Posted on Jan. 19: Canada’s past is the future of new history professorship at McMaster University

The future of our Canadian past will be the focus of a new professorship in Canadian history created at McMaster University. Canadian business executive Lynton Ronald (Red) Wilson has donated $1 million - $200,000 a year over the next five years - to establish the L. R. Wilson Professor in Canadian History in McMaster's Faculty of Humanities. The University will contribute $250,000 - $50,000 a year for five years  to support the gift. Wilson, a distinguished McMaster alumnus with a bachelor's degree in economics, is a founding co-chairman of the Historica Foundation of Canada. The foundation's mandate is to provide Canadians with a deeper understanding of their history and its importance in shaping the future. Wilson, who also holds a master of arts degree in economics from Cornell University, is hailed as a keen supporter of the study of Canadian history and believer in the value of a broad liberal arts education. "Understanding our past is a bridge to a better future," Wilson said today at a ceremony announcing his generous donation. "The study and teaching of Canadian history deserves much greater emphasis in all of our educational institutions and McMaster is well-equipped to lead the way. As a country comprising people from diverse cultures and backgrounds, a broad appreciation of our history is an essential foundation on which to build a shared understanding, so that we can continue to encourage reasonable loyalty and foster responsible citizenship." The L. R. Wilson Professor in Canadian History will be a renowned historian who will have a research specialization in Canadian historical studies and will teach undergraduate and graduate students. The professor will have a mandate to work with an interdisciplinary advisory board to develop history seminars, annual conferences, lectureships and an annual juried book competition to name the best book on Canadian history.

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