York convocation honours outstanding individuals

Atkinson humanities professor Michael Herren (far left) and Board of Governors member Bill Dimma are among those being honoured at the convocation ceremonies this weekend at York University.

by Don Evans

MICHAEL HERREN NAMED DISTINGUISHED RESEARCH PROFESSOR; PETER CAMPBELL, BILL DIMMA, FRANÇOISE SULLIVAN TO RECEIVE HONORARY DEGREES.

Three honorary degrees and a Distinguished Research Professorship will be awarded at the upcoming fall convocation ceremonies at York University. As well, an estimated 1,800 degrees will be conferred by the University.

Honorary degree recipients are Peter Campbell, William Dimma, and Françoise Sullivan. The Distinguished Research Professorship will be conferred upon Michael Herren, a humanities professor at Atkinson College. (More detailed descriptions of the achievements of these individuals can be seen below.)

Students from Stong College, Calumet College, Vanier College and the Faculty of Education will receive diplomas at a ceremony on Friday, Nov. 6 at 10 a.m. Another ceremony will be held on Friday at 2:30 p.m. for graduands from Glendon College, Bethune College, the Faculty of Pure and Applied Science, the Faculty of Environmental Studies, the Schulich School of Business, Osgoode Hall Law School, and the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

On Saturday, Nov. 7, students from Atkinson College will attend a ceremony at 10:30 a.m. Later that day at 2:30 p.m., a ceremony will be held for graduands from Founders College, McLaughlin College, Winters College, and the Faculty of Fine Arts.

Peter Campbell to receive Doctor of Letters

Diplomat, broadcaster and college course instructor Peter George Raoul Campbell, who shared his expertise in public broadcasting with Winters College students for 15 years, will receive a Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 2:30 p.m.

In conferring the D. Litt. degree, the University will recognize the diplomatic and administrative aspects of Campbell's distinguished career in diplomacy, his notable association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and his valued contribution to the liberal education of generations of Winters College students.

As a CBC broadcaster, Campbell is widely recognized for programming with a special emphasis on the critical importance of journalistic integrity.

After obtaining his BA degree in classics from the University of Toronto (1936) and his master's degree in the same discipline from Harvard (1937), Campbell was commissioned as an officer with the Royal Canadian Navy and, during the Second World War, served in the North Atlantic, United Kingdom waters and the Normandy invasion. He commanded the leading craft of the Canadian Landing Craft Infantry [Large] at the first assault in the invasion of Normandy in 1944.

In the fall of 1945, Campbell joined the Department of External Affairs and became liaison officer with the U.S. Military Command at Manila, Philippines where he saw to the repatriation to Canada of Canadian prisoners-of-war and civilian internees from Hong Kong and China. Subsequently, he was vice-consul in charge of the Canadian Embassy office in Shanghai, China (1946-48) and served on a United Nations relief agency council for the Far East, supervising the disposition of post-war economic aid to China. As First Secretary in the Canadian Embassy in Washington (1950-54), he served the Far Eastern Commission, an agency set up to monitor the progress of the Peace Treaty with Japan.

As Canadian Commissioner, International Supervisory Commission, Laos, Indochina (1956-57), Campbell held the rank of ambassador and helped to bring about settlements for the divided states of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in accordance with principles established at the Geneva Conference of 1954.

Campbell joined the CBC's large and influential Public Affairs Department in 1959 and was named national supervisor of current affairs for TV and radio in 1962. Other important supervisory positions followed and, in 1972, he became supervisor of policy for the English networks and played a key role in developing and applying policy statements setting out standards and regulations for journalism and general programing. He also served as ombudsman for investigating and dealing with serious complaints about unfair treatment of individuals and organizations by CBC programs.

When he retired in 1985, Campbell was retained on contract for five years as consultant to the vice-president in charge of English Network Television. During this time, he undertook a comprehensive report on CBC TV coverage of the 1988 federal general election. The report was taken as clearing the CBC of charges of unfairness. He also prepared guidelines for handling the contentious form of programming known as drama documentary.

