John Lennox, dean of York’s Faculty of Graduate Studies, has been appointed president of the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies. The two-year appointment runs to the end of 2005.
The Canadian Association for Graduate Studies (CAGS) unites 47 Canadian universities with graduate programs, three national graduate student associations, the three federal research-granting agencies and organizations having an interest in graduate studies. Its mandate is to promote graduate education and research in Canada. Lennox has served on the executive committee of CAGS for the past three years, most recently as vice-president of the association.
Right: John Lennox
“The association represents the interests of Canadian universities with graduate studies programs, the students and the funding organizations,” said Lennox. “CAGS has an especially important role to play right now because there is an expectation that graduate studies in Canada will undergo some significant growth. There are large waves of retirements that are happening and these individuals will need to be replaced by young researchers and scholars, the majority of whom will have been educated in our universities. In addition, studies indicate that in order to continue to prosper, Canada is in need of more individuals with graduate degrees.
“As the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) is in the process of reviewing its mandate, CAGS is one of the participants in the review,” said Lennox. “Any transformation of council’s mandate will impinge on the kind and methods of research undertaken in the humanities and social sciences. I am glad to be representing CAGS as a member of SSHRC’s standing committee on fellowships and career development.”
He notes that “CAGS has a marvelous executive committee with representation from across the country in both languages.” CAGS is also involved in discussions and plans pertaining to a projected quality assessment of research doctorate programs in North America.
Lennox will continue with his current duties as the dean of York’s Faculty of Graduate Studies in a term that runs to June 30, 2005. A professor of English, Lennox specializes in Canadian literature. He is the co-author, with Clara Thomas, of William Arthur Deacon: A Canadian Literary Life (1982) and co-editor, with Michele Lacombe, of Dear Bill: The Correspondence of William Arthur Deacon (1988). He is editor of Margaret Laurence-Al Purdy: A Friendship in Letters (1993) and co-editor, with Janet Paterson, of Challenges, Projects, Texts: Canadian Editing/Défis, projets et textes dans l’edition critique au Canada (1993). Most recently, he co-edited, with Ruth Panofsky, Selected Letters of Margaret Laurence and Adele Wiseman (1997).
