WATERLOO - The University of Waterloo will graduate 1,527 students as well as award five honorary doctorates at fall convocation on Saturday.

A total of 865 undergraduates and 662 graduate students will receive their degrees and diplomas during the morning and afternoon ceremonies at the Physical Activities Complex.

Waterloo will graduate its first doctor of philosophy in recreation and leisure studies - aging, health and well-being. Mary Rebecca Genoe will receive the new degree during the morning session, which begins at 10 a.m. In the afternoon ceremony, which starts at 2 p.m., nine other graduates will receive the inaugural master of mathematics in computational mathematics.

Also, Waterloo's school of architecture in Cambridge will graduate its largest class: 103 students, with 70 receiving a bachelor of architecture studies degree and 33 receiving a master of architecture degree.

"The University of Waterloo is pleased to honour our graduating students' commitment and dedication to academic success," said registrar Ken Lavigne. "Convocation is a proud moment for both the graduates and their families because it marks the end of a long journey filled with hard work and accomplishments,"

As well during convocation, prominent civil rights lawyer Alan Borovoy will receive a doctor of laws degree. He will address graduating students in the faculty of applied health sciences and arts at the morning ceremony.

Borovoy, widely considered one of Canada's leading advocates for civil liberties and human rights, designed court challenges and public campaigns to safeguard rights and freedoms, including freedom of expression, equality rights and procedural fairness. He retired as general counsel of the Canadian Civil Liberties 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 during the afternoon session.

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 is well-respected for his academic work and administrative service.