Head and shoulders image of Maurice Lebel, honourary Doctor of Laws degree recipient,l ikely at the time of presentation.

Bio/Historical Note: Born in Saint-Lin, Quebec, Maurice Lebel received a BA in 1928 from Université de Montréal and an MA in 1930 from Université Laval. In 1931 Lebel received a Diplôme d'Études Supérieures in language and classical literature from the Sorbonne. In 1932 he received a Diploma in language and English literature and a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1935 from the University of London. He received a Ph.D. in education in 1952 and a D.Litt. from the University of Athens in 1957. From 1937-1975 Lebel was a professor of language and Greek literature at Université Laval. From 1957-1963 he was the dean of the Faculty of Letters. From 1963-1964 he was the president of the Royal Society of Canada (he was made a Fellow in 1947) and was awarded the Pierre Chauveau Medal in 1962. In 1967, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1994 he was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec. Lebel died in 2006 at age 96.

E.M. (Ted) Culliton, University Chancellor, making presentation of an honourary Doctor of Laws degree to Maurice Lebel at spring Convocation held in Physical Education gymnasium.

Bio/Historical Note: Born in Saint-Lin, Quebec, Maurice Lebel received a BA in 1928 from Université de Montréal and an MA in 1930 from Université Laval. In 1931 Lebel received a Diplôme d'Études Supérieures in language and classical literature from the Sorbonne. In 1932 he received a Diploma in language and English literature and a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1935 from the University of London. He received a Ph.D. in education in 1952 and a D.Litt. from the University of Athens in 1957. From 1937-1975 Lebel was a professor of language and Greek literature at Université Laval. From 1957-1963 he was the dean of the Faculty of Letters. From 1963-1964 he was the president of the Royal Society of Canada (he was made a Fellow in 1947) and was awarded the Pierre Chauveau Medal in 1962. In 1967, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1994 he was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec. Lebel died in 2006 at age 96.

Leon Edel, honourary Doctor of Literature degree recipient, speaking from podium during Convocation held at Centennial Auditorium.

Bio/Historical Note: Leon Edel, the son of Russian immigrants, was born in 1907 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The family moved to Saskatchewan in 1910, where his father opened a store in Jansen. Several years later the family moved to Yorkton and in the ten formative years that followed, Edel attended elementary and secondary school, and worked during the summers as a copy boy for a Yorkton newspaper. Edel also reported the social and personal events of the town, watching those who got on and off the various trains, and in this way began a long association with journalism. Edel was fascinated with the cultural mosaic of Ukrainians, Czechs, Germans, Mennonites and Doukhobors tie up their carts at his father's store, who ran the icy mile from home to Victoria School, whose father, in the absence of a town library, brought books back from Winnipeg on the overnight train, and who saw his milkman disappear one day later to perish on a foreign battlefield. When Edel was sixteen years old, the family moved to Montreal, and he entered McGill University, majoring in English literature. While there Edel became associated with the Montreal Group of modernist writers, which included Frank R. Scott and A.J.M. Smith, and with them founded the influential McGill Fortnightly Review. Edel taught English and American literature at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia University, 1932–1934), New York University (1953–1972),and at University of Hawaii at Manoa (1972–1978). For the academic year 1965–1966, he was a Fellow on the faculty at the Center for Advanced Studies of Wesleyan University. Though he wrote on James Joyce (James Joyce: The Last Journey, 1947) and on the Bloomsbury group, his lifework is summed up in his five-volume biography of Henry James (Henry James: A Biography 1953–1972). The University of Saskatchewan awarded a honourary Doctor of Literature degree in 1983. Edel died in Honolulu in 1997.

Head and shoulders image of Dr. Claud Thompson, acting dean, Arts and Science.

Bio/Historical Note: Dr. Claud Adelbert Thompson was born in 1933 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was a 1950 graduate of Riverside High School in Milwaukee. He earned a BA in English Literature from Ripon College, Ripon, Wisconsin (1955); an MA in English Literature from Columbia University, New York; and a Bachelor of Divinity from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary (1964), then located in Evanston, Illinois. Dr. Thompson was a recognized specialist in the literature of John Milton. He studied under Dr. John T. Shawcross, completing his dissertation 'Milton: The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce' and was conferred his PhD in English Literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1971. His MA thesis on Milton's 'That Two-handed Engine Will Smite: Time will have a stop' is also included in literary studies on Milton. Father Claud Thompson was appointed curate in 1964 at All Saints Episcopal Church in Appleton, Wisconsin; in 1966 he was appointed to serve at St. Francis House, Episcopal Student Center in Madison. In addition to his serving as a priest, he also taught at Lawrence College in Appleton and at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. In 1970 Dr. Thompson moved to Saskatoon in 1970 to join the Department of English at the University of Saskatchewan. He served the university with distinction as a teacher and in his last year as acting Dean of Arts and Sciences. He retired in 1998 to Nanaimo, British Columbia. He spent many years as a hospice volunteer in the Nanaimo Hospital's palliative care unit. Dr. Thompson died in 2017 in Nanaimo.

Dignitaries parading from the Administration Building to the convocation ceremonies in the Bowl during the Learned Societies Conference, U of S, 22 May-8 June 1979.

Bio/Historical Note: A special convocation was held 2 June 1979 to celebrate the "Learned Societies Conference." It was 20 years since the last conference was held at the University of Saskatchewan. Honorary Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.) degrees were conferred on four outstanding scholars; Jean Sutherland Boggs, Sir Moses I. Finley, Amartya Kumar Sen, and Arthur Whalley.

Desmond J. Conacher, honourary Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.) degree recipient, is presented at Convocation ceremony held at Centennial Auditorium. Peggy McKercher, University Chancellor, seated at centre of image.

Bio/historical note: Desmond Conacher (1918-2000) (BA., M.A. [Queen’s], Ph.D. [Chicago]) held his first regular appointment at the University of Saskatchewan, where he taught in the Department of Classics from 1947 until 1958.