributions to information science. As dean of the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (January 1999 to May 2004), she initiated new educational programs that gained a four-fold increase in research funding. She has received recognitions including the Winifred Sewell Prize for Innovation in Information Technologies from the Special Libraries Association and an outstanding achievement award from the Canadian Health Libraries Association. Marshall has earned significant awards from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council on the Workforce Aging in the New Economy, and from the National Library of Medicine.

Monday, May 30, 2005 - 7:00 pm, Faculty of Education (Continuing Education)
Rick Hansen, Doctor of Letters

Rick Hansen, an outstanding high school athlete, became confined to a wheelchair after a road accident. With a determined and indefatigable spirit, he turned his personal tragedy to triumph. He continued as an athlete and a coach while working towards a degree in physical education. His dream was to change public attitudes towards the disabled and to broaden prospects of people with spinal cord injuries. Beginning in 1985, Hansen embarked on the Man in Motion Tour, capturing the heart and pride of our country and the imagination of the world. For two years he wheeled 40,000 kilometres around the globe, raising $26 million for the support of spinal cord research, rehabilitation, wheelchair sport and awareness. Today, Hansen is the president and chief executive officer of the Rick Hansen Man in Motion Foundation and the Rick Hansen Institute (an amalgamation of several organizations that focus on improving quality of life for the disabled). Hansen was appointed a companion of the Order of Canada in 1987 and received the Order of British Columbia in 1990.

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 - 10:00 am, Faculty of Music
Jane Eaglen, Doctor of Music

Jane Eaglen is one of today's greatest sopranos and an inspiration for young musicians. At 5, her musical journey was launched with piano lessons, followed by singing lessons at 16. By 18, she was studying at Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and was primed to play prestigious roles such as Norma and Brünnhilde. In 1984 she joined the English National Opera, where she sang many notable roles, particularly as Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana. Her breakthrough role came with the Scottish Opera – Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni. Eaglen's other successes with the Scottish Opera were as Tosca and Norma. She sang Brünnhilde in Wagner's Ring at Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1996, repeating the role with the San Francisco Opera and with the Metropolitan Opera. She sang her first Isolde with the Seattle Opera in 1998 and then with the Chicago Lyric Opera and the Metropolitan Opera.

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 - 3:00 pm, Faculty of Medicine/Health Sciences
Haile T. Debas, Doctor of Science

McGill grad Haile Debas is currently dean of the Faculty of Medicine and vice-chancellor of medical affairs at University of California in San Francisco. He is a distinguished surgeon, physiologist and leader in academic medicine. His research in gastrointestinal physiology has focused on the hormones and peptides that regulate the function of the GI-tract. He is a member of the Council of Deans of the Association of American Medical Colleges, a member of the editorial boards of eight leading journals in the fields of physiology and surgery, and president of the American Surgical Association. He is also a member of the Institute of Medicine and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Tuesday, May 31, 2005 - 3:00 pm, Faculty of Medicine/Health Sciences
Martin Charles Raff, Doctor of Science

A three-time McGill grad, Martin Charles Raff has made influential contributions to almost every area of modern biology — particularly cellular and developmental biology, immunology, and neurobiology. From 1971, he co-directed the Medical Research Council Developmental Neurobiology Programme at University College, London, where he was professor of biology until his retirement in 2002. Raff investigated and identified mechanisms that underlie the development of animal cells and the ways in which cells "decide" whether to grow or stop growing, differentiate or commit intercellular suicide at an appropriate time of the development cycle. His results have increased the understanding of how the size of an organ or an entire animal is determined. Raff is a Fellow of the Royal Society and a member of the Academia Europaea.

Wednesday, June 1, 2005 - 10:00 am, Faculty of Engineering
Andrew Benedek, Doctor of Science

After earning his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at McGill in 1966, Andrew Benedek worked in the petrochemical industry. Having witnessed the adverse effects of pollution on the environment, he decided to specialize in environmental engineering. By 1970, equipped with a PhD in chemical engineering, he accepted a professorship at McMaster University, where he taught and conducted research into improving water quality. By 1980, Benedek coordinated the Wastewater Research Group, an internationally renowned organization for research in water treatment technologies. He also founded ZENON Environmental Inc., a company dedicated to solving water quality problems through advanced membrane technologies. Under his leadership, ZENON has become a global leader in membrane technology for water and wastewater treatment and was recognized as Best Corporate Citizen in Canada for 2002 and 2004. He has donated numerous complete water treatment systems to aboriginal groups within Canada whose water quality has been threatened.

Wednesday, June 1, 2005 - 2:30 pm, Faculty of Management
Paul Tellier, Doctor of Laws

Paul Tellier was president and chief executive officer of Bombardier Inc. until December 2004. A lawyer by training, he undertook a career as a civil servant. From 1992 to 2002, he served as president and CEO of the Canadian National Railway Company. He's served Canada as executive director of the Public Service Commission, Deputy Minister of Indian and Northern Development, Deputy Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources, and Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet, as well as Deputy Secretary to Cabinet in the Federal-Provincial Relations Office. Tellier has sat on numerous boards, serving as a member of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and the Ottawa General Hospital, as well as Chair of the Conference Board of Canada. He was named Most Respected CEO of the Year by the Globe and Mail in 2003, received the B'nai Brith Canada Award of Merit in 2000 and was named Grand Montréalais in 1998. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1993.

