A steadfast advocate for built heritage in Newfoundland and Labrador has been awarded an honourary doctorate from MacEwan University.
Shane O’Dea, a longtime English professor at Memorial University, has been given the honour for his research to expand architectural history.
O’Dea says one of the things that drives him in his work is uncovering the histories of the various properties he’s worked on.
For example, when O’Dea started working on a property on Kenna’s Hill he knew nothing about it, and there was no recorded information about it. However, over the course of his work he uncovered an “immense” amount of information—including lists of tenants and owners, and what they did to the home.