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Students at the University of
Victoria will be able to learn from
some of Canada’s top working
journalists, thanks to a $250,000
donation from one of the country’s
leading publishing families.
The gift will create a prestigious
annual lectureship in the department
of writing in memory of
Harvey Stevenson Southam, a
UVic alumnus who was an heir
to the Southam publishing empire
when he died suddenly in 1991.
The donation was given by
Southam’s mother, Jean Southam
of Vancouver, who has maintained
an active interest in UVic for many
years. In 1994 she also donated
$250,000 to support students in
the writing department’s Harvey
Southam diploma program.
The Harvey Stevenson Southam
Lecture Fund in Journalism
and Non-Fiction will cover the
annual appointment of a journalist
of national renown to teach for
one semester a year in the writing
department.
The first appointment will
be made in 2008. During the
appointment, the visiting writer
will give a public lecture on issues
related to contemporary journalism,
teach an upper-level journalism
course and provide valuable
mentorship to young writers and
aspiring journalists at UVic.
“We’re immensely grateful to
Jean Southam for her donation,”
says Lynne Van Luven, acting chair
of UVic’s writing department. “The lectureship will enhance
the teaching of non-fiction in the
professional writing minor in journalism
and publishing, and will
augment the non-fiction major for
students at both the graduate and
undergraduate levels.”
Harvey Southam, the son of
Gordon Thomas and Gertrude
Jean (née MacMillan) Southam,
worked as a journalist at the Winnipeg
Tribune, Vancouver Province,
and Vancouver Sun before serving
as a director of a number of Southam
companies, including Southam
Inc., Southam Printing Ltd., and
Coles Book Stores Ltd.
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