Doug Owram is professor of history and was deputy vice-chancellor of the

University of British Columbia Okanagan The UBC's Okanagan Campus (commonly referred to as UBC Okanagan and UBCO) is University of British Columbia's campus located in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. The campus is the research and innovation hub in the province's southern interior ...

from 2006 to 2012, a post he assumed on July 1, 2006. He was formerly vice president (academic) and provost at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...

Education

Owram earned a Bachelor of Arts degree (first class with honours) in history and economics from Queen's University at Kingston in 1970, going on to complete his master's degree in history at Queen's in 1972. In 1976 Owram received his PhD in history from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

and subsequently joined the faculty at the

in the Department of History (1975–1988).

Career

During his time at the

he served as associate dean of arts, associate dean of graduate studies, acted as department chair and was appointed associate vice-president (academic) in 1994. In 1995 he was appointed vice-president (academic) and in 1998 the title of provost was added, making him the chief operating officer of the university. He completed his term as provost and vice-president (academic) in 2003. In addition, Owram served in many capacities outside the university. Chief among these was his tenure as president of the Canadian Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences from 2001 to 2003, as chair of the Campus Alberta Quality Council from its inception in 2004 until July 1, 2006, and as a National Historical Association board member since 2004. He has also served as a member of the board of directors of NeWest Press, including a term as vice-president, and on grant committees of SSHRC and the Molson Prize Committee. He also served as a member of the SSHRC steering committee on the future of the humanities. From 2008 to 2011 he served on the council of the Royal Society of Canada and was secretary to Academy II. He is currently a member of the board of the Degree Quality Assessment Board of British Columbia and served as chair of an expert panel of the Council of Canadian Academies on Memory Institutions and the Digital Age. Owram was the recipient of a University of Alberta McCalla Professorship in 1989, and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1990. He received the J. Gordin Kaplan Award for Research Excellence in 1995.

Author

The author of several books, Owram's more recent titles include ''Born at the Right Time: A History of the Baby Boom Generation'' (University of Toronto Press, 1996) and '' Promise of Eden: the Canadian Expansionist Movement and the Idea of the West 1856-1900'' (University of Toronto Press, 1980 and 1992). Recent publications include a piece on Canada for the ''Oxford History of the British Empire'' and a paper on NAFTA. In 2013 he wrote an historiographic introduction to a new edition of Carl Berger's ''The Sense of Power'' (pp. xi-xviii). (University of Toronto Press, 2013)

''Promise of Eden''

''Promise of Eden'' is a 1980 book by Doug Owram, examining the Canadian

expansionist Expansionism refers to states obtaining greater territory through military empire-building or colonialism. In the classical age of conquest moral justification for territorial expansion at the direct expense of another established polity (who of ...

movement between the years 1856 and 1900. The book was published by the

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press founded in 1901. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university cale ...

, and was based on work Owram had done for his

doctoral dissertation A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

at the

. Owram sets out to study how the ''idea'' of the Canadian West evolved in the minds of central Canadians. He traces conceptions of

Rupert's Land Rupert's Land (french: Terre de Rupert), or Prince Rupert's Land (french: Terre du Prince Rupert, link=no), was a territory in British North America which comprised the Hudson Bay drainage basin; this was further extended from Rupert's Land t ...

from a barren wasteland to an area that was ripe for settlement and offered the best, and sometimes only, hope of prosperity and redemption for the Canadian nation. Particular emphasis is given to the

Red River Rebellion The Red River Rebellion (french: Rébellion de la rivière Rouge), also known as the Red River Resistance, Red River uprising, or First Riel Rebellion, was the sequence of events that led up to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by ...

and its effects on the perception of the West and how indicative it was of burgeoning

Western alienation In Canadian politics, Western alienation is the notion that the Western provinces – British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba – have been alienated, and in some cases excluded, from mainstream Canadian political affairs in fav ...

. The book continues by examining the re-evaluation of the suitability of the region for

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

and

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building * Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

. Also noted is the desire of central Canadian expansionists to foster the emergence of a 'British' moral character on the prairies. Owram elaborates on the problematics associated with settling

Palliser's Triangle Palliser's Triangle, or the Palliser Triangle, is a semi-arid steppe occupying a substantial portion of the Western Canadian Prairie Provinces, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba, within the Great Plains region. While initially determined to be un ...

and the work of

John Macoun John Macoun (17 April 1831 – 18 June 1920) was an Irish-born Canadian naturalist. Early life Macoun was born in Magheralin, County Down, Ireland in 1831, the third child of James Macoun and Anne Jane Nevin. In 1850, the worsening ec ...

; an individual whose interpretation of the Triangle caused many hardships for future settlers. A concluding section of the book further discusses sources of

and offers a brief discussion of the

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

Red River Settlement The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assinboia, was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, on of land in British North America. This land was granted to Douglas by the Hudson's Bay C ...

References

External links

Biography (6.Apr. 2011)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Owram, Doug Canadian university and college chief executives Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Okanagan Queen's University at Kingston alumni University of Toronto alumni Living people Historians of Canada Year of birth missing (living people)