Honorary degrees for museum, business leaders

Former Royal BC Museum chief executive officer Pauline Rafferty and newspaper publisher David Black will receive honorary degrees when the University of Victoria holds spring convocation ceremonies from June 9 through 13 in the University Centre Farquhar Auditorium.

In all, nine ceremonies will be held to confer degrees, diplomas or certificates upon 3,554 graduating students.

This spring marks the 50th anniversary of UVic’s first convocation ceremony. Members of the class of 1964 will attend the 10 a.m., June 13 ceremony to commemorate their part of university history.

Rafferty was appointed chief executive officer in 2001 (a post she held until retiring in 2012) and oversaw the RBCM’s transition from a government agency to a Crown corporation. The new structure provided flexibility to stage major exhibits, conduct fundraising efforts, and form partnerships with leading institutions, including the British Museum.

Rafferty served on the boards of several tourism, business and museum organizations. She also aided the UVic Division of Continuing Studies in developing its cultural sector leadership program.

Black, the owner of Black Press, is the largest private newspaper publisher in the country with more than 170 papers in Canada and the US and employing more than 3,000 staff.

While his newspaper interests thrive, Black has turned his attention to Kitimat Clean, an oil and gas refinery that he proposes will eliminate the need to ship unprocessed oil from the BC coast.

Black chaired the bid committee brought the 1994 Commonwealth Games to Victoria. As a philanthropist, he contributed $500,000 to the BC Cancer Foundation’s Inspire the World capital campaign.

He also established the Black Press Scholarships, providing $5,000 to 37 students entering UVic’s Gustavson School of Business.

Honorary degree presentation schedule:

Pauline Rafferty, Honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD)
2:30 p.m., Monday, June 9

David Black, Honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD)
10 a.m., Wednesday, June 11

Scheduled honorary degrees for Kathy Shields and Ken Shields have been postponed for personal reasons. Video of all spring convocation ceremonies will stream live at uvic.ca/convocation.
 

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