2005-2006
News Release
REF NO.: 338
SUBJECT: Memorial University professor receives the highest academic accolade in Canada
DATE: July 19, 2006
Dr. Ronald Rompkey, a research professor in the Department of English, at Memorial University of Newfoundland has been elected a fellow in the Royal Society of Canada – considered the highest academic accolade in the country.
Dr. Rompkey is among the 82 new fellows chosen this year and only the eighth Memorial faculty member ever to achieve this honour. The society elects members from all branches of learning who have achieved national and international recognition by publishing learned works or original research in the arts, humanities and sciences. Founded in 1882, the country’s oldest scholarly organization currently has about 1,800 fellows.
“This provides the opportunity to be a member of a wide community of scholars,” Dr. Rompkey said. However, he believes the greatest benefit is the validation that the fellowship confers. “It’s meant to recognize the accomplishments of those well advanced in their careers,” he explained, noting that following his nomination, there was “a long, arduous process of triage.”
Nominations are peer-reviewed by current fellows who follow criteria based solely on the quality of the nominee’s research and scholarly achievement. In electing Dr. Rompkey, the Royal Society cited his diverse literary accomplishments in 18th-century literature, medical life writing and the French travel narrative.
“This is an important recognition of the work, and it allows an opportunity to continue that work,” noted Dr. Rompkey, who holds a master's in English literature from Memorial and a doctorate from the University of London. He joined Memorial’s faculty in 1984 after working at the universities of Victoria, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Lethbridge and Maine. In 2003, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Much of his work has focused on the literature, arts and culture of Newfoundland. He is the author of a biography of Sir Wilfred Grenfell and the editor of several other publications, including Reginald Shepherd & Helen Parson Shepherd: A Life Composed, which was named the Best Atlantic Published Book for 2006.
Dr. Rompkey is currently compiling and editing a collection of correspondence written by Charles Riballier Des Isles, who served – albeit unhappily – as the French consul posted in St. John’s from 1885-1903. The dispatches cover 18 years of rich territory in Newfoundland’s history, including a bank crash, a ministerial scandal and the great fire of 1892. And as with Dr. Rompkey’s earlier work, Terre-Neuve: anthologie des voyageurs français,1814-1914, this collection offers a French perspective that has been largely overlooked in the documentation of the province’s colonial history.
Dr. Rompkey has been awarded a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to continue this work.
REF NO.: 338
SUBJECT: Memorial University professor receives the highest academic accolade in Canada
DATE: July 19, 2006
Dr. Ronald Rompkey, a research professor in the Department of English, at Memorial University of Newfoundland has been elected a fellow in the Royal Society of Canada – considered the highest academic accolade in the country.
Dr. Rompkey is among the 82 new fellows chosen this year and only the eighth Memorial faculty member ever to achieve this honour. The society elects members from all branches of learning who have achieved national and international recognition by publishing learned works or original research in the arts, humanities and sciences. Founded in 1882, the country’s oldest scholarly organization currently has about 1,800 fellows.
“This provides the opportunity to be a member of a wide community of scholars,” Dr. Rompkey said. However, he believes the greatest benefit is the validation that the fellowship confers. “It’s meant to recognize the accomplishments of those well advanced in their careers,” he explained, noting that following his nomination, there was “a long, arduous process of triage.”
Nominations are peer-reviewed by current fellows who follow criteria based solely on the quality of the nominee’s research and scholarly achievement. In electing Dr. Rompkey, the Royal Society cited his diverse literary accomplishments in 18th-century literature, medical life writing and the French travel narrative.
“This is an important recognition of the work, and it allows an opportunity to continue that work,” noted Dr. Rompkey, who holds a master's in English literature from Memorial and a doctorate from the University of London. He joined Memorial’s faculty in 1984 after working at the universities of Victoria, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Lethbridge and Maine. In 2003, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Much of his work has focused on the literature, arts and culture of Newfoundland. He is the author of a biography of Sir Wilfred Grenfell and the editor of several other publications, including Reginald Shepherd & Helen Parson Shepherd: A Life Composed, which was named the Best Atlantic Published Book for 2006.
Dr. Rompkey is currently compiling and editing a collection of correspondence written by Charles Riballier Des Isles, who served – albeit unhappily – as the French consul posted in St. John’s from 1885-1903. The dispatches cover 18 years of rich territory in Newfoundland’s history, including a bank crash, a ministerial scandal and the great fire of 1892. And as with Dr. Rompkey’s earlier work, Terre-Neuve: anthologie des voyageurs français,1814-1914, this collection offers a French perspective that has been largely overlooked in the documentation of the province’s colonial history.
Dr. Rompkey has been awarded a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to continue this work.
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