Anna Patten breaks new ground Tuesday during the University of Victoria’s spring convocation ceremonies. The 28-year-old from New Zealand will be receiving the first-ever PhD in neuroscience — the study of the brain and nervous system — conferred by UVic.
Patten arrived at UVic after earning an undergraduate degree pharmacology back home. “Then I did an honours program in neuropharmacology, which is where I started to get really excited about the brain.”
Patten’s is one of 3,434 degrees, diplomas and certificates being given out this week during nine ceremonies at UVic’s Farquhar Auditorium.
The final session of the week will include a tribute to outgoing UVic president David Turpin, who has decided to step down at the end of the month after 13 years. Law professor Jamie Cassels succeeds him.
“It’s pretty cool,” Patten said of earning her PhD in neuroscience, which has been a program at UVic for just three years.
She started out studying biology at the university, “but when the neuroscience program started, I decided to transfer, just because it’s much more aligned with what I see myself doing in the future.”
She hopes to teach, something she has become passionate about.
“I’d love to teach neuroscience and psychology at a university.”
Patten’s research focused on learning and memory, and how they can be affected by various diseases. She has looked especially at fetal alcohol syndrome.
Honorary degrees are going to pharmacist and community leader Naz Rayani, former University of Saskatchewan president Peter MacKinnon, former House of Commons Speaker Peter Milliken, lawyer Sharon McIvor of the Lower Nicola First Nation — a champion of aboriginal issues — and engineering scholar Adel Sedra.
Camosun College also recognizes its graduates next week with three ceremonies, one on Thursday and two on Friday, at the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence.
Camosun’s Distinguished Alumni Award will be given to local artist John Boehme, while the Promising Alumni Award is going to bachelor of business administration graduate Avery Graham.
Royal Roads University follows with its spring convocation on June 19 at the Royal Theatre. Honorary degrees will be presented to Timothy Vernon, artistic director for Pacific Opera Victoria, and Sherman Jen, founder of Maple Leaf Educational Systems and Maple Leaf International Schools.
Former Victoria MP Denise Savoie will receive the Chancellor’s Community Recognition Award. The longtime local and federal politician once taught French at Royal Roads Military College — the university’s predecessor.
