[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/KenNorrie.jpg”]McMaster has chosen a new provost and vice-president academic.

Kenneth Harold Norrie, dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta, will take up the post on January 1, 2002. Norrie's appointment was approved today (August 23) by the Executive Committee of McMaster's Board of Governors. The appointment is for a five-year term. An economic historian, Norrie will also hold a professorial appointment in the Department of Economics.

“Dr. Norrie brings to McMaster an impressive record of scholarship,
teaching and administrative leadership and has earned national respect
for his research on Canadian economic history, regional economics and
economic policy. I am confident that his gifted academic leadership, his collaborative leadership style, and his proven ability to work successfully with colleagues and students will help McMaster continue to strengthen its outstanding record of academic accomplishments,” said University President Peter George in making the announcement today.

Norrie was the unanimous choice of the selection committee. In
recommending Norrie to the Board, the committee cited his open
collaborative leadership style, his excellent communication skills, his ability to work well with colleagues and students, and his commitment to the vision, mission and goals of McMaster University.

Norrie is looking forward to his move to Ontario and to working with the McMaster community. “I am excited by McMaster's excellent reputation and by the opportunity to work with a President I have known for nearly three decades through economic history circles. I am particularly impressed by the University's vision to be a leading student-centred, research-intensive university and by its commitment to interdisciplinarity. I have much to learn, and doubtless will be testing McMaster's reputation for collegiality. As a lifelong Westerner, I am also looking forward to living in a new part of Canada, especially one with such a rich social and cultural life.”

Ken Norrie grew up in Saskatchewan, receiving his undergraduate degree
(honours BA) from the University of Saskatchewan in 1967. He obtained
his graduate degrees from Yale University in 1969 (M.Phil.) and
1971 (PhD, economics). He became a professor of economics
at the University of Alberta in 1980, served as chair of the department of economics, and has held the position of dean of arts since 1999.

He has taught introductory and advanced economics to both undergraduate and graduate students and is an expert in Canadian economic policy. He is the author of numerous articles for various journals, books and studies on such topics as regional economic conflicts in Canada, the National Energy Program, Western separatism, and the history of the Canadian economy. In 1984-85 he co-directed research for the Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada. He was the Clifford Clark Visiting Economist in the Department of Finance in 1990-91.

A board member of the Centre for Constitutional Studies at the
University of Alberta, Norrie is also on the advisory board of the
Institute for Intergovernmental Relations at Queen's University. He is a member of Premier Ralph Klein's Advisory Group on Constitutional
Issues and sits on the executive of the Edmonton Opera Association,
serving as chair of the board's Artistic Liaison Committee.

Norrie is married to Lorna Higdon-Norrie, who currently works at the University of Alberta following careers with the federal government and the private sector. The couple has two children: Paul, a winter and summer mountain guide who resides in Canmore, Alberta; and Erika, who is completing a master's degree in drama at the University of Alberta.