The University of Glasgow is set to award eight honorary degrees on Commemoration Day on 15th June 2005 at 11.15am. The list of 8 graduands from diverse backgrounds and their achievements are as follows:

Iain M Banks (DLitt)Acclaimed author and ambassador for Scotland's literary culture Iain Banks sprang to widespread and controversial fame with the publication of his first novel, The Wasp Factory, in 1984. The novel set the tone for much of the rest of his work, with its characteristic mix of fantasy and reality, and the proximity of violence and close human relationships. Since then he has gained enormous and popular critical acclaim as an original voice in Scottish fiction with further works of fiction and science fiction. In 1993 he was acknowledged as one of the Best of Young British Writers. In 1996 his number one bestseller, The Crow Road, was adapted for television. Awards include the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, 1995, and the British Science Fiction Award, 1995 and 1996. The Times has acclaimed Iain Banks 'the most imaginative British novelist of his generation'. Iain Banks' most recent novel The Algebraist was published in 2004.

Sir Arnold Clark (DUniv)Chairman of Chief Executive of Arnold Clark Automobiles Ltd Sir Arnold Clark is at the helm of one of the UK's largest privately owned businesses, and is and one of Scotland's top businessmen. His firm, started only 50 years ago, now has an annual turnover of almost £1.5 billion. Sir Arnold Clark received a Knighthood in 2004 for services to the Motor Industry and to the Scottish Community. The Arnold Clark Group now employs almost 7,000 staff at more than 120 branches nationwide, stretching the length of the UK, from Inverness to the West Midlands. Sir Arnold is a supporter of the University's Club 21 scheme, opening employment in his organisation to graduates.

Leslie Wolfson (DUniv)Philanthropist and eminent Lawyer, Leslie Wolfson read Law at the University of Glasgow before setting up his commercial Glasgow-based legal practice. Devoted to pro bono work he has been a Human Rights Committee chairman and chairman of Twinning in the International Bar Association (IBA). He has also represented the IBA on the UN Human Rights Commission and Sub-Commission in Geneva. He is presently engaged in pioneering links between the IBA and the world's UN designated least developed countries through a programme known as 'The Global Challenge', which is supported by the Alma and Leslie Wolfson Charitable Trust. He is member of the International Board of Governors of Tel Aviv University, of which he is an Honorary Fellow, and co-chairs its Academic Committee. Leslie Wolfson is founder of the Scottish Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Trustee of the Kelvingrove Refurbishment Appeal Trust and has now been appointed Trustee of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra's Charitable Trust. In 1978 he established the Alma and Leslie Wolfson Charitable Trust, and has been active in his support of the University of Glasgow.

Judith Weir (DMus)One of the UK's most prominent and wide-ranging composers, Judith Weir is most renowned for her music for theatre and opera. Her interest in theatre, narrative and folklore has resulted in three full-length operas, 'A Night at the Chinese Opera', 'The Vanishing Bridegroom' and 'Blond Eckbert'. Her output includes collaborations with national theatre companies, playwrights, large orchestral works and pieces that fuse folk and contemporary elements. She was Artistic Director of the London Spitalfields Festival for five years. Her involvement with education and community projects has been recognised nationally and internationally. She is holder of a Critics' Circle Award (1994), CBE (1995) and the Lincoln Centre's Stoger Prize (1997). In 2004 she was appointed Fromm Foundation Visiting Professor at Harvard University. Wier was the University of Glasgow's Cramb Fellow in Composition (1979-82) and was the Guinness composer-in-residence at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (1988-91).

Professor Sir Robert Keith O'Nions (DSc)Professor Sir Keith O'Nions is one of the UK's most influential figures in Earth Sciences. Internationally recognised as one of the most important figures in geochemistry of the past 30 years, his research has had a major impact on our understanding of the Earth. Professor Sir Keith O'Nions was appointed as Director General of Research Councils in January 2004. Before taking up this post he was Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence (2000-04). He was Professor of the Physics and Chemistry of Minerals, and Head of Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford (1995 - 2000). 1971-1975 he was Demonstrator and then Lecturer in Geochemistry at University of Oxford. He became Professor of Geology at Columbia University in 1975, and moved to Cambridge in 1979 as Royal Society Research Professor. In 1983 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). He has been the chairman, or a member, of a number of committees of the Natural Environment Research Council since 1981, and a member of the Council of Science and Technology since 1998. He received a Knighthood for services to Earth Sciences in 1999.

Rev Norman James Shanks (DD)The Rev Norman Shanks has served communities in Scotland in a range of different ways. He has provided leadership at national levels of the church, as convener of the Church of Scotland's Church and Nation Committee (1988-92), convener of Acts, (Action of Churches Together in Scotland) Commission on Justice, Peace, Social and Moral Issues (1991-95), President of the Scottish Churches Open College (2000-2003) and was Moderator of Glasgow Presbytery from 2002-3. He has held important ecclastical and civil roles. From 1995-2002 he was leader of the renowned Iona Community, served on the Board of Christian Aid from 1999 to 2004, was a member of the BBC Broadcasting Council for Scotland from 1988 to1993, represented the Scottish Churches on the Scottish Constitutional Convention from 1989 to 1997and was Chairman of the Edinburgh Council of Social Service (1985-88) and of the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Travelling People (1985-88). On an international scale Mr Shanks has served on the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches since 1998 and is moderator of the committee planning the next WCC Assembly to be held in Porto Allegre in February 2006. He was a Lecturer in Practical Theology at the University of Glasgow 1988-95 and is currently the Minister of Govan Old Parish Church.

Vanessa Vivienne Lawrence (DSc)Director General & Chief Executive of Ordnance Survey, Britain's National Mapping Agency, since 2000. Vanessa Lawrence is the youngest and only woman Director General in the more than 200 years of Ordnance Survey. As Director General of OS, Vanessa Lawrence is the chief adviser to the government on all mapping and geomatics matters. The first eleven years of her career were in publishing, first with the Longman Group UK Ltd and then as the Technical Director of GeoInformation International. In 1996 she joined Autodesk as Business Development Manager. Projects included helping to create one of the largest GIS in the world to help organise and run the 1999 General Election in South Africa.

Professor Arthur John Robin Milner (DSc)Dr Robert Milner is one of the UK's most prominent computer scientists, and has made several major contributions to the field. Milner was appointed Professor of Computer Science at the University of Cambridge in 1995 and was Head of the Computer Laboratory there 1996 - 1999. He then became a Research Professor and remained there until his retirement in 2001, although he remains active in research. Before that he spent two years in the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Stanford University, then 22 years in the Computer Science Department at the University of Edinburgh, where in 1986 he and colleagues founded the Laboratory for Foundation of Computer Science. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1988, and in 1991 he gained the A.M. Turing Award, the computing world's equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

Kate Richardson (K.richardson@admin.gla.ac.uk)

Notes to editors

Journalists are invited to attend the event. Photographers are asked to meet at Turret G beneath the cloisters 15mins prior to the start of the ceremony.

For more information contact Mike Findlay the University Press Officer on 0141 330-35355 or email: m.Findlay@admin.gla.ac.uk.

First published: 9 June 2005