Saint Mary's

Established as a Senate-approved Research Centre in May, 2010, the Scott McCain & Leslie McLean Centre for Sport, Business and Health facilitates and conducts research on sport, health and wellness. Under the leadership of Dr. Colin Howell, the McCain McLean Centre has had an active history. Its high profile conferences, Putting it on Ice (2012), the 41^st annual meeting of the North American Society of Sport History (2013), and the “Thinking Outside the Box: Transnational Lacrosse Conference” (2014) have brought international recognition to the Centre. The Centre has been involved in various smaller symposia and lecture series on a continuing basis. In 2017 we were a co-sponsor of a student conference on the Philosophy of Sport organized by Dr. Lisa Gannett, and of an evening celebrating the all-black hockey line at Saint Mary’s (1970) and a screening of a documentary on black hockey, organized by Dr. John MacKinnon. We hosted the 10th anniversary of our renowned Hockey Conference in 2021, and in 2022, held a virtual talk with Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot and a panel of scholars and athletes to discuss his short film about Lusia Harris, The Queen of Basketball. 

In addition to conferences, symposia and guest lectures, the McCain McLean Centre has an active visiting researcher program, including post-doctoral fellows and other academics active in sport and health research. Over the years we have hosted scholars from all over North America, Great Britain, and Europe (including Russia). The McCain McLean Centre has also been active in community-oriented research initiatives at the local, national and international levels, including work with various sporting bodies such as Sport Nova Scotia, and a number of sport heritage agencies including Canada’s Sport Hall of Fame.

Our research projects address a range of concerns, from a SSHRC-supported study of sporting borderlands to work on mental resiliency and the development of mental health strategies for organizations. Within the University we have been especially committed to involving students in our activities, from conference planning to the development of our Here for Peers student mentoring program, the Healthy Teams project and the Student Athlete Mental Health Initiative. We are presently developing a Student Athletes Village initiative in collaboration with the Department of Athletics.

Finally, we were active participants in the establishment of a certificate program in Health, Wellness & Sport in Society in association with the Faculty of Arts, which offered its first course in the winter of 2018.

Quinn MacDonald

Operations Support Specialist

Quinn MacDonald graduated from Saint Mary's in 2024, completing her Honours in Psychology and Certificate in Health, Wellness and Sport in Society. Her Honours thesis project investigated the relationship of team identity, and adaptive performance strategies and well-being among student athletes at Saint Mary's under the supervision of Dr. Jim Cameron. Quinn is also an Open Championship level Irish Dancer. Throughout her Irish Dance career she has qualified and competed on the Regional, Canadian National, North American National and World stage in both solo and team performances under the direction of Rebecca Chapman and Laura Hopper at Rising Tide Irish Dance Academy. She has successfully completed all 12 grade examinations required to take the final examination to become a certified Irish dance teacher (TCRG). Quinn has also completed the Irish Dance Teachers Association of North America (IDTANA) Traditional Set Proficiency Project. She has had the opportunity to perform locally with groups such as the Symphony Nova Scotia and Heather Rankin, the Chieftains, for the Charitable Irish Society and corporate events, as well as various community performances and festivals. Presently, Quinn is a coach with Rising Tide Irish Dance Academy and has been since 2018 and is still competing with the goal of returning to the World Championships of Irish dance as a soloist. 

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Dr. Colin Howell

Founder, Retired

Dr. Colin Howell is a retired History professor and the founder of the Centre, which was first known as the Centre for the Study of Sport & Health at Saint Mary’s University.  His teaching and research focused on the history of sport, medicine, and health in Canada. At Saint Mary’s, Dr. Howell was also a co-founder of the Atlantic Canada Studies undergraduate and graduate programs, the Gorsebrook Research Institute, and the Austin Willis Moving Images Research Centre. Dr. Howell has published widely in the field of sport and health studies, authoring Blood, Sweat and Cheers: Sport and the Making of Modern Canada (2001), Northern Sandlots (1995), a history of the Victoria General Hospital in Halifax and several edited collections. As of June 2020, Dr. Howell retired from his position with the Centre but will remain on the Advisory Board. We celebrated his 50 years at SMU during summer 2021 at the 10th anniversary of The Hockey Conference, which he founded at Saint Mary’s in 2001. Dr. Howell recently published a book called Hardscrabble Diamonds, Postwar Baseball in New England and the Maritimes, 1945-1960, with McFarland Press (2023).