17 April 2009 Lincoln University honorary doctorates for mountaineer and Fonterra pioneer

Mountaineer Mark Inglis and the foundation Chairman of Fonterra, John Roadley, will receive honorary doctorates at Lincoln University's Graduation Ceremony in Christchurch Town Hall on Friday 24 April.

Mark Inglis, who already holds a first class honours degree in biochemistry from Lincoln University, will receive an honorary Doctor of Natural Resources degree and  John Roadley an honorary Doctor of Commerce.

The awards recognise the outstanding contributions made by both men in their respective fields. Mark Inglis' career has ranged over mountaineering, mountain search and rescue work, medical research,  wine making, Paralympic sport, business pursuits, motivational speaking, charitable trust activities and authorship. He was the first double amputee to reach the summit of Mount Everest. He has also climbed the sixth highest mountain in the world, Cho Oyu, and in New Zealand he has climbed to the summit of Aoraki Mount Cook. In 2002 he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to disabled people.  

John Roadley's award recognises his pioneering contributions to the modern dairy industry. He was the principal driving force in establishing Fonterra, which consolidated the New Zealand dairy industry, and he was the company's first chairman. Fonterra has subsequently become New Zealand's largest company and the world's leading exporter of dairy products.

Originally from Northland, Mr Roadley moved to the South Island with his family in 1980 and was soon at the forefront of the expansion of dairy farming in the South Island. He went on to hold numerous directorships and chairmanships in the farming sector.

Also receiving special awards at the Graduation Ceremony are agricultural economist Emeritus Professor Bruce Ross of Wellington, recipient of the 2009 Bledisloe Medal, and plant scientist Professor Mohammad Hanif Quazi of Pakistan, who receives the International Alumni Medal.

Emeritus Professor Ross, was the foundation Vice-Chancellor of Lincoln University and headed the University and its predecessor, Lincoln College, for a total of 11 years. He led the drive for Lincoln to be granted university status, which was granted in 1990. He left Lincoln University in 1996 to take up the post of Director-General of Agriculture, a position he held until 2001.

Emeritus Professor Ross first came to public notice through his work with Emeritus Professor Bryan Philpott on the “Lincoln Model”,  an input-output mathematical simulation of the New Zealand economy, which was used in economic analysis for the National Development Conference of 1968.

From 1983 - 1985 Emeritus Professor Ross was with the OECD in Paris as Head of the Trade Analysis Division of the Agricultural Directorate. At the OECD he made a major contribution helping to get Agriculture on the agenda of the Uruguay Round of the GATT negotiations which began in 1986. He was the link in a chain which ultimately led to an annual benefit to the New Zealand economy of more than a billion dollars.

Professor Quazi came to Lincoln University from Pakistan in 1967 and completed a PhD in Plant Science as a Commonwealth Research Fellow. After graduation he worked in the Crop Research Division of the then DSIR for 13 years. While with the DSIR he established the Tissue Culture Laboratory and was involved in pioneering work in numerous areas including the pathogen testing of seed potatoes and hybridization of brassicas.

He returned to Pakistan in 1985 to a post at the North West Frontier Province University, Peshawar, and in the following years went on to hold top scientific, academic and other positions at provincial and national levels. In 1998 he was appointed Director-General of Agricultural Research in the North West Frontier Province, and from  2006 - 2008 he was a National Professor at the Agricultural University, Peshawar. Today he is a Senior Consultant representing the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation on the ONE UN Reform process in Pakistan. In his overall career he has made a major contribution to agricultural, plant and crop sciences in Pakistan.