Aga Khan Receives Honorary Degree

At June convocation ceremonies, His Highness the Aga Khan received an honorary doctor of laws degree for his contributions to community service, higher education and philanthropy. The Aga Khan is the 49th hereditary spiritual leader of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims and a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. Under his direction, the Aga Khan Development Network has become one of the largest private providers of education, health care and economic opportunity in the developing world.

Among other honorary degree recipients were: Roberta Jamieson, the first woman to serve as chief of the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Ontario and the first aboriginal woman in Canada to receive a law degree; Thelma Chalifoux, the first aboriginal woman to be appointed to the Senate of Canada; Philippe Nozières, an internationally renowned physicist who has shaped the fields of quantum fluids and many-body physics; and the Mirvish family – Edwin (“Honest Ed”), Anne Lazare-Mirvish and David – known for their contributions to arts and entertainment in Toronto.

Writer and producer Lorne Michaels (BA 1966 UC, LLD Hon. 2002) will receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 25. While a U of T student, Michaels produced and directed the UC Follies, a university variety show that predated the launch of Saturday Night Live in 1975.