No Ordinary Academics: Economics And Political Science At The University Of Saskatchewan,1910-1960 (anthropological Horizons)

The Keynesian economist Mabel Timlin, the first woman to be elected President of the Canadian Political Science Association, and first woman to be elected to Section II of the Royal Society of Canada, went from secretary to student to Professor during her years at the University of Saskatchewan (1921 to 1959). In "No Ordinary Academics" Shirley Spafford describes the circumstances and people that turned a department in an isolated prairie university into a thriving intellectual community that would nurture some of Canada's best minds. Politics, Economics, Economic History, and other fundamental determinants of Canadian life arose from the research of liberal thinkers such as Timlin, Frank Underhill, MacGregor Dawson, and Norman Ward, who saw the necessity of the government's role in economic development. These were academics who knew how not to be dull - and this institutional biography is the same. As Spafford narrates the academics' daily lives, their struggles to gain recognition, the transfer of power from the president's office to the peer group of faculty members, and the cross-pollination of ideas with the University of Toronto, the drama of an intellectual community of the University of Saskatchewan is brought forth with an inspired originality, engendered, by the excitement of the place itself.

The Keynesian economist Mabel Timlin, the first woman to be elected President of the Canadian Political Science Association, and first woman to be elected to Section II of the Royal Society of Canada, went from secretary to student to Professor during her years at the University of Saskatchewan (1921 to 1959). In "No Ordinary Academics" Shirley Spafford describes the circumstances and people that turned a department in an isolated prairie university into a thriving intellectual community that would nurture some of Canada's best minds.

Politics, Economics, Economic History, and other fundamental determinants of Canadian life arose from the research of liberal thinkers such as Timlin, Frank Underhill, MacGregor Dawson, and Norman Ward, who saw the necessity of the government's role in economic development.

These were academics who knew how not to be dull - and this institutional biography is the same. As Spafford narrates the academics' daily lives, their struggles to gain recognition, the transfer of power from the president's office to the peer group of faculty members, and the cross-pollination of ideas with the University of Toronto, the drama of an intellectual community of the University of Saskatchewan is brought forth with an inspired originality, engendered, by the excitement of the place itself.

"In No Ordinary Academics Shirley Spafford describes the circumstances and people that turned an academic department in an isolated prairie university into a thriving intellectual community that would nurture some of Canada's best minds. This is the story of the people who studied and taught economics and political science at the University of Saskatchewan from 1910 to 1960. They form a strong cast of characters, who brought to their tasks an unusual individuality and sense of purpose, and include such luminaries as Frank Underhill, Robert MacGregor Dawson, Norman Ward, and Mabel Timlin."--Jacket Contents 5 Preface 7 1. A Workman 11 2. Bringing the Wisconsin Idea to Saskatchewan 38 3. An Orthodox Economist 53 4. Retrenchment 72 5. Political Science in Search of Itself 88 6. A Natural Minoritarian 103 7. A New Start 122 8. Three Colleagues 137 9. Wartime 150 10. Union and the New Members 167 11. The Britnell Years 188 12. Conclusion 213 Notes 223 Index 263