In his Winters College course for first-year students, titled "Canadian Broadcasting: Radio and Television," Campbell brought his rich life experience into the classroom. The course had a "powerful appeal" to students, a former colleague attests, and "his teaching evaluations make it apparent that, year after year, he could provoke from students some of the most stimulating and involving class discussions they were to encounter at York."

Bill Dimma to be awarded
Doctor of Laws

Described as "one of York's greatest enthusiasts," William Andrew Dimma will be granted a Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) at the convocation ceremony on Friday, Nov. 6 at 10 a.m.

The LLD degree will recognize Dimma's association with York University for three decades: as a student, faculty member, dean of the business school, and as a member and Chair of the Board of Governors. "He has worked indefatigably for the University, and has brought to these roles an unusually high degree of ethical and social concern," according to his nominator.

"Bill's very unusual contribution in the business world is as a keeper of corporate consciences. This has earned him a place on a large number of corporate boards, invitations to speak in many academic and business fora, and a well-deserved role in public and community affairs," his nominator states, citing Dimma's "intelligence, good judgment, fundamental decency and good will," and his "long and distinguished career in the service of the University."

During Dimma's 211Ž2 years on York's Board of Governors ­ including nearly six years as Chair ­ he devoted, on average, a full 20 per cent of his long work-week to the betterment of York University. In this period, he also served the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children for 15 years, somehow finding time to chair the investment committee and to sit on many other task forces and committees.

From 1987 and into the early 1990s, Dimma spoke and wrote extensively on business ethics and became widely known as a leader within the corporate community for his advocacy of a greater sense of ethical awareness and of higher ethical standards. For his work in this field, St. Mary's University awarded him an honorary degree in 1992.

In helping to move boards of directors of for-profit and not-for-profit enterprises to a higher standard of governance without losing sight of the essential distinction between governing and managing, he is widely regarded as one of a handful of leaders in this field, both nationally and in Ontario.

Dimma earned his MBA in 1969 at York University and was awarded the DBA by Harvard University in 1973. His business and professional career began in 1948 with Union Carbide Canada Ltd., where he was executive vice-president and director, 1967-70. He served as a professor and dean of the Faculty of Administrative Studies, York University, 1974-76; president and director, Torstar Corporation and Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd., 1976-78; president and director, A.E.LePage Ltd., 1979-84; president and chief executive officer, Royal LePage Ltd., 1984-86; and deputy chairman, Royal LePage Ltd., 1986-93.

Dimma was awarded the Gold Medal in the Doctoral Program, Graduate School of Business, Harvard University. His other awards include the York University Business School Alumni Award for Outstanding Corporate Leadership, 1992, and the Order of Canada, 1996.

Artist Françoise Sullivan to receive Doctor of Letters

Canadian painter, dancer, writer and sculptor Françoise Sullivan will be awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) at the fall convocation on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 10:30 a.m., in recognition of the breadth of her contribution to the arts in Canada.

Acknowledged to be one of Canada's leading figures in both dance and visual art, Sullivan is celebrated for the interdisciplinary nature of her work.

Sullivan was one of a group of painters, dancers and writers known as Les Automatistes who were active in Montreal from the early 1940s to the mid 1950s, and was a signatory to their now-famous manifesto, Refus global, which challenged the authority of the church and Premier Maurice Duplessis. The manifesto, which has been called "the single most important social document in Quebec history and the most important aesthetic statement a Canadian has ever made," planted the seeds for the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s.

Sullivan studied both dance and visual arts at the École des beaux-arts in Montreal, and examples of paintings she did in her teens are now in the collection of the National Gallery in Ottawa. After studying dance in New York under Franziska Boas, she choreographed and performed some of the earliest free-form dance in Canada, and was one of the pioneers of televised dance in this country.

Sullivan returned to visual art in the early 1960s, producing some monumental pieces of sculpture, which now are to be found in the collections of the National Gallery, the Musée d'art contemporain in Montreal and the University of Regina. As a visual artist, Sullivan was more varied in her approaches than any of the other artist-signatories of Refus global. Having begun with "abstract" sculptures in metal and plexiglass, she changed course completely in the 1970s and began a collaboration with Italian artists and the experimental group Véhicule in Montreal, producing conceptual work involving photographic documentation. More recently, she has returned to painting on irregular canvas surfaces and to environmental painted works.

