Michael Ignatieff to teach at Faculty of Law

(May 5, 2011) The former leader of the Liberal Party of Canada has a new home base in academia, and it’s at the University of Toronto.  

Massey College, the interdisciplinary graduate college at the University of Toronto, announced it has appointed Michael Ignatieff as senior resident.

Ignatieff will be teaching in various areas, including the Faculty of Law, the Munk School of Global Affairs, the School of Public Policy and Governance, and the Department of Political Science.

He is a graduate of the University of Toronto's Trinity College, and an internationally respected academic and author. He has worked as a journalist, and taught at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard. His many books have ranged from the widely acclaimed The Needs of Strangers to the Booker prize-nominated novel Scar Tissue.  And his celebrated biography of the late Isaiah Berlin is considered definitive.

Says John Fraser, the head of Massey College: “Political leadership often comes with onerous burdens and Dr. Ignatieff has met his challenges with both fortitude and imagination. He will be welcomed into the university community in Toronto by both faculty and students and honoured for his commitment to our national life.  In return, we shall have the benefit from his learning and experience.”