UBC Reports | Vol. 50 | No. 3 | Mar.
4, 2004
Two Nobel prizewinners, a former federal Cabinet minister,
an Olympic rower and a renowned pianist are among the 11 individuals
who will receive honorary degrees from the University of British
Columbia this year.
Recipients are recognized for their distinguished career
achievements and for their contributions to UBC and to Canada.
Honorary degrees will be awarded during Spring and Fall Congregation
ceremonies.
Daniel Kahneman, a former UBC professor of psychology, earned
the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of
Alfred Nobel, 2002. He was honoured for integrating psychological
research into economics, particularly concerning human judgement
and decision-making under uncertainty. Kahneman currently
works at Princeton University.
Sydney Brenner earned the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology
or Medicine for his contribution to understanding the genetic
regulation of organ development and differentiation. His work
has had enormous influence on genomics and biology and he
has been extensively involved with UBC students and faculty
at Vancouver’s Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics.
The Hon. John Fraser is a UBC Faculty of Law alumnus and
has served Canada as an elected official since 1972 until
he left political life in 1994. His service includes being
a member of Parliament, federal cabinet minister and Speaker
of the House of Commons. In 1994, Fraser was selected to head
the Fraser River Sockeye Public Review Board investigating
the salmon fishery. He subsequently represented Canada as
Ambassador for the Environment, Foreign Affairs and International
Trade. Fraser is active in the environmental movement and
is chair of Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council.
UBC alumna and rowing champion Kathleen Heddle won nine world
championships and Olympic medals while a member of the Canadian
national rowing team from 1987 to 1996. She and rowing partner
Marnie McBean are two of the most successful athletes in Canadian
Olympic history. Heddle is a member of the Canadian Sports
Hall of Fame.
Prof. Emeritus Robert Silverman served for 30 years as a
UBC professor of piano and was a former director of the School
of Music. An internationally recognized pianist and teacher,
Silverman has performed with more than 50 symphony orchestras.
He earned a Juno Award nomination for his recording of all
32 of Beethoven’s piano sonatas.
Other distinguished recipients are: (in alphabetical order)
Artist and professor of fine arts Iain Baxter; alumnus Larry
Bell, former UBC Board of Governors chair and business executive;
Dana Brynelsen, an alumna, innovator and advocate for services
for young children with disabilities; alumnus, librarian and
former UBC senior administrator Samuel Rothstein; aboriginal
health expert and advocate Madeleine Dion Stout; internationally
influential psychologist and former UBC faculty member Anne
Treisman of Princeton University.
All recipients will receive their honorary degrees at Spring
Congregation, May 26 to June 2, with the exception of Brenner
and Heddle, who will receive their degrees at Fall Congregation.
UBC’s Spring Congregation will be Web cast from the Chan
Centre for the Performing Arts. For details, visit www.graduation.ubc.ca.
