Mouvement Desjardins supports Quebec Studies at McGill
A major donation by the Mouvement Desjardins underscores the continued importance of Quebec studies at McGill. Thanks to an investment of $300,000 to be spread over five years, the Universitys Quebec Studies Program has a new opportunity "to study our society in all its rich complexity and diversity," declares Principal Bernard Shapiro. "We are delighted by this new partnership and hope to discover many other ways in which we can work together." Quebec studies at McGill are taught in both English and French and cover topics in many different areas, usually leading to a focus on final-year seminars in the Quebec Studies Program curriculum.
Carman Miller, dean of the McGill Faculty of Arts, points out that the Quebec Studies Program, established in 1963 and associated with such distinguished McGill academics as the historian and former editor of Le Devoir Jean-Louis Roy, political economist Michael Oliver, or Governor-General award-winners François Ricard and Yvan Lamonde, draws on the strengths of researchers in fields ranging from politics to sociology to literature, economics and geography. "Given McGills background and its intellectual vitality, this University is very well-positioned to explore the plurality of Quebec and to communicate a better understanding of our past, our present and our future," says Miller.
The Desjardins donations was announced today during a visit to the University by M. Claude Béland, president of the Mouvement des Caisses Desjardins, and M. Jocelyn Proteau, president and CEO of the Fédération des caisses populaires Desjardins de Montréal et de lOuest-du-Québec. Both Béland and Proteau used the occasion to express the Mouvement Desjardins pride in supporting McGill, "a great Quebec university", and thus ensure the continuation of an academic program "that contributes to advancing knowledge about our society."
Professor Alain Gagnon, political scientist, editor of Politique et Sociétés, vice-president (research and programs) of the International Association of Quebec Studies, and director of the Quebec Studies Program since 1992, is thrilled with the support from Desjardins. "This new partnership with the Mouvement Desjardins will build momentum in the Quebec Studies Program and make it a magnet in North America for students and researchers who have made Quebec their main focus of interest. It will also enable us to foster closer ties among various communities, to strengthen the "McGill-Quebec Dialogue" and to promote Quebec studies both here and elsewhere," says Professor Gagnon.
Among other things, the donation has permitted the launching of a prestigious new lecture series - the Grandes Conférences Desjardins - whose first speaker, Dr. Bettina Bradbury from York University, will discuss the impact of class, culture, family and the law on women in 19th century Quebec.* In addition, a Desjardins prize will be offered to recognize both undergraduate and graduate student excellence in Quebec studies, and a special visiting professorship will be inaugurated in January to bring specialists to McGill to enrich teaching and research opportunities for everyone interested in the field. The first visiting professor is Daniel Chartier, who has been invited to offer a new course on national literature in Quebec and the contribution of immigrants, beginning in January.
*Under the aegis of the Grandes Conférences Desjardins, Dr. Bradburys lecture will be delivered in French at the Redpath Museum this evening, Monday, November 3, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. English copies of the text will be available at the lecture. Everyone is welcome (information: 398-3960).
