Hammad Motiwala | Staff Writer
Featured Image: Professors Russell Belk, Richard C. Hoffman, Lesley A. Jacobs, Marcel Martel, and David McNab have been elected honorable Fellows to the Royal Society of Canada. | Courtesy of YFile
The Royal Society of Canada (RSC), a body of independent Canadian scholars, created after an 1883 Act of Parliament to be Canada’s National Academy, has elected five York professors into it’s ranks as ‘Fellows’ on September 7 this year.
“York is delighted to see that five professors—Russell Belk, Richard C. Hoffmann, Lesley A. Jacobs, Marcel Martel, and David McNab—have been recognized by the RSC, as Fellows,” said Robert Haché, vice-president of Research & Innovation. “This reflects the high regard in which York’s academics and researchers, and York research, are held.
RSC’s mandate is “to promote Canadian research and scholarly accomplishment in both of Canada’s official languages, to mentor young scholars and artists, recognize academic and artistic excellence, and advise governments, non-governmental organizations, and Canadian citizens, on matters of public interest.”
Russell Belk, a professor at the Schulich School of Business, is a recognized leader for his work on the extended self, meanings of possessions, collecting, gift-giving, sharing, consumer desire, and materialism.
Historian Richard C. Hoffmann, in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS), is a scholar who established a new subfield in his discipline. Through his internationally-renowned, prize-winning and pioneering scholarship, his mentoring of emerging scholars, and his networking and organizational activities, he has built the environmental history of premodern Europe.
“My aim since before graduate school has been to understand the daily lives and long-term experiences of ordinary people in what I would now call a world before modernity, a world not our own,” he says.
Lesley A. Jacobs, a professor of Political Science and Law and Society at York, and director of the Institute for Social Research, says: “For people like me who do interdisciplinary research, there is not a traditional home or place to recognize our contributions and efforts. The Royal Society of Canada recognition in effect is an honour that universal currency across all academic disciplines both here in Canada and internationally.”
Marcel Martel, a professor and renowned historian, is recognized for research on collective memory, identity formation, and how Francophone Canada has redefined the traditional boundaries of these fields.
“As a researcher and professor, I am someone who believes that both groups and individuals can provoke change. Of course, it not easy—it requires energy, time, and a long-term ability to sustain the cause that you believe in,” says Martel. “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the LA&PS faculty officers. Most of the time, I have been successful with my research grants, as I’ve received amazing feedback from such officers.”
David McNab, a professor in the Department of Equity Studies, is a Métis historian and leading authority in Canada’s movement to reconciliation. “Research and innovation at York has been at the forefront in the last decade or so. I especially appreciate the fact that York understands the significance of experiential learning and community engagement, since that is what my research has embodied over the past 45 years,” he adds.
