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University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

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Friday, May 24, 1996

Convocation today for science

This afternoon's convocation ceremony -- 2 p.m., Physical Activities Complex -- will see the awarding of degrees from the science faculty, and a whole series of special awards:

"Distinguished Professor Emeritus" status for Don Brodie, retired from the department of physics, who was dean of science 1982-1990.
"Distinguished Professor Emeritus" status also for Thammaiah Viswanatha of the chemistry department.
An honorary degree for Pierre Dixneuf, an organometallic chemist from the Universite de Rennes, France. (Presenting Dixneuf to convocation will be Arthur Carty, president of the National Research Council of Canada, former chemistry professor and dean of research at UW.)
An honorary degree for Digby McLaren, prominent Canadian earth scientist.
The alumni association gold medal to Heather Dobson, of chemistry, as the highest-ranking student graduating in science this year.
The Governor-General's silver medal to John Lewis Brubacher, of biology.
The Dean's Award for "creative research" in a master's thesis to Patrick Goegan (biology, James Martin (chemistry), Ian Callow (earth sciences), Bradley Goodyear and Serena Schlueter (both physics).
The W. B. Pearson Medal for "creative research" in a doctoral thesis to Janine Clemons (biology), Masao Tsukazaki (chemistry), James Smith and Forrest Harvey (both earth sciences), and Michael Robertson (physics).

Speaking to convocation as valedictorian, on behalf of the graduating class, will be Kim Getty of biology.

Tomorrow morning, it's mathematics

Saturday sees two convocation ceremonies, with the morning one (10 a.m.) being for degrees from the faculty of mathematics. Among the special honours to be handed out:

"Distinguished Professor Emeritus" status for Wes Graham of the department of computer science, popularly known as "the father of computing at Waterloo".
An honorary degree for Anne Penfold Street, a combinatorics and data security expert from the University of Queensland, Australia.
The J. W. Graham Medal -- named in honour of the man who's just become a Distinguished Professor Emeritus -- given this year to William Reeves, who earned a BMath from UW in 1974 and, somewhat more recently, has earned Oscars and other distinctions for computer animation.
The alumni association gold medal to Peter Milley (computer science and pure math) as the top BMath graduate of the year.
The Samuel Eckler Medal for highest standing in actuarial science, to Aviva Shneider.

Valedictorian on behalf of the graduating class will be Craig Kaplan (computer science and pure math).

And in the afternoon, engineering

The last convocation ceremony of the spring, starting at 2 p.m. tomorrow, will see degrees awarded in engineering. Among the special honours tomorrow (and there may be others of which I'm not aware, since the program hasn't come back from the print shop yet):

An honorary degree to Leslie Shemilt of the chemical engineering department at McMaster University.
An honorary degree to Madan Singh, prominent systems design engineering researcher who is based at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.
The Governor-General's Gold Medal to Vahid Tarokh, receiving a PhD in electrical engineering.
The alumni gold medal for top BASc graduate of the year, to Gifford Shearer, chemical engineering.

The weekend's convocation ceremonies will be the last at which Trevor Boyes and Bruce Lumsden place hoods, representing newly-earned degrees, over the heads of hundreds of graduates. Boyes, UW's long-time registrar, is retiring this spring, and Lumsden -- formerly associate registrar, now director of co-operative education and career services -- says he's dropping out of convocation duties.

Another convocation tradition comes to an end with the retirement of Bruce Pinder, whose last duties for UW will involve the detailed arrangements for tomorrow afternoon's ceremony. Pinder is the person who supervises the marshals, sees that diplomas and hoods are in the right places, keeps the lineups straight and counts the chairs. At yesterday's ceremony, he could be seen frantically adding a few chairs to the platform seconds before the procession came up the centre aisle of the gymnasium -- and everything worked out perfectly, as it generally does. Today being his last weekday in UW's employ, his colleagues in the registrar's office have found time to decorate his office fittingly. Now they have to figure out how to plan fall convocation without him.

Birthday for a prominent figure

Ron Eydt, who will be front and centre as he carries the mace up to the convocation platform, marks a birthday today (a date, though not a year, he shares with the late Queen Victoria). Eydt is retiring this spring after a long career not only as mace-bearer but as UW's warden of residences; he was also formerly a professor of biology.

To celebrate his years in charge of the Villages, the annual dons' reunion in June will be something special this year. Organizers are describing it as "Eydt Night: The Ultimate Dons' Reunion", with events June 7-9 that include a Saturday night banquet and roast. To spread the word, there's a Web site and a toll-free phone number (800-565-5410).

Among honours Eydt has already received is the creation of the Ron Eydt Travel Award, a bursary for students taking part in exchange programs; former dons attending the June reunion are being encouraged to boost the fund.

Also in today's news

Very briefly:

The staff association is off on its Niagara Wine Tour tomorrow, with stops at four wineries; the day ends with a chicken barbecue.
Electrical power, heating, cooling and ventilation will be turned off in the Earth Sciences and Chemistry building tomorrow (Saturday) from 8 a.m. to noon. "Computer equipment should be shut down in an orderly fashion," a notice from the plant operations department advises.
The 26th Ontario Universities Computing Conference gets going in the Village II conference centre on Sunday and runs through Tuesday. About 110 participants are expected, apart from the UW people taking part. Working sessions in the Davis Centre start on Monday morning.

And happy Shavuot, for those observing the "Feast of Weeks".

Chris Redmond -- credmond@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4567 ext. 3004

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