A mining company’s chief executive and the first woman to graduate from Laurentian University’s engineering program will be among the recipients to receive honorary doctorates from the Sudbury school next week.
Mark Cutifani, CEO of Anglo American, will be recognized for being a “champion for workplace safety in mining.” Prior to his current role, Cutifani worked in Sudbury for Vale from 2003 to 2007, where he served as chief operating officer.
Following a three-month strike at Vale, shortly after Cutifani started there in 2003, he and his management team engaged workers and the community to repair the relationship that had been damaged during the labour dispute.
Suzanne Tessier was the first woman to graduate from Laurentian University’s School of Engineering in 1979, and currently serves on the advisory board of Laurentian’s Bharti School of Engineering.
One of her great passions has been encouraging girls and women to consider science and engineering as career choices, and mentoring new women engineers in the mining industry. She was elected to the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers Board of Directors in 2014.
Laurentian will additionally award doctorates to the Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin, the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada; André Picard, a public health educator for the Globe and Mail; Charles E. Pascal, a Canadian educator with experience in early and higher education; and Dr. Joseph Roberts, a social activist, author, motivational speaker, and CEO.
“It is a privilege for us to pay tribute to these outstanding Canadians who have led the way in their respective fields,” said Laurentian University Chancellor Steve Paikin in a statement.
“Each of them has inspired and enlightened so many others, and we are proud to celebrate them.”
