Dr. Tim Cook ’90, a Trent University alumnus, best-selling author, and one of Canada’s foremost historians can now add another prestigious title to his distinguished resume – member of the Order of Canada.
On December 26, 2014, Dr. Cook was announced as one of 95 new appointments to the Order of Canada by His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada.
Dr. Cook discovered his passion for history as a student at Trent University in the early 1990s. He credits the faculty members he met in the History department and their passion for their subject and for teaching for drawing him into the field.
“The program gave me a very strong foundation for all the other things I’ve done in my life,” he says. Of the many skills he developed during his undergraduate degree, several have been key in his work. “The critical one, which I still hope is at the core of arts degrees, is being a good communicator. We want students to become good writers, to read widely and to be able to synthesize their thoughts. Those are skills that I didn’t have when I came to Trent, but I did when I left.”
Today, Dr. Cook is centered at the heart of the Canadian historical scene: working at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, where he has curated the First World War permanent gallery and other exhibitions since 2002. He also teaches at Carleton University, and has authored seven books, many of them award-winning, including Warlords, The Madman and the Butcher, Shock Troops, At the Sharp End, Clio’s Warriors, and No Place to Run. In 2013, he received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee for his contributions to Canadian history and was awarded the Governor General’s Award for History (formerly the Pierre Berton award). His newest book, The Necessary War, is the first volume of a two book set to explore Canada in the Second World War. The second volume, Fight to the Finish, will be published this year.
The Order of Canada, one of our country’s highest civilian honours, was established in 1967, during Canada’s centennial year, to recognize outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation. Over the last 45 years, more than 6,000 people from all sectors of society have been invested into the Order.
Read more about Dr. Cook and his Trent experience in the 50th anniversary edition of Showcase http://www.trentu.ca/showcase/overview_cook.php
Posted on Monday, January 5, 2015.