Alexandra Gillespie
Historian and professor
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Alexandra Gillespie is a New Zealand–born historian, professor of English, and academic administrator who has served as a vice-president of the University of Toronto and the 10th principal of the University of Toronto Mississauga since July 1, 2020. She is also the director of the Digital Humanities Network and the Old Books New Science Lab at the University of Toronto.
Alexandra Gillespie | |
|---|---|
| 10th Vice-President and Principal of the University of Toronto Mississauga | |
| Assumed office July 1, 2020 | |
| President | |
| Preceded by | Ulrich Krull |
| Personal details | |
| Born | |
| Alma mater | |
| Academic background | |
| Thesis | Chaucer and Lydgate in print: the Medieval author and the history of the book, 1476-1579 |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Global book history, Medieval English |
| Institutions | University of Toronto |
Life and career
Gillespie is from New Zealand, where she attended Victoria University of Wellington, earning a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English. She was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship in 1997 and attended the University of Oxford, where she earned her Master of Studies (MSt) at Corpus Christi College and Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil). Her thesis was titled Chaucer and Lydgate in print: the Medieval author and the history of the book, 1476-1579.[1] Following her doctorate, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Balliol College, Oxford and Darwin College, Cambridge.[2][3]
She joined the University of Toronto in 2004 in the Department of English and Drama at the University of Toronto Mississauga, as an assistant professor specializing in manuscript studies, medieval literature, and global book history.[4] She is cross-appointed in the Department of English (Faculty of Arts and Science) and the Centre for Medieval Studies, and organized tours of the Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library.[5][6][7]
Her book Print Culture and the Medieval Author was published in 2006. In 2010, she was awarded the University of Toronto Mississauga's Teaching Excellence Award.[8][5]
On July 1, 2020, Gillespie was appointed the 10th principal of the University of Toronto Mississauga, and vice-president of the University of Toronto, ending on December 31, 2025.[8][9] Her term was extended in 2025 by two years, to run until December 31, 2027.[3][10]
Research
Gillespie is a scholar of 14th-century writer Geoffrey Chaucer, and studies manuscripts, medieval literature, global book history, and fungal growth in books.[3] She is a founder and the first director of the Digital Humanities Network, part of the University of Toronto tri-campus Jackman Humanities Institute, and director of the Old Books New Science Lab.[2]