Two socially conscious business owners and an award-winning history scholar received honorary doctorates as the University of Victoria started its first in-person convocation ceremonies since the pandemic began two years ago.
Arran Stephens and Ratana Stephens were given Honorary Doctor of Education degrees, while Timothy James Brook received an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree.
Over six convocation ceremonies from Wednesday to Saturday, UVic will hand out 1,557 degrees, diplomas and certificates to graduates, many of whom completed programs during the pandemic. The convocations at Farquhar Auditorium are the first for UVic president Kevin Hall, and the last for outgoing chancellor Shelagh Rogers, whose term ends Dec. 31.
In 1985, the Stephens, Vancouver-based entrepreneurs, started Nature’s Path, the first certified organic food manufacturer in North America, which became one of the continent’s largest producers of organic cereal, granola and snacks. Frequently named one of Canada’s best employers, the company now employs more than 700 people and sells its products in more than 50 countries.
It has donated more than $40 million to community and environmental causes, and the Stephens were recently named to the Order of British Columbia.
Brook, meanwhile, is at the forefront of innovative research on China’s historical legacy. He holds the Republic of China Chair at the University of British Columbia and served as the Shaw Professor of Chinese at the University of Oxford.
Brook, who lives on Salt Spring Island, has published 13 books. Vermeer’s Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global Age was awarded the Mark Lynton History Prize from the Columbia School of Journalism. He has also received the Wallace K. Ferguson Prize from the Canadian Historical Association as well as Guggenheim and Getty fellowships.
