Leaders in business, arts and music among those being honoured by University
Sir Moir Lockhead OBE, Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive of FirstGroup plc; Martin Gilbert, Chief Executive of Aberdeen Asset Management plc; and prominent hotelier Stewart Spence are receiving honorary degrees at ceremonies at Elphinstone Hall on the King's College campus.
(Media-Newswire.com) - Three of Scotland’s foremost business figures are among those being honoured by the University of Aberdeen at its summer graduations next week.
Sir Moir Lockhead OBE, Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive of FirstGroup plc; Martin Gilbert, Chief Executive of Aberdeen Asset Management plc; and prominent hotelier Stewart Spence are receiving honorary degrees at ceremonies at Elphinstone Hall on the King's College campus.
Renowned composer Morten Lauridsen - regarded as one of the world's greatest composers of choral music and art song - is also receiving an honorary doctorate in recognition of his work which is featured regularly in concerts by distinguished ensembles throughout the world.
Two of Scotland's leading artists Will Maclean, a former fisherman acclaimed for his visual representation of histories and mythologies of those who live and work by the sea, and Victoria Crowe - described as one of the most vital and original figurative painters currently at work in Scotland - are also being honoured.
Honorary degrees are also being bestowed on notable theologian Professor William Horbury; Reverend ( Air Vice-Marshal ) Peter Mills, Honorary Chaplain to the Queen and Chaplain-in-Chief to the RAF; and Professor Geoffrey MacCormack, an internationally distinguished legal scholar.
Award-winning broadcaster and journalist Edi Stark – the recipient of seven national Sony Radio Academy awards – is also receiving a Master of the University.
Professor Sir Duncan Rice, Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen, is looking forward to welcoming this year's honorary graduands. He said: "The University of Aberdeen is delighted to honour these individuals who have achieved acclaim and distinction in their respective fields. They are tremendous role models, who are a real inspiration for our new cohort of Aberdeen graduates.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
The full list of honorary graduands and details of their ceremonies and honorary degrees follow:
Monday July 6 at 3pm
Professor Geoffrey MacCormack LLD - Doctor of Laws.
Geoffrey Dennis MacCormack BA, LLB, MA, DPhil
Emeritus Professor of Jurisprudence, University of Aberdeen
Geoffrey MacCormack, a graduate of the Universities of Sydney and Oxford, has made a distinctive and outstanding contribution to legal science through research and established himself as one of the leading scholars in Roman Law in the world. An inspiring teacher, Professor MacCormack also developed his reputation as a prominent writer in the United Kingdom on legal anthropology. A distinguished legal scholar, his interests also include Traditional Chinese Law. His books on this subject include Traditional Chinese Penal Law ( 1990 ) and The Spirit of Traditional Chinese Law ( 1996 ). Professor MacCormack taught at the universities of Oxford, Glasgow, and Sydney before coming to Aberdeen as a Senior Lecturer in 1968. He was appointed to the Chair in Jurisprudence in 1971 and served as Dean of the Faculty of Law for two periods in the 1970s and 1980s.
Monday July 6 at 6.30pm
Professor William Maclean MBE DLitt – Doctor of Letters
William James Maclean MBE, RSA, DLitt
Artist and Emeritus Professor of Visual Arts, University of Dundee
One of Scotland's leading artists, Will Maclean has a strong family connection with fishing and is the son of the Harbour Master of Inverness. After spending two years in the Merchant Navy from the age of fifteen, he studied at Gray's School of Art, Aberdeen, from 1961 to 1967. In 1973 Will Maclean was commissioned by the Scottish International Education Trust to make a detailed study of the declining Scottish ring net fishing industry. This resulted in a collection of some 400 works. He then joined the staff of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee in 1981, retiring as Professor of Fine Art in 2004. He is now Emeritus Professor of Visual Arts at the University of Dundee. Will Maclean's work embraces a wide range of media and reflects his passionate interest in his heritage and the seafaring cultures. Since 1974 he has made assemblages using found objects from the shore, as well as commissioned sculpture and landworks. Inspired by historical, literary and mythological aspects of Scottish seafaring history, his box constructions are visual tales of the sea. Throughout his career Will Maclean has won a host of awards and has exhibited at the most prestigious galleries and galleries in Britain and North America, including the British Museum, Scottish Parliament and Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. He was awarded an MBE in 2006, and has an honorary doctorate from the University of St Andrews. He is a Member of the Royal Scottish Academy and an Honorary Fellow of the UHI Millennium Institute.
Monday July 6 at 6.30pm
Sir Moir Lockhead OBE DHC – Doctor Honoris Causa
Sir Moir Lockhead OBE
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