Joint Chair in Women's Studies,
University of Ottawa and Carleton University
In 1985, the Office of the Secretary of State created a Joint Chair in Women's Studies at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. Four other chairs of women's studies, in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Quebec City and Halifax, were also established under the same program.
Working in both French and English, the incumbent of the Joint Chair in Women's Studies at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, teaches, engages in research and participates in appropriate committees and events on both campuses. She acts as a resource person on women's issues and feminist research at both universities. She also establishes and maintains contact with local, regional, national and international feminist educational and community-based organizations.
Since its establishment, the following women have been incumbents of the Joint Chair in Women’s Studies: The Honourable Monique Bégin, Greta Hofmann Nemiroff, Pnina G. Abir-Am, Wendy Robbins, Ann Porter, Eva Rathgeber, Rajkumari Shanker, Agnès Whitfield and Pamela Walker.
Dr. Lori Burns is the new incumbent of the Joint Chair in Women’s Studies at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. She has been a Professor of Music since 1993 and has served as Chair of the School of Music (2000-2005), as Vice Dean Research in the Faculty of Arts (2005-2010) and as Vice Dean Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Arts (2010-11). Upon completion of her Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1991, she accepted her first academic appointment at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Her M.Mus. degree was awarded in 1986 from the University of Alberta (the province of her birth), her B.Mus. in 1984 from the University of Western Ontario, and she holds an A.R.C.T. in piano performance (Royal Conservatory of Toronto).
Dr. Burns is an active researcher in the field of popular music studies and has published articles in edited collections published by Oxford University Press, Garland, Routledge, and the University of Michigan Press, as well as in leading journals (Popular Music, Popular Music and Society, The Journal for Music, Sound, and Moving Image, Studies in Music, Music Theory Spectrum, Music Theory Online, The Journal for Music Theory, and repercussions. Her book on popular music, Disruptive Divas: Critical and Analytical Essays on Feminism, Identity, and Popular Music (Routledge Press, 2002) won the Pauline Alderman Award from the International Alliance for Women in Music (2005). Dr. Burns’s research publications and presentations offer analytic studies of the popular music made by women, including the artists Tori Amos, Beyoncé, Björk, Ani Difranco, The Dixie Chicks, PJ Harvey, Billie Holiday, Lady Gaga, k.d. lang, Courtney Love, Madonna, Sarah McLachlan, Me’Shell Ndegeocello, P!nk, Bessie Smith and Willie Mae Thornton. While this body of work explores a number of different musical genres and social themes, Burns’s interpretive work is nevertheless always grounded in a reflection on female subjectivity, agency and gender representations in popular music culture.
Dr. Burns’s program of research has been supported by SSHRC (1997-2000, 2002-2005 and 2007-2010) as well as by internal research funding from the University of Ottawa. She is the co-editor of Tracking Pop, a series of monographs on popular music, published by the University of Michigan Press. She has served in leadership roles in the Society for Music Theory as well as the Canadian University Music Society.
Joint Chair in Women's Studies
Dr. Lori Burns
Office : 30 Stewart, #200
Telephone : (613) 520-6644
Fax : (613) 562-5994
laburns@uOttawa.ca
Administrator of the Joint Chair in Women's Studies
Hélène Boudreault
Office: 30 Stewart, #203
Phone: 613-520-6644
Fax: 613-562-5994
hboudre@uOttawa.ca