Concordia University honours two outstanding individuals at fall convocation

Montreal, November 6, 2013 - Concordia University will grant two honorary doctorates during the fall convocation ceremonies to be held on November 21 in Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts (175 Ste-Catherine St. W.). The distinguished recipients, author Clark Blaise and computer scientist Vahid Tarokh, will join more than 1,700 students from across Concordia’s four Faculties and the School of Graduate Studies graduating this fall.

10 a.m. - Faculty of Arts and Science

Clark Blaise, OC, MFA, pioneering founder of Concordia's Creative Writing Program, will be honoured for his long and influential career as a teacher of writing and literature across North America. He is a professor emeritus at the University of Iowa, where he was director of the International Writing Program. Blaise’s 20 books of fiction and nonfiction include the Pearson Prize-winning Time Lord: Sir Sandford Fleming and the Creation of Standard Time (2000). He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2010.

3 p.m. - The Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science / Fine Arts (joint ceremony)

Vahid Tarokh, PhD, was the principal inventor of space-time codes in 1996, which significantly improved the speed, capacity and clarity of wireless voice and data communications. One of the world’s most cited electrical engineers, Tarokh is a Hammond Vinton Hayes Senior Fellow of Electrical Engineering and Perkins Professor of Applied Mathematics at Harvard University's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He holds an MSc in mathematics from the University of Windsor and a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Waterloo.

7:30 p.m. - John Molson School of Business (No honorary degree to be awarded)