Fonds F0226 - Ellen Baar fonds

Ellen Baar (d. 1998) was a professor at York University in the Division of Social Science. After completing Grade 12, Baar attended Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, and the University of Michigan where she studied international relations and psychology. Soon after, she worked at the Mental Health Research Institute, and the Institute for Social Research before returning to school in 1961 to study international relations at Northwestern University and social psychology at the University of Michigan graduate school. Baar left Michigan in 1964 to begin a family but returned to teaching and research at York in 1971 where she worked until her death in 1998. She taught the course 'Canadian Problems' and her research covered a variety of topics, such as environmental regulation, studied from the perspective of social organization. To facilitate this research, Baar was a corresponding member of numerous federal and Greater Vancouver Regional District environmental and air quality committees. Books edited or authored by Baar include "Social Conflict and Environmental Law: Ethics, Economics and Equity," and "Inventory of Regulatory Approaches to Achieving Compliance." Baar was also very active in the York community and the York University Faculty Association on matters related to equity and fairness. She served YUFA for over 15 years on a wide range of issues including pay equity, financial analysis and the strike of 1997. In addition, she sat on the Joint Pay Equity Committee from its formation in 1993 and the Joint Study Committee for Affirmative Action for Women. She was the author of their final report in 1987. To honour her life and achievements, the Ellen Baar Award in Social Science was created in 1998.