Marc Gervais Prize in Communication Studies

This Prize is named in fond memory of the former faculty member and alumnus of the University, Marc Gervais S.J., who passed away on March 25, 2012.

He was a professor in the Department of Communication Studies for 30 years. He was a colleague, a mentor, a friend and confidante. Father Marc Gervais was born in Sherbrooke, Quebec, in 1929. In 1950, he graduated from Loyola College (now Concordia University) with a Bachelor of Arts. In 1960, he earned a Master of Fine Arts in Drama at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and in 1979 completed his PhD in film aesthetics at the Sorbonne. Dr. Gervais was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1963.

He was an expert on Ingmar Bergman and, in 1999, published his seminal work Ingmar Bergman: Magician and Prophet. He was a regular at the Cannes Film Festival and was known in film circles simply as “the Jesuit”. At the same time he was grounded in his faith and dedicated his career to preserving Loyola College's humanist tradition.

His film courses—there were many—were immensely popular with students and non-students. Themes included: Alfred Hitchcock, Hollywood in the Silent Era, Germany in the 1920s, John Ford and the Western and Ingmar Bergman and the Scandinavians, to name a few. Film Ideas, a course in which students analysed a film a week—usually at Cinema V and then in class—was especially well-liked, just like Father Marc Gervais himself.

Marc Gervais left a remarkable legacy in the Department of Communication Studies and his famous flair for teaching influenced many people at Concordia and beyond. His passion for film and humanism, along with his charismatic lectures, provided a rich and dynamic forum for teaching students how to appreciate and “read” film. The Department of Communication Studies endeavours to continue this tradition, recognizing the importance of its past practices by creating this prize for undergraduate students whose works embrace the spirit of Marc Gervais's enthusiasm and ideals for media arts.

The Prize shall be granted through competition to full-time students or recent graduates of the University, including Canadian citizens, permanent residents and international students, who have completed the requirements to graduate from the University with a Bachelor of Arts in any Communication Studies program or recent graduates of the University who have obtained their Bachelor of Arts in any Communication Studies program at the immediately preceding convocation. Students will compete for the Prize based on academic achievements and the quality and potential of their media arts projects.

In-course bursaries Concordia offers need-based In-Course Bursaries to returning Bachelor's students in the Fall semester.

Application deadline The 2024-2025 Undergraduate In-Course Bursary Program will be open April 1, 2024.

In-Course Bursaries are awarded by the Financial Aid and Awards Office to previously admitted students following an application-based competition that includes a financial need test and holistic committee review. Applicants are notified of the results after the Financial Aid and Awards Office receives results from the bursary committee.

The In-Course Bursary program normally open April 1, 2024 and will close on May 15, 2024.