1983 Saint John Spring Convocation
Halpenny, Francess G.
Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)
Orator: Bogaards, Winnifred M.
Citation:
CONVOCATION, MAY, 1983
FRANCESS G. HALPENNY
to be Doctor of Letters
From a life filled with varied activity and notable achievement it is sometimes difficult to select the most important pursuit but this difficulty does not arise with Dr. Francess Halpenny. Despite contributions to and interest in a variety of fields, the focus of her professional life has been the Dictionary Of Canadian Biography/Dictionnaire Biographique Du Canada.
Having joined the editorial department of the University of Toronto Press in 1941, Dr. Halpenny was involved with this massive long-term project from its establish meet in 1959. A decade later she became its general editor. Fluently bilingual, she bridges the two solitudes represented by Toronto and Quebec City, despite the efforts of Canadian weather and Air Canada flight schedules to keep them apart, ensuring the continuation of that close connection between the French and English speaking offices of the DCB/DBC at Toronto and Laval which is essential to this bicultural project.
Obviously Dr. Halpenny would not agree with Dr. Samuel Johnson, the great eighteenth century lexicographer, when he insisted in the preface to his massive, long-term scholarly project, Dictionary of the English Language, that the making of dictionaries was dull work. She would, however, undoubtedly concur with his observation in the same preface that the chief glory of every people arises from its authors. Making Canadians aware of their authors is obviously a central concern of the DCB itself, but Dr. Halpenny has contributed to that goal in many other ways as well. Through the Faculty of Library Science at the University of Toronto, of which she became dean in 1972, Dr. Halpenny has, for the past twenty years, made future librarians aware of their written heritage in her lectures on the history of Canadian publishing. She has also served as a member and chairman of the National Library Advisory Board since 1977, as a member of the Advisory Board on Scientific Publications for the National Research Council of Canada since 1978, as a member of the Canada Council's Consultive Group on Scholarly Publishing from 1976 to 1978, as chairman of the Committee on Library Information of the Book and Periodical Development Council since 1979. The flowering of writing and publishing in this country, which began just twenty years ago, after a very long drought, is due to the determined efforts of people like Dr. Halpenny. Her contribution has been recognized by her appointment as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1977 and as Officer of the Order of Canada in 1979. Dr. Halpenny has truly earned the degree of Doctor of Letters she receives from this university today.
Insignissime Praeses, tota Universitas, praesento vobis Franciscam G. Halpenny ut admittatur honoris causa ad gradem Doctoris in Litteris in hac Universitate.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 2
FRANCESS G. HALPENNY
to be Doctor of Letters
From a life filled with varied activity and notable achievement it is sometimes difficult to select the most important pursuit but this difficulty does not arise with Dr. Francess Halpenny. Despite contributions to and interest in a variety of fields, the focus of her professional life has been the Dictionary Of Canadian Biography/Dictionnaire Biographique Du Canada.
Having joined the editorial department of the University of Toronto Press in 1941, Dr. Halpenny was involved with this massive long-term project from its establish meet in 1959. A decade later she became its general editor. Fluently bilingual, she bridges the two solitudes represented by Toronto and Quebec City, despite the efforts of Canadian weather and Air Canada flight schedules to keep them apart, ensuring the continuation of that close connection between the French and English speaking offices of the DCB/DBC at Toronto and Laval which is essential to this bicultural project.
Obviously Dr. Halpenny would not agree with Dr. Samuel Johnson, the great eighteenth century lexicographer, when he insisted in the preface to his massive, long-term scholarly project, Dictionary of the English Language, that the making of dictionaries was dull work. She would, however, undoubtedly concur with his observation in the same preface that the chief glory of every people arises from its authors. Making Canadians aware of their authors is obviously a central concern of the DCB itself, but Dr. Halpenny has contributed to that goal in many other ways as well. Through the Faculty of Library Science at the University of Toronto, of which she became dean in 1972, Dr. Halpenny has, for the past twenty years, made future librarians aware of their written heritage in her lectures on the history of Canadian publishing. She has also served as a member and chairman of the National Library Advisory Board since 1977, as a member of the Advisory Board on Scientific Publications for the National Research Council of Canada since 1978, as a member of the Canada Council's Consultive Group on Scholarly Publishing from 1976 to 1978, as chairman of the Committee on Library Information of the Book and Periodical Development Council since 1979. The flowering of writing and publishing in this country, which began just twenty years ago, after a very long drought, is due to the determined efforts of people like Dr. Halpenny. Her contribution has been recognized by her appointment as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1977 and as Officer of the Order of Canada in 1979. Dr. Halpenny has truly earned the degree of Doctor of Letters she receives from this university today.
Insignissime Praeses, tota Universitas, praesento vobis Franciscam G. Halpenny ut admittatur honoris causa ad gradem Doctoris in Litteris in hac Universitate.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 2
Citations may be reproduced for research purposes only. Publication in whole or in part requires written permission from the author.