An elder statesman of Scottish football, an American philanthropist, and Scotland's premier keeper of fine art and design are among those to be honoured by the University of Aberdeen at its Summer Graduation Ceremonies this week.
In all, the University will award honorary doctorates to 14 leading figures in the sports, arts, science, medicine, religion, and industry in this year's graduation ceremonies at Marischal College over the period Monday July 4 - Friday July 8, 2005.
Recipients will include:
Monday, July 4 at 3.00pm
Alan G Campbell CBE
Chief Executive, Aberdeenshire Council
Alan G Campbell became the first Chief Executive of Aberdeenshire Council when the council was formed in 1996. He had previously been Chief Executive of Grampian Regional Council. Mr Campbell began his long career in local authority service on graduating in law from the University of Aberdeen in 1968. He progressed through various legal positions with Aberdeen County Council and Grampian Regional Council, becoming Director of Law and Administration in 1984 and Chief Executive in 1991.
Monday, July 4 at 6.30pm
Loretta Brennan Glucksman CBE
Chairman of the American Ireland Fund
Philanthropist Loretta Brennan Glucksman is Chairman of the American Ireland Fund. A third generation Irish-American, Mrs Glucksman is internationally recognised for her tireless support of Irish interests in the United States and abroad, playing a key role in the development of numerous projects promoting all aspects of Irish life through culture, the arts, education and community involvement. Her philanthropic support extended to Scotland in 2004 with the establishment of the Glucksman Chair of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen.
Monday, July 4 at 6.30pm
Denis Law
Sportsman
Aberdeen-born Denis Law is the elder statesman of Scottish football. The outstanding Scottish player scored 30 international goals in 55 matches for his National Team, the record number of goals scored (shared with Kenny Dalglish) by an individual player for Scotland. He was recognised as European Footballer of the Year award in 1964. Although Denis Law retired from the game in 1974 after playing for Scotland in the World Cup his opinion is still actively sought by the media.
Tuesday, July 5 at 11.00am
John Houston OBE
Artist
John Houston is one of the most distinguished and prolific Scottish painters of the last fifty years. Fife-born Houston trained at Edinburgh College of Art. He returned to the College in 1955 and retired as its Deputy Head of the School of Drawing & Painting in 1989. John Houston's art, much inspired through international travel, has long been an integral part of Scottish cultural life. Equally at home with landscape and figurative work, his portrait of Sir Alexander Gibson is to be found in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
Tuesday, July 5 at 3.00pm
Professor Sally Macintyre OBE
Director, MRC Social & Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow
Professor Sally Mcintyre is a distinguished social scientist whose career has focused on the field of health. Her work has concerned the patterning of health by gender, socio-economic status and place of residence. She also has a broad interest in the physical and biological sciences, and their role in society and has at different times been President of the Sociology and Social Policy section and the Medical Science section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Professor Macintyre was awarded her PhD from the University of Aberdeen in 1976. After research posts at the University and the MRC Medical Sociology Unit (Aberdeen), she became its Director in 1983, and oversaw the unit's move to Glasgow. With the merger of the MRC Medical Sociology Unit and the Public Health Research Unit in 1998, she became Director of the MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit.
Tuesday, July 5 at 6.30pm
Professor Ian Simmons
Emeritus Professor of Geography, University of Durham
Professor Ian Simmons was made a Fellow of the British Academy in 1997 in recognition of his research into human environmental relations, past and future. Professor Simmons joined the Geography Department in Durham as Professor in 1981 where his research included the study of the later Mesolithic and early Neolithic in their environmental setting on English uplands. His work also encompassed the long-term effects of human manipulation of the natural environment and its consequences for resource use and environmental change.
Wednesday, July 6 at 11.00am
Douglas Paterson
Chief Executive, Aberdeen City Council
Douglas Paterson was appointed Chief Executive of the City Council in 1995, shadowing the old District Council until it ceased to exist in April 1996. An Aberdeen graduate his career has included 5 years with John Wood Group, 11 years as a teacher with Grampian Region and 10 years in the Region's education department, including a period as Director of Education from 1994 to 1995.
