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A week of celebration at the University of Toronto which saw nearly 4,000 students cross the stage at Convocation Hall concludes November 15 with the conferring of honorary degrees on two distinguished alumni: Jack Petch and Jane McAuliffe.

Petch is widely recognized as one of the leading lawyers in Canada; McAuliffe is a leading scholar of the Qur’an and Muslim-Christian relations. They join the ranks of honorary degree recipients who, since 1850, have been recognized for their extraordinary scholarly, philanthropic and creative accomplishments. Past recipients include: John Diefenbaker, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mavis Gallant, Julie Payette, Vandana Shiva and Desmond Tutu.

Jane McAuliffe is a leading scholar of the Qur’an and Muslim-Christian relations who served as president of Bryn Mawr College from 2008 to 2013, and as dean of Arts and Sciences at Georgetown University from 1999 to 2008.  At Bryn Mawr, McAuliffe reaffirmed the College’s founding mission by placing global women’s advancement at the centre of her presidency. To this end she built College partnerships with select universities and colleges across the globe, convened international conferences on campus, played a critical role in the creation of the Women in Public Service Project and tripled the College’s international enrolment. She recruited strong leadership for several senior positions, increased applications to their highest level, and guided major campus renovations of Bryn Mawr’s athletic facilities, theatre and student services space. McAuliffe secured transformational gifts for the College, laying a strong foundation for its next capital campaign, and guided faculty, students and staff in formulating The Plan for Bryn Mawr, a new strategic vision for the College.

McAuliffe is the general editor of the six-volume Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an (Brill Publishers, 2001-2006), the first major reference work for the Qur’an in Western languages. Other books include: The Cambridge Companion to the Qur'an (Cambridge University Press, 2006), With Reverence for the Word (Oxford University Press, 2002; paperback 2010), Abbasid Authority Affirmed (SUNY Press, 1995), Qurʼanic Christians: An Analysis of Classical and Modern Exegesis (Cambridge University Press, 1991), and the forthcoming Norton Anthology of World Religions (Islam) and Norton Critical Edition of the Qur’an.

McAuliffe’s research has been supported by fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Mellon Foundation. She has served on the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims and was a long-standing member of Building Bridges, an international interfaith meeting convened annually by the Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 - 2012.  She is past president of the American Academy of Religion and an elected member of the American Philosophical Society and the Council on Foreign Relations. McAuliffe received a PhD and an MA from the University of Toronto, and a BA from Trinity College in Washington, DC.

Jack Petch, a gold medal graduate of the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto, is widely recognized as one of the leading lawyers in Canada.  He currently serves as director of several corporations listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, as an advisor to various business and community leaders, and as the executive director of a family foundation supporting early childhood development. He is past vice-chair of the Canadian international business law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. 

At the University, Petch was the chair of the Governing Council from 2007 to 2011, having served as a governor since 2002. He is past chair of the board of St. Michael’s Hospital and past chair and director of King’s University College (University of Western Ontario). His commitment to community service also includes his role as past chair and president of Madame Vanier’s Children’s Services and past member of the Finance Committee of both the United Way and the Canadian Association for Community Living.

Called to the bar in Ontario (recipient of the Treasurers’ Gold Medal), Petch received his Bachelor of Arts degree in economics with honours from the University of Western Ontario, his LLB degree with honours from U of T (recipient of the Law School Gold Medal), and his Masters of Law degree from Osgoode Hall, York University. He has lectured on various aspects of corporate and business law at U of T's  Faculty of Law and Rotman School of Management, the Law Society of Upper Canada, the University of Western Ontario Law School, Queen’s University Law School, the federal department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs and at various business and legal seminars.

Among his many accolades, Petch has been appointed Queen’s Counsel; recognized by Chambers Global, London, England as one of the leading practitioners in Canada for mergers and acquisitions and corporate commercial law; awarded the University of Toronto Arbor Award for outstanding volunteer service; and awarded the first Distinguished Alumnus Award by the University of Western Ontario (King’s College). After he stepped down as chair of the Governing Council in 2011, the John F. (Jack) Petch Award at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law was established in his honour.