History professor Dr. Edward MacDonald gives ‘last lecture’ to UPEI’s University 100 students
Dr. Edward MacDonald, CM, an award-winning professor of history at UPEI and Island historian, will give his “last lecture” to students in UPEI’s University 100 program on Wednesday, March 13, at 4:30 pm in SDU Main Building, Room 117. The lecture is open to the public.
The University 100 program helps students transition from secondary to post-secondary education, introducing them to the University and giving them key tools such as critical thinking, oral and written communication, and research skills.
MacDonald, affectionately known as “Dr. Ed,” will speak about the “History of Higher Education on PEI,” providing history and context about the development of higher education and the origins and mission of UPEI. He has been delivering this lecture to students taking University 100 for more than 15 years. This will be his last lecture to University 100 before his upcoming retirement from full-time teaching.
A native of Newport, PEI, MacDonald graduated from UPEI in 1978 with a double major in English and history and then went on to Queen’s University where he earned a master’s degree and a PhD in history. After working at the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation for 15 years, he joined UPEI’s history department as an assistant professor in 2000. In his first year, he won the UPEI Faculty Association Merit Award for Excellence in Teaching and the UPEI Student Union’s Faculty of the Year Award.
He was named to the Order of Canada on December 28, 2023. Other awards include the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012), Heritage Canada’s Lieutenant-Governor’s Award (2014), the Canadian Catholic Historical Association’s G. E. Clerk Award for outstanding service to the history of Catholicism in Canada (2016), the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation’s Boyde Beck Memorial Award (2018) for contributions to the preservation of Island heritage and the Award of Honour for lifetime achievement (2017), and the UPEI Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumni Award (2019). He is a prolific writer and researcher, having written, compiled, edited, or co-edited 11 books as well as over 50 scholarly articles.
Refreshments will be served in the Faculty Lounge, SDU Main Building, Room 201, after MacDonald’s presentation.
For more information about the lecture or to make arrangements for group seating, please contact Inge Dorsey at idorsey@upei.ca.
