2009-04-10 03:53:06
April 9, 2009
EDMONTON — The spiritual leader of the world’s 15 million Ismaili Muslims, and a former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights are among 12 leaders set to receive honorary degrees from the University of Alberta.
The special honours will be bestowed June 3 - 11, when the recipients will speak to graduating classes during the U of A’s spring convocation ceremonies.
One of the most anticipated speeches will come from the Aga Khan, the Ismaili leader and founder of an international development agency working to help people living in poverty. The Aga Khan, who was last in Western Canada in November, will speak on June 9.
Also speaking is Louise Arbour, who served in the United Nations human rights post from 2004 to 2008 and is now set to become chief executive of the International Crisis Group, which provides analysis and advice on resolving violent conflict. Arbour will speak to grads at the Jubilee Auditorium on June 3.
Others set to receive honorary degrees are:
- Michael Hayden, one of Canada’s leading clinical geneticists;
- James Westvick Thorsell, a pioneer in natural conservation and acclaimed for his work with the UNESCO world heritage committee;
- Eliot Phillipson, known for his work as a respiratory physiologist, including research into obstructive sleep apnea;
- Dianne and Irving Kipnes, local philanthropists whose gifts have gone to support cancer research, a new veterans hospital and the Edmonton Opera;
- James March, a former Stanford social scientist and poet who completed groundbreaking work on organizational decision-making;
- Juliet McMaster, founder of the Juvenilia Press, and the first U of A faculty member to receive the Molson Prize recognizing lifetime contributions to cultural and intellectual life in Canada;
- Rudy Wiebe, an author who has twice won the Governor-General’s Award for fiction;
- Sheila Watt-Cloutier, a Canadian Inuit political and environmental leader who has fought against organic pollutants in the Arctic;
- Yves Fouron, co-founder of Chembiomed Ltd., and a pioneering scientist and entrepreneur in the biotechnology and life-sciences industries.
Source: The Calgary Herald
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