Nominations are now open for five competitions administered by the Provost’s Advisory Committee for the Promotion of the Arts, including the Robert Sutherland Visitorship, which honours one of Queen’s most notable graduates.

Mr. Sutherland was the first known black lawyer in British North America and the first Queen’s graduate of African descent. He received his degree in classics and mathematics in 1852 and was licensed to practise law in 1855. Upon his death in 1878, he left his entire $12,000 estate to the university.

The visitorship, established in 1997, honours the trailblazing alumnus by providing funds to bring a notable speaker to campus to enable dialogue and inspire action around race-related, equity, and justice issues. Last year it received a generous endowment from the Joseph S. Stauffer Foundation.

“The Sutherland Visitorship and the other funds administered by the committee promote dialogue and enrich the Queen’s community on an annual basis,” says Jill Scott, Vice-Provost (teaching and learning), who chairs the Provost’s Advisory Committee for the Promotion of the Arts. “I would like to thank the benefactors who have generously made these opportunities possible.”

Nominations are also invited for the following:

• The Brockington Visitorship, which funds the visit and public lecture of a person of international distinction
• The Chancellor Dunning Trust Lectureship, which provides funding to bring a person of distinction to promote the understanding and appreciation of the supreme importance of the dignity, freedom and responsibility of the individual person in human society
• The George Taylor Richardson Memorial Fund, which supports public performances and artistic exhibitions.
• The Irving and Regina Rosen Lecture Series, which brings a noted speaker in the field of Jewish thought and tradition to Queen’s

Nominations to the five funds may be made by any member of the Queen’s community, and must be received by March 31, 2015. For detailed nomination instructions, visit the webpage of the Provost’s Advisory Committee for the Promotion of the Arts.

Nominations are also open, until Feb. 27, for faculty and students interested in serving on the subcommittee for the Rosen Lecture Series. With the dissolution of the Committee on Creative Arts and Public Lectures last year, a change in reporting structure saw the committee fall under the Provost’s Advisory Committee for the Promotion of the Arts. Nomination forms and more information on the subcommittee are available online.