Council 2026-2027

Councillor Profiles

President – Grace McNutt
Dr. Grace McNutt is an Assistant Professor in History at the University of Prince Edward Island. She earned her PhD from Dalhousie University in 2025, where her dissertation examined the writings and contributions of nineteenth‑century seafaring women from Nova Scotia. Throughout her doctoral studies, she remained deeply engaged in public history, serving on the boards of several historical societies and collaborative heritage projects. She has been a member of the RNSHS Council since 2022.

Past President – Stefanie R. Slaunwhite
Stefanie Slaunwhite is a PhD candidate in History at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton. She is currently completing her dissertation on the Dr. W.F. Roberts Hospital School in Saint John, New Brunswick.

Vice President – Programmes – Alex Robben
Born in Truro (the glittering metropolis an hour’s drive from Halifax), Alex Robben is a graduate of Dalhousie’s MA History program. Alex’s research focuses on labour, a specialization inspired by a litany of odd jobs ranging from shuttle driver, to substitute teacher, to warehouse picker. Alex has more recently been involved in Halifax-area political organizing.

Vice President – Publications – James (Jay) F.E. White
James (Jay) F.E. White, Ph.D. holds a doctorate in Canadian History from McMaster University. From 1994 to 2013, he taught university history courses in Nova Scotia and Washington State. He has published articles in Acadiensis, The Northern Mariner and the Journal of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society. Dr. White is the author of commissioned reports for Canada Post Corporation, Parks Canada Agency, Maritime Museum of the Atlantic and Nova Scotia Archives. He presently keeps busy as a private tour guide and Road Scholar speaker.

Vice President – Publicity - Courtney Mrazek
Dr. Courtney Mrazek is a Canadian historian of health who specializes in topics including eugenics, tuberculosis, public health, and settler colonialism in 20th-century Atlantic Canada. She currently holds a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Manitoba under Dr. Stacie Burke, where she is examining sanatoria patient demographics across Canada. 

Treasurer – Dawn Caldwell
Originally from neighbouring New Brunswick, Dawn has lived in Halifax since 1989. Her work experience includes 13 years in the banking industry, 15 years conducting international research and 10 years of retail experience. Dawn's undergraduate degree is in business administration (1982). She also holds a Master of Science in applied epidemiology (2005). 

Recording Secretary – John MacLeod
John Macleod came to history and things historical via a circuitous route.  Academically, John’s chosen field was engineering physics, but he was raised in a family where community groups and local museums were always valued.  His parents dragged him along to Society lectures while still in school, and the exposure stayed with him.  Over the years, John has been the President of the Dartmouth Museum Society, its treasurer, the treasurer of the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia, and for many years he has been the Secretary of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society. John is also currently the manager of the Nova Scotia Archives, and has engaged in some journalism and history work, while also learning French since his time in engineering physics.  A grad of a number of universities, he counts Université Sainte-Anne as his most unique educational experience.

Membership Secretary – Jay Lalonde
Dr. Jay L. Lalonde is an independent historian and translator from Icelandic and Norwegian. They earned their PhD from the University of New Brunswick in August 2026 and are currently working on turning their dissertation “Icelandic Settlement in Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada’s Immigration Policy 1867-85” into a monograph. Jay is interested in Icelandic history and in the intersections of mobility, citizenship, and settler colonialism. Their research has been published in Settler Colonial Studies, Scandinavian-Canadian Studies, the Journal of Canadian Studies, and the edited collection Colonial Entanglements and the Medieval Nordic World. Their first book, The Death of Kjartan Ólafsson, is forthcoming with the University of Wisconsin Press in 2027. Jay lives in Mader's Cove, and, in addition to academic research, has also worked in community archives and museums.

Councillor – Alex Myrick
Alex Myrick is a medical historian from St. John’s, Newfoundland. After earning his BA in History at Memorial University of Newfoundland, he relocated to Halifax in 2016 to pursue journalism but soon pivoted back to history. His current focus on the history of psychiatry began during his MA, and continues in his PhD research at the University of Ottawa. Alex has also worked for the Dalhousie Department of Psychiatry and is the managing editor of the Journal of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society. He currently resides in Dartmouth with his partner Taylor and their two beloved cats.

Councillor – Patrick J. Connor
Dr. Patrick J. Connor received his Ph.D. from York University, where he subsequently taught Canadian history for many years. He has also worked in museum administration, and municipal heritage planning. Patrick lives in Dartmouth, with his family, and a neurotic cat.

Councillor – Raymond Lennark, P.Eng., F.I.C.E.
Born in UK, married with two sons. Emigrated to Nova Scotia over 50 years ago. A Professional Engineer and Fellow of the UK Institution of Civil Engineers. Has worked on major projects in Canada and overseas, including Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe. Fluent in three languages. Retired to Halifax in 2015 to be close to family.

Councillor - Sara Hollett
Sara Hollett has a BA in Atlantic Canada Studies and History from Saint Mary’s University and a MA in Public History from Carleton University. Her MA research focused on the Nova Scotia tourism industry in the 1950s and 1960s. She has worked for the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, Library and Archives Canada, Parks Canada, the Council of Nova Scotia Archives, and Fernwood Publishing. Currently, Sara works at the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for Nova Scotia.

Councillor – Christopher McCreery
Christopher McCreery has served as an advisor to the Canadian and British governments on honours policy. Author of eighteen books, his works, The Canadian Honours System and The Order of Canada, are the principal works on the history of honours in Canada. McCreery has served in various positions in the Senate of Canada and Privy Council Office and is one of the Commonwealth’s foremost scholars on the symbolic and constitutional position of the Crown. Since 2009, he has served as Private Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. From 2012-18, he served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Canadian Museum of History. Along with Professor Michael Bliss and Richard Gwyn, he was part of the triumvirate of historians who diversified and made more accessible the museum’s Canada History Hall, which was opened in 2017.