I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Michael Ignatieff as Senior Resident of Massey College. During his tenure as Senior Resident, Michael Ignatieff will be teaching in the Faculty of Law, the Munk School of Global Affairs, the School of Public Policy and Governance, and the Department of Political Science.

Following the results of the federal election this week, Dr. Ignatieff  has decided to return to academic life. He will have his office at Massey College, the interdisciplinary graduate college at the University of Toronto, where the position of Senior Resident has long been established. It has been a tradition for some time to offer the position to political leaders making transitions in their professional lives. In the past 15 years, three outstanding Canadians have been Senior Residents: the former prime minister of Canada, the Rt. Hon. Pierre Trudeau; the former premier of Ontario, the Hon. Bob Rae; and the former leader of the federal Reform Party, Mr. Preston Manning.

A graduate of the University of Toronto, Dr. Ignatieff is an internationally respected academic and author who has taught at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard. His many books have ranged from the widely acclaimed The Needs of Strangers to the Booker prize-nominated novel Scar Tissue. His celebrated biography of the late Isaiah Berlin is considered definitive.

Speaking for Professor Janice Stein, Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs, Professor Mayo Moran, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Mark Stabile, director of the School of Public Policy and Governance, and Professor David Cameron, Chair of the Department of Political Science, we are all very pleased that Michael Ignatieff has agreed to come to the University of Toronto. Political leadership often comes with onerous burdens and Dr. Ignatieff has met his challenges with both fortitude and imagination. He will be welcomed into the university community in Toronto by both faculty and students and honoured for his commitment to our national life.  In return, we shall have the benefit from his learning and experience.

JOHN FRASER C.M., M.A., D.Litt., F.R.C.G.S.,
Master and Chair of Corporation