September 30, 2005 Source: University of Alberta:
http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/newsreleases.cfm?id=6991 President's Installation attracts dignitaries from around the world Presidents and dignitaries from major universities in Canada and around the world, including Germany, Japan, Mexico, and Thailand, are among the 2,400 people attending the installation of the University of Alberta's 12th president, Indira Samarasekera (SAM-er-ah-SAKE-ah-rah), Sunday, September 25th at 3pm in the Jubilee Auditorium. In addition to the formal installation of Dr. Samarasekera, the ceremony will include the awarding of honorary degrees to Nobel laureate, Dr. John Polanyi; playwright and theatre director Sharon Pollock; Inuit singer and songwriter Susan Aglukark; and Dr. John Evans, a former University of Toronto president and current board chair of the Torstar Corporation. Installation celebrations continue into the evening of September 25th with a concert at the Jubilee Auditorium featuring Susan Aglukark. On Monday, September 26th the first academic symposium ever to accompany a presidential installation will be held at the Jubilee Auditorium from 9am to 1pm. Entitled Dare to Discover: Transforming the Learning Environment, more than 1,000 people are expected to attend. The symposium will involve a panel discussion featuring Nobel laureates Dr. John Polanyi and Dr. Richard Taylor, playwright Sharon Pollock, former U of A provost Dr. Doug Owram, former U of A Dean of Medicine and Dentistry Dr. Lorne Tyrrell, U of A professor and Royal Society of Canada President-Elect Dr. Patricia Demers, former Students' Union Vice-President (Academic) Lisa McLaughlin and U of A Chancellor Eric Newell. Dr. Samarasekera began her five-year term July 1, 2005. In addition to her presidential duties, Dr. Samarasekera was appointed by the federal government to an expert panel to advise them on ways to ensure new technologies and services make their way to the marketplace and she was recently appointed to the board of the national Advisory Council on Science and Technology. She is an Officer of the Order of Canada and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She was Vice-President (Research) and professor in the department of metals and materials engineering and the Centre for Metallurgical Process Engineering at the University of British Columbia prior to joining the University of Alberta. Dr. Samarasekera was also the first Dofasco Chair in Advanced Steel Processing at UBC. Media Note: Copies of President Samarasekera's speech will be available. Six seats are reserved for media in the immediate front right row of the Jubilee Auditorium. For more information please contact File No: 29 Sandra Halme, Public Affairs, 780-492-0442. September 23, 2005
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