TORONTO, June 19, 2008 -- Professor and former politician Lynn McDonald will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree from York University on Thursday, June 19, 2008.
A sociology professor at the University of Guelph, McDonald directs The Collected Works of Florence Nightingale project, which is publishing all of the available surviving writing of the famous nurse in 16 volumes – most of it for the first time.
The NDP Member of Parliament for Toronto’s Broadview-Danforth riding from 1982 to 1988, McDonald was the first “Ms.” in the House of Commons, and is a former president of Canada’s largest women’s organization, the National Action Committee on the Status of Women.
“Professor McDonald has made important contributions to Canadian society as a politician and as a scholar,” said York University President and Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri. “Her work on the origins of sociological theory recognizes the important role that social science research plays in the making of social policy.”
McDonald has authored three books on sociological theory, including The Early Origins of the Social Sciences (1993) and two books on the contributions of women theorists, Women Founders of Social Sciences (1994) and Women Theorists on Society and Politics (1998).
The Collected Works of Florence Nightingale project is publishing Nightingale’s major books, articles and pamphlets, as well as a great deal of unpublished correspondence and notes. Nightingale (1820-1910) was known as the heroine of the Crimean War and the major founder of the modern profession of nursing. However, she was also an important scholar, theorist and social reformer, and the Collected Works will be a major resource, not only for scholars interested in Nightingale, but for those interested in other major figures of the time. Ten of 16 volumes have been published.
McDonald will receive the honorary doctor of laws degree at 10:30 a.m. during convocation for the Joseph E. Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies.
Convocation ceremonies are held on York's Keele Campus, 4700 Keele Street, in the convocation pavilion located between Osgoode Hall Law School and the Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies. For a campus map, click here.
For a complete listing of the ceremony schedule, click here. York University’s spring convocation ceremonies will be streamed live over the Internet.
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