March 27th, 2026

Professor Maria Popova has been appointed to the Hiram Mills Chair in the Department of Political Science. This is one of the oldest endowed chairs at McGill, historically supporting excellence in the humanities and social sciences.

In the words of Sir William Dawson, a geologist, administrator, and Principal of McGill University between 1850 and 1893, "Major Hiram Mills, an American gentleman, resident for twenty years in Montreal and familiar with the struggles of the university, left us by will the handsome sum of $43,000 to endow a chair in his name, as well as a scholarship and a gold medal. On this endowment the Governors have placed the chair of Classical Literature" — a designation since expanded to broader contributions to the social sciences and humanities.

Material sourced from The Montreal Medical Journal, Volume 22 (1881), ed. G.E. Fenwick, T.E. Roddick & George Ross, 495.