Donald Ivey


Donald G. Ivey was the principal of the University of Toronto's New College from 1963 to 1974.

Career

After receiving his PhD in 1949, he joined the University of Toronto’s Department of Physics as Assistant Professor of Physics, becoming a full Professor in 1963.
In collaboration with his colleague Patterson Hume, Ivey helped to steer the teaching of physics in a new direction through the use of educational television programs and movies. Hume and Ivey prepared and presented over one hundred television programs for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on various physics topics. Short films such as Frames of Reference and the TV show The Nature of Things used humour and creative camerawork to make physics accessible to a wider range of students.
Ivey was Principal of New College and Vice-President of the University of Toronto. Upon his retirement, he was appointed Professor emeritus in 1987. He died on June 25, 2018.
He received numerous awards throughout his career, including the Award of Honour from the University of Notre Dame in 1965 and the Robert A. Millikan award from the American Association of Physics Teachers for "notable and creative contributions to the teaching of physics" in 1987. For the education work he carried out with Hume, an asteroid was named HumeIvey in their honour.