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Archives:
April 16, 2008
Queen's IRC Road Show Heads West
January 29, 2008
Change management for feds: Program jointly developed with CSPS
December 17, 2007
Queen's IRC Senior Fellow Dr. David Weiss Garners International Accolades
November 15, 2007
Creative collaboration: Queen’s IRC and The Banff Centre join forces
October 16, 2007
The Conductive Organization: Leveraging Knowledge to Build Capability
August 29, 2007
Vic Pakalnis of Ontario’s Ministry of Labour is Amethyst Fellow at Queen’s SPS
May 25, 2007
Queen's IRC Launches Ottawa Alumni Chapter
May 12, 2007
IRC Alumni Event in Halifax May 23, 2007
April 9, 2007
Queen’s IRC Granted $1 Million by Ontario Government for Contributions to IR Practitioner Education
March 15, 2007
HR Meeting of the Minds: Queen's Conference in Kingston
November 23, 2006
CBC’s HR/IR Leader Shares the Secrets of Strategic Negotiations
October 31, 2006
After the (Program) Rush: IRC Survey Shows How Organizational Learners Are Supported
October 30, 2006
Queen's IRC Launches First Alumni Chapter
October 24, 2006
CBC’S George Smith Presents Don Wood Lecture Nov. 9
August 3, 2006
Richard McKinnell of OPS Joins School of Policy Studies as a Fellow
July 19, 2006
New Director: Paul Juniper
June 9, 2006
Managing Across the Generations
June 1, 2006
Roy Heenan's Contributions Recognized with Award
May 29, 2006
Diversity Is the Spice of Organizational Life
May 19, 2006
Steve Lehrer Appointed NBER Research Fellow
March 21, 2006
Queen's IRC Symposium Papers Now Online
Feb 22, 2006
Queen’s MIR Program Welcomes New Professor
Feb 11, 2006
Buzz Hargrove on the State of the Unions
Oct 05, 2005
High Performance Professional Teams: A Symposium
Aug 25, 2005
IRC Director: The search for Dr. Beatty's successor begins
Aug 2, 2005
Popular SPS Fellow Is Going to the Senate
July 21, 2005
Former Queen's Business professor passes away
April 28, 2005
IRC has “Vision”: Centre wins major HR award
February 22, 2005
Change Management - Clinics
July 14, 2004
“Teams” Research Grants Announced
May 1, 2004
Industrial Relations Centre has a New Queen's Partner
April 15, 2004
Call for Research Papers: High Performance Professional Teams
January 6, 2004
Queen's IRC Makes Its Mark in School Board Reform
22 October 2003
OD Certificates: Presenting the IRC’s #1 Alumnus
June 22, 2003
IN MEMORIAM: Dr. William Donald Wood
May 15, 2003
Queen’s IRC Introduces Organization Development Training for HR Managers
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June 22, 2003
For immediate release
IN MEMORIAM: Dr. William Donald Wood
Canada’s “Dean of Industrial Relations” bridged the gap between academia and the world of work
The Queen’s Industrial Relations Centre (IRC), the university, and the entire Canadian industrial relations community is saddened by the loss of an exceptional leader and friend, Dr. William Donald (“Don”) Wood. Dr. Wood passed away in Kingston on June 21. “His devotion to the study of IR is legendary, and he will be greatly missed by his many colleagues, students, and friends,” says Dr. Carol Beatty, director of the IRC. “But his legacy to the academic world and the world of work will endure.”
Dr. Wood had a long and distinguished career. He was the IRC’s director from 1960 to 1985, as well as a professor of economics. In 1983, he became director of the School of Industrial Relations, established to offer the multidisciplinary Masters of Industrial Relations program he was instrumental in creating. Despite his retirement in 1985, Dr. Wood ran the IRC’s continuing education program for another five years, and led training seminars well into the 1990s.
Dr. Wood’s main influence on the study of IR was to link academics with IR practitioners; a dual focus also reflected in his pre-IRC experiences. After serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War, he studied economics at McMaster, Queen’s, and Princeton, where he received a scholarship to complete his PhD, and wrote his thesis on white-collar unionism. Then he gained practical experience as director of employee relations research at Imperial Oil for five years.
During 25 years as leader of the IRC, Dr. Wood built a world-renowned research and training institution, one that thrived while most of Canada’s other industrial relations centres folded. He helped shape public policy through his research and publications program — which informed debate on key issues such as wage price controls in 1975 — and by serving on many federal and provincial task forces.
At the same time, Dr. Wood pioneered his continuing education program to teach human resources managers about employee-employer relationships. His talent for bringing together leading authorities from industry, unions, government, universities, and consulting firms for seminars enriched the education of IR students across Canada and around the world.
“His mission was to bridge the gap between academia and the world of work,” says Dr. Pradeep Kumar, director of the Queen’s School of Industrial Relations. “That is his biggest legacy. Over five thousand people have graduated from IRC programs, and everywhere you go, you come across someone who attended them.” Don was like the dean of Canadian industrial relations.”
Dr. Kumar, a long-time friend and colleague who was Dr. Wood’s graduate student in economics 37 years ago, says his classrooms were never dull. “He was an animated person who involved you in discussion and debate – he didn’t lecture much. He welcomed controversy to get the talk going. He might bring in a union and a management representative, plus someone from a non-union company, to bring the world of work into the classroom. He believed you learn through practice, and not simply through reading books.”
Dr. Wood’s influence on the study of IR will continue to be felt in many ways — most visibly, through the Don Wood Visiting Lectureship. It was established in 1987 by colleagues and friends to honour his many accomplishments at the university, and in the broader Canadian industrial relations community. The lectureship brings to Queen’s distinguished individuals from the realms of academia, government, unions, and industry who have made contributions to IR. |
