June 2008

Mrs Nicole C. Eaton, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Institute, has announced that Richard M.H. Alway, OC, Phil.M., D.Litt.S, has been appointed Praeses of the Institute, effective 1 July 2008. He succeeds the Rev James K. McConica, CSB, who will retire on 30 June.

Dr Alway is a seasoned administrator and long-time supporter of the Pontifical Institute. He will assume his new position the day after retiring from eighteen years as President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Michael's College, the Catholic federated university in the University of Toronto. Until two years ago, the Institute was one of the four divisions of St Michael's. Ever since its reconstitution as an autonomous Institute, Dr Alway has served on its Board of Governors. He brings a long commitment to furthering the Institute's multi-disciplinary approach to research, teaching, and publication centred on the intellectual and material cultures of the Middle Ages.

Richard Alway graduated from St Michael's College summa cum laude in 1962. He was a gold medalist in philosophy and has two graduate degrees in history from the University of Toronto. In his long record of public service and administration he was the founding Chairman of the St Michael's Cathedral Council in 1978 and is on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of St Michael's Hospital. In 1980, Cardinal Gerald Emmett Carter, archbishop of Toronto, asked him to represent the archdiocese in conversations with the Anglican Church of Canada, and he has actively promoted study sessions between Christians, Muslims, and Jews. During his tenure at St Michael's he founded the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute and serves as Vice-Chair of its Board and Chair of its Executive Committee.

Dr Alway took leave from his position as Warden of Hart House, the student cultural centre of the University of Toronto, in 1986 in order to serve as Acting Director of the National Gallery of Canada, and the new gallery building in Ottawa took shape under his direction. At the same time he was also appointed Chairman and C.E.O. of the Ontario Heritage Foundation, which oversees the province's architectural, archaeological, and natural heritage, and he held the post for two three-year terms. He has also served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Museums of Canada (1979–1986), as Chairman of the National Gallery of Canada and of the National Programmes Committee of the National Museums, and he was Acting Chairman of the National Museum of Natural Sciences, as well as a member of the Board of the National Postal Museum and the Canadian Opera Company. He is currently the chair of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

In 1989, Dr Alway was inducted into the Order of Canada and was promoted in rank to Officer in 1998. He was awarded the Order of Ontario in 2001. He was appointed Knight of Magistral Grace of the Sovereign and Military Order of Malta (1990), Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre (1994), and Knight Grand Cross with Star of the Order of St Gregory the Great (1999), the highest recognition that can be awarded to a Catholic lay person.