Department of Political Science

Faculty of Law

University Professor

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Ran Hirschl (supplied image)

Ran Hirschl, the David R. Cameron Distinguished Professor in Law and Politics in the Faculty of Arts & Science’s department of political science, has been appointed a University Professor, a designation bestowed on a small number of faculty members in recognition of exceptional scholarly achievement and pre-eminence in their fields.

Hirschl, who is cross-appointed to the Faculty of Law, is regarded as a leading expert of comparative constitutional studies, a cross-disciplinary area of inquiry that explores the dynamic interaction, mutual influence and power relations between the constitutional domain and the political sphere.

“The 91�Թ� owes much of its reputation for excellence to its world-class professors, and I am delighted that Ran Hirschl – one of our finest faculty members – has been recognized as a University Professor,” said Trevor Young, 91�Թ�'s vice-president and provost. “The title 'University Professor' is 91�Թ�'s highest and most distinguished academic rank, which reflects Professor Hirschl’s long and honourable record of scholarly achievement.”

Hirschl began his academic career at 91�Թ� as a Canada Research Chair in Constitutionalism, Democracy and Development. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and considered one of the world’s leading scholars of comparative constitutional law, courts and jurisprudence.

“It is a tremendous honour to be recognized in this special way, and to have my name added to the long list of distinguished, world-class scholars at the 91�Թ� who embody the University’s ‘defying gravity’ maxim,” said Hirschl.

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Khalil Al-Wazir named Schwarzman Scholar

rahul.kalvapalle — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 18:44:59 +0000

Khalil Al-Wazir named Schwarzman Scholar

Academic Achievement

rahul.kalvapalle Thu, 04/25/2024 - 14:44

Students

Schwarzman Scholar

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Khalil Al-Wazir (supplied image)

Khalil Al-Wazir, a PhD candidate in the department of political science in 91�Թ�’s Faculty of Arts & Science, has been named a Schwarzman Scholar, joining a select group of outstanding scholars at a one-year, fully-funded master’s degree program in global affairs at Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

The prestigious graduate fellowship is awarded annually to scholars with exemplary leadership and the ability to bridge and understand political and cultural differences.

An aspiring diplomat, Al-Wazir’s accomplishments include authoring a book, Centrist Reflections on Political Philosophy, contributing to two United Nations secretary-general reports and being awarded the UN Department for Safety and Security Under-Secretary-General’s Excellence Award.

Al-Wazir is currently working with 91�Թ�’s Postcor (Post-Conflict Reintegration) Lab to organize a workshop, in collaboration with the United States Institute of Peace, focused on engaging non-state armed groups in peace processes.

"Joining the Schwarzman Scholars is a unique opportunity that I do not take lightly,” Al-Wazir said. "It is, to my knowledge, the only scholarship with a diplomatic mission focused on bridging the differences between the two great powers, which is increasingly a necessary condition for resolving the most intractable conflicts of our day.

“I am heading into this program with open eyes and ears, ready to engage with fellow leaders on the world's most pressing challenges in a shared commitment to peace, progress and prosperity."

Lynette Ong recognized with multiple awards for latest book

lanthierj — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 17:32:58 +0000

Lynette Ong recognized with multiple awards for latest book

lanthierj Fri, 09/22/2023 - 13:32

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

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Lynette Ong (supplied image)

A book by Lynette Ong that examines China’s inner workings has won the American Sociological Association (ASA)’s Gordon Hirabayashi Human Rights Book Award 2023 and has been named co-winner of the ASA’s Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship in Political Sociology, 2023.

They're the latest in a series of honours for Ong, who received the International Studies Association’s 2023 Human Rights Section Best Book Award earlier this year as well as the 2023 American Political Science Association’s Human Rights Best Book Award.

A professor in the Faculty of Arts & Science’s department of political science with a cross-appointment to the Asian Institute at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, Ong has been conducting research on the ground in China since the 1990s, with a particular interest in how the country’s political and economic systems interact. Outsourcing Repression: Everyday State Power in Contemporary China is her third book. Published by Oxford University Press, it examines the use of non-state actors, including paid and unpaid community members and gangsters, to drive urbanization across the country by engaging in low-level violent and non-violent tactics.

