Dr. Guy Berthiaume (1950- ) is a Canadian historian specialized in the study of Ancient Greek Religion. He has been Chair and CEO of Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec since June 22, 2009.
A native of Montreal, he obtained a doctorate from the Université Paris VIII in 1976, following an MA degree from the Université Laval (1973) and a BA from UQAM (1972). His doctoral thesis, written under the supervision of Marcel Detienne, was published in 1982 under the title Les rôles du mágeiros. Étude sur la boucherie, la cuisine et le sacrifice dans la Grèce ancienne (Leiden and Montreal).
Starting in 1976, the first 20 years of his professional life were dedicated to research administration. After five years at the Université de Montréal, he joined the Fonds FCAC (which eventually became the Fonds FCAR), a non-profit organization created by the Government of Québec in 1981. He founded the Scholarships department and subsequently headed the Research Support and Dissemination department. In 1984, he joined the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) as assistant director, Research Services, a position he held until 1987 when he left to become the assistant to the vice-rector - Academic. During this period, Guy Berthiaume was a member of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Association of University Research Administrators (CAURA), an association he chaired from 1989-1990.
In 1989, at the invitation of Rector Claude Corbo, he became the vice-president of the UQAM Foundation, the university’s fundraising organization. Over the next seven years, under his direction, the Foundation raised more than $31 million. In 1996, he became a professor with UQAM’s history department. Over the next two years, he created two new courses, developed a study trip to Italy, and supervised the work of five MA students.
After spending a year at the helm of UQAM’s Office of Partnerships (1999), he was selected in 2000 to serve as the director of the Canadian Students’ House at the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris. Over the next two years, he organized the festivities for the 75th anniversary of the House (October 2001) and edited the proceedings of a colloquium held on September 10, 2001 (La Cité internationale universitaire de Paris. 75 ans d'évolutions, Paris, 2002).
In 2002, he was recruited by the Université de Montréal to become the vice-rector and chief of staff to Rector Robert Lacroix. In March 2003, he was appointed vice-rector of development and public affairs, a position he continued to hold following the appointment of the new rector, Luc Vinet, in June 2005, with the title of vice-rector, development and alumni relations.
August 2008 marked his return to the Université du Québec à Montréal, where he held the position of vice-rector, research and creation, in the new team established by Rector Claude Corbo. In this role, he was responsible for the development of scientific and artistic activities at UQAM, as well as for international relations.
He has served as Chair and CEO of Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec since June 22, 2009. This institution includes a major public library - the Grande Bibliothèque - a preservation centre, nine archives centres: Gatineau, Montréal, Québec, Rimouski, Rouyn-Noranda, Saguenay, Sept-Îles, Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières and an antenna in Gaspé. On March 25, 2010, he was elected secretary general of the Réseau francophone numérique (RFN), an organization that includes 16 heritage libraries from 14 member countries of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (see: www.rfnum.org).
Guy Berthiaume is a Knight in the Ordre des Palmes académiques of the French Republic (2006). He received the Dan Chase award from the Canadian Association of University Research Administrators in 2000 and the medal of the Centre Jacques Cartier in 2007.
From 2004 to 2008, he served as the chairman of the Board of the Corporation de la Cité universitaire internationale de Montréal. He is the vice-chair of the Comité d'orientation Québec-Canada of the Centre Jacques Cartier and a member of that center’s executive committee.
In January 2010, he was appointed as a mentor by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. As such, he is working with Xavier Gravend-Tirole, doctorandus in theology and science of religions at the Université de Lausanne and the Université de Montréal.