2018 / Winter 2019 Department Updates
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02 politics Fall 2018 / Winter 2019 Department Updates Antoinette HANDLEY CHAIR, ST. GEORGE 2018 marks the 130th anniversary of the original Department of Political Economy at the University of Toron- to. A great deal has changed since then. The original Department has spawned no less than three successors, the de- partments of Commerce, Economics and of course, Political Science. Further afield, the world has transformed in unexpected ways. We’ve seen the end of formal empires around the world, the beginning of the commercial pro- duction of the automobile, a global flu pandemic, the destruction wreaked by two world wars and the Cold War, the rise and fall of communism, the devastation of the Great Depression, the passing of the Industrial Age and the dawning of new revolutions in technology, Artificial Intelligence and robotics, as well as the emergence of glob- al warming. What has not changed is the abiding importance of understanding power, what it is, who holds and wants it, how it is wielded, and how it is challenged. The study of politics has never been more important and this department is superbly well placed to help our students and the broader society understand and navigate this world. Ronald BEINER Jacques BERTRAND Dickson EYOH Grace SKOGST AD Interim Chair Associate Chair & Associate Chair & Chair University of Toronto, Graduate Director, Undergraduate Director, University of Toronto, Mississauga St. George St. George Scarborough The big news for the UTM depart- It’s been extremely rewarding for Yet another busy and exciting se- As enrolment in our political science ment this fall was our move into me to step into the role of Graduate mester for the undergraduate pro- courses and programs climbs, we a new home in what is still being Director to find a thriving graduate gram. We welcomed new students have introduced new initiatives to called the “New North” Building. program. Our applications are on into the program during our annu- enhance learning and career oppor- We also acquired a new colleague - the rise, and we are recruiting top al “first year (re)orientation” event tunities for our students. Our sum- Martha Balaguera Cuervo, whose students domestically and interna- jointly organized with the Associa- mer 2018 ‘Beyond the Classroom’ research interests are all too rele- tionally. This Fall, we welcomed 34 tion of Political Science Students. paid students a modest stipend for vant these days, as President Trump new PhD and 27 new MA students We selected the first recipients of 80 hours of volunteer work, while continues to try to stoke up hyste- - a total of 13 new international the David Rayside and Frank Peers honing skills relevant to their Pub- ria about refugee migrants. As is students (6 PhD and 7 MA). 59 of Undergraduate Scholarships, both lic Policy program. A pilot project to be expected, we are still reeling our students hold major awards, supported by a generous donation in Paralegal Studies, launched this from the shock of Lee Ann Fujii’s including 2 Vanier scholarships, 15 from the estate of Professor Frank fall, enables students to complete untimely death last spring. A ter- doctoral Canada Graduate Scholar- Peers. New courses on a variety of their BA alongside a postgraduate rific workshop was held on the St. ships, 6 SSHRC doctoral awards, 3 topics offered by colleagues who certificate in paralegal studies from George campus in late September Trillium awards, and 2 Connaught joined us this year are enriching Centennial College. This fall, we are to honour Lee Ann’s significant awards. More than twenty PhD the curriculum. The semester be- also welcoming our newest Political contributions to the discipline. Also, students received internal grants gan with an all-day faculty retreat Science colleague and UTSC Prin- the American Political Science As- for dissertation research. We’ve focused on the review of the un- cipal, Dr. Wisdom Tettey, an expert sociation (APSA) is re-naming a launched our 2018 - 19 series of dergraduate curriculum. The Un- in African politics and communica- travel grant fund in her honour. For workshops on professional devel- dergraduate Curriculum Review tions. Professor Diana Fu, winner those interested in donating to the opment and I’m also holding Town Committee is fully engaged and will of both article and book awards effort, donations can be made at the Hall meetings with students and soon begin consultations with facul- this year, is hosting TVO’s China: following website under the entry supervisory committees to discuss ty, students and alumni on a revised Here and Now. Aisha Ahmad won for Lee Ann Fujii Minority Fellow best practices and arising issues. curriculum that will embody our the Mershon Center’s Furniss Book Travel Grants: Finally, our students are engaging collective