Laurentian University will confer its first honorary doctorates since 2020 at next week’s spring convocation ceremonies.
With the COVID-19 pandemic followed closely by Laurentian’s insolvency, no honorary doctorates have been conferred by Laurentian since October 2020, when global mining reclamation expert Margarete Kalin-Seidenfaden received the honour.
The university has been working on ending its honorary degree drought, with a nominating committee having been appointed to evaluate candidates.
While Sudbury.com was able to confirm honorary doctorates will be conferred during the June 4-7 convocation ceremonies, no announcement has yet been made by the university as to how many will be handed out nor who will be honoured.
Communications staff with the university said in an email that a news release will be issued by Laurentian on June 3 about the honorary degree recipients.
Sudbury.com recently requested an interview with an administrator on the subject, and instead received a written statement.
"There has been substantial progress on awarding honorary doctorates,” said the statement attributed to Laurentian’s new president, Lynn Wells.
“Thanks to the great work of a nominating committee, we have identified candidates for this prestigious honour and will recognize them at the upcoming convocation ceremonies in June.”
Next week’s convocation ceremonies also mark Wells’ first as Laurentian’s president, as she started her term on April 1. She will be installed at the 10 a.m. June 4 ceremony.
Sudbury.com also asked Laurentian about where the university is at with appointing a new chancellor, a ceremonial post in which the appointee presides over convocation, among other duties.
Former LU chancellor Steve Paikin resigned in 2021 in the wake of Laurentian’s insolvency restructuring, and the university has not had a chancellor since.
Paikin succeeded Laurentian’s first chancellor, Aline Chrétien, the now-late wife of former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.
“The chancellor's role is also an important honour under consideration, though having just embarked on implementing the new Laurentian University Strategic Plan and Transformation Plan, our collective focus is in moving these initiatives forward,” said Wells, in the written statement.
“The search for Laurentian's next chancellor will be launched over the next year, following university procedures."
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.
