Greg Kealey: Gentleman Historian
In honour of Greg Kealey, retired Vice-President (Research) and Provost, friends, colleagues and family have created a heartfelt video tribute. The video was featured at a dinner and fund raiser in support of the Kealey Fellowship for the Study of Canada on October 27, 2012.
To view the video tribute, click here.
About the Kealey Fellowship for the Study of Canada
The Kealey Fellowship for the Study of Canada is open to doctoral students in any discipline within the faculties of Arts in Fredericton and Saint John whose scholarship focuses on some aspect of Canadian society, including history, economics, political science, art and literature, social science, public policy, linguistic issues, culture and ethnicity. To support the Fellowship, you can donate online now or make a contribution by mail.
About Greg Kealey
An Ontarian who came east, Greg Kealey has been an Atlantic Canadian for more than half his life. 
He has taught at the region’s three major universities — Dalhousie, Memorial and the University of New Brunswick; distinguished himself as scholar of history and as an academic administrator; written prolifically and edited extensively; supervised a platoon of undergraduate and graduate students, and even a few post-docs; played an active and effective role in each of the communities he’s lived in; and been an inspiration and a mentor to colleagues and friends alike.
Greg moved to Halifax in 1974 with his wife Linda, then a graduate student at the University of Toronto. (She was to become a respected and accomplished historian in her own right.) An opportunity for both of them to join the faculty at Memorial University in St. John’s came in 1981, by which time Greg had won the prestigious Sir John A. Macdonald Prize from the Canadian Historical Association for Toronto Workers Respond to Industrial Capitalism, 1867-1892, based on his doctoral thesis and deemed the Best Book in Canadian History for that year. At Memorial, Greg rose through the ranks, was appointed a University Research Professor in 1992, and served as Dean of the School of Graduate Studies from 1997 to 2001, when UNB was successful in attracting him to the position of Vice-President Research.
During his 11-year tenure, UNB’s research capacity saw significant growth with a threefold increase in external funding to almost $60 million annually. This is but the most obvious measure of his substantial influence on the research portfolio at the University. His ability to foster
collaboration across disciplines, build consensus and capitalize on opportunities has created a productive and stable culture for scholars and researchers on both campuses. In 2008, Greg became UNB’s first Provost with responsibility for overall academic leadership of the University, playing a key role in implementing change and innovation, as well as the development of the Strategic Plan in 2010-11.
Within UNB he has chaired the boards of several research institutes, spearheaded numerous special projects and led a variety of major committees. Outside the institution he has served on the boards of the Knowledge Park, BioAtlantech, King’s Landing, the Potato Research Cluster, and the Research Productivity Council. On the national level, his service includes the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Industry Canada University Advisory Committee, the National Research Council’s Institute of Information Technology Advisory Board, the Humanities and Social Science Federation of Canada and the Canadian Historical Association.
A graduate of St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto and the University of Rochester, where he earned an MA and a PhD, Greg is Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. An expert in various aspects of modern history, most notably Canadian security and intelligence, Greg recently co-authored a new book, Secret Service: Political Policing in Canada from the Fenians to Fortress America, University of Toronto Press, with Reg Whitaker and Andy Parnaby. In January, he and Linda, who retired last year, will travel to Australia to serve as visiting professors at Monash University in Melbourne and, in March, at Massey University in New Zealand.
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