Posted June 5: Business, Humanities and Arts & Science Program
The School of Business, Faculty of Humanities and Arts & Science Program hold Convocation ceremonies today in the Great Hall at Hamilton Place. The Faculties will confer degrees for doctor of philosophy, master of business administration, master of arts, bachelor of arts, bachelor of music and Bachelor of Arts & Science.
Business students convoke in the morning (9:30 a.m.); the humanities and Arts & Science Program students in the afternoon at 2:30 p.m.
The Governor General's medal will also be presented to Burlington resident Beth Zdriluk, who graduates today with her BA in drama and psychology.
Arts & Science student Arif Manji will be recognized with the President's Award for Excellence in Student Leadership.
The valedictorians for these ceremonies are Saundra Young (business) and Laurence Scott (humanities and Arts & Science).
Honorary degrees will be presented to Calvin Stiller, Henry Mintzberg, Richard Margison and Neil McArthur.
Mintzberg will deliver the Convocation address and Margison will perfom at their respective ceremonies.
School of Business Honorary Degree Recipients
Calvin Stiller
Doctor of Laws
Calvin R. Stiller is chair and CEO of the Canadian Medical Discoveries Fund, a venture capital investment fund that seeks out companies in the life sciences sector that have potential to become industry leaders.
The physician, scientist and entrepreneur is a multi-organ transplant pioneer and currently a medical professor at the University of Western Ontario.
Born in Saskatchewan, Stiller obtained his medical degree from the University of Saskatchewan and, following post-graduate studies in London and Edmonton, became a professor at Western and co-director of immunology at the John P. Robarts Research Institute.
In London, Stiller established the Multi-Organ Transplant Service and served as the unit's chief for 12 years (1984-1996). He was the principle investigator of the Canadian multi-centre study that established the importance of cyclosporine in transplantation and led to its worldwide use as first-line therapy for transplant rejection.
In 1999, Western established the Novartis/Calvin Stiller Chair in Xenotransplantation in his honour.
He is the cofounder of several important and noteworthy initiatives: the Multiple Organ Retrieval and Exchange Program, the Alan Thicke Centre for Juvenile Diabetes, the J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine and the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. He also founded Diversicare Corporation, Chelsey Corporation, Oracle Network Corporation, Medical Discovery Management Corporation and the Canadian Medical Discoveries Fund.
Stiller chairs the board of the Ontario Research and Development Challenge Fund, is a member of the Ontario Innovation Trust and serves on the board of directors of several private and public companies. He is a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario.
Henry Mintzberg
Doctor of Laws
A member of McGill's Faculty of Management since 1968, Henry Mintzberg focuses his work on doctoral education and executive development. In addition to teaching at McGill, he has been a visiting professor at the Universite d'Aix Marseille, Carnegie-Mellon, Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales and the London Business School. He obtained his engineering degree from McGill University and both his M.Sc. and PhD degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management.
His current research interests include general management and organization including the process of strategy formation, the design of organizations and the impact of design on organizations. Mintzberg's book, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, won the best book award of the Academy of Management in 1995. He has contributed to most of the major journals in his field including the Harvard Business Review,California Management Review and the Academy of Management Review.
Mintzberg was the first Fellow to be elected to the Royal Society of Canada from the field of management. He recently completed a term as president of the Strategic Management Society and was named an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Today Mintzberg is Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies at McGill and a visiting scholar at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
Faculty of Humanities and Arts & Science Program Honorary Degree Recipients
Richard Margison
Doctor of Letters
Canadian tenor Richard Margison started his music career as a folk singer, performing Gordon Lightfoot songs in Victoria, B.C. coffee houses as part of a duo. It was when he began taking voice lessons with Selina James, at age 22, that he first considered a classical singing career.
He began to attend – and enjoy – opera, and discovered he had a voice for this specialized art form. He studied at and received his diplomas from the Victoria Conservatory, and took part in the school's operas and musical productions. He apprenticed with the Edmonton Opera Company and performed throughout Alberta for two years. He has performed in the Vancouver Opera's production of Eugene Onegin (1986) and Tosca (1987).
His first CD, Great Romantic Duets of French Opera, with Lyne Fortin, was produced on the CBC SM 5000 label in 1987.
Marginson has performed in many of the world's leading opera houses, beginning the 2001-02 season at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
A much sought-after concert artist, Margison has appeared with the Royal Philharmonic in London, the San Francisco Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2001.
Neil McArthur
Doctor of Laws
Long-time Dundas resident Neil McArthur and his wife, Anne, have generously supported a wide range of Hamilton-area health, sports and educational association and initiatives. Organizations which have benefited from the McArthur's financial and volunteer assistance over the years include: the Arthritis Foundation, the Lung Association, the March of Dimes, St. Joseph's Hospital and St. Joseph's Villa, the General Hospital, Junior Achievement, and St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation, and local sports teams.
The University has also benefited from Neil McArthur's generosity. In 1997, he established a McSOF Bursary for engineering and ecience students. Again, in 1999, he was a significant supporter of the new Multimedia Program established by the Faculty of Humanities, providing funds for the purchase of a server and partially funding the building of the new Multimedia Wing.
McArthur owned Flamborough-based Sandco, an automotive parts business, until his retirement in 1998.
