Brett Fairbairn

Provost and Vice-President Academic,
University of Saskatchewan
Former Head, Department of History
Fellow in Co-operative Thought and Ideas
and most recent former director,
Centre for the Study of Co-operatives
University of Saskatchewan
101 Diefenbaker Place
Saskatoon, SK
S7N 5B8

ph: 306.966.8505
fax: 306.966.8517
email: brett.fairbairn@usask.ca

Brett is a Rhodes Scholar with a stellar academic career. His research and teaching are concerned with the history and interdisciplinary study of democracy, social movements, and co‑operative enterprises in Canada and around the world. He has more than 80 publications, including his two most recent books, Co-operative Membership and Globalization (co-edited with Nora Russell) and Living the Dream: Membership and Marketing in the Co-operative Retailing System. Brett models his scholarship on the idea of engagement between the academic world and the real-life issues of organizations and communities. He is a strong believer in the duty of citizens to participate in volunteer organizations and has held many leadership roles in Saskatoon and Saskatchewan. In recognition of his public and scholarly contributions, Brett was awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal by the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan in 2002.

From 2002-2007 Brett was principal investigator of the largest research project ever undertaken on co-operatives in Canada. In 2009, Brett accepted the position of Provost and Vice President Academic at the University of Saskatchewan.  He lives in Saskatoon, Canada with his wife Norma and their three children.

Publications by Brett Fairbairn with the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives are:

• Cohesion, Adhesion, and Identities in Co-operatives. Brett Fairbairn (42 p.), 2006.
• Co-operative Heritage: Where We’ve Come From. Brett Fairbairn (18 p.), 2006.
• “Canada’s Co-operative Province”: Individualism and Mutualism in a Settler Society, 1905–2005. Brett Fairbairn (76 p., Occasional Paper), 2005.
• Building a Dream: The Co-operative Retailing System in Western Canada, 1928–1988 (reprint). Brett Fairbairn (352 p., Book), 2004.
• Cohesion, Consumerism, and Co-operatives: Looking ahead for the Co-operative Retailing System. Brett Fairbairn (26 p.), 2004.
• Co-operative Membership and Globalization: New Directions in Research and Practice. Brett Fairbairn and Nora Russell, eds. (320 p., Book), 2004.
• Living the Dream: Membership and Marketing in the Co-operative Retailing System. Brett Fairbairn (288 p., Book), 2004.
• The Role of Farmers in the Future Economy. Brett Fairbairn (22 p.), 2003.
• Three Strategic Concepts for the Guidance of Co-operatives: Linkage, Transparency, and Cognition. Brett Fairbairn (38 p.), 2003.
• Canadian Co-operatives in the Year 2000: Memory, Mutual Aid, and the Millennium. Brett Fairbairn, Ian MacPherson, and Nora Russell, eds. (356 p., Book), 2000.
• Co-operative Development and the State: Case Studies and Analysis. Two volumes. Vol. I, pt. 1: Summary, Observations, and Conclusions about Co-operative Development; vol. I, pt. 2: Issues in Co-operative Development and Co-operative–State Relations, Brett Fairbairn (66 p.); vol. II, pt. 3: Co-operative Development and Sector–State Relations in the U.S.A., Brett Fairbairn and Laureen Gatin; vol. II, pt. 4: A Study of Co-operative Development and Government– Sector Relations in Australia, Garry Cronan and Jayo Wickremarachchi (230 p.), 2000.
• Interdisciplinarity and the Transformation of the University. Brett Fairbairn and Murray Fulton (48 p.), 2000.
• Prairie Connections and Reflections: The History, Present, and Future of Co-operative Education. Brett Fairbairn (30 p.), 1999.
• Balancing Act: Crown Corporations in a Successful Economy. Brett Fairbairn (16 p.), 1997.
• Credit Unions and Community Economic Development. Brett Fairbairn, Lou Hammond Ketilson, and Peter Krebs (632 p., Book), 1997.
• The Meaning of Rochdale: The Rochdale Pioneers and the Co-operative Principles. Brett Fairbairn (62 p., Occasional Paper), 1994.
• Farmers, Capital, and the State in Germany, c 1860–1914. Brett Fairbairn (36 p., Occasional Paper), 1991.