Democracy School: Political Science Co-Hosting School on Participatory Democratic Innovations

Memorial's Political Science Department is partnering with a team of local and international partners to co-host a six-day event on democratizing transnational and global governance at Memorial's Signal Hill Campus. Read more about the intiative in the Memorial Gazette.

Dr. David Armitage to Deliver the 2024 Henrietta Harvey Distinguished Lecture

The Department of Political Science is pleased to be hosting the visit of Dr. David Armitage (Harvard) to deliver the 2024 Henrietta Harvey Distinguished Lecture. Read more about Dr. Armitage's work and the event in the Gazette's recently published profile.

"Super Interactive": Political science class first credit course offered at Signal Hill Campus

Political Science professors Sean Gray and Beth Schwartz were featured in the Gazette for their work with the Harris Centre to offer innovative, new undergraduate law and public policy courses at MUN's Signal Hill campus. The partnership will provide oppurtunties for students to network and interact with scholars and practioners from across the province.

Political Science Major, Katherine Dibbon, Named NL's 2024 Rhodes Scholar

Katherine Dibbon is completing her final year of a joint bachelor of arts and bachelor of science (honours) degree, studying political science and chemistry (biological). She is also Newfoundland and Labrador’s 2024 Rhodes scholar. Read more in the Gazette.

Democracy's Second Act: Event to discuss how public opinion is a resource, not a risk

Political Science Assistant Professor Sean Gray interviewed in the the Memorial Gazette about citizens' assemblies and other participatory democratic innovations in discussion with Peter MacLeod from MASS LBP.

Warm Welcome to Dr. Angela Carter!

Memorial's Department of Political Science is pleased to weclome Dr. Angela Carter, who joins us as an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair nominee. 

Statement of Solidarity from the Department of Political Science

Memorial's Department of Political Science has issued a statement of solidarity with the University of Waterloo in the wake of the tragedy on June 28, 2023.

New Blog Seeking Student Submissions

Dr. Isabelle Côté, and several students have launched an online magazine, Population and Security, to cover some of the most pressing political and security issues related to population dynamics and policies around the world. They're currently seeking student submissions. Read more in the Gazette. 

Congrats to All Students Named to the 2021-2022 Dean's List!

Congratulations to all students named to the 2021-2022 Dean's List, as well as the Program Book Prize winners, and receipients of the Dean's Award for Academic Excellence, and the HSS International Student Excellence Award. 

Finding an elective has never been easier

The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) has hundreds of courses that have zero or one prerequisite. To make it easy for our students to find electives of interest, we have launched a searchable listing of electives that you can browse by semester and subject. 

Fall Welcome Session for New Students

On Sept. 6, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences is hosting a welcome event to help new students get started on the right track. At this interactive event, you'll hear from the Dean and Associate Dean of Curriculum and Programs, learn more about areas of study in HSS, and meet other HSS students! Register now: https://loom.ly/TTXWfYo

HSS Commons Student Space Cozier Than Ever

When we think of university campuses, we picture lecture halls and labs. But what about a space for that time between classes? It is equally essential to have a comfortable space to study or kick back and relax between lectures. The newly refurbished Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Commons, in SN-1107, offers HSS students such a space. Check out this Gazette article on why interim Dean, Dr. Craig, wanted to rejuvenate this space for students. 

Gradcolades 2022

In the last academic year, graduate students in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Memorial University won more than 40 awards, 40 grants, and 140 fellowships & scholarships. Additionally, they produced more than 40 publications and creative endeavours. Watch the video celebration of all this success.

A Fine Crowd & Dean's Awards 2022

The 2022 Dean's Awards for faculty and staff were revealed at this year's A Fine Crowd event. The event celebrated the dozen+ awards, 24+ books & volumes and 4 million+ in grants awarded to our faculty members in the last academic year. Read up on this year's Dean's Award winners in the Gazette.

