Honorary graduates

The work of award-winning film director and writer Murray Grigor OBE will be recognised by the University of St Andrews this week, as he receives an honorary degree on St Andrew’s Day.

Mr Grigor – who directed the University’s 600^th anniversary film, Ever to Excel, starring Sir Sean Connery, will be joined at the annual graduation event on Friday (30 November 2012) by philosopher Professor Myles Burnyeat, author Candia McWilliam and biochemist Professor Iain D Campbell.

An alumnus of St Andrews, Mr Grigor is a former director of Channel 4 and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts; he has also served as director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) from 1967-1972, as well as its chairman from 1985-1990.

He was the first recipient of the Royal Television Society Reith Award and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to architecture and the film industry.

Professor Iain D Campbell, Emeritus Professor of Structural Biology at the University of Oxford, studied Physics at the University of St Andrews graduating with a BSc in 1963, before going on to achieve his PhD in 1967, also at St Andrews.

As well as a distinguished career in the Department of Biochemistry at Oxford University, Prof Campbell pioneered the use of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) to study the structure of life’s engines, proteins.

NMR is a technique to look at atoms that is used by almost every chemistry, biochemistry and biology research laboratory. His efforts have transformed biology through both the development and application of NMR.

Professor Myles Burnyeat graduated with a BA in Classics and Philosophy from King’s College, Cambridge in 1963 followed by graduate studies at University College, London (UCL).  From 1964 he lectured in philosophy at UCL, then classics at Cambridge University.  He was then Fellow and Lecturer in Philosophy at Robinson College, Cambridge and then Laurence Professor of Ancient  Philosophy 1984-1996 at Cambridge before becoming Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy at All Souls College, Oxford, until 2006.

He has written several books including A Map of Metaphysics Zeta (2001) and Aristotle’s Divine Intellect (2008), collaborated on or edited many others and was awarded a CBE in 2007 for his services to scholarship.

Candia McWilliam was born in Edinburgh and has won wide critical acclaim for her novels including Debatable Land (1994), which was awarded the Guardian Fiction Prize and the Premio Grinzane Cavour for the best foreign novel of the year in its Italian translation.

Her novel A Case of Knives (1988) won a Betty Trask Prize and her other works including A Little Stranger (1989) and her collection of stories Wait Till I Tell You (1997) have also been critically well received.

Her moving memoir What to Look for in Winter (2010) charted her battle with blindness.  In 2006, she began to suffer the effects of blepharospasm – a condition which can cause eyelids to close permanently – and was rendered functionally blind. In 2009, Ms McWilliam underwent an operation which harvested tendons from her leg in order to enable her to open her eyelids.

The honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (DLitt) will be awarded to Mr Grigor, Ms McWilliam and Professor Burnyeat, while Professor  Campbell will be made honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) at the ceremonies in the Younger Hall on St Andrew’s Day.

Ever to Excel premiered at the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) in New York on Wednesday 16 May 2012. Produced by Hamid Shams and directed by Murray Grigor OBE, the film is the first ever cinematic account of the foundation and development of Scotland’s first University. Edinburgh and London screenings are currently being planned for early next year.

ENDS

Note to Picture Editors

Photocalls with the honorary graduates will take place in St Salvator’s Quadrangle, North Street, St Andrews after each ceremony. Ceremonies are expected to take 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Professor Iain D Campbell and Professor Myles Burnyeat will graduate in the second ceremony of the day (12.00 noon – 1.15pm).

Murray Grigor and Candia McWilliam will graduate in the third ceremony of the day (3.30pm – 4.45pm).

Embargoed laureation and graduation addresses will be available.

Note to Editors

Issued by the Press Office, University of St Andrews

Contact Fiona MacLeod on 01334 462108/ 0771 414 0559.

Ref: (November graduation 27/11/12)

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