New volume of McMaster history unveiled at Founder’s Day ceremony
Author and McMaster alumnus James Greenlee signing copies of 'McMaster University 1957-1987: A Chance For Greatness' at Thursday's launch event in Alumni Memorial Hall. Greenlee will deliver a lecture on Friday, April 24 in Robinson Memorial Theatre from noon to 1 p.m., followed by a book-signing at the Campus Store.
More than 75 students, staff and alumni braved a surprise Founder’s Day chill to witness the unveiling of McMaster University 1957-1987: A Chance For Greatness in Alumni Memorial Hall.
Author and three-time alumnus James Greenlee was on hand for the Thursday afternoon book launch — an event he described as “déjà vu” after spending more than three decades as a history professor at Memorial University.
“The last time I addressed a McMaster audience was right here, in this very room, in this very spot,” said Greenlee, who lives in Corner Brook, Newfoundland with his wife and research partner, Heather King. “My life has come full circle, academically.”
The book focuses on a crucial transition period in University history — a three-decade span that included the end of Baptist influence on campus, an unprecedented explosion in student population, the founding of the University’s medical school and the construction of major campus resources such as the McMaster Nuclear Reactor, among other milestones.
Read more about the new volume of McMaster history
A Chance For Greatness also covers the groundbreaking institutional shift from offering traditional liberal arts and applied science programs toward supporting increased academic specialization and funding world-class graduate and doctoral research across a number of disciplines — particularly those involving science, medicine and engineering.
“I read with great interest each of the initial drafts as they were coming in, and devoured the finished product,” said McMaster president Patrick Deane, who began his first term midway through the book’s completion. “So many important moments in our history are still being felt today.”
Gary Purdy, chair of the project advisory committee behind A Chance For Greatness, was also in attendance for the launch event.
Purdy, who earned a PhD in metallurgical engineering from the University in 1962, said the book’s three-decade time period “profoundly shaped the McMaster we know today” thanks to the forward-thinking disposition of campus leaders such as Harry Thode, John Evans and George Gilmour.
On Friday, April 24, Greenlee will deliver a lecture in Robinson Memorial Theatre from noon to 1 p.m., followed by a book-signing at the Campus Store (Gilmour Hall B101). The lecture will focus on McMaster’s history between 1957-1987, and will include service of a light lunch.
Only 1,000 copies of the book are being printed by McGill-Queen’s University Press during the initial publication run, and members of the campus community are encouraged to act quickly to own a piece of University history.
