The Scottish Studies Foundation announced Dr. Kevin James has been appointed to the position of Scottish Studies Foundation Chair and director of the Centre for Scottish Studies in the Department of History at the University of Guelph in Ontario for a seven-year term, effective June 1, 2020.
Prof. James is a leading scholar of modern Scottish tourism and travel history. In the announcement, he said he is keen “to extend the foundation’s links with scholars in Scotland and around the world and collaborate with partners in the community.”
Prof. James, working in partnership with the McLaughlin Library, which holds the largest number of printed and manuscript materials related to Scotland outside the United Kingdom, plans to build on the special collections’ strengths, including records on rural society and agriculture, business history, chapbooks, family and clan history, emigration, the Jacobite rebellion, local history, and church and religious history.
Dean Samantha Brennan said she looks forward to the possibilities for the chair under Prof. James’ direction, considering the “dynamic combination of his research skills, publication record, and the energy and enthusiasm he has for the Scottish Studies community.”
After completing his BA in 1996 at McGill University in Montreal, Prof. James was awarded the Governor-General’s Medal for highest standing in the undergraduate Arts program. At McGill, he completed an MA in 1997. His Masters thesis was on The Saint Patrick’s Society of Montreal : ethno-religious realignment in a nineteenth-century national society. He was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship for PhD study in the United Kingdom, which he took up at the University of Edinburgh.
Prof. James joined the University of Guelph’s Department of History in 2000 and has been a great advocate of Scottish Studies ever since. In 2002 and 2003, he was vice-president of the Scottish Studies Foundation and played a key role in its efforts to establish the actual position of Chair of Scottish Studies at Guelph, which culminated in the appointment in 2004 of Dr. Graeme Morton who served as the first chair until 2013.
He takes over from Dr. James Fraser who took the position in 2014, but stepped down early this year for health reasons. Dr. Fraser continues to teach and to supervise graduate students in Scottish history at the University of Guelph.
The Centre for Scottish Studies at the University of Guelph is the oldest and most eminent academic unit in North America to carry out research, graduate training and teaching on Scottish history and Scottish culture, with special emphasis on the history of the Scottish Canadian community.
