Dr. Young conferred prof. emeritus

If you’ll pardon the cliché, being conferred the honour of professor emeritus was humbling, says Jon Young, who retired in 2016 as professor at the Faculty of Education.
Even after receiving an honour shared by only nine other accomplished professors, each an academic giant in their field, Young could scarcely contain his characteristic modesty.
“I am proud of the award. To be included in this group of people from across the university, considering the fantastic things they have done, is pretty fantastic,” Dr. Young said after receiving the title, on Thursday.
What made the distinction more meaningful was that fellow faculty both nominated, and then voted on his nomination.
“That’s exciting, and humbling is a cliché, but it’s very nice,” Young said.
Young’s conferral document singles out his interest in “the role of ‘the public’ in public education.” Dr. Young says he was particularly proud of his, “ability to do work in support of public education, especially in Manitoba.
“Manitoba gave me the job, and I feel as if my work has been to putting Manitoba on the Canadian and international stage,” Young says. “That was important.”
Dean David Mandzuk was thrilled with Young’s recognition, singling out his mentoring of young professors, ensuring a strong future for the faculty.
“He has been very well respected by both departments for many, many decades,” said Mandzuk. “He’s really a gentleman and a scholar, if ever there was one.”

Conferral: 2017 Professor Emeritus

Dr. Jonathan Young

BA (Durham), PGCE (Cambridge), MA (Durham), MEd (Queen’s), PhD (Toronto)

Faculty of Education

During his 31-year career at the University of Manitoba, Dr. Jon Young made an impact on the Canadian public education school system through his work in the areas of multicultural and anti-racist education, teacher education, and educational governance.

Dr. Young joined the University in 1985 as an assistant professor. He quickly became an integral part of the faculty of education’s administrative team, serving four times as department head, twice as associate dean, and once as acting dean. Known to colleagues for his amicable ability and generosity, he often meant toward new faculty members. To his students, he was a support and an inspiration, advising 75 at the master’s level and 10 at the doctoral level.

Dr. Young made an indelible impact on Canadian public school sector policy, particularly in the area of funding models, accessibility, and equity. His educational administration textbook is considered a pre-eminent source in the fields, and his authored texts on cultural diversity have been widely used in graduate and undergraduate programs.

Intrigued by the role of “the public” in Canadian public education, Dr. Young opened up underdeveloped areas of scholarship through his research into areas such as decision-making about initial teacher education and the influence of school boards across provinces. His findings helped Manitoba school boards to become national leaders in representing local public interests.

Dr. Young co-authored and co-edited five books which challenge traditional ways of thinking about race, ethnicity, education and the organization of knowledge in the Canadian school system. He also authored chapters in 16 additional books and numerous articles for at least 15 different refereed journals for the past nine years, he served as editor of two academic journals.

The University of Manitoba is honoured to confer the title of Professor Emeritus upon Dr. Jon Young.

Charlie McDougall