In addition to celebrating the accomplishments of the 2,400 graduating students at the 2019 convocation ceremony, UFV awarded four honorary degrees in recognition of each individual’s distinguished achievements and outstanding service in their respective fields.
Anthony von Mandl received the honorary Doctor of Technology for his entrepreneurial work in B.C.’s wine industry. Canadian author Esi Edugyan received the honorary Doctor of Letters degree for her literary achievements. Francis Horne Sr. was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree for his achievements as a Coast Salish master carver and for his dedication to helping and healing others in his community. For his career accomplishments and lifetime service in many local and government roles, John Jansen was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws.
Anthony von Mandl
Anothony von Mandl was awarded an honorary Doctor of Technology degree in recognition of his achievements in winemaking, and for developing and growing the wine industry in B.C.’s Okanagan Valley.
Mandl is the owner of Mission Hill Family Estate, CheckMate Artisanal Winery, and Mark Anthony Wine & Spirits, a wine import business he started at the age of 22. Throughout his career, Mandl has helped grow the wine industry in the Okanagan Valley from relatively unknown to the two billion dollar industry it is today.
In 1994, Mission Hill Family Estate won “Top Chardonnay Worldwide” at the International Wine & Spirit Competition in London, England, propelling Mandl forward to achieving his dream of producing world-class wines in Okanagan Valley.
The Okanagan Valley was recognized on the Pinot Noir world wine stage in 2013 when Mission Hill Family Estate won “Best Pinot Noir in the World” at the Decanter World Wine Awards. In 2015, CheckMate Artisanal Wineries Little Pawn Chardonnay was awarded a perfect 100-point score.
“Have a dream, believe in it and in yourself, and then never let anyone take your dream from you,” Malt said during the convocation ceremony.
“Always remember: what looks like a failure at the time is actually learning. There’s always a silver lining in something gone wrong.”
Esi Edugyan
At the convocation ceremony, Canadian novelist Esi Edugyan was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters.
Eric Davis, UFV provost and vice president academic, nominated Edugyan for the honorary degree.
“Like an ideal university education, reading Esi Edugyan’s fiction is transformational,” Davis said at the convocation ceremony. “It extends the boundaries of our own experience, expands our powers of empathy, and connects us to those hugely unlike ourselves and ultimately, the whole of humanity.”
Edugyan has twice been the recipient of the Giller Prize for Canadian literature, in 2018 for her novel Washington Black and 2011 for her novel Half-Blood Blues. She was nominated twice for the prestigious Man Booker Prize, and declared the Globe and Mail’s 2018 artist of the year.
“Your voice matters in the greater dialogue. In fact, it is downright necessary,” Edugyan said at the ceremony. “Speech, utterance, is the beginning of engagement and engagement is the only means we have to confirm and keep confirming our shared humanity, which can be too easily forgotten, especially in our current climate.”
“This is the work that the arts can do, to emphasize and remind us of these human connections.”
Francis Horne Sr.
Coast Salish master carver Francis Horne Sr. received an honorary Doctor of Letters in recognition of his art and his dedication to helping and healing others.
Horne started his career 50 years ago, and since then his work has been displayed in many Vancouver galleries and recognized in several publications on Northwest Coast Indigenous art.
In addition to his carving, Horne has a passion for helping others and uses his own experience to help others heal and grow. Horne mentored clients at Vision Quest Recovery Society where he led groups on strenuous, therapeutic hikes, and currently advises Aboriginal patients at Fraser Health Authority.
Horne has also taught the Indigenous carving certificate courses at UFV, where he led healing circles for the students in the carving course to help unburden themselves for the week ahead.
Horne spoke at the convocation ceremony on his own healing journey of finding power in a waterfall at the advice he received in his youth from an elder.
“Follow your dreams, listen to mother earth, protect the water,” Horne said to the graduates. “We need, through the grads and through the people who are up-and-coming, to reinvent ourselves, to reinvent how this world works.”
“Learn from mother earth; this is what I did. I learned how to heal. I learned how to love. I learned how to forgive.”
John Jansen
For his career accomplishments and lifetime service to the Fraser Valley community, John Jansen was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws.
Jansen worked as a chartered professional accountant before being elected as a Chilliwack city councillor and then as mayor of Chilliwack in the ‘80s. After his time as mayor, Jansen was elected as an MLA, where he served as minister of international business and immigration, minister of finance, and minister of health.
Today, Jansen is president of the Chilliwack Hospital Foundation, where he is working to complete a 35 million expansion of Chilliwack General Hospital.
During his career Jansen has been involved in many significant community development projects, including the Chilliwack airport, the creation of Townsend Park and Exhibition Field Stadium, and recently the land purchase which allowed for the creation of Chilliwack’s Canada Education Park.
“It’s been a privilege to service in so many different positions in our province,” Jansen said.
“I feel so privileged and honored to be able to stand here and thank you so much for what you’re doing.”
Images: UFV Flickr
