University of King's College Names 2010 Honorary Degree Recipients

King's News

University of King's College Names 2010 Honorary Degree Recipients

The University of King’s College is pleased to announce that three individuals will be distinguished with honorary degrees and one given an honorary fellowship at its Encaenia Ceremonies on Thursday, May 20, 2010 at the Cathedral Church of All Saints in Halifax.

Ms. Miriam Toews is one of Canada’s best-known writers. Her career has been defined by critical acclaim as well as a wide and devoted fanbase. Her most recent novel The Flying Troutmans won the 2008 Roger’s Writer’s Trust Fiction Prize, and her 2004 debut novel A Complicated Kindness won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction and was a finalist for the Giller Prize. Toews has also written a memoir, Swing Low: A Life and she has also written for the CBC, NPR’s This American Life, Saturday Night, Geist, Canadian Geographic and the New York Times Magazine. For her magazine work, she was awarded a National Magazine Award Gold Medal for Humour. Toews was born in Steinbach, Manitoba and has lived in Montreal, London and Halifax, where she attended King’s and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.  Toews credits King’s   and specifically, Professor Ian Wiseman   for supporting her in her desire to explore creative fiction. She will be receiving an Honorary Doctor of Civil Law.

The Honourable Justice Peter M.S. Bryson was sworn is as a judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in October 2009 after a distinguished 25-year career as a leading member of the legal profession. Prior to his appointment, Justice Bryson litigated corporate, commercial and professional liability, securities, and estate matters with a specialty in matters involving the Court’s jurisdiction to grant injunctive relief. He has been listed within the “Best Lawyers of Canada 2009” among the best “Bet-the-Company” Litigation, Corporate, Commercial and Legal Malpractice lawyers in the country. Justice Bryson was a member of the second FYP class of at King’s and received his Master of Arts from the Dalhousie Classics Department. He studied jurisprudence at the University of Oxford and Dalhousie University and went on to teach Equity at the Law School there for 10 years. Justice Bryson has served on both King’s and Dalhousie’s Board of Governors and was also instrumental in raising funds for the King’s Library as President of the King’s Heritage Society. He will be receiving an Honorary Doctor of Canon Law.

Mr. Kim Cameron is Chief Architect of Identity in the Identity and Security division at Microsoft and is widely considered a leader on identity issues. He has won numerous awards for his work including Digital Identity World’s Innovation Award and was named as one of Network World’s 50 Most Powerful People in Networking, both in 2005. Cameron graduated from King’s with a bachelor’s degree in physics and math at age 19. He developed his hacking skills while working on a master’s degree of physics at King’s and Dalhousie and moved on to study philosophy in Paris. In 1970 he started a doctorate thesis in computing and social phenomena at the Université de Montréal but was lured away by an equally fervent passion for music. By the mid-70s, he had joined the band Limbo Springs as lead guitarist, and the band eventually became the house act at Toronto’s legendary Cheetah Club. While in Toronto, Cameron developed an interest in the microcomputer and was soon running the academic computing centre at George Brown. Along with a colleague he pioneered a meta-directory called Zoomit that they sold to Microsoft in 1999. In 2003 he went public with a technology he developed called InfoCard, which lets users control their identity information and is now a cornerstone of Microsoft’s identity strategy. Cameron will be receiving an Honorary Doctor of Civil Law.

Mr. Paul Bent is a chartered accountant and senior assurance partner of Grant Thornton LLP. He has over 30 years of experience in providing assurance and business advice to a wide range of public and private sector clients. Bent received his Bachelor of Commerce degree from Saint Mary’s University in 1978 and received his designation as Chartered Accountant in 1982. In addition to his partner role at Grant Thornton, Bent is currently the National Director of International Financial Reporting Standards, Regional Quality Partner for Grant Thornton (Atlantic Canada) and a member of the Grant Thornton Policy Board. He is also the Chair of Church Council of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, served on Scouts Canada Dartmouth Region for over 10 years and served as a Big Brother for five years. Bent has chaired the King’s College Foundation and served as the Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee at King’s for 18 years. Bent will be given the title of Honorary Fellow at Encaenia.

For more information on these recipients or Encaenia 2010, please contact Alison Lang at (902) 422-1271, ext. 136, or at alison.lang@ukings.ns.ca.