In 1989, the Government of Canada and the University of Toronto established an endowed Professorship and Program in Ethnic, Immigration and Pluralism Studies. Professor Robert Forest Harney was the incumbent holder of the new Professorship.
Born in Salem, Massachusetts, Harney received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University and a M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. For twenty-five years, he taught history at the University of Toronto where he stimulated and steered an entire generation of students. Recognized as a pioneer in the ethnocultural approach, he utilized the memory culture as well as the historical records of the immigrants themselves in his work.
Tragically, Professor Harney passed away only months after his appointment to the new Professorship. To commemorate his memory, the University of Toronto's Governing Council renamed the program the R.F. Harney Professorship and Program in Ethnic, Immigration and Pluralism Studies.
Since then, the R. F. Harney Program has sought to honour his memory and his work by promoting interdisciplinary research and teaching in areas related to citizenship, diversity, and migration.
Located in the heart of Toronto—Canada’s most diverse city—the Harney Program is similarly dedicated to promoting catalyst conversations. These include the flagship Harney Lecture Series which invites world-leading scholars to share fresh empirical, theoretical, and comparative insights on some of the most pressing issues of our time.