Former student Michael Fleet discuses his career trajectory

Mike Fleet is a Senior Analyst with the Government of Canada. His focus is on Iraq. He previously worked as a Senior Researcher with the Institute on Governance on the Iraq Team that implemented the Fiscal Decentralization and Resiliency Project. His current research focus is on Iraqi politics, federalism, state-building and conflict dynamics. Watch the episode now.

Epic Field Trip: Dr. Ashworth is taking his grad students to an international panel he is speaking on

Professor of political science, Dr. lucian Ashworth, will be speaking at a prestigious virtual roundtable on Feb. 11, alongside 11 scholars from all over the world ... and he’s taking his students with him so they can hear the things they're learning about in class be discussed by thoguht leaders from all over the world. Read the full story in the Gazette.

Political Perspectives: Student Conference

The Political Science Graduate Student Society is planning the 5th annual student conference, Political Perspectives (formerly Changing Political Landscapes). This interdisciplinary conference is open to presentations from undergraduate and graduate students from all disciplines with an interest in politics, broadly defined.

This year’s conference will take place online on Thursday, April 7, 2022, and all are welcome to attend. Students interested in presenting are invited to submit an abstract of no more than 250 words outlining their proposed presentation to munl.political.perspectives@gmail.com by Monday, February 7, 2022 at 5:00pm NST. 

Galbraith Lecture

The 2019 Galbraith Lecture in Public Policy will feature CTV’s Evan Solomon and present a deep dive into the forces and factors at play in the 2019 federal election and what they say about Canada’s place in the world.

Following the lecture, political science professor Dr. Amanda Bittner will join Mr. Solomon and political strategist Tim Power on stage for a panel discussion.

More on the event here in the Gazette.

International honour

Fellowships strengthens research partnerships in Germany and beyond

A political scientist – back home after spending time in Germany – is encouraging other researchers to apply for a prestigious fellowship program.

Dr. Scott Matthews is the latest Memorial researcher – and the first from his department – to receive an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship, named in honour of the famed German geographer and explorer, who would have turned 250 years old on Sept. 14.

Dr. Alex Marland has received one of the country’s highest academic honours

Dr. Alex Marland has received one of the country’s highest academic honours for emerging and mid-career scholars. He is among the latest inductees to the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada.Dr. Marland's work focuses on how Canadian politicians and governments manage communication. He leads diverse groups of academics in public policy projects that connect with journalists, politicians and the public sector. His innovative research revealing the inner workings of politics in this country has won several awards. Read the full Gazette article: https://gazette.mun.ca/research/advancing-knowledge/

Mastering change

Political science masters student Cindy Robin is Memorial's latest Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Scholar with $21,000 in funding. Read more about her in the Gazette.

Meet alumnus Mike Fleet

Mike Fleet has a BA in political science from Memorial and followed that up with an MA degree in Global Governance from the Balsillie School of International Affairs at the University of Waterloo.

As a senior researcher with the Institute on Governance, Mike Fleet works with the Iraq team where he helps to implement the Fiscal Decentralization and Resiliency Project, funded by Global Affairs Canada. In this position, he travels regularly to and from Iraq.

Words of advice? "Never to turn opportunities to get out and network, you never know where it’ll go." 

Read more about MIke and his career path here.

Fresh take

To help their students navigate the process of writing a thesis/research project, professors Amanda Bittner, Isabelle Côté and Sarah Martin are combining traditional supervision with group interaction, allowing students to help each other figure out how to conduct research, ask questions, and give each other advice and feedback.

Read more about this "hidden curriculum" in the Gazette.

Funded MA Opportunity

A Memorial University of Newfoundland professor is leading a team of researchers on a SSHRC-funded project studying Canadian Members of Parliament and members of provincial legislatures who switch political parties (also known as crossing the floor). Funding is available to support one (1) student conducting research to assist the project team and preparing a graduate research thesis under the professor’s supervision. Interested students must apply through Memorial University’s normal graduate admission process for entry into a 2-year Master of Arts program of study that begins September 2019.