Ian McKay (historian)

Ian McKay
Born
Ian Gordon McKay

1953 (age 7172)
NationalityCanadian
Academic background
Alma mater
ThesisIndustry, Work and Community in the Cumberland Coalfields, 1848–1927 (1983)
Doctoral advisor
  • Michael Cross
  • Judith Fingard
Academic work
DisciplineHistory
Sub-disciplineCanadian history
Institutions
Doctoral studentsAlan Gordon

Ian Gordon McKay FRSC (born 1953) is a Canadian historian who serves as Chair of the L.R. Wilson Institute for Canadian History at McMaster University. He was formerly a professor at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, where he taught from 1988 to 2015. During his time at Queen's, Ian supervised or co-supervised over 33 doctoral theses and 49 master's theses and cognate essays. His primary interests are Canadian cultural and political history, the economic and social history of Atlantic Canada, historical memory and tourism, and the history of liberalism, both in Canadian and transnational aspects. His long-term project is to write a comprehensive history of the Canadian left. He is the younger brother of poet Don McKay.