Two distinguished professorships awarded at UVic

Historian Dr. Angus McLaren and political scientist Dr. Jim Tully are UVic’s most recent recipients of the Distinguished Professor Award, the university’s highest academic honour. The five-year professorship is bestowed on a faculty member who has achieved distinction in teaching and scholarly research and has made substantial contributions to the university and the wider community. Each recipient receives a salary stipend and annual research allowance.

“We are extremely pleased to honour two faculty members with distinguished professorships this year,” says Dr. Jamie Cassels, vice-president academic and provost. “Both Angus McLaren and Jim Tully are internationally recognized experts and make enormous contributions to the university with their interdisciplinary approaches to research and teaching. UVic is certainly a richer environment for having them.”

McLaren, a history professor at UVic since 1975, has gained an international reputation as a distinguished historian of medicine, sexuality and contraception, eugenics and crime. Over the years, McLaren has explored some fascinating and provocative research topics ranging from abortion and defining masculinity to his most recent book Sexual Blackmail. A fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, McLaren is the author of 12 books, many of which have been translated into various languages. Prior to coming to UVic, he taught at Grinnell College in the US and St. Antony’s College in Oxford. In 2001, McLaren earned the UVic humanities faculty research award.

Tully’s current research focus is on civic freedom and public philosophy in the context of globalization, a project linked with the Trudeau Foundation where Tully is one of four Canadian fellows. He’s also a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. The author or editor of eight books and numerous articles on political and legal philosophy, he taught at McGill University in Montreal from 1977 to 1996 and was chair of UVic’s political science department between 1996 and 2001. Two years ago, Tully was the Henry N.R. Jackman Distinguished Professor in Philosophical Studies at the University of Toronto. He returned to UVic in July this year.

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