Honorary Degree Recipients

Wesley Williams

Born Wesley Williams in 1968 in Scarborough, ON, Maestro Fresh Wes, the “Godfather of Canadian Hip-Hop,” has had a 40-year career that changed the course of music history in this country. 

According to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, Mr. Williams was inspired to begin rapping at age 11. By 15, he was performing under the name Melody MC. In 1988, he transformed himself into “Maestro Fresh Wes” (or “Maestro”) and began releasing independent demos with his manager Farley “Flex Fridal”. One recording was Let your Backbone Slide which became one of the most successful and influential Canadian songs of all time. That year he became the first Canadian rapper to have a Billboard Top 40 hit. His debut album Symphony in Effect became the first Canadian hip-hop single to chart in the Top 40 and the first Canadian rap album to receive platinum certification. 

In 1990, Let your Backbone Slide was nominated for its first JUNO, a year in which there was no dedicated rap music category. The song was nominated under Best Dance Recording. Because of him, the JUNOS established the Best Rap Recording category and in 1991 Maestro made Canadian music history as the first to receive it. 

In the 2000s, he expanded into acting. He earned a Gemini Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor on the series The Line. He became a regular on CBC comedy series Mr. D, and hosted the hit reality show Race Against the Tide. He co-authored, with his wife Tamara Hendricks-Williams, a self-help memoir entitled Stick to Your Vision: How to Get Past the Hurdles & Haters to Get Where You Want to Be, along with a children’s story, Young Maestro Goes to School, which inspired two JUNO Award-nominated Albums in the Children’s Album of the Year Category. 

In 2019, he was inducted into the Canadian Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. In 2024, he became both the first hip-hop/rap recipient of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the first hip-hop artist inducted into The Canadian Music Hall of Fame. 

Maestro has always given back, supporting Sick Kids Hospital, Covenant House, the Special Olympics, and he established the Maestro Fresh Wes scholarship at the Nova Scotia Community College to support Black youth interested in skilled trades.
 

J. Thomas Langley 

J. Thomas Langley graduated from StFX in 1961 with a Bachelor of Commerce degree and joined the StFX Business Office as bursar in 1963. Four years later, he was appointed comptroller, holding that position until 1976. Mr. Langley earned a master’s degree in university administration from the University of Nebraska (1971) and a Certified General Accounting designation in 1970.

An outstanding administrator and a consensus builder, he served for 40 years at his alma mater, including 26 years in the position of Vice-President Finance and Administration and Secretary-Treasurer. He held this position from 1976 until his retirement in 2002. During his tenure, Mr. Langley supported six StFX presidents, implemented significant changes to the financial administration of the university with the introduction of new technology and computerization, and was instrumental in expanding the employee benefits program.

Professionally, Mr. Langley served as president of the Canadian Association of Business Officers (CAUBO), as a consultant to the Nova Scotia Department of Education, and as a board member with the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board, the Canadian University Reciprocal Insurance Exchange, and with the StFX Board of Governors. In his community, he served on the board of St. Martha’s Regional Hospital Foundation and Antigonish Minor Soccer. He is a founding director and currently chair of the Bishop William E. Power Foundation. 
 

Elder Sister Dorothy Moore  

Elder Sr. Dorothy Moore, a proud Mi’kmaw woman, was born in 1933 in Membertou, NS. In 1954, she entered the Sisters of St. Martha and made her final vows in 1956. Her activist work covers an impressive span that includes First Nations preservation of language, education, and human rights.

Sr. Dorothy has been widely acclaimed for her significant success in helping to improve the lives of Mi’kmaq people. She began her career as an elementary school teacher in Cape Breton, and for most of her 22-year tenure, Sr. Dorothy taught at schools in Nova Scotia and Alberta. In 1980, she became the principal of the Eskasoni Elementary and Junior High School.

From 1985 to 1995, Sr. Dorothy served on the faculty at Cape Breton University and was instrumental in developing the Mi’kmaq Studies Program which laid the foundation for what is now Unama’ki College. From 1995 to 2002, Sr. Dorothy worked at the Department of Education, where she was instrumental in developing history and Mi’kmaq language curriculum for use in the public school system.

She has been named to the Order of Nova Scotia and the Order of Canada, and holds honorary doctoral degrees from Cape Breton University, Mount Saint Vincent University, and Saint Mary’s University. Sr. Dorothy is the author of A Journey of Love and Hope. The Inspirational Words of a Mi'kmaw Elder (Nimbus Publishing, 2022), and is the subject of the documentary film Sister Dorothy Moore: A Life of Courage, Determination and Love, which was produced and directed by Dr. Mary Jane Harkins, and released in 2022.
 

Christine Schwarzman 

Christine Schwarzman began her career as a field producer and writer at ABC News. After receiving her law degree, she specialized in intellectual-property asset management at the law firm of Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman. While at CL&L, she litigated cases for such corporate clients as Random House, Met Life, Warner Brothers, Sony Entertainment, WWE and Altria.

She was the founder and CEO of IP Network, an enterprise software company specializing in the management and commercialization of Intellectual Property. She serves as Trustee of the Inner-City Scholarship Fund. As well, she serves on the Board of Venetian Heritage. She is a member of the New York State Bar Association and American Intellectual Property Bar Association.

A lifelong theater lover, she has timed her third act towards producing for the stage. She is president of No Guarantees, a theatrical company that she created in 2017, and which has produced or co-produced over 35 shows and has won four Tony Awards. Among their credits is the hit musical Come from Away.
 

Stephen A. Schwarzman

Stephen A. Schwarzman is chairman, CEO and co-founder of Blackstone, one of the world’s largest alternative investment firms with over $1 trillion Assets Under Management. He has been involved in all phases of Blackstone’s development since its founding in 1985.

In both business and philanthropy, Mr. Schwarzman dedicates himself to tackling big problems with transformative solutions. His major gifts have helped establish a new center at the University of Oxford to redefine the study of the humanities for the 21st century, create a new college at MIT dedicated to the study of artificial intelligence, build a first-of-its-kind student center at Yale, renovate and expand the New York Public Library, and found an international fellowship program, Schwarzman Scholars, at Tsinghua University in Beijing to educate future leaders about China.

Mr. Schwarzman is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Business Roundtable, and International Business Council of the WEF. He was named one of Barron’s “World’s Best CEO’s” in 2019; one of Forbes’ Top 50 “World’s Most Powerful People” in 2018; Forbes’ most influential person in finance in 2016; and one of TIME’s “100 Most Influential People” in 2007.

His honours include the Légion d'Honneur and Ordre des Arts et des Letters, both at the Commandeur level from France, and Order of the Aztec Eagle from Mexico, for his work on behalf of the U.S. in support of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement in 2018. At the University of Oxford, Mr. Schwarzman was elected a Wykeham Fellow at New College in 2021 and a Waynflete Fellow at Magdalen College in 2023.

In 2024, Mr. Schwarzman was appointed as an Honorary Knight of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) in recognition of his services to philanthropy. In 2019, he published his first book, What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence, a New York Times best seller which draws on his experiences in business, philanthropy, and public service.