Canadian Studies

Killam Visiting Professor of Canadian Studies

The Killam Visiting Professorship of Canadian Studies has been established at BSU to infuse new and exciting Canadian content into the curricula and courses at the university, elevate the understanding of Canadian issues and culture in the region, and provide opportunities for interaction between students and a person of expertise and stature in Canadian issues, and collaboration between BSU faculty and Canadian scholars on an extended basis.

The first endowed chair at a Massachusetts state university, the professorship is funded principally by the Constance Killam Trust and the Elizabeth Killam Rodgers Trust, the enduring legacies of the sisters of Izaak Walton Killam, a Canadian financier who ultimately became one the the country's wealthiest men and greatest philanthropists of the early 20th century.

Spring 2011    Dr. Michael Peterman

The BSU Canadian Studies Program was pleased to host Dr. Michael Peterman as the second Killam Visiting Professor of Canadian Studies. Dr. Peterman was in residence at the university during the spring 2011 semester. He taught an English course as well as speaking both on campus and off, and attending local and national Canadian Studies events.

 

Michael Peterman is Professor Emeritus at Trent University. During his 37 years at Trent he served as editor of The Journal of Canadian Studies, Chair of the Department of English Literature, Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, and Principal of Traill College. He is the author or editor of 14 books, numerous scholarly articles, and book reviews. He has specialized since 1980 in the works of Kawartha-area writers, among them Scott Young (Neil Young's father), Susanna Moodie, Catharine Parr Traill, Isabella Valancy Crawford, and Robertson Davies, though he maintains a strong interest in American Literature (Edith Wharton, Willa Cather) and the growing range of Canadian writing.

Michael has received five national Canadian grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Counsel, and won a Fullbright Fellowship in 1995. He was awarded the Distinguished Research Award by Trent in 2000 and was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2006. In 2005 he served as the Pathy Visiting Professor in Canadian Studies at Princeton University. His research and writing continue; he has several books under contract and others in various states of planning, even as he branches out into non-academic kinds of writing. He sees retirement as a long and challenging sabbatical.

 

Fall 2009    Mr. Nino Ricci

The BSU Canadian Studies Program was proud to host Mr. Nino Ricci, award-winning Canadian author, as the inaugural Killam Visiting Professor of Canadian Studies. Mr. Ricci was in residence at the university during the fall 2009 semester. He taught a fiction writing workshop (ENGL 228-002)--an exciting opportunity for BSU students--as well as speaking both on campus and off, and attending local and national Canadian Studies events.

Nino Ricci's first novel, Lives of the Saints, garnered international acclaim,

appearing in fifteen countries and winning a host of awards including, in Canada,

the Governor General's Award for Fiction and the Books in Canada First Novel

Award, and in England, the Betty Trask Award and the Winifred Holtby Prize.

It was followed by In a Glass House and Where She Has Gone, which completed

the trilogy. The Lives of the Saints Trilogy was adapted for a miniseries starring

Sophia Loren, Sabrina Ferilli, and Kris Kristofferson.
Born in Leamington, Ontario, to parents from the Moise region of Italy, Ricci completed studies at York University in Toronto, Concordia University in Montreal, and the University of Florence. He has taught both in Canada and abroad, and is a past president of the Canadian Centre of International PEN.

Nino Ricci's most recent novel, The Origin of Species, won the Governor General's Award. He is also the first recipient of the Alistair MacLeod Award for Literary Achievement.

 

Links to Mr. Ricci's activities while at BSU:

 

Reception    Fridays with Faculty    Can/Am Exchange    Reading

 

For more information on the Killam Visiting Professorship of Canadian Studies, click HERE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Modified: October 27, 2012