Concordia Journal Home > Archives > October 29, 2009 issue >

Honorary Degrees 

Concordia will award four honorary doctorates at this year’s Fall convocation

Engineering and Computer Science:

Robert Walsh, President, Forensic Technology

Robert Walsh, President and founder of Forensic Technology, is an innovative engineer, inventor and entrepreneur whose pioneering work has helped make the world a safer place. His Integrated Ballistic Identification System (IBIS) revolutionized the way that firearm crimes are investigated and solved by tracing digital fingerprints on bullets or cartridges.

After graduating from Loyola College in 1963, Walsh went on to study mechanical engineering at McGill. Among many awards, he was honoured by Ernst & Young in 2002 with the Québec Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Fine Arts:
AA Bronson, Artist, co-founder of General Idea

AA Bronson is an award-winning artist, writer, curator and healer whose work has been widely exhibited. With Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal, he founded the artist’s group General Idea. They became known internationally for their work in punk, queer theory, and AIDS activism.

In 1994, his partners passed away of AIDS-related causes and his work became more focused on the concept of healing.

Bronson received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the City of Toronto, the Governor General’s Visual Art and Media Award, and was named an Officer of the Order of Canada.

John Molson School of Business:
Elizabeth Comper, Philanthropist and teacher

Elizabeth Comper started her career as an elementary school teacher and never lost touch with her desire to change lives. She is a director of the Ontario Arts Council Foundation and the Royal Conservatory of Music, among others. She and her husband Tony helped found Canada’s largest theatre arts award, the Elinore & Lou Siminovitch Prize.

Comper is a recipient of numerous awards, most recently the Scopus Award from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

She earned a BA at Concordia and a master’s in library science from McGill.

Tony Comper, Immediate Past President and Chief Executive Officer, BMO Financial Group

Over the course of 40 years at BMO, Tony Comper achieved remarkable success and played a central role in developing BMO's innovative computer system. He was appointed president in 1990 and CEO in 1999.

Comper also dedicates countless hours to organizations and councils. He and his wife Elizabeth founded FAST (Fighting Antisemitism Together) and he is involved in the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and the Canadian Centre for Architecture, among many others.

Comper was honoured with the Human Relations Award from the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews and the Scopus Award from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Information for faculty and staff about the convocation ceremonies is available online. Or, if you are a Fall 2009 graduate, please visit the student convocation website.