VICE-PRESIDENTS (ACADEMIC & RESEARCH):
MEIR SERFATY (1986-1992)
Meir Serfaty was born on January 13, 1946 in Melilla, Spain (see note below*). He obtained his B.A. (Hons.) in Politics and Economics from Manchester University in 1967, his M.A. in Political Science from the University of Calgary in 1969 and his Ph.D. in Political Science from Carleton University in 1976.
Prior to coming to Brandon University in 1973, Serfaty worked as an Academic Advisor of Foreign Public Administration Students (1970-1973), the Co-ordiator of Teaching Assistants (1970-1972) and a sessional lecturer at Carelton Univeristy. He is currently a professor in the Department of Political Science. Since 1973, he has been a professor in the Department of Political Science and Department of Modern Languages (Spanish). In the winter of 1993 he was a Visiting Professor, Department of International Relations at the Universidad de las Americas, Peubla, Mexico.
Serfaty's administrative positions and appointments at Brandon Unviersity have included the following: Chair, Brandon University Tenure Appeals Committee (2005); Director, Office of International Activities (1998-2002); Chair, Department of Political Science (1995-1998, 2005); Vice-Chair, Arts Faculty Council, and occasional Acting Dean (1994 - ); member of the Executive, Board of Governors (1999 - ); Senate representative, Board of Directors (1999 - ); member of the Executive, Senate (1999 - ); member of Senate, representing professors (1995-1998, 1999 - ); Vice-President, Academic and Research (1986-1992); Director, Canadian Studies Program (1979-1985); President, BUFA (1980-81, 1983-84, 1984-85); Director of various national, regional and provincial conference; Chair of various campus committees; and a member of numerous Arts Faculty and University-wide committees.
His external positions, appoinments and professional activities have included the following: member, City of Brandon Strategic Plan Steering Committee (2004 - ); Chair, City of Brandon Electoral Review Commission (2001 - ); National Executive member, Canadian Jewish Congress (1993-1998); Chair, Consumer Conciliation Panel, Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board (South-Western Region) (1989); Executive member, Manitoba Task Force on Multiculturalism (1987-1988); Senior Acting Chair, The Manitoba Municipal Board (1982-1988); President, Western Manitoba Multicultural Council (1981-1983); has assisted the City of Brandon, the towns of Powerview and Pine Falls and Churchill, Manitoba on issues of local governance; a political commentator and analyst on election night (various radio stations) (1979-2004), as well as numerous guest appearances on local radio and television, and local and Canadian press commentaries discussing political events.
As of January 2006, Meir Serfaty continues to teach at Brandon University.
*Melilla is a town located geographically in Moroccan territory, but it is an autonomous Spanish province. (Meir Serfaty email, January 12, 2006).
SUSAN HUNTER-HARVEY (1992-1995)
Susan Hunter-Harvey was born and raised in Wisonsin, graduating with a B.A. in History from Carrol College in Wisconsin in 1964. She completed an M.A. (1967) and a Ph.D. (1968) in Political Science at the University of Hawaii. She was a Post Doctoral Fellow and lecturer at the University of Alberta and then was an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Western Ontario. Hunter-Harvey came to Brandon University from the Department of Sociology at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in 1992, where she had been teaching since 1975. In 1995, Hunter-Harvey was appointed the President of Douglas College in New Westminster, BC.
T. PATRICK CARRABRE (1995 - 2001)
* Additional biographical information on Patrick Carrabre is located under RG 6, sub sub series 7.4.1 (Director of the School of Music).
T. Patrick Carrabre was born in 1958. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in 1980 from the University of Manitoba. He went on to study at the Banff Centre of Fine Arts and the University of Western Ontario before working closely with Pulitzer and MacArthur Award winning composer George Perle. Carrabre obtained his Ph.D. from the City University of New York.
Prior to coming to Brandon University in 1992, as the Dean of Music, Carrabre was the Performing Arts Officer with the Manitoba Arts Council, where he managed the granting programs in Dance, Music and Theatre. After more than a year as Acting Vice-President (Academic & Research), the Board of Governors approved his appointment at its December 19, 1996 meeting.
Carrabre has worked closely with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra since 1992. He is currently (March 2006) the orchestra's Composer-in-Residence, a position he assumed in 2001, after five year's in the role of "Associate Composer." In addition to his work writing music, he is also a co-curator of the WSO's wildly successful New Music Festival.
At present (March 2006), Patrick Carrabre continues to teach in the School of Music.
JEFFERY GEORGE WILLIAMS (2001 - June 30, 2007)
Jeff Williams was born in Stoke-on-Trent, England, 3 May 1945. He is a graduate of the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, with a Bachelor of Science degree (1966) and a Ph.D. (1969), both in Mathematical Physics. Subsequently, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Alberta and Solvay Fellow at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium.
Williams worked as hospital statistician at the Queen Elizabeth Medical Centre in the United Kingdom before moving to Canada. After serving as a faculty member at Okanagan University College and Mount Saint Vincent University in Nova Scotia, Dr. Williams and his wife, Edith-Mary Smith, came to Brandon in 1986 where Dr. Williams took up a faculty appointment in the Department of Mathematics & Computer Science at Brandon University.
Williams has taught a wide range of mathematics courses, from elementary statistics to advanced calculus and, in 1992, he received the Brandon University Senate Award for Excellence in Teaching. He was Chair of the Department of Mathematics & Computer Science for seven years.
In 1991, Williams was elected to membership in the province-wide Winnipeg Institute for Theoretical Physics and served a term as Institute Director. His major research interests are in theoretical/mathematical physics and specifically in “general relativity” – the geometric theory of gravitation. Dr. Williams has published over forty articles in learned journals, has edited two books, and is an active member of the general relativity community, both in Canada and internationally. His hobbies include mountain walking and creative writing. For a number of years, Dr. Williams was President of the Brandon Writers Club and edited a number of issues of Brandon University’s electronic magazine, Ecclectica.
Jeff Williams became Acting Vice-President (Academic & Research) on 1 September 2001, and was appointed Vice-President (Academic & Research) on February 28, 2002.
SCOTT GRILLS (July 1, 2007 - present)
See RG 6, Series 7 (Faculties and Schools), 7.1 (Faculty of Arts), 7.1.1 (Dean of Arts) for biographical information on Scott Grills.
Notes
A partial inventory for the sub-series exists as a Word document. Biographical information on Meir Serfaty was taken from the curriculum vitae he made available to the Archives (January 2006) - see biography files "Meir Serfaty". Biographical information on Susan Hunter-Harvey was taken from her personnel file (Dean of Arts). Carrabre and Williams provided their own biographical information.
Storage Location
RG 6 Brandon University fonds
Series 4: Office of the Vice-President
