An NHL coach, a doctor who helps children traumatized by war, and a columnist for the Hamilton Spectator are among 11 McMaster University alumni who will join some 300 other distinguished McMaster graduates as members of the McMaster University Alumni Gallery.

The 11 will be inducted into the gallery tomorrow (Saturday, June 3) at a ceremony in Convocation Hall commencing at 3 p.m.

All have led interesting lives since graduation and lives that exemplify how McMaster University alumni positively affect and contribute to all aspects of society.

Roger Neilson began his career as a hockey coach 23 years ago with the Toronto Maple Leafs and is currently coach of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Samantha Nutt founded the Canadian Chapter of War Child , a non-profit organization that works with the music and entertainment industries to find creative ways to help children traumatized by war.

Norma Bidwell writes “Norma's Stoveline” for the Hamilton Spectator and has published two cookbooks for the newspaper. She has written about food and nutrition for many years, and was food editor at the Spectator until her retirement in 1985.

The other eight inductees are:

* Norma Allewell , associate vice-president for sponsored programs and technology licensing at Harvard University

* June Caskey, founder and director of the Caskey School of Music in Hamilton

* Douglas Coleman, a retired senior scientist from Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbour, Maine, who was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences for his research in gene structure

* Robert Dynes, chancellor at the University of California, San Diego

* Kenneth Hall, a teacher with the Hamilton Board of Education for 31 years and an environmentalist who chairs the Hamilton-Wentworth Sustainable Community Day Steering Committee

* Ed Minich, president and CEO of Otis Canada Incorporated, and vice-chair of McMaster University's Board of Governors

* Andrew Rainbow, a McMaster professor of biology and medical physicist who is internationally recognized for his research in the study of DNA

* Mark Tarnopolsky, a medical doctor and an assistant professor in the departments of medicine and kinesiology at McMaster who conducts research on muscle metabolism and neuromuscular disease

Also being honoured on Saturday are Diana Beacham, a long-time volunteer for the McMaster Alumni Association, and Marilyn Hawkrigg, a long-time McMaster supporter and wife of McMaster Univeristy Chancellor Mel Hawkrigg. Beacham will be presented with the 2000 Distinguished Service Award and Hawkrigg will be made an honorary member of the MAA.