Honorary Degrees In conferring honorary degrees, the University seeks to honour individuals whose accomplishments demonstrate a standard of excellence that U of G hopes will inspire its graduates. The committee considers candidates from a broad range of categories, including the arts and sciences, business, public service, professions, and the voluntary sector, including long-standing or exceptional service to the University. The committee, from time to time, may recommend those whose outstanding contributions to their fields or to society have not yet been widely recognized.
SHEILA MCGUIRK – A pioneer in calf health and disease prevention, Dr. Sheila McGuirk is internationally renowned as a clinician, teacher and researcher and as a role model for women in the veterinary profession. Dr. McGuirk taught in the large animal medicine group at the University of Wisconsin College of Veterinary Medicine from its inception in 1983 until her retirement in 2016. She has received numerous awards for teaching and research and for service to the veterinary profession and dairy industry, including being the only woman named as the World Dairy Expo’s Industry Person of the Year and receiving the American Association of Bovine Practitioners Award of Excellence. Among the first academic clinicians to focus on neonatal calf health management as a primary interest, she is also a highly skilled equine clinician and cardiology expert. Throughout her studies, she has ensured that her research results have been translated into clinical practice through new diagnostic approaches and treatment strategies for animal and herd health. Dr. McGuirk studied at Cornell University and the University of Georgia. Early indications of Dr. McGuirk’s commitment to education and to the veterinary profession and dairy industry surfaced during her large animal internship at the University of Guelph, where she received a teaching award for her impact on veterinary students in the Class of 1978.
JANICE O’BORN – Janice O’Born has provided remarkable leadership that improves the lives of Canadians through her philanthropy, service and commitment to sustainable food systems and rural communities as well as health care and the arts. Ms. O’Born is founding chair of The Printing House Charitable Office, the philanthropic arm of TPH Ltd., which has raised more than $63 million to support important community-based initiatives ranging from the SickKids Foundation and Sunnybrook Hospital Foundation to the Banff Centre. Her transformational gifts have included more than $3 million to support children’s health and, along with her husband, Earle O’Born, a $10-million contribution to the National Arts Centre Foundation, where she has served as chair of the board of directors. She is currently an active board member to Mount Sinai hospital. In Rosemont, Ontario, she led development of a food and culinary destination organization to attract economic activity and people and to foster a sense of community. A long-time supporter of U of G, Ms. O’Born has created scholarships in food animal health and welfare and sustainable food systems, has volunteered with the OVC Pet Trust, and has helped lead fundraising for key initiatives in the Ontario Veterinary College and the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics. For volunteer work and community philanthropy, Ms. O’Born has received the Order of Ontario as well as the Queen’s Diamond and Golden Jubilee Medals for Volunteerism.
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