WATERLOO - Prominent civil rights lawyer Alan Borovoy is among five people receiving honorary doctorates during the University of Waterloo's fall convocation to be held next month.

At convocation on Saturday, Oct. 24, Borovoy, widely considered one of Canada's leading advocates for civil liberties and human rights, will receive a doctor of laws degree. He will address graduating students in the faculties of applied health sciences and arts. The ceremony begins at 10 a.m. in the Physical Activities Complex.

As general counsel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Borovoy designed court challenges and public campaigns to safeguard rights and freedoms, including freedom of expression, equality rights and procedural fairness. He retired from the association last April, after 41 years of service. His book When Freedoms Collide was short-listed for the Governor General's Award in 1988.

At the same ceremony, French academic Claude Gharib, an international expert on space travel and its impact on the human body, will receive a doctor of science degree. A professor emeritus at Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 in France, Gharib provided vital support over the years in establishing a top quality space physiology program at Waterloo.

In convocation's afternoon ceremony, Kenneth Ogilvie, former executive director of Pollution Probe, will receive a doctor of environmental studies. Under his leadership, Pollution Probe played a key role in bringing mandatory vehicle emissions testing to Ontario and persuading the federal government to sharply cut sulphur content in gasoline.

Ogilvie will address graduating students in the faculties of engineering, environment, mathematics and science. The event starts at 2 p.m. in the Physical Activities Complex.

Also at the ceremony, influential cryptographer Adi Shamir will receive a doctor of mathematics and international engineer Peter Watson will receive a doctor of engineering.

Shamir, a professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, was one of three inventors of the essential technologies underlying communications security, known as the RSA (named after Ron Rivest, Shamir and Len Adleman) public key encryption and digital signature schemes.

Watson, a Waterloo alumnus, is well-known for his innovative research on the fatigue behaviour of metals. Until 2005, he served as chair and chief executive officer of AEA Technology, Britain's largest science and engineering company. For his service to society, Watson was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1988.

Also during fall convocation, two retired professors will receive the title of distinguished professor emerita. They are Alison Pedlar, of recreation and leisure studies; and Mariela Gutiérrez, of Spanish and Latin American studies. Meanwhile, Nicholas Kouwen, of civil and environmental engineering, will receive the title of distinguished professor emeritus.

Judy McCrae, the university's first female director of athletics, will be recognized as an honorary member of the university, as will Paul Schellenberg, a retired professor of combinatorics and optimization who was well-respected for both his academic work and administrative service.