At its annual convocation ceremony Oct. 6, Thorneloe University honoured two former faculty members, two local community activists, and a former President of the University, as well as installed its new chancellor.
Professors Andrea Levan and Sally Katary (deceased) were inducted into the Fellowship of Thorneloe University for their many years of service in the classroom.
Levan was an early member of the Women’s Studies Department, teaching there since the mid-1980s through her retirement in 2013. Katary, who died suddenly this past August, taught for 30 years in Ancient Studies and Classics.
Mary Faris and Lori Adams were awarded the Thorneloe Mitre for their efforts with “Free the Children” – an international organization that works alleviate poverty and exploitation for children in the developing world.
Both from Sudbury, the women created “Minga for Maasai,” an organization working through the “Free the Children Adopt a Village” program. “Minga for Maasai” regularly connects local Sudburians with Piminiet, a village in rural Kenya, in meaningful and life-changing ways.
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Stephen Andrews, former Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Algoma and former president of Thorneloe University, was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Sacred Theology for his many years of service to the Anglican Church of Canada and higher education.
“The strength of Thorneloe University is the care that the staff shows to students, the engagement of faculty who are learned and accessible, the offering of subjects that seek to explore, critique and enrich our understanding of what it means to be human beings in community, and an opportunity to experience that community in an intimate and supportive residence,” said Andrews, now principal of Wycliffe College.
In addition to these honours and awards, as well as the conferral of scholarships and Theology degrees, Thorneloe’s Convocation marked the retirement of Barb Bolton as Chancellor and the installation of her successor.
Bolton has served Thorneloe University with distinction in a variety of ways since 1992 – as a Board Member, Board Chair, Acting President, Thorneloe nominee to the Laurentian University Board, and most recently as its sixth Chancellor since 2010.
Bolton is succeeded by the Ven. Anne Germond. Germond is Rector of the Church of the Ascension (Anglican) in New Sudbury, where she has served since 2000. Married to Dr. Colin Germond, Germond is also Archdeacon of the Sudbury-Manitoulin Deanery in the Diocese of Algoma.
"As a graduate and friend of Thorneloe University for over 20 years, I am honoured and deeply humbled to be its new Chancellor,” Germond said. “I look forward to serving the University in this capacity and to support this vibrant centre of learning in whatever way I can."
Thorneloe University has offered academic programming in the humanities for more than 50 years. As a founding member of the Laurentian University Federation, on the campus of Laurentian University in Sudbury, Thorneloe is home to the departments of Ancient Studies, Theatre and Motion Picture Arts, Religious Studies, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, as well the Thorneloe University School of Theology.
