Barry Grant says he feels "honoured and flattered” to be elected to the Royal Society of Canada.
A Brock professor has received Canada’s highest academic honour by being elected to the Royal Society of Canada (RSC).
Barry Grant, a Film Studies professor, has been named a Fellow to the country’s oldest society of scientists and scholars. With his election into the society, Grant has received the highest honour a scholar can achieve and earns the right to use the postnomial FRSC (Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada).
The RSC was founded in 1882 by the Marquesse of Lorne, then Canada’s Governor-General. Since then, about 2,000 Fellows have been named. The society serves three purposes: to recognize outstanding contributions to Canada’s intellectual culture; to promote Canadian culture abroad; and to advise governments and organizations.
Elections of new Fellows must be supported by three existing members of the society. Grant said he was “honoured and flattered” to hear of his inclusion, particularly for his involvement in the fields of film studies and popular culture. He welcomes the chance to represent his field.
“It’s good for the discipline of film studies,” he said. “It gives it more visibility. What I would hope is, because there is as of yet no other Fellows from my fields in the Royal Society, that I’ll be able to give informed input into the development of relevant official policy, such as copyright and censorship.”
Brock is proud of Grant’s many accomplishments, said Murray Knuttila, Provost and Vice-President Academic.
“The national and international recognition that accompanies membership in the Royal Society speaks to the quality and stature of the faculty at Brock,” he said. “Barry is one of many distinguished teachers and researchers who have made their careers in Niagara and who contribute to our community in a variety of ways.”
“Barry Grant is a world renowned expert in the history of film and an all round stellar academic,” said Thomas Dunk, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences. “He is a great teacher, as well as a fantastic researcher and prolific writer.”
It’s been an accomplished year for Grant, who has taught at Brock since 1975. He recently received the Canadian Association of University Teachers Distinguished Academic Award, the national association’s highest academic award, as well as the Pedagogy Award for outstanding contributions to the teaching of film studies from the international Society for Cinema and Media Studies.
With adjunct professor Joan Nicks, he recently edited the book Covering Niagara: Studies in Local Popular Culture, which was launched in June. This Halloween, the British Film Institute will publish his monograph on the horror film classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Grant is the fourth Brock academic to be named to the RSC. The others are Sandra Beckett (French, 2004), Kenneth Kernaghan (Political Science, 1998) and Richard Rand (Biological Sciences, 1993).
Grant will attend the Annual General Meeting of the RSC from Nov. 26 to 28 in Ottawa.
Related links:
• Grant receiving national award for teaching, overall service | The Brock News
• Niagara culture celebrated at book launch | The Brock News
