Engineering Alumni Affairs | University of Waterloo

Waterloo Engineering 50th Anniversary Celebration

Master of Ceremonies:

Michael Higgins, Past President of St. Jereome's University

Michael Higgins

Michael W. Higgins, President and Vice-Chancellor,
St. Thomas University, Fredericton, New Brunswick

Michael William Higgins was born in Toronto on October 24, 1948 where he received his primary school education at St. Thomas Aquinas School and his secondary school education at Vaughan Road Collegiate Institute. He then studied at St. Augustine's College of Philosophy, University of Ottawa and completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Philosophy (magna cum laude) at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia in 1970. He pursued graduate studies in English at York University, where he was mentored by the distinguished poet-scholar Eli Mandel, receiving his Masters degree in 1971 and his Doctoral degree in 1979. In addition, he did a Bachelor of Education degree (Theatre Arts specialization) at the University of Toronto in 1973 and graduate studies in Theology on Newman under Professor James M. Cameron at the University of St. Michael's College, Toronto.

From 1973 to 1982 Higgins taught English at St. Michael's College School in Toronto, During this period he also taught Religious Studies and Theology courses at St. Paul's University in Ottawa, Erindale College in Mississauga, and St. Michael's College. Higgins arrived at St. Jerome's in 1982 and since then he has served the university in numerous capacities: Director of the St. Jerome's Centre for Catholic Experience; Director of the Institute for Studies in Theological Renewal; Chair of the Department of Religious Studies, St. Jerome's University; Chair of the Department of Religious Studies, University of Waterloo; Associate Dean, Vice-President and Academic Dean and most recently, President. He is a Professor of English and Religious Studies and has taught a broad array of undergraduate courses ranging from the history of detective fiction to the history of the papacy, as well as graduate courses ranging from Wilde and the Decadents to the history of the spiritual autobiography. In addition, he was the editor of SJU's Grail: An Ecumenical Journal for twelve of its fourteen years. During this period the journal garnered some sixty awards for design, content, and general excellence.

With SJU colleague Douglas R. Letson, Higgins has co-edited and co-authored numerous books: Portraits of Canadian Catholicism, Women and the Church: a Sourcebook, My Father's Business: a Biography of Gerald Emmett Cardinal Carter, The Jesuit Mystique, and Soundings: Conversations about Catholicism. Their new work, Power and Peril: The Catholic Church at the Crossroads, appeared in February, 2002 published by HarperCollins. In addition, Higgins has co-written work with Donald Grayston, as well as editing and co-editing other books. His award-winning biography and study, Heretic Blood: The Spiritual Geography of Thomas Merton, appeared in 1998 in Canada and the U.S. with French and Italian editions subsequently. The Muted Voice: Religion and the Media, based on his 1998 Seton Lectures delivered at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, was published in December, 1999. He has also published articles and reviews in several scholarly publications, including The American Benedictine Review, Cistercian Studies, The Merton Annual, and Studies in Religion.

Higgins has an extensive media record as a columnist, commentator, scriptwriter, narrator, researcher, and consultant dating back to 1978. He has been a monthly columnist for The Toronto Star since 1986 and is a monthly columnist for Torstar's The Record, and for The Catholic Register. As a radio documentarian for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, he has prepared some fifty one-hour scripts for Ideas, Celebration, and Testament. He has also been a regular contributor to Morningside and its successor This Morning and Sunday Edition, as well as to CTV's Canada AM and to TVOntario's Studio 2. Several of his Ideas series have been nominated for a Gabriel Award, the prestigious U.S. award for broadcasting. Higgins was the Chief Consultant for John McGreevy's six-hour television series, Sir Peter Ustinov's Inside the Vatican, and for John Bailey's film of Ron Hansen's Mariette in Ecstacy. He has also served as a consultant for CBC's Man Alive. His new bookBStalking the Holy: In Pursuit of Saint-MakingBis published by Anansi and aired on the CBC Radio One Ideas seriesCFebruary 15 on Pius XII, February 22 on Teresa of Calcutta and March 1 on Padre Pio.

Dr. Higgins and his wife Krystyna, a professional piano accompanist, liturgical musician and freelance editor, have four children, Rebecca, Andrew, Sarah, and Alexa.