Jacqueline Murray

3M National Teaching Fellow / Professor of History University of Guelph

  • Guelph ON

Expert in the history of contemporary sex and gender. An award winning professor and expert on how to improve teaching and student success.

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Biography

JACQUELINE MURRAY is Professor of History at the University of Guelph. She served as Dean of Arts (2001-2006) and as Director of the First-Year Seminar Program (2011-2016). She is Status Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto. She earned a first class honours degree in History from the University of British Columbia, and an M.A. in History and a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from the University of Toronto. She was a Canada Research Fellow from 1988-1991 and has received numerous research grants. She taught History at the University of Windsor (1989-2001) where she was Founding Director of the Humanities Research Group. She has served as President of the Society for Medieval Feminist Research and President of the Canadian Society of Medievalists. She is a Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University and an alumna of Massey College (Toronto) and Green College (UBC).
Jacqueline is an expert in the history of marriage and the family, women, and gender and sexuality in the Middle Ages. This provides a unique view on the history of western ideas and values pertaining to sex and gender. She has been interviewed on both television and radio and published in national newspapers one questions of sexual values that are clarified by examining their historical roots.
Jacqueline is actively engaged in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, focusing in particular on the impact of first-year seminars and the transformative power of enquiry-based learning. She has published articles in the Canadian Journal of Higher Education, the Canadian Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching. Her teaching innovation and excellence has been acknowledged by the John Bell Award from the University of Guelph, the D2L Innovation Award from the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and the Special Merit Award from the University of Guelph Faculty Association. In 2014 she received a 3M National Teaching Award.

Industry Expertise

Education/Learning

Areas of Expertise

Medieval and Early Modern History
Women and Gender Studies
Pedagogy in Higher Education
Student Learning Outcomes

Accomplishments

Donald Bullough Fellow in Mediaeval History

2017-02-06

Department of Mediaeval History, University of St Andrews, St Andrews Scotland

3M National Teaching Fellow

Canada's top award for postsecondary teaching. awarded 2014

John Bell Award for Teaching Excellence

2013

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Education

University of Toronto

Doctor of Philosophy

Medieval Studies; Sex, Gender and Sexualtiy

1987

University of Toronto

Master of Arts

History

1979

University of British Columbia

Bachelor of Arts (Honours)

Honours History

1978

Affiliations

  • Status Professor, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto
  • Visiting Senior Fellow, Green College, University of British Columbia
  • Life Member, Clare Hall, Cambridge University
  • Alumna, Massey College, University of Toronto

Languages

  • English

Media Appearances

Convocation Address: “Let curiosity be your guide and your inspiration,”

University of Guelph  online

2013-10-09

An inspirational review of what students learn and will take with them into their future life.
Also mounted on the Council of Ontario Universities website:

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A Phallus in Wonderland. A Cultural History of the Penis

CBC Radio, Ideas  radio

2006-11-21

Historical consultant and extensive on air interviews for CBC ideas program investigating masculinity and the phallus throughout history.

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The History of Sex

The History Channel  tv

1999-08-15

A five-part series for The History Channel. On air interview about sex and sexuality in the Middle Ages. First aired August 1999 (episode 3)

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Research Grants

“To Have and To Hold: Marriage in Premodern Europe, 1200-1700.”

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada,

Multidisciplinary, international meeting of researchers on the history and development of marriage in western society, 1200-1700.

“Male Sexuality and Gender Construction in the Middle Ages.”

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

Major research project to understand the interrelationship between male sexuality and embodiment and the cultural construction of masculinity in the Middle Ages. The project provides insights into contemporary understandings of masculinity.

“Passages: 300 Years of Francophone Presence at Le Détroit”

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

An international meeting focusing on the integrated distinctly francophone culture that spanned the Detroit River -- Le Détroit -- from the earliest settlement to the 1960.

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Articles

“Practice of female genital mutilation must be stopped.”

The Guelph Mercury

2015-01-31

A discussion of FGM in Africa as a gratuitous practice, not based on religion as is often contended but as an instance of extreme misogyny.

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“Arbitrary Western Ideas Won’t Save Ghana’s ‘witches,"

Guelph Mercury

2014-07-11

Article challenges the Western pressures on the Ghanaian government to close the witchcamps and send the women back to the villages they fled. The issue is not witchcamps but the way witchcraft accusations can be manipulated, much as was seen in the European MIddle Ages with the witch hunts. Co-authored by Lauren Wallace and Jacqueline Murray,

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“Stealing relics: An ancient pastime that lives on today”

Globe and Mail

2014-02-25

A historical overview of the theft of relics to provide context for the recent theft of a relic of Pope John Paul II/

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