Major Tanya Grodzinski graduated from McMaster University with a degree in political science. Tanya Grodzinski graduated from McMaster University with a degree in political science. After joining the Canadian Forces in 1983, she held several appointments with Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians), followed by staff appointments in Winnipeg, Halifax and Kingston, working mainly in coordinating military assistance to other government departments and in doctrinal development. Tanya was also the Managing Editor of The Army Doctrine and Training Bulletin (now the Canadian Army Journal) for six years.
In 2002, she completed a Masters of Arts in War Studies at RMC and her thesis on the War of 1812 on the Upper St Lawrence River was nominated for the Governor General's Gold Medal for Academic Excellence. In 2010, Dr Grodzinski completed a doctorate in the RMC War Studies programme. Her dissertation examined the leadership of Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost, the commander-in-chief of British North America during the War of 1812.
Between 2003 and 2020, Dr Grodzinski taught history at The Royal Military College of Canada, including undergraduate courses in Canadian Military History, Canadian History, Military History and Strategic Thought, and Naval History, and graduate courses in naval history and amphibious warfare. Dr Grodzinski also conducted over 80 battlefield tours for RMC, field force units, the Canadian Forces College and other CAF units that studied the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence and the War of 1812.
Dr. Grodzinski also held several appointments including acting chair of the history department, chair of the Military and Strategic Studies Program, and others.
Following retirement in 2020, Dr. Grodzinski was appointed Emerita Associate Professor, and continues to teach undergraduate and graduate courses on an occasional basis. In 2022, she became the Chair of the RMC Cultural Evolution Steering Committee tasked with examining cultural practices on campus.
Select publications
- Author, The Soldiers Performance was First Rate! A History of the Royal Canadian Regiment, 1946-2001 (tentative title, forthcoming 2023)
- Author, ‘American Independence is Not Threatened: British Priorities in the War of 1812,’ in Donald R. Hickey and Connie D. Clark, eds, The Routledge Handbook of the War of 1812 (Routledge, 2016), pp. 15-35
- Author. Defender of Canada: Sir George Prevost and the War of 1812 (University of Oklahoma Press, 2013)
- Author. The 104th (New Brunswick) Regiment of Foot in the War of 1812 (Goose Lane, 2014)
- Editor. The War of 1812: An Annotated Bibliography (Routledge, 2007).