Montreal, May 26, 2004 - As part of the festivities for the 125th anniversary of the Université de Montréal, 19 honoris causa doctorates will be handed out during the graduation ceremony to be held on Friday, May 28, 2004. The Secretary General of the United Nations and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize, Kofi Annan, James Joseph Heckman, 2000 recipient of the Nobel Prize for Economics, Paul Greengard, 2000 recipient of the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, 1991 recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics, will receive honorary doctorates from the largest university in Quebec. Being unable to attend the ceremony, Kofi Annan will address the assembly by video message.

The Université de Montréal will also be awarding honorary doctorates to fourteen presidents of partner universities around the world with which the Université de Montréal has close working ties. These recipients are:

Lee C. Bollinger, President of Columbia University

Bernard Bosredon, President of the Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris III

Hafid Boutaleb Joutei, President of the Mohammed V University - Agdal

Pier Ugo Calzolari, President of the Université de Bologne

Domitien Debouzie, President of the Université Claude Bernard - Lyon 1

Pierre de Maret, President of the Université Libre de Bruxelles

Robert J. Giroux, President and CEO of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (until March 2004)

Hou Zixin, President of Nankai University

Wolfgang Jäger, President of  Freiburg University

Huguette Labelle, Chancellor of the University of Ottawa

Michel Laurent, President of the Université de la Méditerranée

Heather Munroe-Blum, Principal and Vice-chancellor of McGill University

Juan Ramón de la Fuente, President of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Xu Zhihong, President of Peking University

Nelida Piñon, President of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, will also receive an honorary doctorate for her work as a whole.

In addition to honouring these individuals, the Université de Montréal will be awarding doctorates to 292 students who have successfully completed their doctoral level.

The honoris causa doctorate is awarded to individuals with national or international reputations. It is handed out for exceptional contributions to a specific field: science, arts, culture, economy, literature or politics.

About the Université de Montréal

Founded in 1878, the Université de Montréal today comprises 13 faculties. With its two affiliated schools, HEC Montréal and École Polytechnique, it is the largest university-level teaching and research institution in Quebec, the second largest in Canada and one of the leading centres in North America. With 2,300 professors and researchers and a student body of nearly 55,000, it offers more than 550 programs at the undergraduate, graduate and doctoral levels and awards some 3,000 master's degrees and PhDs every year. The Université de Montréal is resolutely committed to developing new expertise and transferring knowledge.

-30-

 

For more information:

Sophie Langlois
Université de Montréal
514-343-7704
sophie.langlois@umontreal.ca