Congratulations to our colleague Bob Davidson for being appointed as Mary Rowell Jackman Professor in Vic One!
A Professor of Spanish & Catalan Studies, and faculty at the Culinaria Research Centre, he specializes in the study of food and hospitality. Professor Davidson is the author of Jazz Age Barcelona (shortlisted for the Canada Prize) and The Hotel: Occupied Space. His latest project, The Scent of Spain: Fragrance, Odour and Culture, looks at key fragrances and smells that were part of Spain's modern experience.
Professor Davidson currently serves as Director of the Northrop Frye Centre and as a Chair of the Manuscript Review Committee of the University of Toronto Press. In 2022, he was awarded the XXXIV Premi Josep M. Batista i Roca - Memorial Enric Garriga Trullols for the promotion of Catalan culture abroad. He also teaches in the Vic One Frye Stream course, "The Power of Fiction", in which students have the ppleasure of reading Don Quixote, Madame Bovary and Nights at the Circus.
This Professorship honours Mary Rowell Jackman, a graduate of Victoria University (B.A. 1925) who was a prominent philanthropist, social activist and patron of the arts.
Congratulations on this distinction!