Press Release:

The University of Alberta Archives is pleased to announce the project to
arrange and describe the J. Gordin Kaplan Fonds is complete.

J.Gordin Kaplan was born in New York City in 1922. He attended the College
of the City of New York from 1939-1943, receiving a Bachelor of Arts
(Biology) in 1943. After serving military duty as a surgical technician from
1943 to 1946 Kaplan received an American Servicemen's scholarship to study
at a European university. For a year Kaplan studied molecular genetics under
Boris Ephrussi at the Sorbonne. Kaplan then enrolled in graduate studies at
Columbia University, obtaining his MA in 1948 and his Ph.D. in 1950. During
these years he studied under L.G. Barth (chemical embryology) and T. Hayashi
(cell biology) and focussed his doctoral research on molecular cell biology.


J. Gordin Kaplan came to Canada in 1950 as Assistant Professor of Physiology
and Biophysics at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In Halifax
he was the founder (1958) and former Chairman of the Board of Directors
(1961-1962) of the Halifax Grammar School, an alternative school, and was on
the Board of Directors of the Nova Scotia Rehabilitation Council.

Kaplan left Dalhousie in 1966 to accept a position as Professor of Biology
at the University of Ottawa. In 1975 he was appointed Chair of the Biology
Department at the University of Ottawa. He held this position until 1981
when he accepted appointment to the University of Alberta's newly created
position of vice-president in charge of research. At the University of
Alberta he was also member of the Biochemistry Department and oversaw grant
allocations from the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. His
numerous accomplishments at the University of Alberta include initiating
technology transfers leading to the creation of the Office of Research
Services; founding WISEST (Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science and
Technology); establishing the Research Policy Committee and the Central
Research Fund.  Kaplan retired from the post of Vice-President (Research) on
July 1, 1987. He succumbed to cancer in 1988.

Dr. Kaplan's career is characterized by a combination of high academic
standards and public commitment. He was President of the Canadian
Association of University Teachers, 1970-1971; Chairman of the Canadian
Federation of Biological Societies, 1975-1976; Co-editor of the Canadian
Journal of Biochemistry from 1973-1981; and served as a member of the
National Research Council Grant Selection Committee for Cell Biology and
Genetics. In the 1960s he was active in the Canadian Committee for the
Control of Radiation Hazards, and in the 1970s he was Chairman of the Ottawa
Committee to End the War in Vietnam. He was a spokesman on national science
policy and he served as Vice-Chairman, Science Policy Committee of the
Canadian Federation of Biological Societies (1969-1973). He was a co-founder
of UNDO (University Nuclear Disarmament Organization). Important programs
and awards recognize his distinguished career. In 1988 the National
Conference on University Research and the Future of Canada was held in his
honor. Since 1989 the University of Alberta has supported the J. Gordin
Postdoctoral Fellowships. These awards support three postdoctoral positions:
one respectively in the humanities and social sciences, the natural sciences
and engineering, and the medical sciences.

The 7.3 metres of exclusively textual records, dating from 1945 to 1988,
provide valuable insights into the career of a gifted and committed scholar.
They include research notes, lecture and teaching files, drafts and
published papers, correspondence, and documentation on his involvement in
professional associations, administration, and his role as a spokesperson
for the scientific community.

This arrangement and description project was completed through the generous
support of the Archives Society of Alberta.

A finding aid is available at the University of Alberta Archives and will
soon be placed on the University of Alberta Web Site:
<www.ualberta.ca/ARCHIVES/.






Bryan Corbett
University Archivist
University of Alberta Archives
University of Alberta
Book and Record Depository (BARD)
100, 8170 50th Street
Edmonton, Alberta
CANADA
T6B 2E2

Tel: (780) 466-6123
Fax: (780) 466-5210
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]

The University of Alberta Home Page is located at
http://www.ualberta.ca/archives/

The home page of the Association of Canadian Archivists is located at:
http://aca.archives.ca

The home page of the Archives Society of Alberta is located at:
http://www.glenbow.org/asa/home.htm