History and tradition are key parts of life at Queen’s University and they are never more prevalent than during the convocation ceremonies.

This year’s Spring Convocation ceremonies start on Thursday, May 21, and will continue through to Thursday, June 11, with a total of 21 ceremonies being held – all but one at Grant Hall.

In honour of convocation here’s a quick look at some of the history and tradition that will be seen over the coming weeks:

• The first convocation ceremony at Queen’s took place on June 2, 1847, when the Senate awarded degrees to the university’s first three graduates and was likely held at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. Subsequent venues have included the Old Medical Building (1858), Convocation Hall in Theological Hall (1878) and Grant Hall (1905).
• As Queen’s continued to grow, convocation moved to the Jock Harty Arena in the early 1970s while fall ceremonies continued to be held at Grant Hall. With the dismantling of Jock Harty Arena in 2007, Grant Hall once again became the primary host location for spring ceremonies, along with the Queen’s Centre.
• The main features of each convocation ceremony are a speech to the graduands by the principal, or a senior administrator, a speech by the honorary graduate or guest speaker – a tradition that dates from the granting of the first honorary degree in 1858 – and the granting of degrees by the chancellor. Traditional music includes “Flourish for the Chancellor,” an organ composition written specially for convocation by Queen’s music professor Fred Clarke.
• Convocations are organized by the Office of the University Registrar. The Office is responsible for the main logistical arrangements and coordinates the work of other departments involved in the ceremony. The Registrar’s Office also compiles the list of graduands and award winners. The Senate Academic Procedures Committee has authority for approving the list of graduands. The Senate Honorary Degrees Committee makes recommendations to the Senate for the award of honorary degrees.
• At convocation, graduands don the traditional outfit of a gown and hood. At Queen’s, the design and colour scheme of the hood differs depending on the degree earned, e.g. Red-Gold-Blue for Doctor of Philosophy; Queen's Blue-White for Bachelor of Laws; Black-Red for Bachelor of Arts.

Queen’s University revealed today 10 new honorary degree recipients who will be honoured at the spring 2015 convocation ceremonies. Recipients include James Cuddy, Eric Windeler and Alan Broadbent.

For 157 years Queen’s has been conferring honorary degrees to people who have made remarkable contributions to the lives of people throughout the world in academia, business, politics, science and the arts.

The following is a brief description of the first six honorary degree recipients at this spring convocation.

Jean-Robert Bernier

Originally from Sarnia, Brigadier-General Jean-Robert Bernier graduated from the Royal Military College in 1982 and studied medicine at McMaster University. He was appointed Surgeon General, Head of the Royal Canadian Medical Service, Commander of CF Health Services Group, and Honorary Physician to Her Majesty the Queen in 2012. He is the first person from outside continental Europe elected as Chair of the committee of Surgeons General of NATO and partner nations (COMEDS) beginning in November 2015.

Brigadier-General Bernier will receive his honorary degree (DSc) Thursday, May 21 at 2:30 pm.

Lyse Doucet

Lyse Doucet OBE is a Canadian journalist and the BBC's Chief International Correspondent and an occasional contributing editor to the BBC. She presents on BBC World Service radio and BBC World News television, and reports for BBC Radio 4 and BBC News in the UK, including presenting and reporting for Newsnight.

Ms. Doucet will receive her honorary degree (LL.D) Wednesday, June 3 at 10 am.

James Cuddy

With sales of more than four million records and eleven JUNO Awards, Blue Rodeo has established itself as one of Canada’s leading contemporary rock bands. Founded in 1984 by lead singers, guitarists and songwriters Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor, the band’s success and longevity are widely attributed to their love of touring, their active connection with their fans, and their unwavering commitment to pushing their creative limits.

Mr. Cuddy will receive his honorary degree (LL.D) Wednesday, June 3 at 2:30 pm.

Alexander McComber

Mr. McComber is a Kanien’keha:ka (Mohawk) member of the bear clan living in Kahnawake Territory. For the past 35 years, he has worked to enhance the wellbeing of Aboriginal people and communities across Canada. After starting as a teacher, Mr. McComber worked his way up to becoming a principal and during that time, met many families living with Type 2 diabetes, a common disease in First Nation communities. Since then, he has worked with a number of national diabetes organizations including Health Canada’s Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative.

Mr. McComber will receive his honorary degree (DSc) Wednesday, June 3 at 6:30 pm.

John MacGregor

Dr. MacGregor has made major contributions to the development and practice of advanced control techniques in industry including the Canadian technology sector. He hold the title of Distinguished University Professor, the highest honour awarded to faculty at McMaster University.

Dr. MacGregor will receive his honorary degree (DSc) Thursday, June 4 at 10 am.

David John Mullan

David Mullan is a long-serving law professor at Queen’s University, a prolific writer and an often-called upon consultant. Brought up and educated in New Zealand, Professor Mullan has taught and lectured at universities across Canada and in Australia and New Zealand. His major areas of interest are Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Contract, and Remedies.

Mr. Mullan will receive his honorary degree (LL.D) Friday, June 5 at 2:30 pm.

