Paul Robert Magocsi

Who is Paul Robert Magocsi?

Paul Robert Magocsi is an American professor of history, political science, and Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto. He has been with the university since 1980, and became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1996. He currently acts as Honorary Chairman of the World Congress of Rusyns, and has authored many books on Rusyn history.

Born in Englewood, New Jersey, Magocsi is of Hungarian and Ruthenian descent. He completed his undergraduate studies at Rutgers University B.A. in 1966; M.A. 1967, Princeton University in M.A. 1969, Ph.D. 1972. He then went to Harvard University, where he was a member of the Society of Fellows between 1973 and 1976. In 2013 he was awarded doctor honoris causa by the University of Presov in Slovakia.

Magocsi has taught at Harvard University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In 1996 he was appointed permanent fellow of the Royal Society of Canada - Canadian Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences.

Besides his primary focus on East-Central European history, Magocsi is a scholar of nationality and ethnicity more generally, and edited the collection Aboriginal Peoples of Canada: A Short Introduction.