It's not luck. It's hard work.
“It’s a cliché, but we’re an overnight success after two decades,” says Michael Kenneally, Principal of Concordia’s School of Canadian Irish Studies.
What started in 1991 as a few classes here and there has become a school, with a new major, a new home, prestigious lecturers, along with much more good news for the future, Irish eyes are smiling.
Major in Irish Studies
On January 21, Senate approved a major in Irish Studies.
Beginning this fall, the new interdisciplinary major will offer 20 courses (an increase from the 16 offered in 2010-11 for the minor and certificate) in 12 departments and subjects including English, history, ethnomusicology, religion, language, folklore and more.
“Now that we have a major, we have a more prestigious program to offer incoming students,” says Kenneally. “We hope we’ll be able to attract some of the best students from across Canada and increase those numbers as we go forward.”
The School has also allotted $25,000 in scholarships for new students.
A new home
In May, the School will move from its current home on the ninth floor of the Guy-Metro (GM) Building to a suite of eight offices on the 10th floor of the Henry F. Hall Building.
When the field of study was introduced at Concordia in 1991, there were two courses each in the English and History departments. Throughout the ’90s, more courses were offered in additional departments.
When the Centre for Canadian Irish Studies was established in 2002, it offered a minor and a certificate program and found a home in the Samuel Bronfman Building. The Centre moved to the GM Building when it became the School of Canadian Irish Studies in 2009 (see Journal, October 29, 2009).
“This move to the Hall Building is going to be a point of arrival … literally,” says Kenneally.
Kenneally is also proud to announce that a new facility, the Thomas McEntee Library and Reading Room, will be part of their new Hall Building home. The result of an anonymous donation of $150,000, the reading room “will be a space for public lectures, seminars and for visits from members of the Irish community.”
The room is named for Irish Roman Catholic Father Thomas McEntee, a beloved figure in Montreal’s Irish community. He died in May 2008 at the age of 84.
New professor
This July, the School will welcome a new professor in Irish literature, bringing the number of full-time professors to four, along with four part-time professors and two or three annual visiting scholars from Ireland.
Public lecture series
Notable among the lecturers confirmed for this fall is author Roddy Doyle, who will be coming in October. “I’ve been trying to get him here for four years,” Kenneally says. Doyle is the author of eight novels, including The Commitments and the 1993 Booker Prize-winning Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. Jackie Maxwell, artistic director of the Shaw Festival, will also speak this fall. The School usually hosts six to eight public lectures annually.
Academic conferences
In partnership with Professor Rhona Richman Kenneally, Chair, Department of Design and Computation Arts, the School will also be hosting two conferences this July.
From July 6 to 9, the 2011 Canadian Association for Irish Studies (CAIS) conference will bring together roughly 120 people from across Canada and Ireland. Its theme is Text and Beyond Text in Irish Studies: New Visual, Material and Spatial Perspectives.
Right on its heels, July 10 to 13, marks the Centre for International Study of Literatures in English (CISLE) conference, in collaboration with the University of Innsbruck in Austria. Smaller and more intimate than CAIS, the CISLE conference will focus on the theme, Literatures in English: New Ethical, Cultural and Transnational Perspectives. It will also have a more international flavour, welcoming people from Fiji, India, Australia, Nigeria, Hong Kong and Canada.
Related links:
• Concordia School of Canadian Irish Studies
• “School of Canadian Irish Studies Takes Flight” – Journal, October 29, 2009
• “Concordia University Announces the Creation of the Johnson Chair in Canadian Irish Studies” – Concordia Media Relations, March 17, 2008
• “Father McEntee (1924-2008)” – The Montreal Gazette, May 29, 2008