"Build for the future!" The educational biography of the Very Right Reverend Doctor Monsignor Gregory J. McLellan

This thesis examines the social impact that Monsignor Gregory James McLellan made to higher education on Prince Edward Island at St. Dunstan’s University. As the Rector at St. Dunstan’s University for eight years (1915-1923), McLellan was able to expand the educational reach in the province numerically in terms of students attending the college and the creation of buildings to serve those students as well as metaphorically through an egalitarian approach to education for the masses. This thesis argues that the impact the Very Right Reverend Doctor Monsignor Gregory James McLellan made to higher education in the province of Prince Edward Island can be interpreted as causing societal change through the fostering of partnerships between the church, clergy, laity and community for the advancement of education on Prince Edward Island. Additionally, by using McLellan’s life to demonstrate one man’s impact to his society through a case study, this thesis demonstrates the importance of interpretive biography to the field of sociology. The research for this thesis is qualitative composed of a literature review of historical documents written by and about the subject of this thesis. It begins with a historical context of the subject’s family history and his return to Island life. The emergence of an education system on Prince Edward Island is examined followed by an in-depth analysis of McLellan’s rectorship at St. Dunstan’s University and the transition to rural life in Tignish and back to urban life in Summerside. It concludes with the final days of McLellan’s life and a look back at the impact he made to education on the Island. The thesis uses the works of Norman Denzin and C Wright Mills to demonstrate the theoretical importance of biography in the field of sociology in order to explore how societal change is created within an institutional environment.