Home
Honorary Doctor of Letters (UBC)
THE TITLE AND DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF LETTERS (honoris causa) CONFERRED AT CONGREGATION, JUNE 1, 1977
GEORGE WOODCOCK
Mr. Chancellor, in appointing George Woodcock to its Faculty in 1956 the University of British Columbia, wise in its judgement, welcomed an established man of letters. A Manitoban by birth, George Woodcock received his schooling in England, where he began his literary career. He edited two periodicals and founded a third, NOW, a literary magazine that he edited from 1940 to 1947. He returned to Canada in 1949 and in 1956 joined the Department of English of the University of British Columbia. Three years later he collaborated in the founding of Canadian Literature, the quarterly that he has edited ever since. The journal rapidly gained reputation and today is recognised as the country's leading publication devoted to the fostering of literature, especially Canadian literature. Through the years he has himself been a prolific writer. One can scarcely name an area of human interest of a field of literature that has escaped the perceptive notice of his pen, in poetry as well as in prose. His prodigious activity and the quality of all his work have won him many awards: grants for travel and research, fellowships, the Governor General's Award for the best Canadian work of non-fiction (1966), the Centennial Medal (1967), honorary degrees. His own merited fame, at home and abroad, has brought fame to the University. Because we take pride in that fame, Mr. Chancellor, I present for the degree Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, George Woodcock.
GEORGE WOODCOCK
Mr. Chancellor, in appointing George Woodcock to its Faculty in 1956 the University of British Columbia, wise in its judgement, welcomed an established man of letters. A Manitoban by birth, George Woodcock received his schooling in England, where he began his literary career. He edited two periodicals and founded a third, NOW, a literary magazine that he edited from 1940 to 1947. He returned to Canada in 1949 and in 1956 joined the Department of English of the University of British Columbia. Three years later he collaborated in the founding of Canadian Literature, the quarterly that he has edited ever since. The journal rapidly gained reputation and today is recognised as the country's leading publication devoted to the fostering of literature, especially Canadian literature. Through the years he has himself been a prolific writer. One can scarcely name an area of human interest of a field of literature that has escaped the perceptive notice of his pen, in poetry as well as in prose. His prodigious activity and the quality of all his work have won him many awards: grants for travel and research, fellowships, the Governor General's Award for the best Canadian work of non-fiction (1966), the Centennial Medal (1967), honorary degrees. His own merited fame, at home and abroad, has brought fame to the University. Because we take pride in that fame, Mr. Chancellor, I present for the degree Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, George Woodcock.
Submitted on March 16, 2010 in By David.
