The University of Alberta Faculty of Law is proud to congratulate our colleague, Associate Professor Eric Adams, for earning a 2016-17 Killam Professorship.
Each year, the University of Alberta awards a maximum of eight Killam Professorships to academics who have demonstrated a record of outstanding scholarship and teaching for three or more years. The award recognizes scholarly activities, supervision of graduate students, and service to the community above and beyond what is normally expected of a professor. Professor Joanna Harrington earned the award in 2012.
The University of Alberta established the Killam Professorships in 1991 following a generous bequest from Izaak Walton Killam and Dorothy J. Killam. The awards are sponsored by the Killam Trusts, one of the only private, philanthropic trusts for higher education in Canada. Prof. Adams will be honoured alongside the other Killam Professorship recipients at a ceremony at the University of Alberta on October 3, 2016. A list of the 2016-2017 Killam Annual Professorship Recipients can be found on the University of Alberta website.
"It is an immense honour to be recognized in this manner," said Prof. Adams. "I owe a large debt to my outstanding colleagues and students at the Faculty of Law who have shaped me as a scholar and teacher. I am especially pleased that the Killam Professorship takes into account all facets of academic life. For me, doing my job well means equal focus on scholarly research, responsive teaching, and participating in conversations and research that will benefit the broader public."
Prof. Adams joined the University of Alberta Faculty of Law in 2007. He researches and teaches in the fields of constitutional law, legal history, labour and employment law, and legal education. He is a frequent media commentator and editorialist, and his published work includes many book chapters, essays, and articles for leading Canadian peer-reviewed law journals, including the University of Toronto Law Journal, McGill Law Journal, Dalhousie Law Journal, and the Alberta Law Review. Two of Prof. Adams' articles have earned national awards - the Canadian Association of Law Teachers Scholarly Paper Award (2014) and the Peter Oliver Prize from the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History (2007). His expertise is frequently sought by government and private parties dealing with complex constitutional matters.
Prof. Adams speaks regularly to the Canadian Bar Association and other legal audiences, and is active with the Centre for Constitutional Studies' efforts to engage in public education on constitutional law matters. He is the co-applicant of and lead legal historian on a $2.5M SSHRC Partnership Grant (2014) entitled "Landscapes of Injustice" investigating Canada's dispossession of the property of Japanese Canadians during the 1940s. Working in collaboration with historians and geographers across the country, the seven-year project connects university researchers with local, provincial, and national museums, primary and secondary school teachers, and a community council of Japanese Canadians.
In addition to his scholarly accomplishments, Prof. Adams' teaching has been recognized at both the Faculty and University level with the Hon. Tevie H. Miller Teaching Excellence Award (2011) and the Provost's Award for Early Achievement of Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (2012) respectively. In addition to work with a number of graduate students, Prof. Adams recently supervised Dr. Sarah Hamill to the completion of the Faculty's first PhD.
"It is a tremendous honour for Professor Adams to have his commitment to teaching, research, and service to the University and the broader community recognized with a Killam Annual Professorship," said Dean Paul Paton. "In addition to the honours he has received for his teaching and his work with graduate students, he has made important contributions to public dialogue on the importance of the Constitution in Canada. Eric's most recent achievement - one of a number of awards and accolades that have been bestowed upon our faculty in recent weeks - is yet another indication of the outstanding accomplishments in research, teaching, and service by members of the Faculty of Law."