Prof. R. Barry Farrell, a Canadian citizen who created the Canadian Studies Program, began his teaching and research on the politics of communism, primarily the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. For several years in the mid-1960s, he used his contacts abroad to bring scholars from Eastern European countries to teach for a quarter at Northwestern. Among those who taught here for a term or more were Leo Mates from Yugoslavia, Jiri Stepanovsky from Czechoslovakia, and Longin Pastusiak from Poland. Farrell also arranged for a young Polish scholar, Adam Przeworski, to enter our doctoral program, which he completed in 1996.

In the early 1970s, however, Farrell became more interested in Canadian politics. With major funds from the Donner and Earhart Foundation, and occasional grants from the Canadian government, he devloped a program of academic courses for graduates and udnergraduates onCanadian politics and Canada-U.S. relations. For several years, a faculty member from Canada served as visiting professors in our department. Two of the more frequent visitors were John Meisel and John Courtney.

The program supported several Canadian students toward their PhDs, but far more undergraduates were involved in its activities, particularly serving summer internships in Ottawa and Quebec. Northwestern's program was mentioned favorably in the Canadian press and even in the Canadian House of Commons.

Soon after Prof. Farrell's untimely death in 1991, the program ended.