UWindsor honors Michael Bell with surprise honorary degree

WINDSOR, ON, May 2, 2017 /CNW/ - Adjunct professor and former Canadian ambassador Michael Bell was surprised with an honorary degree from the University of Windsor on Friday.

Bell was bestowed with a doctorate of laws by University of Windsor chancellor Ed Lumley at a private dinner on campus with friends, family and colleagues. The event also served as an opportunity to celebrate the first of three books detailing the Jerusalem Old City Initiative (JOCI) that Dr. Bell helped co-found in 2003. It was under that pretense that he was surprised with the degree.

Bell's ties to Windsor run deep, but it has been his actions across the globe that earned him public respect. After receiving his undergraduate and master's degrees in political science from the University of Windsor, Bell joined the Canadian Foreign Service and held positions in Kingston, Jamaica; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; and Rome. He then reached the highest pinnacle as a diplomat, serving for 16 years in the Middle East as Canada's ambassador to Jordan, Egypt and twice to Israel.

After 36 years of working in diplomacy, Bell made the transition to academia at Harvard University's Weatherhead Centre for International Affairs and later at the Munk School of Global Affairs.

It was around this time that Bell was invited to work at the University of Windsor as the Paul Martin Senior Scholar in International Diplomacy, where he co-founded the Jerusalem Old City Initiative along with Michael Molloy, John Bell and UWindsor political science professor Tom Najem.

JOSI was created to develop creative options for the governance and management of the Old City of Jerusalem, considered by many to be the main impediment to achieving peace between the Israeli and Palestinian governments.

Friday's dinner featured such distinguished guests as the former Chief of Defence Staff and former Canadian ambassador to the U.S. John de Chastelain, and U.S. ambassador to Yemen and Director-General of the Egypt-Israel Multinational Force Arthur Hughes.

"(The honorary degree) is such an honour and a surprise," Bell said. "It was so nice to be surrounded by colleagues both here at the University where I spent eight years teaching, and the JOCI team.

"It was really a surprise and so nice to see the kind of warmth that was demonstrated."

For more information visit: http://www.uwindsor.ca/dailynews/2017-05-01/diplomat-and-educator-surprised-honorary-degree

SOURCE University of Windsor

Lori Lewis, Manager, News Services, University of Windsor, 519-253-3000 ext. 3241, [email protected]