Professor Derek Gregory appointed Peter Wall Distinguished Professor
On the unanimous recommendation of Professor Dianne Newell and the Academic Advisory
Committee of the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at UBC, and with the unanimous
approval of the Wall Institute Board of Directors, President Stephen J. Toope is pleased to
announce the appointment of Professor Derek Gregory, Department of Geography at UBC, as a
Peter Wall Distinguished Professor.
In appointing Professor Gregory, Professor Toope said: “I am delighted that we have this
opportunity to recognize Derek Gregory for his dedication to excellence in research.”
A prolific academician and one of the most cited geographers outside and within the discipline,
Professor Gregory is an internationally renowned scholar in both the social sciences and the
humanities.
He is considered among his peers as one of only a small group of human geographers in the
English-speaking world who have managed to combine major research breakthroughs over a
sustained period of several decades with the ability to reach out to influence a myriad of disciplines
and public discussions in an important way.
His international reputation is amply expressed in his fifteen books, with five new books in various
stages of completion. His new “techno-cultural” history of aerial bombing, work that has already
engaged and been published in cultural studies, philosophy, Arab Studies, Global Studies, and
Defense Studies, takes Professor Gregory’s standing well beyond disciplinary boundaries.
Professor Gregory’s distinctions also include two honorary degrees from European universities,
elections to the Royal Society of Canada and Corresponding Member of the British Academy, the
Founder’s Medal of the Royal Geographical Society, and, most recently, the invitation to present
the Miliband Lecture at the London School of Economics.
He is also recognized as an outstanding teacher and mentor, having been awarded both the I.W.
Killam Teaching Prize and the I.W. Killam Prize for Graduate Instruction. His former doctoral
students (20) have moved into positions of influence among the world’s top universities.
Professor Gregory’s appointment is for a five year term, effective 1 July 2011. The Peter Wall
Institute was established in 1991 to promote and support excellence in research characterized by
being fundamental, interdisciplinary, innovative, and unique. The current strategic direction of the
Institute is to create scholarly partnerships among the international network of institutes of
advanced study to support research of lasting value and international impact.