Robert Gardner (academic)

Robert Gardner (b. April 4, 1938) is a Scottish Canadian television writer, director and producer. He is a professor emeritus of Ryerson University, having served three times as Chair of the School of Radio and Television Arts before retiring in 2003.

Biography

Early life and education

Robert Gardner was born in Parkhead, Glasgow, Scotland on April 4, 1938 to Robert Gardner and Jean Cooper Gardner. His siblings were twins, ten years his senior. Irene Gardner Keeney became an award-winning journalist, and Jean Gardner Cole is a respected specialist and trainer in child development. He attended Newlands School, Riverside Senior Secondary, and - during a period of time in East Africa - the Eldoret Hill School in Kenya. In 1951 his family emigrated to Simcoe, Ontario, Canada, where he completed high school at Simcoe Composite School in 1956. He married Anna Maria Galuppi in 1961 and had three children: Robert Edward Gardner Junior, Andrea Maria Gardner, and Jared Joseph Gardner.

Robert Gardner Senior graduated from the School of Radio and Television Arts at the Ryerson Institute of Technology in 1959. He earned BA and MA degrees in English literature from McMaster University (while at McMaster University he was awarded an Ontario Graduate Teaching Fellowship) and a doctorate in education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. His Master degree thesis (Adaptation of Works of Literary Merit to the Film and Television Forms) was supervised by the noted film scholar, Professor Graham Petrie, Faculty of English, McMaster University. The Doctoral thesis (Structuralism and Procedural Knowledge as Keys to Understanding the Dramatic Form}, was supervised by Professor Richard Courtney, Department Of Curriculum, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. In 1972, when Ryerson evolved into Ryerson Polytechnic University, Gardner was awarded a Bachelor of Applied Arts degree in Radio and Television Arts.

Career

Gardner began his career as a writer and producer at CHCH-TV in Hamilton, Ontario. After a period of time as a commercial writer he began to create cultural documentaries. Titles included The Mood of Quebec (winner of the Bronze Fleur de Lys from French Language Broadcasters), The Great Adventure (dealing with Kenneth David Soble's plans for the urban renewal of Hamilton, Ontario), An Eye for Eternity (The international fine arts exhibition at Expo 67 in Quebec), The Face of a Leader (the race for the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party), The Enigmatic Knight (The story of Sir Allan Napier MacNab and Dundurn Castle), This Man, This Prime Minister, This King (the story of Canadian Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King) and Biographer to a City (The story of the Hamilton Spectator).

In 1969, while he was serving as a sessional faculty member teaching film history to graduate students at McMaster, he was invited to teach part time at Ryerson in the School of Radio and Television Arts. He joined the full-time faculty at Ryerson in 1972 and was, almost immediately, appointed the Vice Chair of the School. In addition to his teaching and administrative duties he continued to write, produce, and direct cultural documentaries, including Prophecy (the winner of a Gold Medal at the Atlanta International Festival, featuring Canadian actor, John Colicos. The Canadian Film Awards (writer/researcher), Dante (writer/researcher, working with Lister Sinclair at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), Leave this Not to Cain, narrated by Pierre Berton and produced by Canadian broadcaster, senator Betty Kennedy, The Prophet from Pugwash (nominated for a Canadian Film Award), A History of the Canadian Labour Movement, Insight with Betty Kennedy, and The Great Chinese Exhibition (video taped in Stockholm, London, Toronto, and Paris). In the early seventies he attended Marshall Mcluhan's media workshops in the University of Toronto's Centre for the Study of Culture and Technology. In 1978 he had been appointed Chair of the School of Radio and Television Arts. He left that position three years later to complete his academic studies at OISE and to pursue freelance writing and production activities in the media. He successfully defended his doctoral thesis in 1983.

