Eight honorary doctorates to be conferred at TUT’s eighth conferment ceremony

The conferment ceremony is a memorable event where doctoral graduates are presented with the doctoral hat that symbolizes academic freedom. In addition, honorary doctorates are conferred upon distinguished individuals.

Conferment ceremonies originated in the famous medieval universities of Paris and Bologna. In Finland, the first conferment ceremony was arranged at the University of Turku in 1643.

Tampere University of Technology, founded in 1965, celebrated its first conferment ceremony in 1982. Since then, conferment ceremonies have been held every five years, except in 1995, when the ceremony was arranged to mark the University’s 30th anniversary.

All doctors who have graduated from Tampere University of Technology since the previous conferment ceremony in 2007 are invited to attend the 2012 conferment ceremony. The ceremony spreads over three days on 17-19 May 2012. The main event, the ceremonial conferment of doctoral degrees and honorary doctorates, will take place at Tampere Hall on 18 May. After the ceremony, the conferees walk in procession to a church service at Tampere Cathedral.

TUT has a tradition of conferring honorary doctorates upon individuals both from Finland and abroad who have demonstrated outstanding achievements in the fields represented at the University and with whom the University enjoys close collaboration or in recognition of other extraordinary contributions to science, art or society. Eight honorary doctorates will be conferred at the University’s eighth conferment ceremony:

Professor Gerhard Fettweis, Technical University Dresden, Mobile Communications Systems, Germany
Professor Amos Gilat, Ohio State University, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, USA
Professor Yongxiang Lu, President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Professor Karl Öiger, Tallinn University of Technology, Timber and Plastic Structures, Estonia
Vuorineuvos (Finnish honorary title) Ole Johansson, Chairman of the Confederation of Finnish Technology Industries EK
Mayor Timo P. Nieminen, City of Tampere
Teollisuusneuvos (Finnish honorary title) Paula Nybergh, Ministry of Employment and the Economy  
Professor Riitta Suuronen, University of Tampere, Tissue Engineering

Further information:
President Markku Kivikoski, tel. +358 (0) 40 849 0094, markku.kivikoski@tut.fi
Chairman of the Conferment Ceremony Committee, Professor Tuomo Tiainen, tel. +358 (0) 40 849 0043, tuomo.tiainen@tut.fi