Biographical Information

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION


Rev.Michael McGowan received his Ph.D in canon law from the University of Ottawa and his JCD from Saint Paul University. Currently, he is a retired Associate Professor of Human Rights, Director of the Human Rights Programme and Director of the Atlantic Human Rights Centre at St. Thomas University, Fredericton, N.B. His research areas are religious freedom, human rights education and Holocaust Studies. He has served as a member of the academic senate of St Thomas University and served on a number of university committees. He is also a former member of the Board of Governors of that university. He has published numerous books and articles on law, human rights and health care. He has delivered workshops and conference papers in the area of human rights, social justice and law throughout Canada and Europe. In addition to his academic responsibilities Dr. McGowan served as an appeal judge of the Canadian Ecclesiastical Tribunal in Ottawa. In addition, he served as a visiting professor in the Legal Education Leadership Programme at Saint Paul University, Ottawa. In January 2005, he was invited to become a Visiting Research Fellow in Human Rights at Roehampton University, London, England. Currently he is conducting research on survivors of the Holocaust living in Atlantic Canada as well as former internees of the Ripples Interment Camp in New Brunswick. In 2006 and 2007, Dr. McGowan was visiting scholar for the March of Remembrance and Hope, A Student Leadership Mission to Germany and Poland where he lectured on topics such as human rights, genocide and the Holocaust. He recently completed the production of a 30-minute documentary on the legacy of John Peters Humphrey (one of the principal drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). Finally, he serves as one of four vice-presidents of the International Human Rights Education Consortium based at Utica College, Utica, NY.