MONTREAL/October 30, 2008—
Concordia University will award two honorary doctorates (Doctor of Laws) during fall convocation ceremonies on November 17, 2008. The recipients are René Balcer, the executive producer of the Law & Order series and the Hon. Hilary M. Weston, former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. More than 1,600 students in four faculties will receive degrees during the three convocation ceremonies taking place at Salle Wilfrid Pelletier at Place des Arts (175 St. Catherine Street West).
At the afternoon ceremony at 3 p.m. for the Faculty of Arts and Science, René Balcer will be awarded an honorary doctorate in recognition of his success as a television producer and writer. Balcer is an alumnus of Concordia University where he was awarded a BA in Communication Arts, Magna Cum Laude, in 1978. He is the executive producer of the Law & Order series for which he won an Emmy award in 1997. He also created Law & Order Criminal Intent which is now in its eighth season.
The Law & Order series is one of the longest running television dramas in American television history. Balcer has written over 180 episodes of Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and has won a number of awards, including the Writers Guild Award for Outstanding Teleplay, four Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America, the Peabody Award, two Silver Gavel Awards from the American Bar Association, the Golden Laurel Award from the Producers Guild of America, and lifetime achievement awards from the Reims International Television Festival and the International Mystery Writers festival.
Balcer and his wife Carolyn Hsu are also involved in a number of philanthropic and educational projects in China where they have established scholarships at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics; they also support the American Friends of Ningbo Music to benefit the University of Ningbo’s Music Department; and they are benefactors of the Nature Conservancy for China, supporting projects in Yunnan Province, Beijing and Shanghai.
The Hon. Hilary M. Weston will be awarded her honorary doctorate during the 7 p.m. ceremony for the John Molson School of Business. Weston was the 26th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, serving from 1997 to 2002. During her five-year tenure, Weston focused on issues related to women, voluntarism, and young people.
Prior to her appointment, Weston spent over two decades working in business and in the fashion industry as deputy chairman, Holt Renfrew; director, Brown Thomas, Ireland; and vice-chairman and design director, Windsor Club, Florida. Weston founded the Ireland Fund of Canada, served as founding chair of the Mabin School in Toronto, and co-founded and chaired the Canadian Environment Educational Foundation. She also co-authored two best-selling books, In a Canadian Garden (1989) and At Home in Canada (1995).
Since her retirement as Lieutenant Governor, Weston spearheaded the campaign that raised more than $250 million for the Royal Ontario Museum. She is patron of several organizations, including the Hospice Association of Ontario, the Landmine Survivors Network, the Ontario March of Dimes, and Yonge Street Mission. Weston is also a director of Selfridges, the London department store.
Born Hilary Frayne in Dublin in 1942, she the eldest of five children. In 1966, she married Galen Weston and they moved to Toronto in 1974. They have two married children, Alannah and Galen, and one granddaughter.
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Source :
Tanya Churchmuch
Senior Media Relations Advisor
Concordia University
