Doctor of Letters
(honoris causa) DLitt
Mike Harris, received the honorary degree, Doctor of Letters and delivered the convocation address to graduates of Nipissing’s Faculty of Arts and Science and Faculty of Applied and Professional Studies on Friday, June 11, 2010.
Raised in North Bay and educated at the North Bay Teachers’ College (the precursor to Nipissing’s Schulich School of Education), Mike Harris was the 22nd Premier of Ontario, a position he held for two terms, from 1995 – 2002. Harris is widely recognized as a driving force in providing increased economic opportunities for northern Ontario by working to make Highways 11 and 69 into four-lane highways. He was supportive to the process that saw Nipissing University receive its charter as an independent degree-granting institution in 1992 and was instrumental to the SuperBuild initiative that allowed Nipissing to build Zytaruk Hall in 2002. He also helped to address funding inequities for small, northern institutions in Ontario with the introduction of the Differentiation Grant. In 2008, Harris volunteered as an honorary co-chair for the Nipissing University and Canadore College Learning Library fundraising campaign.