MacEwan University is pleased to announce its newest research award, the Chancellor’s Research Chair.

MacEwan University’s inaugural Chancellor’s Research Chairs are Dr. Michael MacDonald, associate professor, Department of Music, Faculty of Fine Arts and Communications, and Dr. Nicolae Strungaru, professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Arts and Science. 

"I am thrilled to offer congratulations to MacEwan's first Chancellor's Research Chairs," says Dr. Tony Fields, chancellor. "Recognizing Dr. MacDonald and Dr. Strungaru with this award reflects both the excellence of their research and the university's commitment to nurturing thought leadership in multiple academic disciplines.”

About the Chancellor’s Research Chairs

Dr. Michael B. MacDonald is an award-winning cine-ethnomusicologist, author of three books and associate professor of music in MacEwan University’s Faculty of Fine Arts and Communications. His ongoing cinematic research creation investigates the interface of music ethnography and cinema production as documented in “CineWorlding: Scenes of Cinematic Research-Creation” (2023). Dr. MacDonald’s films have screened at more than 70 film festivals, winning documentary and experimental film awards.

He is a member of the program committee for KISMIF, an international conference on DIY music and culture; member of the scientific committee for combArt; an active member of the International Council of Traditional Music Study Group on Audiovisual Ethnomusicology; co-founder of the Justice4Reel Media Advocacy Free School and the Little Kindness Collective; and is currently the Film and Video Editor for the Yearbook For Traditional Music.

Dr. Nicolae Strungaru received a B.Sc. from the University of Bucharest in 1999 and a PhD from the University of Alberta in 2006. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Victoria and has been a faculty member at MacEwan University since 2010. Between 2015 and 2016, during a leave of absence from MacEwan University, he took a position at Trent University.

Between 2009 and 2015, Dr. Strungaru was a problem editor and then an Olympiad Corner editor for the journal Crux Mathematicorum with Mayhem. Since 2016, he has been the editor for the COMC Problem of the Week section with the Canadian Math Society. He is a board member for the Alberta High School Math Competition.