Dr. Kazim Bacchus established international courses at U of A
praised by Aga Khan, peers
| Duncan Thorne |
| The Edmonton Journal |
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
EDMONTON – The Aga Khan once praised Dr. Kazim Bacchus for his “pivotal role” in establishing an educational institute at Pakistan’s Aga Khan University.
Dr. Bacchus is remembered so fondly for his work in launching AKU’s Institute for Educational Development that the institute recently held a memorial service to mark his death.
The College of the Bahamas, which he once served as its principal, also plans a service for Dr. Bacchus, who died March 22 in Edmonton of a lung-scarring disease.
“He was internationally famous, yet with his colleagues and students he came across as just one of them,” recalls Raj Pannu, who became a professor in what is now the University of Alberta’s educational policy studies department the same year Dr. Bacchus did, 1969.
“He went out of his way to help people,” says Pannu, former Alberta NDP leader. “He was a man that you immediately knew that you could trust.”
Dr. Bacchus, 77 when he died, was born in Guyana. He would receive a series of academic degrees over the years, starting at the London School of Economics. His highest award, in 1992, was a doctor of literature degree, which ranks above a PhD, from the University of London. It was the university’s first such degree in the field of education.
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The Aga Khan, Prince Karim Al Husseini, would write to Dr. Bacchus after his retirement, crediting him with being key in putting the institute on a firm footing.
The Aga Khan, who is the leader of Nizari Ismaili Muslims and one of the world’s wealthiest philanthropists, praised Dr. Bacchus’s “practical approach to problem solving” and his “ability to attract, recruit and mentor faculty.”
Gulshan Merchant, who earned her PhD under Dr. Bacchus’s guidance, recalls his skill as a mentor. She was working on a master’s degree in London when he encouraged her to pursue the PhD at the U of A.
She doubted she could qualify so did not fill in the application forms until he pressed her to do it. Then he carried her application back to Edmonton because he suspected she would not mail it.
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