Ms. Ning Ding, 2015 Governor General’s Silver Medal in Arts winner (centre), with Prof. Hugh Neary (left), VSE Associate Director and BA (Econ) Program Coordinator, and (right) Prof. Thomas Lemieux, VSE Director. Dr. Lemieux holds the UBC Ceremonial Mace.
Congratulations to Ning (Claire) Ding on earning the prestigious Governor General’s Silver Medal in Arts, presented at UBC’s May 2015 convocation ceremonies for economics. Ning graduated with both an Honours in Economics and Major in Mathematics credentials.
“Winning the Governor General’s Academic Award is a pleasant surprise to me. It is truly an accomplishment, a recognition of achievements during my undergraduate studies,” Ning says. “It reminds me of the hardships I went through as a freshman at UBC and new immigrant to Canada, as well as the decisions I made for myself to rise to every single challenge I met at UBC. Not only that, the award will also become a great encouragement to my life as a graduate student.”
Ning is thankful to everyone who helped her throughout her time at UBC, “I would like to thank all of the supports from the faculty and from my family and friends. Especially, I am grateful to faculty members Siwan Anderson, Gerald McIntyre and Kevin Song, who gave me inspiring lessons and invaluable advice during my senior years at UBC.”
“Ning is a very dedicated scholar and she plans to start her PhD studies at the University of Chicago in the fall,” says Professor Hugh Neary, VSE Associate Director & BA (Econ) Program Coordinator. “While an undergraduate at UBC she has been involved in original research projects on empirical analysis of the role of specialization and diversification in industrial agglomeration, and on developing measures of concordance of observations in data networks. Congratulations to her on earning this award.”
Ning has also won numerous other awards at UBC including the Elias and Elizabeth Healman Memorial Scholarship, the Hector Gordon Munro Scholarship in Economics, the Trek Excellence Scholarship, the Perry Barr Hall Scholarship and the Reginald Palliser-Wilson Scholarship. Ning intends to focus her future research on the intersection of international trade, industrial organization and economies of agglomeration.
About the Governor General’s Awards
For more than 125 years, the Governor General’s Academic Medals have recognized the outstanding scholastic achievements of students in Canada. They are awarded to the student graduating with the highest average from high school, as well as from approved college or university programs. They have become the most prestigious award students in Canadian schools can receive. The Medals are awarded at four distinct levels: Bronze at the secondary school level; Collegiate Bronze at the post-secondary, diploma level; Silver at the university undergraduate level, and Gold at the graduate level. The winner receives a medal, along with a personalized certificate signed by Canada’s Governor General.
