Ronald Frank Burnett, O.C., O.B.C.
Vancouver, British Columbia
President emeritus of Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Ron Burnett is dedicated to arts education. He continues to solidify the school’s international reputation as a leader in the arts, speaking and writing in Canada and abroad while working with the Centre for Transdisciplinary Studies and Learning Development Institute.
This is a promotion within the Order.
Member of the Order of Canada
Awarded on: 2013-11-21
Invested on: 2015-02-13
For his leadership in arts education, notably as president of Emily Carr University.
Ron Burnett has had a lasting impact on arts education in Canada. Throughout his academic career, he has contributed to the development of film and cultural studies in Canada, notably as the founder of Ciné-Tracts, an early Canadian cultural studies journal. A forerunner in the widespread use of social media, he was among the first 20 years ago to establish a website and weblog, still visited today as a forum for meaningful communication. As president and vice-chancellor of Emily Carr University of Art and Design for the past 18 years, he has overseen a significant expansion of the institution and its conversion into a university, and is credited with keeping the school on the cutting edge of technology, design and art.