Fonds P0229 - Leah Sherman fonds

Leah Sherman was born in Montreal in 1925 and died on September 2, 2015. She graduated from Baron Byng High School in 1942. After completing her graduate studies at New York University, she joined Sir George Williams University in 1950 to teach part-time in the Faculty of Arts and became assistant professor in 1960. She was promoted to associate professor in 1965 and to full professor in 1969. Professor Sherman, along with Douglass Clarke and Alfred Pinsky, helped to found the Department of Fine Arts at Sir George Williams University which in 1974, became the Faculty of Fine Arts of Concordia University. With Alfred Pinsky and Stanley Horner, she conceptualized and implemented the original Fine Arts curriculum. She provided leadership in the development and implementation of the BFA in Art Education (1965), the MA in Art Education (one of the first two graduate programmes offered at SGWU), the PhD in Art Education (1967) and the Diploma in Art Education for Certification (1969). She obtained the first authorization to certify teachers for Québec schools for SGWU in 1969. Professor Sherman was the first director of graduate programs in Art Education. She was assistant Chair in the Department of Fine Arts in 1973-1974 and Director of the Visual Arts Division in 1975-1976.

Professor Sherman has served on many University Task Forces and committees. In recognition of her expertise in children’s artistic development, she has been a member of the Centre for Research in Human Development since 1981.

Her work in the history of Québec art education, particularly the work and legacy of Anne Savage, has provided an important source of archival information for teachers and researchers. She collaborated with Suzanne Lemerise of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) on joint histories of art education in Quebec from English and French perspectives. She retired from Concordia University in 1994.