Robert Elliott, honourary Doctor of Laws recipient, speaks during spring Convocation held at Centennial Auditorium.

Bio/Historical Note: Robert Elliott was born in Saskatchewan and completed a degree in Political Science and History at the University of Saskatchewan in 1949. After two years at news editing and broadcasting with CPQC Radio, he joined the British Colonial Service for five years, and was assigned to Nigeria. In 1956, he joined Canada's Department of External Affairs. Thus began a career dedicated to the foreign service of Canada. Elliott was named Ambassador to Egypt in 1980 with concurrent accreditation to Sudan. During that posting, he survived both an airplane crash in Sudan, and witnessed first-hand the assassination of Anwar Sadat while on a stand on which the Egyptian President was shot in the course of reviewing a military parade. Exercising an option available to senior members of Canada's diplomatic corps, Elliott chose to spend his pre-retirement year as a Visiting Professor at his alma mater. He joined the Department of Political Studies at no expense to the U of S, offering a very popular course on Diplomacy. He also advised many students on international issues, and helped organize a successful academic conference on the Canadian Foreign Service. At the conclusion of his year with the U of S, with a generous contribution from Elliott himself, established a trust for an annual award of the Robert L, Elliott Prize to the graduating student with the highest average in the Canadian foreign policy stream in the Department of Political Science.