Governor General's International Award for Canadian Studies:
2000 - John Lennox
(Photo by Anthony J. Scullion)
A professor of English in the Faculties of Arts and Dean of Graduate Studies at York University, John Lennox is well known for his research and teaching in the areas of Canadian life-writing, fiction, and literary history. His many publications include:
- William Arthur Deacon: A Canadian Literary Life (co-authored with Clara Thomas, 1982)
- Dear Bill: The Correspondence of William Arthur Deacon (1988) (co-editor with Michele Lacombe, 1988)
- Margaret Laurence - Al Purdy: A Friendship in Letters (1993)
- Selected Letters of Margaret Laurence and Adele Wiseman (with Ruth Panofsky, 1997)
as well as numerous scholarly articles, reviews and entries in national and international reference works on Canadian literature and Canadian biography.
He earned the degrees of B.A. from York University, M.ès.A. from Université de Sherbrooke, and Ph.D. from the University of New Brunswick. At York University, he has served as Director of the Graduate Programme in English and was the founding Director of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies (1985-1988). He has also served as president of the Association for Canadian and Québec Literatures, the Association for Canadian Studies (1992-1994), and the International Council for Canadian Studies (1995-1997).
His term as President of the International Council for Canadian Studies was marked by a sincere and determined commitment to both youth and the renewal of the international Canadian Studies academic community. He advocated and instituted the ICCS Graduate Student Thesis/Dissertation Scholarship which enables successful candidates to spend four to six weeks at a Canadian university. Since its inception in 1996 some thirty-eight young men and women from around the world have travelled to Canada to complete the necessary research for their thesis or dissertation. What began as a visionary pilot project without secure funding, is now the first among many ICCS Endowment-funded programs in support of Canadian Studies worldwide.