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Description area
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History
David Jay Bercuson was born in Montreal on 31 August 1945, the son of Joseph Myer and Sylvia (Green) Bercuson. As a teenager he attended Monklands High School in Montreal. After completing high school in 1962, he attended Sir George Williams University, graduating with a B.A. in 1966 where he received the Lieutenant-Governor's Silver Medal for History. He completed his graduate studies in History at the University of Toronto, receiving his Master's in 1967 and his Ph.D. in 1971. His dissertation was entitled "Labour in Winnipeg: The Great War and the General Strike." His first teaching position was as a visiting assistant at the University of Calgary (1970-71). The following year he was hired as an assistant professor at the University of Calgary. He was promoted to associate professor in 1975 and to full professor in 1978. Dr. Bercuson was dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies from 1989-96, and became director of the Strategic Studies Program (now Centre for Military and Strategic Studies) at the University of Calgary in 1997. Dr. Bercuson has written or co-authored more than thirty books and numerous journal articles on the subjects of Canadian Labour, political, diplomatic and military history; the Middle East; Canadian regionalism and constitutional crises; anti-semitism; and higher education in Canada. He has delivered papers at numerous conferences and universities in Canada, the United States, and Central and South America. He has published in numerous newspapers and news magazines, and has done political commentary for CBC radio and television and CTV television. As a consultant, Dr. Bercuson has undertaken legal and historical research on various constitutional and political issues. He also served as a member of the Leader of the Opposition's Advisory Group, Alberta Liberal Party. From January to April 1997, he was a Special Advisor to the Minister of National Defence on the Future of the Canadian Forces. In October 1997, he was appointed to the Minister of National Defence's Monitoring Committee on Change in the Canadian Forces and the Department of National Defence. Dr. Bercuson has been awarded numerous honours, fellowships and research awards. In 1988 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 1998, Concordia University conferred on him the honourary degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.