The Canadian University Music Society (MusCan, formerly CUMS) / Société de musique des universités canadiennes (MusCan, formerly SMUC) was incorporated in 1989, though its origins stretch back to 1965. Today, the society is commited to dialogue on issues affecting the university music community as well as the advancement of musical scholarship. As a member institution of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, MusCan conducts annual conferences, sometimes in association with the Congress of Social Sciences and Humanities. As part of the society’s commitment to the development of young scholars, student-oriented sessions 
form an integral part of the society’s annual conferences. In addition, since 1988, MusCan has held an annual competition (named in memory of George Proctor, a pioneer in Canadian music research) for the best scholarly paper delivered by a Canadian research student. An annual award for the best student submission to the call for compositions for our annual New Music Concert was instituted in the 1990s.
Below is a list of those who have held the office of president of the society:
- Arnold Walter, 1965-67
- Clement Morill, 1967-69
- Welton Marquis, 1969-71
- Lucien Brochu, 1971-73
- Lorne Watson, 1973-75
- Brian Ellard, 1975-77
- Donald A. McKellar, 1977-79
- Armand Ferland, l979-81
- Robert Stangeland, 1981-83
- Bruce Minorgan, 1983-85
- Gordon K. Greene, 1985-87
- Donald F. Cook, 1987-89
- Philip Adamson, 1989-91
- Gail Dixon, 1991-93
- Eugene C. Cramer, 1993-95
- Anne C. Hall, 1995-97
- Maureen Volk, 1997-99
- Tom Gordon, 1999-2001
- Glen Carruthers, 2001-03
- Ed Jurkowski, 2003-05
- James Deaville, 2005-08
- Deanna Oye, 2008-10
- Lynn Cavanagh, 2010-12
- Mary Ingraham, 2012-14
- Joelle Welling, 2014-16
- Glenn Colton, 2016-18
- Stephanie Lind, 2018-20
- Jon-Tomas Godin, 2020-22
- Laura Gray, 2022-24
- Margaret Walker, 2024-
(adapted from an article by Jean-Benoît Tremblay)