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Give to History

Give to History

Gifts from our Alumni and Friends have a significant impact on the quality of our programs and the opportunities that we are able to offer our students. Post-doctoral fellowships enliven our research and enrich our curriculum; lectures and workshops create unparalleled opportunities for intellectual exchange; endowed scholarships and awards provide crucial support to our students; studentships and travel awards create opportunities for student research; donations to the History Trust Fund allow us to support student initiatives and class projects ranging from exhibitions to field trips. Our programs and our students continue to thrive thanks in no small measure to the generosity and support of our alumni and friends.

Recent gifts from our Alumni and Friends have enabled us to…

Bring internationally distinguished speakers to Queen’s

Public lectures and workshops are a centerpiece of the Department’s intellectual life, and would not be possible without the generosity and support of our donors. Every year, thanks to the Bernice Nugent Bequest, we bring a host of internationally acclaimed scholars to campus to present their research in our Departmental Seminar Series, our Arthur Lower Workshop in Canadian History, and our annual Nugent Lecture. The John M. Sherwood Memorial Fund supports a distinguished lecture series in the History of Science and Technology. These events draw university-wide audiences, and serve as crucial outreach to the broader community.

The History Trust Fund also enables us to support talks and events organized by our colleagues both within and beyond the Department. Our faculty, postdoctoral fellows and students participate in a wide array of interdisciplinary networks on campus, including the Queen’s Medieval Seminar, Muslim Societies, Global Perspectives, the Russian and East European Studies network, Studies in National and International Development, and more. These initiatives help forge connections across campus and depend on support from individual departments like ours.

Support cutting edge research

Gifts from our donors help support the Department’s research mission. Endowed post-doctoral fellowships offer crucial support to early career scholars and inject new dynamism and breadth into our programs and our collective intellectual life. The Buchanan post-doctoral fellowship, established by a generous financial gift from alumna Catherine Buchanan in honour of her late husband, alumnus Murray Buchanan, enhances our expertise in Canadian history and our reputation for groundbreaking scholarship in the field. Our longstanding Marjorie McLean Oliver post-doctoral fellowship has helped launch a number of academic careers and continues to enrich our strong research cluster in medieval History.

Research is also supported through a host of endowed fellowships and awards for students. The David Russell Fund, established by alumnus David Russell, provides our graduate students with much needed financial support to travel to archives and research libraries. Undergraduate research recently received a boost from the establishment of the Prendergast-Rivard studentship, which supports an outstanding student who is undertaking an independent research project. The History Trust fund also provides crucial research support to our students. Over the past several years, this fund has enabled several of our top undergraduate students to assume Summer Research Fellowships, affording them an opportunity to work closely with a faculty member on an independent research project.

Enrich the student experience

The History Department prides itself on the wealth of opportunities and experiences we offer our students. Donations to the History Trust fund have allowed us to enrich the classroom experience: the History Trust has funded field trips to the archives in Ottawa, talks by invited speakers, and special projects such as a class podcast series on diasporas and a rare books exhibit organized by second year students entitled The Taste of the Library. Endowed funds such as the Nugent Bequest further provide our students with the opportunity to organize conferences and workshops. Recent examples include the Global History Initiative conference on Global Histories of Colonialism, and the annual Queen’s-McGill Conference, a major history conference run entirely by graduate students of the two institutions.

Our students also benefit from a host of scholarships and prizes. Established by our alumni and friends over the years, they reward both undergraduate and graduate students for their accomplishments and recognize outstanding coursework. They also provide much needed financial support. At the graduate level, our ability to attract top students depends on the generously endowed scholarships that supplement university funding packages.

Continued support will enable us to preserve History’s central role in the educational landscape of Queen’s, to diversify our curriculum, and to open up new educational and professional opportunities for students at all levels. Donations to the History Trust Fund support all of our activities, and can be made using the University’s secure online giving page. You can also contact us directly.

Give now

Funding priorities for donors seeking to make a more specific impact include initiatives such as:

  • Undergraduate studentships to fund capstone projects, experiential learning, or study abroad
  • Funding to advance our initiative in Global History
  • Endowments to support graduate students

If you would like to discuss these initiatives or other ways that you can support the History Department, please contact our Department Chair at history.chair@queensu.ca.

Department of History, Queen's University

49 Bader Lane, Watson Hall 212
Kingston ON K7L 3N6
Canada

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Please note that the Department of History phone line is not monitored at all times. Please leave a voicemail or email hist.undergrad@queensu.ca and we will contact you as soon as we can.

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Queen's University is situated on traditional Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe territory.