Western University is taking a new approach to fundraising, using alumnus Alice Munro’s recent Nobel Prize fame to boost the school’s creative programs.
The university will appoint someone to the $3-million Alice Munro Chair in Creativity, a position they hope will represent the school’s creative efforts across all faculties, as well as the English department itself.
“We’re looking for a creative thinker,” Bryce Traister, chair of the school’s Department of English, said. Traister added that the university is hoping to “advance the importance” of the study of creativity and literature as part of the school’s other programs.
Western is more widely known for its business degrees than its creative programs, Traister explained. He said the department is trying to show that “creativity . . . is not separate from a career.”
Traister said he has high hopes for the expansion of this department over the next few years, thanks to the chair.
He said he thinks Munro’s quiet fame makes her a good name for such a position.
“Western is taking its association with her and trying to do something good,” he said.
David Bentley, an English professor at Western, said he agrees with Traister.
“There is such an affection for her in Canada,” he said.
Bentley hopes that the chair will “bring attention to the English Department as a whole . . . as well as bring balance to the university’s public image.”
Traister said the chair is employing “a new undertaking in university fundraising—the crowd-sourcing approach,” which means anyone can donate in small amounts online.
This is part of a larger fundraising campaign, a five-year, $750-million project intended to benefit the entire university.
