Jim Gibson - Professor Emeritus

English at Algoma University

Overview

Professor Jim GibsonB.A. (University of Manitoba-United College)
M.A. (University of Manitoba)

Hired to teach English literature by the newly founded Algoma University College in 1968, I have served here in various capacities ever since. Asked in my 1968 interview if I wanted a job "building a university', I said yes without fully understanding all the implications; I have had ample time in the last four decades to explore them in detail. I initially taught first year literature courses, and then as the university developed, introduced a range of senior courses in Canadian literature, from historical surveys, to courses in prose and poetry, Canadian thought and culture, Northern Ontario literature, and an honours seminar in the works of Michael Ondaatje. I have taught literature of the Romantic Period, and American Literature. In addition, I have taught courses in Science Fiction, the works of Leonard Cohen, and I am interested in the prose, poetry, and criticism of Robert Kroetsch. I am now retired from teaching.

 

Teaching Stance

I have been privileged to teach a subject that I love and that inspires me. My job as a teacher is to convey that enthusiasm to my students and to try to stimulate in them my delight in this subject. I use a modified form of Socratic method in which I convey basic biographical and socio-historic information, and then urge participation in the discussion by asking the sorts of leading or provocative questions that produce an exploration of the text and its potential. The most exciting classes for me are the ones in which the group spontaneously combusts and reaches a level of intense discussion that takes us in unexpected, but totally exciting, rewarding and insightful new directions.

 

Service and Events

In a developing university, faculty must assume multiple duties, and I have been at various times a member of nearly all University committees, Speaker of Senate, Chair of the Humanities Division, Academic Dean, and Acting President. I have served on the University Board of Governors, the Boards of the Art gallery of Algoma, the Algoma Arts Festival Association, the RBO Steering Committee, and BRIDGE (Bi-National Regional Initiative Developing Greater Education). This latter body comprised the three local post-secondary institutions (two Canadian and one American) and was responsible for, among other things, the initial support that permitted Algoma University to initiate its Fine Arts Programme.

I served as the original Coordinator of the English Department's Public reading Series and brought to AUC many of the major figures in Canadian Literature. A partial list includes: Michael Ondaatje, Earle Birney, Al Purdy, Irving Layton, Frank Davey, Eli Mandel, Susan Swann, John Moss, George Bowering, Rudy Wiebe, John Metcalf, Mary di Michele, Robert Kroetsch, Judith Fitzgerald, Leon Rooke, and Victor Coleman.

In 2009 I received the Algoma University Distinguished Faculty Award.