Major retrospectives of Sullivan's visual art were mounted at the Musée d'art contemporain in 1981 and the Musée du Québec in 1993. She was the winner in 1988 of the Prix Paul-Emile Borduas, Quebec's most prestigious prize for the life accomplishments of a visual artist.

Sullivan's work in dance did not stop entirely in the 1960s. She continued to choreograph such major works as Et la nuit, à la nuit (1981) and to oversee recent re-productions of her earlier work for the Toronto archives, Dance Collection Danse, and for the documentary film Un pas dans l'inconnu. Dance was also a major part of the works she produced in the late 1970s and 1980s. The works documented happenings that blurred the borders between performance and visual art.

"Ms Sullivan represents, therefore, a rare and astonishing cross-disciplinary talent, being recognized as one of Canada's leading figures in both dance and visual art," her nominator writes. "She has also been able to maintain this productive double career while raising a family. To say the least, she is a person worthy of emulation by York graduands in Fine Arts, and indeed by all those who have adapted their lives and careers in response to the needs of children."

Sullivan is being honoured during the 50th anniversary year of Refus global. To celebrate this anniversary, York University is hosting a symposium, exhibition and performance event, "Montreal Automatism: 1948 and Onwards" on Nov. 13 and 14. Sullivan will be at York for this event. More details about Automatism are on page 7 of this issue of the Gazette.

Michael Herren to be named Distinguished Research Professor

The University will honour Prof. Michael Herren, Department of Humanities, Atkinson College, with the designation of Distinguished Research Professor at the fall convocation on Friday, Nov. 6 at 2:30 p.m.

Prof. Herren's contribution to scholarship, made during a distinguished teaching career at York University over a period of 30 years, has brought enormous credit to the University. His accomplishments include a substantial oeuvre of published pieces, including a series of editions of Latin texts with translations and commentaries, and numerous journal articles and other pieces, all of which are major achievements in the field of philology, and which are significant contributions to our understanding of early-medieval culture, especially in Britain and Ireland. Herren is founder and editor of a major international journal, based at York, and has organized several important international conferences. As the culmination of his scholarship, Herren is engaged currently in an important project concerning the appropriation of classical myth in the early Middle Ages.

In honouring him, his colleagues and friends cite Herren as an unsurpassed scholar of philology, a branch of language study that deals with the structure, historical development and relationships of a language. He is an internationally recognized leader in classical studies, a brilliant linguist and a first-rate editor of texts. Not only is he the world's foremost authority in the field of early Hiberno-Latin literature, he is one of the world's outstanding Medieval Latinists. His research, renowned translations and genius as an editor contribute to the respect he has gained in the community of Hiberno- and Anglo-Latin scholars.

Herren is multilingual, fluent in all the major European languages, especially German, French and Italian. An eminent and committed scholar in his field, Herren is a leading expert on the Latin literature of early Ireland (fifth to ninth centuries) and on the contribution of early Irish scholars to Carolingian and pre-Carolingian Europe. In the international community of medievalists, Herren is highly respected, especially in those European countries where the majority of the original manuscripts on which he is working are found. A whole generation of younger scholars stands under his influence.

Herren is founder and editor of The Journal of Medieval Latin, a major international journal based at York. The first and only journal in its area in English, from the beginning it has attracted the very best scholars in the world. His work on the two volumes of the Hisperica Famina, his editorship of The Journal of Medieval Latin, indeed the entirety of his scholarly work, put him at the forefront of medieval Latin studies. While at its core, his body of work has been highly specialized, it also has involved an engagement with major issues in intellectual, cultural and artistic history.

Throughout his long career at York University, Herren has pulled his full weight as a member of the teaching community and in service to the University. He was chair of the Department of Humanities at Atkinson College (1982-5), served during three separate periods as director of Atkinson's classics program and has been a member of a number of University and college committees and panels, frequently as Chair.