1963 Fredericton Convocation
Balch, Reginald Ernest
Doctor of Science (D.Sc.)
Orator: Cattley, Robert E.D.
Citation:
CONVOCATION, OCTOBER, 1963
REGINALD ERNEST BALCH
to be Doctor of Science
Well has it been said of you, Sir, that it is remarkable for a man who has had the charge and development of a great government laboratory to have written and published so many scientific papers. Your reputation will indeed rest on your personal researches in fores t entomology and pathology - and the Balsam Woolly Aphid has reason to curse the name of Balch!
But your prouder monument is, I know, the teamwork of those keen scientists whom for a generation you led, directed, and inspired, and of whom several have gone forth to posts of national responsibility.
The Dominion Forest Biology Laboratory to which you were appointed in 1930 is a far cry from the up-to-date institution you were destined to launch at the other end of our campus. The squat edifice with adjacent greenhouses, just uphill from our Library, resembled in two points only its more functional successor. It had, firstly, the same red brick and (shall I say?) male severity, and, secondly, it was dedicated to the conquest of what all males recognize as the deadlier member of every species. Yet in the cramped quarters of the older building you initiated those complex and seemingly marginal studies which a patient and understanding Government saw culminate in the classification and control of the European Spruce Sawfly, and made Canada an authority in this field.
You would have me, Dr. Balch, proclaim your gratitude to the scientists, both students and professors, of this university, whose intimate association created, you assert, so favourable an atmosphere for your work. The debt, I assure you, is mutual. We who for thirty-three years have welcomed you as a friend and colleague are eager now to pay our scot by enrolling you among our Doctors of Science and embracing you as our Alumnus. We wish for you and for ourselves many a happy year more of this fruitful cross-fertilization.
From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.
REGINALD ERNEST BALCH
to be Doctor of Science
Well has it been said of you, Sir, that it is remarkable for a man who has had the charge and development of a great government laboratory to have written and published so many scientific papers. Your reputation will indeed rest on your personal researches in fores t entomology and pathology - and the Balsam Woolly Aphid has reason to curse the name of Balch!
But your prouder monument is, I know, the teamwork of those keen scientists whom for a generation you led, directed, and inspired, and of whom several have gone forth to posts of national responsibility.
The Dominion Forest Biology Laboratory to which you were appointed in 1930 is a far cry from the up-to-date institution you were destined to launch at the other end of our campus. The squat edifice with adjacent greenhouses, just uphill from our Library, resembled in two points only its more functional successor. It had, firstly, the same red brick and (shall I say?) male severity, and, secondly, it was dedicated to the conquest of what all males recognize as the deadlier member of every species. Yet in the cramped quarters of the older building you initiated those complex and seemingly marginal studies which a patient and understanding Government saw culminate in the classification and control of the European Spruce Sawfly, and made Canada an authority in this field.
You would have me, Dr. Balch, proclaim your gratitude to the scientists, both students and professors, of this university, whose intimate association created, you assert, so favourable an atmosphere for your work. The debt, I assure you, is mutual. We who for thirty-three years have welcomed you as a friend and colleague are eager now to pay our scot by enrolling you among our Doctors of Science and embracing you as our Alumnus. We wish for you and for ourselves many a happy year more of this fruitful cross-fertilization.
From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.
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