Dr. Benjamin Allan Quigley, BA ’67

Professor, St. Francis Xavier University

2007 Honouree

Dr. Benjamin Allan Quigley obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree with a double baccalaureate in English and philosophy through Campion College in 1967. After teaching English in India, Dr. Quigley returned to the University of Regina where he obtained a Master of Arts degree in English from the University of Regina and, later, received a doctorate in Adult and Continuing Education from the Northern Illinois University.

Dr. Quigley has impacted the perceptions and pedagogical approaches to adult education and adult literacy throughout his 40 years in the field. He has held numerous positions which support adult literacy, including director of Adult Basic Education for the Regina Plains Community College, director of the Saskatchewan University Affairs Branch of the Department of Education, and assistant professor of Adult Education at Penn State University, where he developed both the Master of Adult Education program and the Center for Graduate Studies. Dr. Quigley’s advances to the field and his skills as an author, public speaker and educator have been recognized nationally and internationally. His book, Rethinking Literacy, won the Cyril O. Houle Award for Outstanding Literature in 1998. He is also the recipient of the Kenneth J. Mattran Award for literacy leadership, the Pennsylvania State University Award for Academic Excellence from the Department of Distance and Continuing Education, and the Award for Adult Educator of the Year from Pennsylvania’s Association of Adult and Continuing Education. Dr. Quigley is currently on a leave of absence from St. Francis Xavier University, where he is a professor, to help the Saskatchewan Literacy Commission develop policies and programs which he believes will “further build lifelong literacy in this province.”