Acadia honouring four with doctorates

Acadia University is handing four doctorates to people who have distinguished themselves in their field during convocation ceremonies on May 16 and 17.

During the graduation, honorees Rev. J. Peter Holmes, Leonard Paul, John

Smol and El Jones will be presented as doctors in theology, professional studies, pure and applied science, and arts fields, respectively.

Holmes, who completed his doctoral studies at Acadia in 2006, is receiving the Doctor of Divinity for serving as the minister of the history of Yorkminster Park Baptist Church in Toronto for more than 25 years.

Paul, whose watercolour career spans 40 years of wilderness travels, is a previous recipient of the Governor General Medal and a Mi'kmaq First Nation member whose work has been featured in many collections and over 35 exhibitions.

Smol is receiving a Doctor of Science for being a leading environmental scientist and founder of the Palaeoecological

Environmental Assessment and Research Lab (PEARL) at Queen's University.

He also recently received the Massey Medal from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society for outstanding career achievement.

Finally, Jones has distinguished herself as an author, poet, journalist, educator and advocate.

She has been the poet laureate of Halifax, a two-time National Slam champion, a resident of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa and a poet in residence at the University of Toronto Scarborough.

More information about the 2024 convocation at Acadia and the livestream of the ceremonies can be found online at convocation.acadiau.ca/ home.html.