By McGill Reporter Staff
Eleven outstanding individuals associated with McGill, including a former Dean of Medicine, a former director of the School of Nursing and a renowned economics professor emerita, were among 86 new appointments made Tuesday to the Order of Canada by Governor-General and former McGill Principal David Johnston.
Principal and Vice-Chancellor Suzanne Fortier offered her congratulations to all recipients, but particularly those who are McGill faculty members, former professors, friends and alumni.
Richard Cruess, who served as Dean of Medicine from 1981 to 1995, was promoted to be a Companion of the Order, its highest rank, along with filmmaker David Cronenberg and General John de Chastelain. A Professor of Orthopedic Surgery and a Core Member of the Centre for Medical Education, Dr. Cruess is also an Officer of the l’Ordre National du Québec. McGill has established the Richard and Sylvia Cruess Chair in Medical Education. Since 1995, with his wife, Sylvia Cruess, he has taught and carried out independent research on professionalism in medicine.
Susan French (BN’65) named as an Officer of the Order, is a McGill alumna who taught Nursing at McGill in the 1960s before embarking on a 31-year career at McMaster University, where she served as Associate Dean of Health Sciences (Nursing) and Director of its School of Nursing from 1980 to 1990. After retiring from McMaster, she returned to McGill to be Director of the McGill School of Nursing from 2001 to 2005.
Prof. Philip Branton, the Gilman Cheney Professor Department of Biochemistry, was also named an Officer of the Order, for his leadership in the development of a national cancer research framework and for his contributions to our understanding of tumour viruses and cell division regulation.
Other Officers include McGill alumni Marion Bogo, (BA’63; MSW’65) a renowned Professor of Social Work at the University of Toronto, for her achievements in the field of social work as a scholar and teacher, and for advancing the practice in Canada and abroad, and David Goldbloom, (MDCM’81, Dip Psych’85) a leader in psychiatric medicine, for his national leadership as a mental health clinician, educator and advocate, and for his involvement in a range of community endeavours.
Marcia Ann Boyd (DSc’07 Honorary degree in Medicine) was named a Member of the Order for her contributions to the field of dentistry and for her stewardship of the profession.
Timothy Casgrain (BA’69), for whom the Tim Casgrain Fellowship at McGill was established in 2009 by the Canadian Foundation for Economic Education (CFEE) in recognition of his contributions to improving literacy and economic and fiscal capability in Canada, was named a Member of the Order of Canada.
Federal Court Judge James Hugessen (BCL’57) was named a Member for his contributions to the advancement of disability law and for his dedication as a jurist.
Kari Polanyi Levitt, Emerita Professor of Economics who came to McGill in 1961, was also named as a Member of the Order. The author of Silent Surrender: The Multinational Corporation in Canada, published in 1970, Prof. Levitt has been a leader in the examination of the economics of developing countries.
Alumnus Malcolm Bruce McNiven (BCL’79) was named a Member “for his broad and sustained commitment to the preservation and flourishing of Montréal culture and heritage.”
Mona Nemer (PhD Chemistry’82), a leading researcher in cardiology and the University of Ottawa’s Vice-President of Research since 2006, was also named a Member of the Order. She had also been named a Companion of the l’Order National du Québec in 2010.
In addition, Université de Montréal Rector Guy Breton, who once trained at McGill and and taught at the Neuro in the early 1980s, was named a Member of the Order.
Recipients will accept their insignias at a ceremony to be held later.
The Order of Canada was established in 1967, during Canada’s centennial year, to recognize outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation. Over the last 45 years, more than 6 000 people from all sectors of society have been invested into the Order.