En’owkin director and former OUC president to receive UBC honorary degrees
North America’s first Aboriginal woman novelist and a former president of Okanagan University College will receive UBC honorary degrees at the first ever Spring Congregation June 9 at UBC Okanagan.
The degrees are awarded for distinguished career achievements, as well as service to UBC and to Canada.
Dr. William Bowering, UBC alumnus and a former president of Okanagan University College (OUC), has been an instrumental figure in expanding and developing post-secondary education in the Okanagan Valley during the past 28 years.
Bowering played a key role in the transition of Okanagan College to OUC. He then helped to develop OUC, introducing baccalaureate programs, expanded trades and technologies programs and building five regional OUC campuses throughout the Okanagan Valley. He will accept his degree during the morning ceremony on June 9.
Jeannette Armstrong is a writer, teacher, artist, sculptor and activist and considered North America’s first Aboriginal woman novelist. In 1978, she obtained a BFA from the University of Victoria.
In 1986, Armstrong became the director of the En’owkin Centre in Penticton, and is also the first director of the En’owkin International School of Writing, a creative writing school organized by and for Aboriginal people. She will accept her degree during the afternoon ceremony on June 9.
*This citation was originally released on March 30, 2006 and can be found on UBC’s Okanagan News website.