President Sauli Niinistö to be awarded Honorary Doctorate by the Aalto University School of Business

President of the Republic of Finland Sauli Niinistö has influenced the Finnish society and economy significantly during his terms as Member of Parliament, Minister, Speaker of the Parliament and President of the Republic. As Minister during the early years of Finland’s EU membership, he contributed to the strengthening of Finland’s position in the European Union, and played an important role in the creation of the eurozone. In the Board of Directors of the European Investment Bank, Niinistö contributed to the development of the European economy. As President he has contributed to, for example, companies’ efforts to enhance exports as well as promoted Finland as a target for investments.

Graduates and doctors who have earned their degrees after the ceremonial conferment in 2011 will be conferred at the Ceremonial Conferment of Master’s and Doctoral Degrees of the School of Business. In addition to President Sauli Niinistö, nine new Honorary Doctors will be conferred at the ceremonial conferment.

Honorary Doctorates of the School of Business will be awarded to:

• President Sauli Niinistö
• Professor Eric Arnould
• Professor Alnoor Bhimani
• Professor Harrison Hong
• Professor Ann Langley
• Professor Emeritus Herbert Moskowitz
• Professor Udo Zander
• Co-Chair of International Resource Panel (UNEP) Janez Potocnik
• Chairman of the Board of Directors Sari Baldauf
• Vuorineuvos Kari Jordan (Vuorineuvos is a Finnish honorary title)

The ceremonial conferment has a long tradition at the School of Business: 2016 marks the 70th anniversary of the first ceremonial conferment of degrees in economics, organised in 1946.

Eleven new Honorary Doctors of Technology to be conferred in the autumn

This year is an exceptional year for ceremonial conferments at Aalto University, as the third joint ceremonial conferment of doctoral degrees at the Aalto University schools of technology will also be organised on 7 October 2016. In addition to conferring doctors who have earned their doctorates after the ceremonial conferment in 2014, eleven new Honorary Doctorates will also be conferred.

Honorary Doctorates in Technology will be awarded to:

• Professor Pedro Echenique
• Professor Nader Engheta
• Academician Riitta Hari 
• Professor Akira Isogai
• Ilkka Kivimäki, MSc (Tech)
• Vuorineuvos Matti Lievonen (Vuorineuvos is a Finnish honorary title)  
• Professor Emeritus Yukitaka Murakami
• Professor Pei Gang
• Brigadier General (Engineering) Kari Renko
• Professor Magdalena Salazar Palma
• Professor Mirja Salkinoja-Salonen

A ceremonial conferment is the most distinguished celebration of a university. Doctorates and Honorary Doctorates and in some universities also Master’s degrees in different disciplines are conferred in the ceremonial conferment. The idea behind the ceremonial conferment is that those who have earned their degree are accepted as full members of their scientific community and are introduced to that community.

Further information:

Introductions of the Honorary Doctors of the School of Business (promootio.aalto.fi/en)

Introductions of the Honorary Doctors of the Schools of Technology (promootio.aalto.fi/en)