TORONTO, May 29, 1997 -- York University President Dr. Susan Mann will receive an honorary degree from the Universite de Montreal at a convocation ceremony tomorrow.

Mann, a scholar of Quebec history, will receive an honorat doctoris causa in recognition of her major contribution to making Quebec history more accessible across Canada, and for her promotion of the status of women in the Canadian academic community. She is also being honoured for her long association with the Universite de Montreal.

"Our history department is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and we thought it fitting to honour Susan Mann, a prominent historian who began her teaching career with us, and who has played a key role in making Quebec history better known, especially in English Canada," said John Dickinson, Chair of the Department of History at the Universite de Montreal. "In her connection to our university and in her career as a historian, she has helped to bridge the two solitudes."

Mann made her teaching debut at U de M, where she taught from 1966 to 1970. Her thesis on l'Action francaise, an intellectual journal and a movement of the 1920s led by the French Canadian nationalist Abbe Lionel Groulx, was published in 1975 and is considered a milestone in historiography, according to the U de M citation.

Mann's book, The Dream of Nation: A Social and Intellectual History of Quebec (1982), which is a comprehensive history of Quebec, has made a major contribution towards an improved understanding of the intellectual and cultural history of Quebec, Dickinson said. The book was especially innovative in introducing feminist concerns into a general history of Quebec, he added. The book won the Prize of Excellence from the Secretary of State in 1984.

"It is especially gratifying for me to be honoured by the very institution where I began my teaching career," said Mann. "Universities are places of research and reflection, where linguistic and cultural barriers can be lowered. That's why they are so important to society in general and to Canada in particular."

Mann has had a distinguished career as a historian, researcher, teacher and university administrator. Mann, who was a founding member of the Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Women, has also served as president of the Canadian Historical Association, and as president of the Council of Ontario Universities Status of Women Committee. She was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 1985. She has received honorary degrees from the University of Ottawa and Concordia University. Mann has authored four books and numerous articles, and has been the editor or co-editor of many other publications. Mann served as Vice-Rector at the University of Ottawa, and, since Sept. 1, 1992, as President of York University. She will be retiring from administration at the end of July to return to teaching.

For more information, call:

Mary Ann Horgan
Media Relations
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22086

Sine MacKinnon
Senior Advisor for Media Relations
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22087
YU/054/97