Wednesday, July 6 at 3.00pm
Sir Timothy Clifford
Director-General, National Galleries of Scotland
Sir Timothy Clifford is Scotland's premier keeper of fine art and design. He was appointed as Director of the National Galleries of Scotland in 1984, becoming Director-General in January 2001. He began his career at Manchester City Art Galleries in 1968, as Assistant Keeper and then Acting Keeper in the Department of Paintings. In 1972 he became Assistant Keeper of Ceramics at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and in 1976 he was appointed as Assistant Keeper in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum. Sir Timothy was subsequently Director of Manchester City Art Galleries from 1978 to 1984. He received a knighthood in the 2002 New Year Honours list for his services to the arts. Since taking up his post in 1984, Sir Timothy has seen attendance numbers at Scotland's art galleries more than double. He will retire as Director-General later this year.
Wednesday, July 6 at 3.00pm
Professor Iain Torrance
President, Princeton Theological Ceremony
Former Dean of the University of Aberdeen, the Very Rev Dr Iain Torrance, became President of Princeton Theological Seminary in 2004. Professor Torrance, who was Moderator of the Church of Scotland in 2003, now heads the first seminary founded by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA (1812) and the largest of the 10 theological seminaries of that 2.5-million-member denomination. In 2001, Professor Torrance was appointed a chaplain-in-ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen in Scotland. He has served as president of the Aberdeen Association of University Teachers and was convenor of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland's Committee on Chaplains to the Forces (1998-2002). Born in Aberdeen in 1949, Professor Torrance was educated at the Universities of Edinburgh, St Andrews, and Oxford.
Thursday, July 7 at 11.00am
Professor Stephen R Reid
Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Manchester
Professor Stephen Reid has made an outstanding contribution to science and engineering in the field of solid mechanics. Professor Reid was formerly Pro Vice Chancellor (Research) at UMIST. He first joined UMIST as a lecturer in 1970-76. During the period 1992-95, he was Pro Vice Chancellor for Academic Development and went on to be Deputy Principal & Vice Chancellor, 1994-95. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, a Chartered Mathematician and Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications of which he was President in 2000-01.
Thursday, July 7 at 3.00pm
Professor William M Gordon
Emeritus Professor of Civil Law, University of Glasgow
Over a period of four decades Professor William Gordon has made sustained and exceptional contributions to legal scholarship in Civil Law and Scots Property Law. As Literary Director of the Stair Society – founded in 1934 to ‘encourage the study and advance of the knowledge of the history of Scots Law’ – his work has enhanced Scotland’s cultural identity. Professor Gordon is a triple graduate of the University and began his academic career as a teaching assistant at Aberdeen in 1957.
Thursday, July 7 at 6.30pm
Sir Kenneth Calman
Vice-Chancellor and Warden, University of Durham
Sir Kenneth Calman has been Vice-Chancellor of Durham University since October 1998. Before taking up his appointment at the University, Sir Kenneth was Chief Medical Officer at the Scottish Office Home and Health Department from 1989 and then as Chief Medical Officer in London (1991-98). Sir Kenneth also served for many years as a prominent clinical professor and he is an author on the treatment and care of cancer patients, and other health issues. He has also served as Chairman of the Executive Board of the World Health Organisation and the European Environment and Health Committee.
Friday, July 8 at 11.00am
Professor Valerie Beral
Professor of Epidemiology, University of Oxford
Valerie Beral is professor of epidemiology at the University of Oxford and has been director of the cancer Research UK epidemiology unit, Oxford since 1989. Her research has focused on the long-term effect of hormones and infectious agents in cancer and other chronic diseases. For more than thirty years she has made an outstanding contribution to the world’s understanding of the health effects of a number of important, potentially hazardous exposures. She has served on various international committees for the World Health Organisation and the National Academy of Sciences, USA. Professor Beral also chairs the Department of Health's Advisory Committee on Breast Cancer Screening.
Friday, July 8 at 11.00am
Professor Elizabeth Russell CBE FRSE
Emeritus Professor of Social Medicine, University of Aberdeen
Professor Elizabeth Russell was Professor of Social Medicine at the University of Aberdeen until 2001 and, over two decades, played a leading role in the development of public health and health services research. Professor Russell was responsible for the establishment of the University’s Health Services Research Unit in 1986 and was its Co-Director. She also initiated health economics in Scotland in 1973 and was Medical Adviser to the Health Economics Research Unit from 1977. Professor Russell has also made, and continues to make, a significant contribution to research ethics, and confidentiality and privacy of patient data.