1991 Fredericton Convocation
Pierre, Gloria
Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)
Orator: Patterson, Stephen E.
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L to R: Dr. Robin Armstrong, Gloria Pierre
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Source: PR-Convocation, 1991
Citation:
CONVOCATION, OCTOBER, 1991
GLORIA PIERRE
to be Doctor of Letters
After twenty years, Gloria Pierre is retiring as editor of University Affairs, the official publication of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. It is a journal which, under her stewardship, has grown from a small 8-page newsletter to a lively 48-page journal filled with valuable and interesting information about Canada's universities and colleges. It has become, for all of its 24,000 or so readers, the nation's premier journal of higher education. It is what graduate students, professors, and university administrators all reach for when they want to look for a job. It is the only regular source of information about the people who inhabit the world of higher education in Canada, their career changes and their advancements. And it is the place where we learn of trends and cutting-edge changes taking place on Canada's campuses.
Gloria Pierre built on the work of earlier editors, but it was she who transformed University Affairs into the contemporary forum it is. It was she who, at the end of the turmoil of the 1960s, gave it a solid, professional - and perhaps less political - tone. At the same time, she brought to it a breezy journalistic format, new sections, and expanded coverage of job vacancies, along with interesting articles, quick-read charts and graphs, guest-written opinion pieces, and photographs which bespoke both tradition and innovation. In an age of information overload, University Affairs became a digest with integrity, packed with useful information delivered in the most economical way.
When University Affairs published its 30th anniversary edition in October 1989, the accolades it contained were as much a tribute to Gloria Pierre as they were to the journal itself. For Tom Symons of Trent University, University Affairs "enables Canadians to escape from their respective insularities, to see and ponder their higher education as a whole, to learn from interprovincial and interinstitutional comparisons and to think and work together cooperatively." Gerald McCarthy, chairman of the Nova Scotia Council on Higher Education, asserted that "no other publication that has come across my desk has even rivalled University Affairs as a source of useful information, ideas and issues related to university education in Canada in particular but throughout the world." Paule Leduc, president of the Conseil de recherches en science humaines du Canada, expressed her belief that "University Affairs unites the preoccupations and the interests of all Canadian universities as well as those of their co-workers in related fields." And James Downey, then president of UNB, said: "UA serves a very important purpose in helping a diverse and far-flung group of universities feel they belong to a national higher educational community. That's worth a lot."
What James Downey recognized as achievement is in fact what Gloria Pierre set out to do: that is, to remind Canadian university people that they are all part of a community, with many of the same concerns and interests regardless of region or size of institution.
We may be surprised to learn that this woman who has given so much to Canada and especially to higher education in this country was born in Virginia, was educated in the United States, and entered upon her first career in public service with the Department of State. She served in Montreal as the United States consul before deciding to move into academic administration as a Canadian immigrant. She thus had a rich and varied background to bring to University Affairs, but it is chiefly as its editor that we now know her. And as she retires after an outstanding career, we count ourselves privileged to speak on behalf of all Canadian colleges and universities in expressing our thanks to her for helping us to understand ourselves, and for introducing us to each other.
Insignissime Praeses, tota Universitas, praesento vobis GLORIAM PIERRE ut admittatur, honoris causa, ad gradum Doctoris in Litteris in hac Universitate.
PRESIDENT: EGO ADMITTO TE, GLORIAM PIERRE, HONORIS CAUSA, AD GRADUM DOCTORIS IN LITTERIS IN UNIVERSITATE NOVI BRUNSVICI.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 3
GLORIA PIERRE
to be Doctor of Letters
After twenty years, Gloria Pierre is retiring as editor of University Affairs, the official publication of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. It is a journal which, under her stewardship, has grown from a small 8-page newsletter to a lively 48-page journal filled with valuable and interesting information about Canada's universities and colleges. It has become, for all of its 24,000 or so readers, the nation's premier journal of higher education. It is what graduate students, professors, and university administrators all reach for when they want to look for a job. It is the only regular source of information about the people who inhabit the world of higher education in Canada, their career changes and their advancements. And it is the place where we learn of trends and cutting-edge changes taking place on Canada's campuses.
Gloria Pierre built on the work of earlier editors, but it was she who transformed University Affairs into the contemporary forum it is. It was she who, at the end of the turmoil of the 1960s, gave it a solid, professional - and perhaps less political - tone. At the same time, she brought to it a breezy journalistic format, new sections, and expanded coverage of job vacancies, along with interesting articles, quick-read charts and graphs, guest-written opinion pieces, and photographs which bespoke both tradition and innovation. In an age of information overload, University Affairs became a digest with integrity, packed with useful information delivered in the most economical way.
When University Affairs published its 30th anniversary edition in October 1989, the accolades it contained were as much a tribute to Gloria Pierre as they were to the journal itself. For Tom Symons of Trent University, University Affairs "enables Canadians to escape from their respective insularities, to see and ponder their higher education as a whole, to learn from interprovincial and interinstitutional comparisons and to think and work together cooperatively." Gerald McCarthy, chairman of the Nova Scotia Council on Higher Education, asserted that "no other publication that has come across my desk has even rivalled University Affairs as a source of useful information, ideas and issues related to university education in Canada in particular but throughout the world." Paule Leduc, president of the Conseil de recherches en science humaines du Canada, expressed her belief that "University Affairs unites the preoccupations and the interests of all Canadian universities as well as those of their co-workers in related fields." And James Downey, then president of UNB, said: "UA serves a very important purpose in helping a diverse and far-flung group of universities feel they belong to a national higher educational community. That's worth a lot."
What James Downey recognized as achievement is in fact what Gloria Pierre set out to do: that is, to remind Canadian university people that they are all part of a community, with many of the same concerns and interests regardless of region or size of institution.
We may be surprised to learn that this woman who has given so much to Canada and especially to higher education in this country was born in Virginia, was educated in the United States, and entered upon her first career in public service with the Department of State. She served in Montreal as the United States consul before deciding to move into academic administration as a Canadian immigrant. She thus had a rich and varied background to bring to University Affairs, but it is chiefly as its editor that we now know her. And as she retires after an outstanding career, we count ourselves privileged to speak on behalf of all Canadian colleges and universities in expressing our thanks to her for helping us to understand ourselves, and for introducing us to each other.
Insignissime Praeses, tota Universitas, praesento vobis GLORIAM PIERRE ut admittatur, honoris causa, ad gradum Doctoris in Litteris in hac Universitate.
PRESIDENT: EGO ADMITTO TE, GLORIAM PIERRE, HONORIS CAUSA, AD GRADUM DOCTORIS IN LITTERIS IN UNIVERSITATE NOVI BRUNSVICI.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 3
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