Five eminent individuals are being conferred honorary degrees by Western during autumn convocation, to honour their contributions across disciplines and endeavours.
The five include Academy Award-winning writer, filmmaker and actor Sarah Polley, disability sport pioneer Robert Steadward, university leader and philanthropist Hanny Hassan, hedge fund pioneer and angel investor Paul Sabourin, and visual artist and curator Jamelie Hassan.
Convocation ceremonies, which will be held from Oct. 18 to 20, will feature addresses by the honorary degree recipients.
Robert Steadward
Oct. 18, 10 a.m.
Doctor of Laws, honoris causa (LLD)
Robert Steadward is a pioneering leader in the field of disability sport and a highly respected teacher, author, sport scientist and community volunteer. After a successful campaign to consolidate international disability sport organizations, he became the first president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in 1989. Under his leadership, the Paralympic movement was united with the Olympic Games movement in 2000, when one city, Sydney, hosted both events for the first time. He served as IPC president until 2012.
Steadward also founded the Research and Training Centre for Athletes with Disabilities in 1978, served as president of the Canadian Paralympic Committee from 1984 to 1990, and later became a member of the Canadian Olympic Committee.
He was elected as an International Olympic Committee member in 2000 and is an Honorary Life Member of the Canadian Olympic Committee. His many honours include appointments as a Companion and an Officer of the Order of Canada, golden, diamond and platinum jubilee medals from Queen Elizabeth II, and the 150th Canadian Anniversary of Confederation Senate Medal. He was also awarded both the International Olympic and Paralympic Orders, the highest international awards for contribution to the world of sport.
Hanny Hassan
Oct. 19, 10 a.m.
Doctor of Laws, honoris causa (LLD)
Hanny Hassan, BESc’64, has had an enduring career in consulting engineering and is a long-time dedicated university volunteer and philanthropist promoting understanding between cultures and religions.
Hassan is president of Alef Consulting Inc., an independent consulting engineering practice in London, Ont. and has been involved in interfaith and community service for the past 60 years. He was honoured by Western’s Alumni Association in 2019 with the Dr. Ivan Smith Award, its highest award to an alum for significant and sustained contributions to the university and society.
In 2011, Hassan was named to the Order of Canada for his community service work. Western’s Faculty of Engineering conferred the L. S. Lauchland Engineering Alumni Medal on Hassan in 2013 for outstanding contributions to the engineering profession, business leadership and service to the community.
Hassan was appointed by Western’s Alumni Association to the university’s Board of Governors in 2009, where he served on several committees and as the chair of the Board from 2016 to 2017. He retired from the Board in April 2018.
Sarah Polley
Oct. 19, 3 p.m.
Doctor of Letters, honoris causa (DLitt)
Sarah Polley is a film director, actor, documentarian, author and winner of the 2023 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film Women Talking.
She received an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay for her first film as director, Away From Her (2006), based on the short story The Bear Came Over the Mountain by Alice Munro. Polley executive produced and wrote the TV miniseries Alias Grace, which she adapted from Margaret Atwood’s novel.
As an actor, Polley starred in a wide variety of films including Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter (best supporting actress award from the Boston Society of Film Critics), Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead; Jaco Van Dormael’s Mr. Nobody, Kathryn Bigelow’s The Weight of Water and Terry Gilliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.
In 2022, Polley won the Toronto Book Award for Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations with a Body of Memory, an autobiographical collection of essays detailing her relationship with her body and how her memory of past and present experiences has contributed to her evolving understanding of self.
Paul Sabourin
Oct. 20, 10 a.m.
Doctor of Laws, honoris causa (LLD)
Paul Sabourin, MBA’80, is the co-founder, chairman and chief investment officer of Polar Asset Management Partners, widely considered Canada’s first and longest-tenured hedge fund. He has served as a member of the advisory board of Ivey Business School and is a former chair and current member of the Morrisette Entrepreneurship Advisory Board at Western.
Sabourin has been investing in Canada’s venture capital ecosystem for almost 20 years and is an active angel investor. He credits his Ivey experience, both during his MBA studies and as a long-standing volunteer, for helping shape his outlook on entrepreneurial business.
He has served on numerous not-for-profit boards including CanStage Theatre Company and Art Gallery of Ontario’s Canadian and Indigenous Acquisitions Committee. He is also a board member of the Trillium Health Partners Foundation.
Jamelie Hassan
Oct. 20, 3 p.m.
Doctor of Laws, honoris causa (LLD)
Jamelie Hassan is a visual artist, independent curator, activist, lecturer and writer based in London, Ont. Since the 1970s, she has exhibited widely in Canada and internationally. In 1993, she received the “Canada 125” Medal for outstanding community service. She was awarded the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2001 in recognition of her artistic achievements.
Hassan’s works are in public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), the New Museum, New York; Western’s McIntosh Gallery and Museum London. She is one of the founders of two artist-run centres in London, Ont., the Forest City Gallery and the Embassy Cultural House. She has also curated several projects in Canada and internationally and has served on advisory panels for AGO, Ontario Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts.
