The Principal of McGill University in Canada  is one of 19 individuals who will receive honorary degrees this summer from the University of Glasgow.

Seven of these honorary degrees will be conferred this week to mark the Commemoration of the University of Glasgow in 1451. The links with McGill stretch back to the 1750s when James McGill was a student at the University of Glasgow, before going on to found McGill University in Montreal.

The relationship between the two universities will be strengthened further when the Principals of the two universities – Professor Suzanne Fortier and Professor Anton Muscatelli – sign a Memorandum of Agreement. The development of this strategic partnership will confer substantial benefits on staff and students in both institutions.

 

Professor Muscatelli said: “Over the next five years we plan to work together to create flexible arrangements for student mobility and offer additional opportunities for academic staff to work together on some of the grand challenges facing communities across the world. The creation of a jointly-supported Principals’ early career exchange fellowship scheme will mark the first concrete expression of this important strategic partnership.”

The signing of the partnership agreement will take place after the Commemoration Day ceremony at which Professor Fortier will be made a Doctor of the University (DUniv) in honour of her academic contribution as a scientist as well as her academic leadership. She is a crystallographer by training, specialising in using mathematical and artificial intelligence methodologies to determine protein structure.

Among other prominent individuals accepting honorary degrees will be athlete Dame Tanni Grey Thompson; the Executive Director of Sexual Minorities in Uganda, Dr Frank Mugisha; and Founder and Managing Director of the Glasgow-based WEST brewery, bar and restaurant, Petra Wetzel.

The 19 new awards are in addition to two honorary degrees that were conferred upon the former First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond MP, and the former UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, earlier this year.

On July 13 there will also be four honorary degrees awarded to Celtic linguistics experts as part of the 15th International Congress of Celtic Studies, which is being held in Glasgow for the first time.

The congress, held once every four years, is the foremost international gathering of scholars researching the languages, literatures and cultural traditions of the Celtic-speaking peoples.

The full list of honorary doctorates is as follows:

Commemoration 17 June 2015

DOCTOR OF LAWS (LLD)
The Rt Hon BARONESS SCOTLAND OF ASTHAL, PC, QC
Lawyer and Politician

DOCTOR OF SCIENCE (DSc)
Dr Gerald CHAN
Co-Founded Morningside Foundation

Dr Hermann HAUSER
Co-founder and partner of Amadeus
Capital Partners

Professor Sir Peter KNIGHT FRS
Prominent and influential Scientist

Mr Andrew ROBERTSON
Chairman of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

DOCTOR OF THE UNIVERSITY (DUniv)
Professor Suzanne FORTIER
Principal of McGill University
Montreal, Canada

Dr Frank MUGISHA
Executive Director of Sexual Minorities
Uganda
College Graduations Summer 2015

DOCTOR OF LETTERS (DLitt)
Mr Toby WEBSTER – GSA 19 June 2015
Artist

DOCTOR OF SCIENCE (DSc)
Professor Sandro GALEA – 2 July 4pm
Professor of Epidemiology
Mailman School of Public Health,
Columbia University

Dr David SIBBALD – 2 July 4pm
Chairman and CEO Aridhia

DOCTOR OF ENGINEERING (DEng)
Mr Charles BERRY – 1 July Noon
Chairman, The Weir Group PLC

Mr John Scott YOUNGER - 1 July Noon
Director of PT Nusantara Infrastructure Tbk

DOCTOR OF THE UNIVERSITY (DUniv)
Ms Petra WETZEL – 26 June 4pm
Founder and Managing Director
WEST – Brewery, Bar and Restaurant

Mr James Elder WOODWARD – 26 June 4pm
Disability Rights Campaigner

The Rt Hon Baroness Tanni Grey THOMPSON – 29 June Noon
Athlete

July Lecture 2015

DOCTOR OF LETTERS (DLitt) 13 July 2015
Professor Emeritus Nancy DORIAN
Professor Emeritus of Linguistics in German and Anthropology, Bryn Mawr College
Pennsylvania, USA

Professor Emeritus Máirtín Ó MURCHÚ
Emeritus Professor of Irish,
Trinity College, Dublin

Professor Emeritus Dr Elmar TERNES
University of Hamburg

Professor Emeritus Seosamh WATSON
Emeritus Professor of Modern Irish
University College Dublin

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First published: 16 June 2015