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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