The Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alberta: An account of a restructuring process, 1993-1994

Abstract

The Department of Religious Studies was founded in the 1960s with the intent to investigate religions from a comparative vantage point. The first few professors of religious studies appointed to the University of Alberta were hired from the University of Chicago, the Sorbonne, and similar institutions; soon others were to join them. The curriculum expanded; enrolment numbers increased. However, a few years after its inception, the department suffered from a clash of personalities. At a time when other departments developed graduate programmes and increased their faculty, the Department of Religious Studies was stymied by these tensions. As a consequence, the department gained a negative image on campus and did not participate in graduate work. Nevertheless, later on a few more new faculty members were hired. By the late 1980s professors from outside the discipline and the department were appointed as department Chairs to mitigate the tensions and hostilities. The department began its long road toward recovery. In July 1991,1 was hired from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to serve as department Chair with the mandate to continue rebuilding the department and to develop plans for a graduate programme in religious stud ies. One of the foci of the proposed graduate programme would be the area of Women and Religion. As well, it was promised that vacant positions would be filled, and that, perhaps, further positions might become available. Sub sequent submissions to the administration to these effects were made by the department but the proposals, although applauded, were never implemented. Plans for a graduate programme were soon shelved.