Eight honoured by University of York
Posted on 10 June 1999
The honorary degree of Doctor of the University will be conferred on each of them by the Chancellor Dame Janet Baker at ceremonies on 8 and 9 July. The honorary graduands are:- Dr Ray Dolby pioneered major technical innovations in noise reduction for sound recording. Indeed, the name Dolby has become synonymous with quality audio in film sound and music recording. Born in Portland, Oregon in 1933, he studied at Stanford University and later received a PhD in Physics from Cambridge. He developed the electronic aspects of the Ampex video tape recording system - the precursor of contemporary video tape systems. In 1965 he founded Dolby Laboratories to work on noise reduction in recording, ie reducing the hissing sounds introduced by the tape recording process. Dr Dolby was made an honorary OBE in 1986 and awarded an Oscar in 1989. A keen pilot, he is flying his own plane from San Francisco to Leeds/Bradford to attend the ceremony.
- Greg Dyke is Chairman and Chief Executive of Pearson Television, and Chairman of Channel 5 Broadcasting. A Politics graduate of the University of York, he has had a varied and distinguished career in broadcasting. He was editor in chief of TV-am from 1983 to 1984 and director of programmes at TVS until 1987. He then began his career at London Weekend Television, where he rose to become Group Chief Executive. He was chairman of GMTV from 1993 to 1994, and a director of Channel Four from 1988 to 1991. He is a trustee of the National Science Museum. A keen sportsman, he presented his own series, Fair Game, on Channel Four.
- Dr Seamus Hegarty is Director of the National Foundation for Educational Research. The NFER is the largest educational research institution in the UK with 250 staff and about 70 to 80 research projects ongoing at any one time. Dr Hegarty has led the Foundation's research into special education, directing over 20 projects covering special needs education, ethnic minority issues, pupil assessment, professional development of teachers and support services for education. An acclaimed international expert in special needs, he has been an adviser to UNESCO, the Council for Europe and the EU. He has also advised ministries of education in Belgium, China, Hungary, the Netherlands and Spain.
- Elgar Howarth first attracted attention as a trumpeter at the Royal Opera House and as an early member of the London Sinfonietta, but has become as famous for his conducting. A wide-ranging musician, he is known for promoting new music, for composing, and for his authority as a conductor of both opera and orchestral works. He was principal guest conductor of the English Northern Philharmonic from 1985 to 1989 and still appears frequently with their sister company, Opera North. He has conducted and performed with many internationally famous orchestras, but has never lost his early associations with brass bands. Next year, he will bring Grimethorpe Band to the University of York for a weekend residency.
- Helena Kennedy is one of Britain's best-known barristers, practising predominantly in criminal law. She is also a frequent broadcaster and writer on law and women's rights. Television and radio work has included Heart of the Matter, The Trial of Lady Chatterley's Lover, Raw Deal and Blind Justice. Her award-winning book, Eve was Framed, on women and the criminal justice system was published in 1992. She has been a council member of the Howard League for Penal Reform since 1989 and of the Standing Committee for Youth Justice since 1993. She chaired the Committee on widening participation in further education from 1995 to 1997, and has been Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University since 1994. She was created a life peer in 1997.
- Professor David Lewis is one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century and has made significant contributions to the philosophy of mind, language, mathematics and metaphysics. He is professor of Philosophy at Princeton University, where he has taught since 1970. He has written many books, including Convention, Counterfactuals and Parts of Classes, each of which has had a major impact in its field. Professor Lewis also has a close connection with York: two staff members studied under him whilst they were graduates at Princeton; and another two have published papers about his work.
- Bryan Sanderson is Managing Director of British Petroleum. An economist, he has worked for BP since 1964 and became Chief Executive Officer of BP Chemicals in 1990, turning the company around to become one of BP's most successful. He is also a strong supporter of science education and has lent his personal (as well as his company's) support to York's work in this area. This support has been in projects in primary, secondary and tertiary education. He is currently President of CEFIC, the European Chemical Industry Council, whose next conference on Chemical Education is to be held in York in 2000.
- Professor Elizabeth Warrington FRS is Emeritus Professor at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, where she was head of the department of Clinical Neuropsychology until her retirement in 1996. She has made outstanding contributions to knowledge about developmental disorders of language and cognition, particularly dyslexia, and short-term and long-term memory processes. Both her clinical and research work have been influential and proceeded simultaneously. Since her retirement, Professor Warrington has formed the Dementia Research Group at the Institute of Neurology. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1986.