vision of the best under- Award for her Jihad & Co. Physical- https://www.apsanet.org/Do- with faculty in new initiatives such graduate education in the discipline. ly, the department moved into the nate-Now. as the Conflict and Security Re- We look forward to your active par- just-completed Highland Hall. search Group and the Comparative ticipation. Politics faculty/student workshops. politics Fall 2018 / Winter 2019 Student Q&A 03 STUDENT Q & A James CHAPMAN Scott MCKNIGHT UNDERGRADUATE GRADUATE Why did you decide as an undergraduate What do you plan to Please explain your Why did you decide Another major chal- to study political student have come do after graduation? research and its main to research this par- lenge was being able science and urban from the opportunities I hope to return to findings. My research ticular area? While liv- to connect the many studies? When I start- granted to me through either Queen’s Park or focuses on relations ing in China from 2008- dots that go into an ed at the University of the university’s location City Hall to continue between oil-produc- 14, I saw firsthand how ambitious project of Toronto, municipal in Toronto and its vast with a more applied ing governments and the state could harness this sort. Oil is a major politics were a hot extra-curricular com- education in the field. their national oil com- certain economic activ- force behind much of topic. The city had just munities. I have been I continue to enjoy panies (NOCs). Since ities to enhance state an oil-producing coun- survived a tumultuous privileged to be able to academia and hope the oil industry is in- power. Within its na- try’s politics, economy, four years under the apply the lessons I’ve to eventually pursue herently global, this tional economy, NOCs and institutional devel- leadership of Mayor gained from courses a Master’s degree in question then rests in are invariably the big- opment. Distinguish- Rob Ford, and in a with professors like Public Policy, or re- the blurred area of gest companies. They’re ing an interesting fac- contentious municipal Sylvia Baskevkin, Rod- search focusing on comparative politics often the biggest tax tor from a genuinely election a year prior, a ney Haddow, and Nel- Canadian Political Cul- and international re- contributors, the most causal one was also a record number of bal- son Wiseman, directly ture, Ontario politics, lations. My fieldwork technologically ad- real challenge. lots were cast. I know to the field. With the or Canada’s reconcilia- has taken me to Bra- vanced, and employers these events led direct- university’s easy ac- tion project. zil, China, Ecuador to many thousands. What impact do ly to the selection of cess to City Hall and and Mexico, where I Oil companies absorb you hope your re- my programs of study. Queen’s Park, I’ve been What did winning search will have? I the J. Stefan Dupré discovered just how shocking amounts of Out of a desire to able to work at both. diverse the universe capital, with the upside hope my research in- learn about both the Through the universi- Book prize mean to forms people on the Since starting in of state-owned oil is. of generating enor- history of city build- ty’s support of campus you? political aspects that the department, my On one extreme, states mous profits, which is ing in Toronto, and clubs, I’ve also been oil has on a country’s interests have evolved may grant consider- something that makes the politics around city able to get up close and development. I also from purely municipal able autonomy. On the them too valuable for council and the May- personal with politics, hope my theory helps politics to include Ca- other, states keep tight the state to leave to pri- or’s office, I knew that as the co-chair of a make sense of a uni- nadian political parties, control over the NOC, vate companies. the urbanist nature of campus party club, and verse of oil-producing cultures, and parti- so that it either serves the urban studies pro- as an active participant What has been the states that, given their san communications. as a multi-purpose in- gram, and the Canadi- in the student politics most challenging incredible diversity, Winning the J. Stefan strument for the coun- an-studies focus of a of Innis College. Bal- aspect of this proj- otherwise may seem Dupré Book prize re- try’s development or degree in Political Sci- ancing classroom work ect? The oil industry like a jumbled mess affirmed my love for as an ATM for a venal ence would match my with activities outside is notoriously opaque, of ‘every country is Canadian politics. Pro- elite. From the 100+ interests. school continues to owing to the stunning different,’ without any fessor Dupré’s own interviews I conduct- be a challenge, but I amount of money and overarching themes As a fourth year career, which I learned ed with oil executives, know many professors’ corruption involved.