Ong says she is in awe of the ordinary citizens who allowed her into their lives while she was researching the book.

“I learned so much about why people would throw away everything they have to protest an authoritarian regime. I spent a lot of time with them, and I felt I had to get their story right,” she says. “I spent 20 years in school trying to understand how social movements work, but they just intuitively get it. My admiration for them is genuine.”

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Six 91�Թ� faculty members named to Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists

lanthierj — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 19:16:47 +0000

Six 91�Թ� faculty members named to Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists

lanthierj Tue, 09/05/2023 - 15:16

Mississauga

David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics

Department of Family and Community Medicine

Department of Physics

Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Department of Psychology

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Royal Society of Canada

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Six faculty members at the 91�Թ� – renowned for their pathbreaking leadership in a wide range of disciplines – have been appointed to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists.

“From scientific advances in astrophysics, atmospheric physics and social psychology to timely leadership in climate governance, computer security and privacy, and sexually transmitted infection prevention, these scholars and scientists are making an impact on issues that affect the lives of people across Canada and around the world,” says Leah Cowen, 91�Թ�’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.

“The 91�Թ� congratulates them on this significant recognition.”

The new college members are:

Jo Bovy of the David A. Dunlap department of astronomy and astrophysics in the Faculty of Arts & Science
Ann Burchell of Unity Health and the department of family and community medicine in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine
Jessica Green of the department of political science in the Faculty of Arts & Science
Nicolas Papernot of the Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering
Nicholas Rule of the department of psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science; vice-principal academic and dean, 91�Թ� Mississauga
Debra Wunch of the department of physics in the Faculty of Arts & Science

Each faculty member receives a seven-year membership in the college, which recognizes and supports academic leadership and collaboration among those who have received their PhDs within the last 15 years.

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Semra Sevi honoured with SSHRC Talent Award

siddiq22 — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 16:35:37 +0000

Semra Sevi honoured with SSHRC Talent Award

siddiq22 Fri, 08/04/2023 - 12:35

SSHRC

Talent Award

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Semra Sevi (supplied photo)

Semra Sevi, an assistant professor in the department of political science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, has received the Talent Award from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

Awarded annually among the council’s annual Impact Awards, the prize recognizes the highest achievements in SSHRC-funded research, knowledge mobilization and scholarship, as well as the highest achievements resulting from a SSHRC fellowship. In particular, the Talent Award recognizes outstanding research achievement and career potential from a SSHRC doctoral or postdoctoral fellowship or scholarship holder.

“Despite having only just received her doctorate in political science (with distinction) from Université de Montréal in 2021, Semra Sevi has already demonstrated she is an outstanding and prolific researcher with impact as a public scholar,” noted SSHRC in its award citation.

“I am committed to open science and developing research-driven responses to political inequality,” says Sevi, who was most recently a Banting postdoctoral researcher in the department of political science at Columbia University and received the award prior to joining 91�Թ�.

“SSHRC support gives my research credibility and has encouraged me to keep going.”

Sevi has earned global recognition for creating and making public datasets of all candidates for office in Canadian federal elections since 1867. This achievement was central to her doctoral dissertation, titled What Voters Want: Identifying Voter Preferences for Candidates. The datasets were first published on the Harvard University Dataverse in 2019 and have since been downloaded thousands of times. They have also formed the basis of eight of nearly 20 peer-reviewed articles that Sevi has written.

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Five Faculty of Arts & Science professors recognized with Dean's Research Excellence Awards

lanthierj — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 22:25:43 +0000

Five Faculty of Arts & Science professors recognized with Dean's Research Excellence Awards

lanthierj Mon, 12/12/2022 - 17:25

Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Department of Psychology

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Department of Linguistics

Department of Physics

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The five recipients of this year’s Dean’s Research Excellence Award (L-R): Megan Frederickson, Kaley Walker, Naomi Nagy, Randall Hansen and Wil Cunningham

Wil Cunningham, Megan Frederickson, Randall Hansen, Naomi Nagy and Kaley Walker are the first recipients of a new award from the Faculty of Arts & Science created to recognize faculty members whose research achievements have been cited as especially noteworthy.

