Four Honorary Degrees have been awarded at Queen Mary, University of London’s 2012 summer graduation ceremonies. Honorary Degrees are awarded by the University of London to those whom the University wishes to honour for achievements in their field.
Record producer and musician Mr Martyn Ware was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science on Wednesday 18 July by Professor Mark Sandler, Head of Queen Mary’s School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science. Martyn Ware worked in computing for three years after leaving school, before forming the electro-pop band The Human League in 1978. In 1980 he formed the production company and record label British Electric Foundation and, in the same year, founded the band Heaven 17.
Martyn is a Visiting Professor at QM’s Centre for Digital Music, lecturing extensively on music production, technology, creativity and artists’ rights. Among other achievements, he has produced and presented more than 20 Future of Sound concerts. He is the co-founder of Illustrious Co. Ltd, a hub for collaborative artistic and digital projects that exploits the creative and commercial possibilities of unique sound technology.
On Monday 16 July, historian Professor Eric Foner was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science (Social Sciences) by Professor Miri Rubin of Queen Mary’s School of History. The former Queen Mary Leverhulme Visiting Scholar (2008) is DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University and one of most prominent historians in the United States. He is one of only two people to serve as president of the three main professional organisations: the American Historical Association, Organisation of American Historians and the Society of American Historians.
Professor Foner is the author or editor of over twenty books, concentrating largely on the intersections of political, social and intellectual history and American race relations. His most recent work, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery (2010) has won several awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for History.
Professor Peter Stallybrass of the University of Pennsylvania was awarded an Honorary Doctor (Education) on Monday 16 July, presented by Professor Jerry Brotton of Queen Mary’s School of English and Drama. Professor Stallybrass, who began his career as a mortician, has been teaching since 1973, first in England at the University of Sussex before moving to Pennsylvania in 1988. He has also taught at King’s College and several of France’s leading universities.
His books include The Politics and Poetics of Transgression (1986), Renaissance Clothing and the Materials of Memory (2000) and Writer and Painter (2006). He is currently working with historian Roger Chartier on a history of the book, from wax tablets to e-books.
On Thursday 12 July, Professor Victor Hoffbrand was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science (Medicine) for his achievements in the field of Haematology. The award was presented by Professor Sir Nicholas Wald, Director of the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine at Queen Mary.
Victor Hoffbrand was educated at Queen’s College Oxford and the Royal London Hospital, qualifying in Medicine in 1959. From 1974 he was Professor and Head of the Department of Haematology at the Royal Free Hospital and Medical School. His pioneering research into anaemia and, later, leukaemia and lymphomas, resulted in the development of internationally accepted procedures and treatments. He is a prolific author of textbooks for undergraduates, a past president of the British Society of Haematology, Chairman of the Editorial Board of the British Journal of Haematology and a founding Counsellor for the European Haematology Association.
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