MONTREAL/June 1, 2000—
ó Five distinguished individuals will receive honorary degrees at Concordia University's spring convocation ceremonies to be held on June 6, 7 and 13.
The recipients art historian and museum curator Dr. Jean Sutherland Boggs, retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Petro-Canada, James M. Stanford, Dr. Ann Saddlemyer, a pioneer in the field of Irish Studies, neuroscientist and psychologist, Dr. Barrie J. Frost, and Serge Godin, founder and President of the CGI Group.
Some 3,307 graduates will receive degrees, diplomas or certificates from Concordia's four Faculties and the School of graduate Studies. Arts and Science will graduate 1,672 students, Commerce and Administration, 800, Engineering and Computer Science, 490, and Fine Arts another 345.
This year, four ceremonies will be held at the Molson Centre, 1260 de la GauchetiËre W. The ceremony for the Faculty of Fine Arts will take place at Concordia's Oscar Peterson Concert Hall. The events will take place as follows:
FACULTY OF FINE ARTS FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCE
Tuesday, June 6, at 2 p.m. Tuesday, June 13, at 10 a.m.
Oscar Peterson Concert Hall Molson Centre
7141 Sherbrooke St. W. Honorand: Dr. Ann Saddlemyer
Honorand: Dr. Jean Sutherland Boggs
FACULTY OF COMMERCE AND ADMINISTRATION FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCE
Wednesday, June 7, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 13, at 2:30 p.m.
Molson Centre Molson Centre
Honorand: James M. Stanford Honorand: Dr. Barrie J. Frost
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
AND COMPUTER SCIENCE
Tuesday, June 13, at 7 p.m.
Molson Centre
Honorand: Serge Godin
*Biographies attached Ö/2
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Dr. Jean Sutherland Boggs, C.C., O.C.: An active and vital participant in the fine arts community in Canada and the United States for more than half a century, Jean Sutherland Boggs was named the first female director of the National Gallery of Canada in 1966. She also served as chair and chief executive officer of the Canada Museums Construction Corporation, where her determination led to the construction of both a custom-built National Gallery building and the unique Canadian Museum of Civilization. As an art historian, she has published extensively on the life and work of Edgar Degas and has received international recognition for her work. She was chairman of the ComitÈ scientifique that organized the extremely important Degas retrospective exhibition in 1988, the first exhibition held in the new National Gallery of Canada building. In 1998, she curated Degas at the Races for the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., contributed significantly to the Degas and New Orleans exhibition in 1999, and is currently working on a catalogue raisonnÈ of his drawings.
Dr. Barrie J. Frost: Dr. Frost is an international leader in sensory neuroscience and psychology. He has made outstanding contributions to our understanding of vision, hearing and the brain mechanisms underlying their functioning. Dr. Frost's visual neuroscience research has focussed on how motion is processed in the brain and, in particular, how motion of objects is distinguished from motion of the image produced by the eye, head and body movement. He has worked on applied projects such as developing a miniaturized artificial ear for the profoundly deaf. His other research projects have included studies to help Parkinson's patients move, studies of low frequency hearing in birds, and studies of human visual processing. His other research projects have included studies to help Parkinson's patients move, studies of low frequency hearing in birds, and studies of human visual processing. Professor Frost has also played an important role in the formulation and implementation of Canadian science policy, has over a hundred scientific publications to his credit and has presented hundreds of papers and invited talks around the world.
Serge Godin: Serge Godin is chair of the board and chief executive officer of CGI, a leader in the field of information technology. As a teenager growing up in Quebec's Saguenay region in the 1960s, he became fascinated by the potential of computers. He enrolled in computer technology and management at UniversitÈ Laval, and at the age of 26, launched CGI Inc., a computer consulting and management company in Quebec City. What began as a two-person operation in his basement in 1976 has grown into Canada's largest independent information technology consulting company and the fifth largest in North America. Listed on the stock exchange in 1995 at $14 million, the Groupe CG is now, five years later, listed at more than $7 billion. Serge Godin has been president of the Board of Trade of
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Metropolitan Montreal and currently sits on the board of directors of the SocietÈ gÈnÈrale de financement. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Certified Management Consultants and is active in
several charitable organizations. In 1996, he was honoured by the UniversitÈ du Quèbec ‡ Chicoutimi for his business achievements and his involvement in social issues.
Dr. Ann Saddlemyer, O.C.: For more than three decades, Ann Saddlemyer's name has been synonymous with pioneering work in Irish Studies both in Canada and abroad. Her work has played a central role in establishing Irish Studies, and particularly the writers of the Irish literary renaissance, as a subject worthy of study outside the traditional parameters of the English literary tradition. In particular, her publications on Lady Gregory and John Millington Synge were crucial in arguing that these writers needed to be studied in the context of unique cultural, historical and literary traditions. Her international scholarly reputation will, no doubt, be further enhanced with the forthcoming publication of a critical biography of George Yeats, the last remaining figure to complete a scholarly appreciation of the Irish literary renaissance. She is also an educator having spent 25 years at the University of Toronto, where, as Director of the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, she introduced the first classes in Canadian theatre at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
James M. Stanford: James Stanford recently retired as chairman, president and chief executive officer of Petro-Canada, a company he guided for more than 20 years. From its beginnings, he believed in the mission set out at the Crown Corporation's creation. He felt it was important to establish a powerful Canadian flagship institution in a key industry that might otherwise be dominated by foreign interests. When the federal government's ownership began to drop off in 1991, and the company began to function largely as a private one, he effectively restructured the company. He reorganized the work force, implemented a new management system designed to cut through bureaucracy and root out inefficiencies, and brought a sense of small-business entrepreneurship to the company. Today, he remains a driving force within the company, continuing to serve as a member of its Board of Directors. He has also taken on a new venture as the founder and President of Stanford Resource Management Inc., based in Calgary.
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