In 1994 he was re-appointed Chair of the School of Radio and Television Arts at what had become Ryerson University. Utilizing his theoretical studies in dramatic theory, he created an innovative writing program as the Head of Media Writing. As a specialist in curriculum design he was commissioned to create intensive courses for adult learners. This resulted in the course of study for Canadian Women in Communications, a program designed specifically for the Canadian Department of National DeFence, and (in concert with his colleague, Professor Charles Zamaria) a curriculum for Heritage Canada. Dr. Gardner carried out consultancies for the Bahamian Government, Victoria College (University of Toronto), the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Ontario Educational Communications Authority (to examine Public Affairs programming) and the Foundation for International Training on site in the former Yugoslavia. In the eighties he and his wife began to spend extended periods of time in the town of Larino, Molise, Italy. His research into the history of the town led to his being awarded "The Silver Wing" (Ala D'Argento), an honour normally only bestowed on exceptional citizens of the community. In the nineties he researched and wrote a series of articles for Playback featuring prominent Canadian and American writers, including multiple Academy Award-winner James L. Brooks, Paul Haggis, Michael Weiss, Al Jeans *(both Producers and writers with The Simpsons), Peter Mehlman of Seinfeld, and others. He began a series of visits to Los Angeles to meet with prominent writers on location. Other assignments for TV Ontario (The Ontario Educational Television Authority) were The Academy on Modern China, A Question of Justice (Co producer, script editor, and EFP director), Today's Special (Story editor, EFP director), Aspects: The Drama as Meaning (Director/Producer). Dr. Gardner's third term of administrative duty as the leader of RTA's communications program at Ryerson was in the period from 1999 until 2003. Upon his retirement he received the title, Professor Emeritus, Ryerson University. He was the first graduate of the RTA program to become the Chair of the School and he was the longest serving (as Vice Chair and Chair) senior administrator of the School of Radio and Television Arts, Faculty of Communication and Design.

In retirement Dr. Gardner has continued to write. He was hired as a contract editor by Oxford University Press. His experiences in academe and in southern Italy are reflected in his novel, Conversations in Paradise.

Published works

• Larino, Larino, La Bella Città; Conversations in Paradise (Lulu, 2009)
• This Man, This Prime Minister, This King. Director, Producer, Writer. (CHCH-TV, 1965)
• The Mood of Quebec. Director, Writer, Researcher, Co Producer. (CHCH-TV, 1966)
• The Great Adventure. Executive Producer, Kenneth David Soble. Robert Gardner, writer, researcher, director, producer. 1967.
• An Eye for Eternity (A Study of the International Fine Arts Exhibition at Montreal). Ninety minutes. Director, Producer, Writer. (Niagara Television Limited, 1967)
• Leave this not to Cain. Sixty minutes. Writer/researcher. (Kennedy Horizons, 1969)
• Dante. Sixty minutes. Writer, researcher. Produced by Lister Sinclair. (CBC, 1970)
• Aspects: The Drama as Meaning. Series. Writer, co-producer (with Dr. Norman Rosenblood), and director. (TVO, 1970)
• Prophecy Ninety minutes. Producer, writer, director. (The Ontario Educational Communications Authority, TVO, 1971)
• Insight with Betty Kennedy. Series. Executive Producer, Betty Kennedy. Robert Gardner, director. (TVO and Kennedy Horizon, 1972)
• Through Lies of Silence, Towards the Citadel Two one hour programs. Series in the history of the Canadian labour movement. Producer, writer, director. (TVO, 1972)
• This Vibrant Land (Featuring Canadian Artists). Thirty minutes. Writer, director. (Kennedy Horizons, 1972)
• The Great Chinese Exhibition. One hour program. Dealing with the movement of a collection of precious antique art over three continents. Writer, direction, Producer. (TVO, 1974)
• The Canadian Film Awards. Writer/researcher. (CBC, 1977)
• ''The Prophet from Pugwash: The Story of Cyrus Eaton. Writer. (CBC, 1978)
• Wuthering Heights. Dramatic episode for children. Thirty minutes. Writer, researcher, director. (TVO, 1978)
• Today's Special. Series for children. Thirty minutes. Executive Produced by Professor Clive VanderBurgh. Robert Gardner, Head Writer, EFP director. (TVO, 1981)
• Between the Lines. Featured columnist for Playback Magazine in series of articles dealing with prominent writers. (Brunico Communications, 1963-66)
• Riddle of Wizard's Oak. Creator, Head Writer, Co Producer. Educational Series for children. (TVO, 1984)
• A Question of Justice. Series. Four one hour programs. Co-producer, Story Editor, EFP Director.(TVO, 1994)
• Larino, il Popolo. Writer of preface of collection of ancient sayings and songs of the people of Larino. Written by Aristide Vitiello. (Vitiello, 2004)

Awards and honors

• 1967: Ontario Graduate Teaching Fellowship to the Faculty of English, McMaster University McMaster University, Faculty of English
• 1971: Gold Medal, awarded by the Atlanta International Film Festival for Prophecy, written, produced, and directed by Dr. Robert Gardner.
• 1998: Awarded a grant of $200,000.00 by CTV to enhance the media writing curriculum at Ryerson University.
• 1999: Ruth Hancock Award, "for contributions to the field of media through education" Central Canadian Association of Broadcasters
• 2002: Sierhey Khmara Ziniak Award, "for contributions to multiculturalism in education" Canadian Ethnic Media Association
• 2007: The Silver Wing Award, (Ala D'Argento) "presented by the Community of Larino, Molise, Italy, for outstanding service to the Town" Larino

External links

• Larino: The Miracle of the Molise