Accession UAA-1973-148 - UAA-1973-148

William Alexander Robb Kerr was born 29 September, 1875 in Toronto, Ontario. He attended the University of Toronto for a Bachelor of Arts degree (1899) and a Master of Arts degree (1901), received an AM degree from Harvard University (1902), an ET from the University of Paris (1903), and then returned to Harvard University for a Ph.D. (1904).

During his career, Dr. Kerr was a Professor of Romance Languages at Adelphi College, New York and then became Head of the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Alberta in 1909. Dr. Kerr was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Arts in 1914 and appointed the third President of the University of Alberta on 15 May, 1936. One of his first acts was to create a "Faculty Relations Committee" to mediate between the Faculty and the Board of Governors. He resigned from his position as President in 1941 and died 19 January, 1945 at age 69 in Edmonton, Alberta.

Dr. Kerr served as a member of the Board of St. Joseph's College, received a Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) honorary degree in 1933, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (F.R.S.C.) in 1936. He was also named an Officer d'Instruction Publique and Chevalier Legion d'Honneur by the French Government for encouraging the study of the French language and literature, including the literature of French Canada, and to create a better understanding of the French Canadian people.