Dr. Rosann Greenspan may be one of the Canadian Studies Program's newest board members, but her connections with Berkeley go back several decades. Hailing from Ontario, Rosann moved to Berkeley to attend graduate school and has lived there (mostly) ever since. Prior to her retirement in 2019, she served as executive director of the Center for the Study of Law and Society at UC Berkeley. Read below to learn what motivated her to join the Canadian Studies advisory board, and why she thinks the program is a valuable resource for all Canadians in the Bay Area.
What’s your connection to Canada, and how did you get involved with Canadian Studies at Berkeley?
I was born and raised in Niagara Falls, Ontario. After college in the States (Vassar and Yale), I returned to Canada. I received my M.A. at the Centre for Criminology at the University of Toronto, worked for the Law Reform Commission of Canada in Ottawa, spent some time as a grad student at McGill, built a log cabin in the Yukon, and lived in the beach town of White Rock, B.C., among other adventures. I moved to Berkeley for a Ph.D. in the then fledgling interdisciplinary program Jurisprudence and Social Policy, which seemed tailor-made for my interests. Other than a few years in the '90s in Washington, DC as a U.S. Supreme Court Fellow and as Research Director of the Police Foundation, I have lived in Berkeley and been connected to UC Berkeley since 1980. I retired last year after many years as the executive director of the Center for the Study of Law and Society. My family are all in Toronto and I return there frequently, several times a year.
What do you think are the strengths of Canadian Studies?
Canadian Studies provides an intellectual lifeline to Canadians at UC Berkeley and throughout the Bay Area. Whether visiting scholars passing through only for a few months, or transplants like myself who have settled here, I’ve yet to meet a Canadian affiliated with UC Berkeley who, once connected to the Canadian Studies Program, isn’t hooked! It provides a hub for Canadians whose work may not be obviously related but who crave the connection.
But beyond that, Canadian scholarship, as Irene’s marvelous expansion of speakers has shown, leads the way in cutting edge thinking in so many fields. I have no doubt that more and more scholars across the university are turning their attention to what Canadian Studies has to offer. As Executive Director of the campus Center for the Study of Law and Society (CSLS), I had the privilege of cosponsoring a number of speakers with the Canadian Studies Program. The first, and to me most memorable, was my late brother Edward Greenspan, a Canadian criminal and civil rights lawyer, fresh off the trial of Conrad Black in Chicago, speaking to the experience of American criminal justice from a Canadian perspective. Canadian Studies founder and champion Tom Barnes, among his many exceptional qualities, was such a marvelous host. CSLS also cosponsored visiting scholars with Canadian Studies. Windsor Law Professor Laverne Jacobs was a CSLS Visiting Scholar and a Fulbright Scholar in Canadian Studies.
What are your goals and priorities as a member of the board?
I’m quite new to the board and only recently attended my first board meeting in November. I bring almost 40 years at UC Berkeley and strong associations in Toronto to the table, and hope they can be put to creative use.
Tell us a fun anecdote about being a Canadian in the Bay Area.
I remember the day I drove into Berkeley in August 1980, after a solo cross-country drive that began in Montreal. As a foreign student, the one location I knew about was International House, where the Berkeley International Office was. I thought I might be able to rent a room there while I looked for an apartment. So I drove from I-80 up University Avenue and into the main gate of the university. I spoke to the gatekeeper, and asked him for directions to Piedmont Avenue. Only I pronounced it as you would in Montreal - I think it must have sounded something like "Peeyaymoan" in my poor accent. I wasn’t being fancy, I honestly couldn’t remember how to say it in English. He had no idea what I was saying. So he helpfully asked where I was trying to go and I told him International House and off I went. As it turned out, I-House did not have a room for me, but they were able to point me in the direction of a dorm that rented rooms by the night in the summer.