The remaining four bios will be posted at a later date.

Before even defending her PhD in Computer Science, Kathrin Tyryshkin had two job offers – one in industry, and one at a Queen’s department (the one she ultimately took).

Dr. Tyryshkin surely chose a timely field and stayed the course with diligence in publishing, conferencing and teaching, but she credits at least part of her success to Queen’s School of Graduate Studies’ Dissertation Boot Camp.

The primary aim of the five-day Dissertation Boot Camp is for participants to write and make substantial headway on their thesis. The majority of the time is spent writing, with breaks for snacks, lunch, and structured group discussions about topics relevant to thesis writers.

As a computer scientist working in the field of biomedical computing, Dr. Tyryshkin loves analyzing data, but has never been particularly fond of writing.

“I struggled to find motivation to write,” she says of that component of the PhD work. But “from the first moment of Boot Camp, there’s something in the air, and you understand that you’re going to start right now. You don’t want to check your email or phone. You no longer feel obligated to think of planning what’s for supper. You have permission to just be in the zone.”

Beyond having the pressure of endless everyday decisions lifted and absorbing the motivationally charged atmosphere, it was a consultation with Student Academic Success Services’ Liz Parsons that made a big difference to Dr. Tyryshkin’s writing approach.

“Liz had me plan out the tasks I had in store and write down beside each one the time it would take,” she says. “I added it up and said: this won’t work.”

Dr. Tyryshkin reorganized though, and then work she most certainly did.

After her fourth and final Boot Camp, Dr. Tyryshkin went to the library every day for a month until she was finished writing. When it came time to share the results with the people who cared the most – her thesis examiners, including co-supervisors Janice Glasgow (School of Computing) and Stephen Scott (Neuroscience; Biomedical and Molecular Sciences) – the quality of Dr. Tyryshkin’s writing made the difference between a stressful event and one that the newly-minted PhD genuinely enjoyed.

“My defence was a great experience. The committee complimented my written work, saying it was enjoyable to read,” she says. “I’m grateful to Dissertation Boot Camp for that.”

Recognizing the importance of being nice to your reader, she says simply: “A good thesis equals a good defence.”

Now, Dr. Tyryshkin is working for Queen’s Department of Pathology & Molecular Medicine performing various genetic data analyses for pathologists and clinicians, as well as mentoring some graduate students. She is also teaching a second year Computer Science course for which she had been the TA for a number of years. By looking at things such as gene expression and protein expression, researchers can discover differences in things such as treatment prognosis and differences between subgroups of cancer – perhaps enabling the administration of targeted therapies.

The next Dissertation Boot Camp is scheduled for June 8-12. Registration will open in mid-May.

Registration forms can be found at queensu.ca/sgs/dissertation-bootcamp. Once complete the form can be returned to Colette Steer, School of Graduate Studies, Gordon Hall, room 425 or by email.

Aaron Ball’s face lights up when he talks about the work he does with students.

“One of the greatest things about this job is that there’s a ton of interaction with students,” says Mr. Ball, who has been Queen’s Sustainability Manager since 2008. “They’re full of energy, they’re bright, intellectual and super engaged. I get to feed off that energy.”

As Sustainability Manager, Mr. Ball works regularly with Queen’s student governments to put into action the campaigns and initiatives they plan and with classes as they imagine and design solutions to major sustainability challenges. It’s just one part of a job that has him working to reduce the energy consumption, waste output and improve the overall environmental impact of campus.  

While technological changes and efficiency improvements can have a large impact on campus’ carbon footprint, Mr. Ball’s office typically focuses on changes that can happen at an individual level.

“We often focus on everyday behavioural changes, because these are easy for people to change,” he says. “To make our programs and initiatives successful, we need the buy-in and cooperation of other units on campus. We’re rarely in a position where we develop and launch something on our own.”

An alumnus of Queen’s, Mr. Ball (Artsci’01) returned to campus three years after graduating to begin working in Physical Plant Services. As one of campus’ assistant area managers, he oversaw the custodial work and maintenance of buildings like Stauffer Library and Gordon Hall. Interested in sustainability, he put into practice a green cleaning program for those buildings, and jumped at the chance to work as sustainability manager when the position was created.

Since the office’s creation, he’s worked to keep the university’s environmental impact in check, even as campus has grown to include new buildings like the Queen’s Centre and the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts.

The key to making a more sustainable campus, he says, is by letting the people who work and study at Queen’s have their say.

“It’s important to an overall sustainability strategy for the entire community to get involved, think about it and change their behaviour in small ways. Ultimately, it’s a group effort.”

That’s the key to the sustainability office’s most recent undertaking to improve waste diversion from landfills. Their posters and materials remind people to take special care when sorting garbage and recycling because “one mistake makes the entire bin garbage.” 

It’s not the last campaign of its kind that Mr. Ball hopes to run, and he knows his work won’t be over anytime soon. 

“There’s no silver bullet for sustainability,” he says. “There’s always more to be done, better solutions and an endless variety of challenges.”