Queen’s recognized the entrepreneurial and philanthropic efforts of Gururaj (PhD’79) and Jaishree Deshpande with honorary degrees during Wednesday morning’s convocation ceremony.

The Deshpandes are trustees of the Deshpande Foundation, which strengthens ecosystems that create significant social and economic impact through entrepreneurship and innovation. Their joint gift along with the Dunin Foundation in 2016 is allowing Queen’s to expand its innovation programming for students through the Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre.

Dr. Deshpande has pursued an entrepreneurial career for the last three decades. He was involved either as the founder, a founding investor or chairman of several companies. Ms. Deshpande earned a Master of Science in Physics in 1975 from the Indian Institute of Technologies (IIT) and a Master in Computer Science in 1989 from Boston University. She currently serves as a trustee for the Museum of Science in Boston and is involved with HESTIA Fund – a fund established to support after-school programs for low-income children in Massachusetts.