The Dean’s Research Excellence Award was established with the aim of helping accomplished mid-career researchers compete successfully in national awards competitions. Winners have contributed a wealth of research that has had a significant and sustained influence in their chosen disciplines.

The winners represent a wide range of fields: Cunningham is a professor in the department of psychology, Frederickson is a professor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology, Hansen is a professor in the department of political science, Nagy is a professor in the department of linguistics and Walker is a professor in the department of physics.

“It is with enormous pride that I announce the inaugural winners of the Dean’s Research Excellence Awards,” says Melanie Woodin, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science. “The scholars we honour this year are widely recognized as having made an important and ongoing impact on research in their respective fields. As the very first recipients of these annual awards, they set a shining example for those who will follow them.”

The five honourees will each receive $10,000 to further their professional development.

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Ron Deibert wins 2021 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing

lanthierj — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 14:35:43 +0000

Ron Deibert wins 2021 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing

Community

lanthierj Thu, 09/23/2021 - 10:35

Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy

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(Photo by Riley Stewart)

Ronald Deibert, the founder and director of the Citizen Lab in the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy and a professor of political science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, has won the prestigious 2021 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing for his book RESET: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society (House of Anansi Press).

Delivered by the Writers’ Trust of Canada, the prize is awarded annually to an “exceptional book of literary nonfiction that captures a political subject of relevance to Canadian readers.”

“It was a great honour to be invited to deliver the 2020 CBC Massey lectures, for which I wrote RESET,” said Deibert. “To receive the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize from the Writers' Trust is a wonderful surprise and truly humbling. I extend my heartfelt congratulations to all of the other shortlisted authors.

“I hope this award helps underscore how important it is for all of us to reclaim the Internet for civil society and work collectively towards a sustainable, secure, and mutually-beneficial public sphere.”

Recommended by Margaret Atwood and Edward Snowden, RESET was also a finalist for the Donner Prize, a Financial Times best book of Summer 2021 (Technology) and a Quill & Quire book of the year.

“Ronald J. Deibert combines leading-edge research and gripping stories to expose the dangerous, even deadly, forces lurking online,” the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize Jury wrote. “With trailblazing originality, he explains why Canadians are at risk, and why it’s time to reset the internet to thwart cybercriminals, safeguard political activists, rein in environmental costs, and restrain the mayhem of social media. Reset sounds a warning siren not only for Canada, but for the world.”

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Grace Skogstad receives JJ Berry Smith Award for Doctoral Supervision

lanthierj — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 20:03:12 +0000

Grace Skogstad receives JJ Berry Smith Award for Doctoral Supervision

Teaching

lanthierj Thu, 07/08/2021 - 16:03

JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

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Grace Skogstad, a professor in the department of political science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, has been awarded a 2021 JJ Berry Smith Award for Doctoral Supervision.

The annual awards honour faculty members who, over a minimum of a 15-year period, have demonstrated excellence in graduate supervision at the 91�Թ�.

“I’ve really enjoyed working with my students and getting to know them,” says Skogstad, who specializes in the areas of comparative public policy and Canadian politics and has been teaching at 91�Թ� for 35 years. “Not just as the intellectual heavyweights they are, but also as the wonderful people they are.”

Skogstad, whose first doctoral student became a professor at Yale, has worked closely with more than 60 graduate students as supervisor or dissertation committee member. Her students, many of whom have gone on to prestigious careers in public policy and academia, often single out the time and energy she invests in each student.

“Dr. Skogstad is an incredibly prolific scholar with an active program of research, and yet she was also always available,” says one former student, now an assistant professor of comparative public policy. “She would read and comment extensively on grant proposals, research ethics submissions, and draft dissertation chapters within days with prescient critiques that would push me conceptually and methodologically.”

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Dan Breznitz appointed University Professor

lanthierj — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 17:56:04 +0000

Dan Breznitz appointed University Professor

lanthierj Fri, 06/18/2021 - 13:56

CIFAR