A medical law professor who’s also a mystery writer, a B.C. entrepreneur and an Alberta university president are among the eight individuals who will receive UBC honorary degrees at Spring Congregation in Vancouver May 25 to 30.
The degrees are awarded for distinguished career achievements, as well as service to UBC and to Canada.
Dr. Alexander McCall Smith is a medical law professor, who over the past 20 years has written more than 50 books that include academic titles, short story collections, popular children’s books and a bestselling detective series. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series has been translated into 35 languages and optioned for a feature film.
The Zimbabawe-born Smith is currently teaching at the University of Edinburgh. In addition to his university work, he is the vice-chairman of the Human Genetics Commission of the UK, the chairman of the British Medical Journal Ethics Committee, and a member of the International Bioethics Commission of UNESCO.
Dr. Indira Samarasekera, president of the University of Alberta, is the first woman president to be appointed at any university in Alberta. Prior to this position, Samarasekera was UBC’s vice president, Research, between 2000 and 2005, where she grew UBC’s research capacity and performance. Samarasekera first came to UBC in 1977.
Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Samaraskera was the former director of UBC’s Centre for Metallurgical Process Engineering and a professor in the Department of Metals and Materials Engineering. She has contributed to the steel processing industry in the areas of continuous casting and hot rolling of steel. Samarasekera was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2002.
Dr. Donald Rix, a medical professional and B.C. entrepreneur, fosters strong ties between industry and education. He is chairman and one of the founders of MDS Metro Laboratory Services, the largest independent community laboratory in B.C., and Cantest Laboratory Services in Vancouver, the largest industrial laboratory in B.C. In 2005, Rix gave $4 million to support medical students at UBC. His previous gifts to the university include a major contribution toward a technology enterprise facility, the Donald Rix Building.
In 1953, Rix received his MD from the University of Western Ontario. His education includes a Fellowship in General Pathology (FRCP) in 1972, and a Doctor of Science and honoris causa from the University of Western Ontario in 1998. At UBC, he is a clinical professor emeritus of pathology and laboratory medicine. In 2004, Rix was awarded the Order of British Columbia.
Other distinguished recipients, in alphabetical order, are:
- Former UBC chemistry professor Dr. Neil Bartlett and professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, changed the face of chemistry by producing compounds of rare gases
- Dr. John Hood, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford and former president and CEO of New Zealand firm Fletcher Challenge
- Dr. Finn Kydland, economics professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Economics for shedding light on the dynamics between public policies and business
- Tenor Dr. Richard Margison is one of the most famous Canadian opera singers in the world today
- Prof. Dr. Martha Nussbaum, American philosopher and ethicist, teaches at the University of Chicago Law School
In addition, UBC Okanagan will confer two honorary degrees at Spring Congregation June 9:
- Jeanette C. Armstrong is considered North America’s first Aboriginal woman novelist. She is the director of the Okanagan Nation’s En’owkin Centre in Penticton
- Dr. William Bowering, a former Okanagan University College president, seeded and expanded post-secondary education in the Okanagan
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