Thursday, June 2, 2005 - 10:00 am, Faculty of Arts/Faculty of Religious Studies
Jack Rabinovitch, Doctor of Letters

Jack Rabinovitch, a McGill alumnus, is a philanthropist well known for creating Canada's foremost literary prize — the Giller Prize for Fiction — in memory of his wife, Doris Giller. The Giller Prize has significantly raised the profile of Canadian literature and has achieved international stature as a literary award. He has supported many community activities, from Montreal to Toronto. He shared his expertise to help raise funds as chair of the building committee for the Ontario Cancer Institute/Princess Margaret Hospital. Rabinovitch launched his career as a reporter and speechwriter. He went on to become a successful entrepreneur in food retailing and real estate development. Rabinovitch joined Trizec Corporation in 1972 and was appointed its executive vice president in 1986. He was responsible for the planning, development, construction, leasing and financing of six million square feet of commercial, retail and hotel space. He was also involved in numerous joint ventures with major Fortune 500 companies: Xerox, General Motors, Hilton International and Sheraton Corporation. Rabinovitch, who was Maclean's magazine's "Man of the Year" in 1999, has received many awards, including an honorary doctorate from the University of Toronto, was named a Companion of the Order of Canada, and received the Order of Ontario.

Thursday, June 2, 2005 - 2:30 pm, Faculty of Arts
Veronica Tennant, Doctor of Letters

Veronica Tennant was prima ballerina with the National Ballet of Canada for 25 years. She quickly became one of the world's most skilled dancers after her debut as female lead in Romeo and Juliet. Tennant has danced all principal ballet roles and has partnered with leading male dancers of her generation: Erik Bruhn, Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Since her retirement from ballet in 1989, she has become a narrator, actor, broadcaster and lecturer. She has volunteered her support to the arts and charitable organizations. In 2003, Tennant was appointed Companion of the Order of Canada.

Friday, June 3, 2005 - 10:00 am, Faculty of Law
L. Yves Fortier, Doctor of Laws

Yves Fortier is chairman of the Montreal-based Ogilvy Renault and one of the most prominent lawyers in Canada. He earned a Bachelor of Civil Law from McGill and a bachelor of letters from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. From 1988 to 1992, Fortier was Canada's ambassador and permanent representative for Canada to the United Nations and served as president of the United Nations Security Council in 1989. He has pleaded important cases before Canadian and international courts and arbitration panels and served as counsel to many royal commissions and commissions of inquiry. From 1998 to 2001, Fortier served as president of the London Court of International Arbitration. In 1991, Yves Fortier was appointed companion of the Order of Canada.

Friday, June 3, 2005 - 10:00 am, Faculty of Law
Rodolfo Sacco, Doctor of Laws

Rodolfo Sacco, professor emeritus at the University of Turin, is Europe's most famous comparative lawyer. Now 80, Sacco continues to teach and publish extensively. He has authored numerous articles in leading French and American journals. President of the Latin Group of the International Academy of Comparative Law, he is particularly well known as a civilian scholar in the French tradition. His international reputation is that of one of the founding fathers of the rich tradition of comparative law that is now dominant in European circles. Virtually every Italian scholar of international note in this field has been one of Rodolfo Sacco's pupils.

Friday, June 3, 2005 - 2:30 pm, Faculty of Science
Donald Dawson, Doctor of Science

McGill alumnus Donald Dawson, a professor emeritus at Carleton University, is one of the world's leading probabilists. He has contributed to the study of spatially distributed stochastic processes and infinite-dimensional branching systems, including the Dawson-Watanabe superprocess. A leader in mathematics and statistics, he served as the director of Canada's Fields Institute from 1996 to 2000 and is currently president of the (International) Bernoulli Society for Mathematical Statistics and Probability. Dawson received the 2004 Centre de Recherches Mathématiques-Fields Institute Prize, the 1991 Gold Medal Lecture of the Statistical Society of Canada, and the 1994 Jeffery-Williams Lecture of the Canadian Mathematical Society. He was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the International Statistical Institute and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and a Killam Senior Research Scholar. He has been an invited speaker at prestigious international conferences, including the International Congress of Mathematics and the Fourth World Congress of the Bernouilli Society.

Friday, June 3, 2005 - 2:30 pm, Faculty of Science
Leonard Pinchuk, Doctor of Science

Entrepreneur Leonard Pinchuk, a McGill grad, has dramatically affected the well-being of hundreds of thousands of people through his inventions of medical devices and his tenacious efforts to bring these devices to market. He holds more medical device patents than anyone in the world. His creations range from the lifestyle-improving (novel venous and urinary tract catheter materials) to the life-saving (coronary artery stents, angioplasty balloon materials). He made his contributions through profound understanding of materials chemistry, biocompatibility and human physiology, as well as a keen sense of entrepreneurship. Pinchuk has received recognition from grateful patients and their families throughout the world.

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