One of UNB's distinguished research centres, The Milton F. Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society is devoted to excellence in the study of war as a complex social phenomenon. With the goal of increasing understanding of the cause, course, and consequence of armed conflict, the Gregg Centre is internationally recognized for its graduate program, undergraduate and graduate teaching, public outreach, popular and scholarly publications, and its expertise in all aspects of modern conflict.
In the 1970s UNB developed an innovative and academically rigorous approach to teaching and writing military history. In 1980 UNB established Canada's first research centre and scholarly journal devoted to the study of terrorism and low-intensity conflict. In 2006, those two initiatives came together in the Gregg Centre.
We remain committed to academic excellence and innovation in the study of one of humanity's most tragic and perplexing social activities, and to the notion that knowledge and understanding are the foundations of a better world.
The Gregg Centre supports one of the most comprehensive programs of courses on war, society and on modern military history in North America. Our approach is broad - ranging from military social history, the laws of armed conflict, the impact of war on society, sea power, campaigns and battles of the great wars of the 20th century, the role of war in the development of Canada, how armies and navies have been organized and how they fight.
Proximity to CFB Gagetown allows us to put students in contact with modern soldiers, their equipment and their experience overseas. We emphasize getting out of the classroom, touring battlefields, sites of conflict, studying abroad, getting into archives and mastering the technology of the era. This multifaceted approach and our close working relationship with CFB Gagetown mark our program as exceptional. Moreover, teaching by the Gregg Centre's staff, all active, publishing scholars associated with one of UNB's consistently top-ranked departments is informed and invigorated by their cutting-edge research in various fields.
If you want to study the nature of war, its impact on society and modern military history, UNB is the place for you.
All students taking courses through the Gregg Centre are encouraged to explore sites of interest related to the discipline of war and society outside the classroom. To facilitate this, the Centre organizes tours to nearby CFB Gagetown, supports and sponsors students for the Canadian Battlefield Foundation (CBF) tours, including UNB's own Second World War in Italy Intersession in Italy program, as well as other study tours programs, such as the "March for Remembrance and Hope" study tour of Holocaust sites in Germany and Poland.
Through the University of New Brunswick's History Department, The Gregg Centre supports both MA and PhD level study in various areas of the discipline of war and society, including military history. Our approach is professional and demanding.
We expect a professional commitment from our graduate students and a professional standard of scholarship based on primary research. To facilitate that, our MA students receive up to $1,500.00 and PhDs up to $5,000.00 for research at appropriate archives in Canada, Britain, the US and other countries. Such support for archival research, especially at the MA level, is virtually unique and speaks to the Centre's strong belief in effective training in the discipline of history. The result is usually excellent original scholarship. Several of our MA theses have been published as monographs.
The Gregg Centre also supports its graduate students in delivering scholarly papers at academic conferences, and most of our MA students and all our PhDs have an opportunity to participate in study tours abroad. These include those organized and run by the Centre, as well as others such as those organized by the Canadian Battlefields Foundation. Successful graduates of the Gregg Centre have gone off to do important work in policy analysis, in government and in the diplomacy world.
The Gregg Centre provides a dynamic and challenging program of courses and activities for a whole range of students, from first-year undergraduates to those working on PhDs. The Gregg Centre offers undergraduate-level courses in war and society-related topics available for credit to students from across the UNB and Saint Thomas University campuses and from all disciplines.
Undergraduate enrolments typically comes from the Arts Faculty but upper-level courses on War and Society topics are sought out by students from other disciplines seeking interesting electives to round out their degree. Soldiers from the Canadian Forces are often found in the classes delivered by the Gregg Centre.
