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Sara Morris, vice president for academic affairs, has named Richard A. Bailey, PhD, the Fitzpatrick Professor of History. In this new role, Bailey will collaborate with faculty colleagues to bring a diverse and engaging number of prominent speakers to campus, under the auspices of the college’s Fitzpatrick Lecture Series. 

Bailey is an associate professor of history at Canisius and chair of the History Department.  He joined the college faculty in 2008 as an assistant professor of history with an academic focus on early American history to 1815, American religious history, African-American history, slavery in the Americas, and race and critical race theory. 

The Fitzpatrick Lecture Series at Canisius is part of the larger Fitzpatrick Institute of Public Affairs and Leadership at the college, which provides an array of opportunities for Canisius students to develop leadership potential through close contact with and exposure to those who contribute to American public affairs and societal issues. 

The institute and the Fitzpatrick Lecture Series are named for William H. Fitzpatrick, a South Buffalo builder and longtime chair of the Erie County Democratic Party.  His sons, Paul E. and Walter D. Fitzpatrick, endowed the Fitzpatrick programming at Canisius in 1958, in memory of their father.  A few years later, in 1962, the Hon. Harry S. Truman, 33rd president of the United States, inaugurated the Fitzpatrick Lecture Series at Canisius.  Each year since, Canisius has hosted national figures in politics, government, academia and media, including Jane Goodall, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Bernice King, all under the auspices of the Fitzpatrick family.

Click here to learn more about Richard Bailey and the Fitzpatrick Lecture Series.

Submitted by: College Communications