Dr Sanjay Jha, who has been in his post since 2008, has worked in telecommunications for more than 20 years. He was instrumental in the creation of Motorola Mobility, having been a driving force behind the turnaround of the Mobile Devices business and its subsequent combination with the Home business. The turnaround enabled Motorola to spin off Motorola Mobility in January 2011 as an independent, publicly traded company.
Dr Jha will be joined by Nobel Prizewinners and distinguished figures from the fields of physics, higher education, healthcare and engineering, along with around 2,500 students graduating from Strathclyde this summer.
Dr Jha said: "As a proud alumnus, I am deeply honored to receive an honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Strathclyde. I would like to personally thank Principal McDonald, the faculty and staff of the University for giving me the opportunity to join this year's prestigious and dynamic class of honorary degree recipients."
Strathclyde Principal Professor Jim McDonald said: "We have great pleasure in awarding honorary degrees to a group of people who are among the most prominent and successful figures in their areas of expertise. Their ambition and achievement resonates with everything we do at Strathclyde.
"Their work has had tremendous positive impact. It is in line with the excellent work of our staff and of the students who are about to make their mark after graduation. We look forward to welcoming the honorary graduands to the University."
Dr Jha is to receive an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Strathclyde on Friday, 8 July. He studied Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Strathclyde and Engineering at the University of Liverpool before joining mobile technologies firm Qualcomm in 1994. He rose to the posts of company President and, later, Chief Operating Officer, then was appointed CEO of Motorola Mobile Devices in 2008. The transition of the company from Motorola's mobile phone division to a separate company was completed in January 2011.
Other awards are to be made to:
- Professor Wolfgang Ketterle, John D MacArthur Professor of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Honorary Doctorate of Science, Friday 1 July). He was joint winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001, for study of condensation and condensate materials.
- Professor Sir Timothy O'Shea, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, University of Edinburgh (Honorary Doctorate of the University, Wednesday, 6 July). A graduate of the Universities of Sussex and Leeds, he served as Pro-Vice Chancellor of the Open University and then the University of London before taking up his current post in 2002.
- Professor Ken Walters, Distinguished Research Professor, Institute of Mathematics and Physics, University of Aberystwyth (Honorary Doctorate of Science, Monday 11 July). A graduate of the University of Wales, Swansea, he has been at Aberystwyth since the 1960s, as Professor since 1973. He is a fellow of the Royal Society and, from 1996-2000, was the first President of the European Society of Rheology.
- Professor David Croisdale-Appleby OBE, Chair of learning disability support charity Hft (Honorary Doctorate of Business Administration, Wednesday, 13 July). A former Visiting Professor of Marketing at Strathclyde, he has a range of chairmanships in health and social care, including Skills for Care, the English Federation of Disability Sport and the NICE Programme Development Group, which created the national guidance for interventions in long term sickness and incapacity.
- John Baxter, Group Head of Engineering, BP (Honorary Doctorate of Science, Thursday 14 July). A graduate of Strathclyde, he was previously Group Engineering Director and Director, Best Practice, at Powergen and was appointed Director of Engineering in BP's group technology team in 2004. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.