Arts (Undergraduate)

Marcel Brisebois Honorary D.Litt.

Marcel Brisebois has spent his entire career as an educator in one capacity or another. After completing his Ph.D. at the Sorbonne in 1967, Brisebois returned to his hometown and spent the following 27 years as a teacher of French and philosophy and, later, an administrator at the Collège de Valleyfield, Quebec, rising to secretary general. While at the college, he also began as a radio interviewer at Radio-Canada -- a job he still does -- making his a familiar name to many. Since being named Director of the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal in 1985, Brisebois has continued in his quest to educate by giving the museum a strong research mandate and opening its doors to the community, both local and international.

Myrna Gopnik Professor Emeritus

A scholar of the relationship between language and neurology, Myrna Gopnik spent 25 years at McGill, teaching, researching and writing in her discipline. Active in her department, Linguistics, and in the University, Gopnik served as Director of University Teaching and Learning for five years, during which time she implemented the first system of student course evaluations and helped make teaching one of the criteria for promotion and tenure. She also founded the Cognitive Sciences Group. Internationally recognized for her work on genetic dysphasia, Gopnik worked for seven years on a major research project, the results of which have had considerable impact in the field.

Maurice Pinard Professor Emeritus

Maurice Pinard is considered one of Canada's most important scholars of politics and society in French Canada. A member of McGill's Department of Sociology for 34 years until his retirement in 1997, he has published such books as The Rise of a Third Party, a study of the rise of the Social Credit Party of Quebec, which has served as a staple in political science literature on the political consequences of one-party dominance. His most recent research interest has been in the area of ethnic conflict, the subject of his next book. Operating with the belief that sociological research should be of service to society, Pinard frequently lends his expertise to the popular press and has served as a consultant to such groups as the Grand Council of the Crees of Quebec and the Royal Commission of Newspapers.

John Ripley Professor Emeritus

A lover of Shakespeare both on the stage and in the book, John Ripley spent his 29 years at McGill teaching the plays of William Shakespeare. Having done his Ph.D. at the Shakespeare Institute of the University of Birmingham, he then earned his licentiate in theatre at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In addition to holding the Greenshields Chair in the English Department and serving as that department's chair for five years, Ripley wrote prolifically on the history of the staging of such plays as Julius Caesar and Coriolanus and was a consultant on the role of theatre in education. He was appointed in 1983 to the Academic Advisory Council of the Shakespeare Globe Theatre, then under reconstruction in London. Ripley is also a historian of Canadian theatre whose articles have been published in such journals as Canadian Literature and Theatre History in Canada, and in The Oxford Companion to Canadian Theatre.