Spring Convocation
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Sunshine and graduation
Convocation ceremonies take place this week at SFU, where more than 3,600 students are eligible to graduate. They’ll participate in one of seven ceremonies, beginning on Tuesday, June 15 at 2:30 p.m. then running each day at 9:45 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. SFU will confer four honorary degrees to the following: biologist and activist Alexandra Morton, Wednesday afternoon; former Liberal politician Gordon Gibson Thursday morning; retired RCMP commissioner Beverley Ann Busson, Thursday afternoon; and Julio Montaner, director of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS research, on Friday morning.
Students who’ll cross the stage come from all walks of life, and include:
- Kelvin Redvers, a promising young filmmaker from Hay River, NWT who has earned an array of national and international awards – and SFU’s Gordon Shrum medal as the 2010 outstanding student;
- Quyn Le, a young blind woman who fled Vietnam on an overcrowded boat and spent four years at an Indonesian refugee camp before being sponsored by the Salvation Army to resettle in Canada, and who has earned a masters degree in clinical psychology so she can help others;
- Ming Hua, an international student from China who has earned a PhD and landed a plum job as a research scientist with Facebook, which has adopted one of her smart data-ranking algorithms – enabling users with hundreds of ‘friends’ to view only those news updates they care about;
- Denise Laronde, a dental hygenist-turned researcher. She studied screening methods for people with high risk factors for cancer to determine the best screening practices for use in dental offices. Now an assistant prof at UBC, she’s focusing on ways to reach those who don’t have regular dental care;
- Chris Bone, a geography PhD student and dean’s medalist and wife Beth Richardson, a New West school teacher and MA education grad, who reached their respective finish lines with a new baby, Mavis, in arms.
Marianne Meadahl, PAMR, 778.782.4323/3210