education: McMaster University snags famous theory professor
Jenny Buac, The Silhouette (McMaster University)

Although many are calling it a "brain gain" for Canada, internationally renowned scholar Henry Giroux sees his move to McMaster University as a "breath of fresh air."

After a 12-year term as the Waterbury chair in Pennsylvania State University's College of Education, Giroux has accepted the Global Television Network chair in communications. The newly created position in McMaster's faculty of humanities is funded by a million dollar gift from the CanWest Global Foundation.

"McMaster's community is extremely pleased to welcome Henry Giroux as Global Television Chair," said Peter George, university president, in an announcement on May 27. "We have a culture of innovation at our university which is second to none in the country. Henry Giroux is renowned for breaking down barriers in cultural and education studies, and we look forward to the explosion of ideas we know he will generate on campus."

Giroux's decision to move to Hamilton, along with his wife, Susan Searls-Giroux, was largely due to the university's attention to the liberal arts.

"[McMaster's] attempt to bring together the cultural studies, communication, and globalisation programs really said something about the way in which the university wants to invest in the future and to relate the university to questions of democracy and public life," Giroux said. "It's a very innovative university with a vision. Many universities today are so hooked on the corporate line that they really can't imagine themselves performing a critical and public function. And to find a university that does that is very, very exciting."

Giroux visited McMaster as the 2001 recipient of the faculty of humanities' H.L. Hooker Distinguished Visiting Professor award. The experience left him with a lasting impression of the university's community.

Giroux is equally excited about collaborating with the faculty and students at McMaster.

"I was really impressed with the students and the faculty," Giroux recalled. "The faculty I met, particularly in the humanities, the English department, and the communications program, they're people I want to be my colleagues."

Named one of the 20th century's top "50 modern thinkers on education," Giroux and his work promise to bolster McMaster's reputation as an innovative teaching institution.

"Dr. Giroux is a world-class researcher, which fits with our vision to be among Canada's top research-intensive universities," said provost Ken Norrie. "He is a much-heralded teacher, which fits with our vision to integrate teaching and research."

According to Nasrin Rahimieh, dean of humanities, Giroux will specifically help the faculty of humanities solidify the connections between its various interdisciplinary programs.

"We in the faculty of humanities are committed to strengthening our innovative interdisciplinary programs in communication studies, multimedia, and cultural studies," Rahimieh said. "And Dr. Giroux's appointment will enable us to create synergies between these programs. Dr. Giroux's international scholarly profile will serve as a magnet for both students and faculty."

Giroux will be teaching in the communication studies program and in the department of English. His focus will be "on questions of culture and on questions of the role of public intellectuals, the role of public institutions, all filtered through and organised around major issues," which he hopes to "plunge into seriously" in small seminar classes that will allow for dialogue and exchange.

Titled "Theorizing Politics in the Age of Terrorism," Giroux's first course will examine issues affecting his native country, the United States.

Canadian University Press

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