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Faculty of Arts and Science Professor Emerita Maggie Berg has been honoured with an honorary doctorate from the University of Mons in Belgium.

She was honoured in recognition of her work on (University of Toronto Press, 2016) which initiated an international movement and has now been translated into Chinese, Czech, Spanish, and Portuguese. In the book, Dr. Berg (Department of English Literature and Creative Writing) and co-author Barbara K. Seeber, a Queen’s University alumna who was also honoured with an honorary doctorate, discuss how adopting the principles of the Slow movement in academic life can counter the erosion of humanistic education.

“The enthusiasm which greeted the book in 2016 astounded us,” says Dr. Berg. “It received countless positive reviews, including in National Public Radio, The Toronto Star, and The Globe and Mail, as well as a two-page spread in the Times Higher Education. We were interviewed by Michael Enright on CBC’s The Sunday Edition. Because the aim of the book is to resist the pressures of speed in the corporate university, and to suggest ways to alleviate work stress caused by the sped-up clock, we are delighted by this award: it confirmed that we have indeed helped numerous colleagues to shift their priorities and to find time to think.”

In addition to the honorary doctorate, the has just been published (University of Toronto Press), with a new introduction and essays on Slow practices by a range of contributors, including members of Queen’s community Heather Evans (Department of English Literature and Creative Writing) and Jennifer Davis (Faculty of Education).

“The ten-year anniversary edition of The Slow Professor has just been published with a new introduction and 16 essays,” says Dr. Berg. “The introduction reflects on changes to our own thinking in the last ten years, while the 16 essays describe Slow practices by a wide range of international contributors across disciplines and affiliations.  The essayists write from the perspectives of sessional instructor, post-graduate fellow, tenured and tenure-track professor, emeritus professor, university librarian, Assistant Dean, CEO of a theatre company, and director of a centre for pedagogy.”

She adds that this new edition attests to an enduring need: the essays offer practical strategies of resistance while celebrating community.  “Barbara and I became aware that the success of the original book depended largely on its truly collaborative nature, and we are thrilled to find that the Anniversary edition enacts this same collegiality and builds community. I want to thank Barbara for her extraordinary friendship and for her deep collaboration; I could not have written the book, given the talks, or received the honorary doctorate, without her.”