By Elizabeth Kane
The crisp fall air gave way to excitement on campus as graduating students, their families and friends gathered to celebrate Carleton University’s fall convocation on Nov. 4, 2023.
Degrees were awarded over the course of three ceremonies to more than 850 students in recognition of their academic accomplishments.
A convocation address was delivered by Anne Bowker, interim dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, to the morning ceremony which included graduates from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the Sprott School of Business. Brenda O’Neill, dean of the Faculty of Public Affairs, provided the address for graduates of her faculty at the midday ceremony.
Interim President and Vice-Chancellor Jerry Tomberlin closed each ceremony with words of encouragement for the graduated Ravens.
“As members of the most recent group of Carleton graduates, I know that you are ambitious and eager to get on with your life,” he said. “But if I could offer just one piece of advice, I would encourage you to slow down, just for one day, and savour this very special, once-in-a-lifetime, magical moment.”
At the final ceremony of the day, Carleton bestowed an honorary Doctor of Science upon David Sinclair in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of experimental sub-atomic physics and for his leading role as founding director of SNOLAB.
Sinclair’s research has focused on studies of neutrinos, the most abundant particle with mass in the universe but the least understood. Work at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) showed, for the first time, that neutrinos have a non-zero mass and that they have unusual properties that may help to explain some of the cosmological mysteries surrounding the Big Bang. These results led to the awarding of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Sinclair delivered his remarks to the assembled crowd of Faculty of Science and Faculty of Engineering and Design graduates.
“I hope you have retained your understanding of learning, and more – I hope you have gained a love for learning,” Sinclair said in his address.
“This will serve you very well as you move on through your careers. The world has many problems, large and small.”
A digital recording of each ceremony will be made available on this webpage in the coming days, and a gallery of photos can be viewed below. Read convocation stories here.
Monday, November 6, 2023 in Convocation 2023, Grad Stories
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