The Debate, 2017. News for UTSC Political Science Alumni.
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SCARBOROUGHTHE DEBATE__________________________________________________________________
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Grace Skogstad, Professor |
Welcome!Dear , Stay tuned for our some of our upcoming events and do stay in touch, via the email address pol-advisor@utsc.utoronto.ca , to let us know about your lives post—UTSC Political Science! |
NEWS
Political Science students receive commendations at Harvard National Model United Nations (HNMUN)
This year the University of Toronto Scarborough’s Model United Nations (MUN) took one of the biggest teams to the HNMUN. Led by Political Science student, German Guberman, the team engaged in public debates about world issues concerned with international development.
Please see the link below for the full article:
LiPaD Launches
LiPaD (The Linked Parliamentary Data Project) is an online platform that allows users to access a searchable version of the Debates of the House of Commons of Canada for the past 150 years.
This database is built from a team of historians, computer scientists, and political scientists, including UTSC's Professor Christopher Cochrane, that have worked together with U of T to take on this mass scale project.
For more information on the project and access to the platform, please visit:
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH
Grace Lin is a fourth year student with a Major Program in Political Science, Major Program in International Development Studies and a Minor Program in Economics for Management Studies. She has been assisting Professor Diana Fu from the Department of Political Science with research studying citizens' emails and letters sent to Chinese mayors' virtual mailboxes that addressed their concerns. Combing through 8,000 of these letters, Grace learned more about this political relationship between citizens and the state and how citizens are utilizing their voices to receive the help they want from their government.
You can ready more about the study at The Economist
(photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)
AWARDS & ACCOLADES
Associate Professor Lucan Way has been awarded an Insight Connection Grant for a conference to mark the 100th Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. Entitled "Culture, Violence, and Political Change", the conference will take place in October 2017.
Best Security Article Award
Assistant Professor Aisha Ahmad
Courses taught at UTSC:
Assistant Professor Aisha Ahmad has won the Best Security Article Award in it's inaugural year from the International Security Studies Section (ISSS) of the International Studies Association. Her article "The Security Bazaar: Business Interests and Islamist Power in Civil War Somalia," International Security, Vol. 39, No. 3 (Winter 2014/15), pp. 89–117 can be found here
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Grant
Associate Professor Christopher Cochrane
Courses taught at UTSC:
Associate Professor Christopher Cochrane has received a SSHRC Insight Grant for his project on "Ideology, Institutions, and the Evolution of Canadian Political Behaviour, 1867-2016". The project continues the digitalization and annotation of Canada’s parliamentary debates, including the French debates.
Donald Smiley Prize (nomination)
Assistant Professor Robert Schertzer
Courses taught at UTSC:
Assistant Professor Robert Schertzer's 2016 book, The Judicial Role in a Diverse Federation, has been nominated for the Donald Smiley Prize, given annually by the Canadian Political Science Association to the best book in Canadian politics. In his book, Professor Schertzer uses the example of the Supreme Court of Canada to analyze how apex courts manage diversity and conflict in federal states.
Connaught New Researcher Award
Assistant Professor Diana Fu
Courses taught at UTSC:
Connaught New Researcher Award
Assistant Professor Stefan Renckens
Courses taught at UTSC:
Both Assistant Professors Diana Fu and Stefan Renckens have been awarded the Connaught New Researcher Award. Diana's Connaught Award is for her project, "Beyond Half the Sky: Explaining China's New Wave Feminist Movement." Stefan's Connaught Award is for a project entitled "Transnational Private Sustainability as Interest Community".
The purpose of this program is to foster excellence in research and innovation by providing support for new University of Toronto faculty members who are launching their academic careers. These awards are intended to establish a strong research program, thereby increasing the faculty member's competitiveness for external funding.
ALUMNI PANEL & SPRING SOCIAL
From left to right: Adil Kanji, Bhupinder Lamba, Imran Khan, Jonathan Cabell, Dorinda So, Valeria Visani, Matthew Sedon. Photo taken by Samira Warsame
On March 28th 2017, the Department of Political Science at UTSC held its inaugural Political Science Panel and Spring Social Event. The event brought alumni together with current and prospective students to discuss how Political Science, Public Law or Public Policy fits into our lives. Our panel consisted of:
Adil Kanji, Bhupinder Lamba, Imran Khan, Jonathan Cabell, Dorinda So, Valeria Visani and Matthew Sedon.
This first hour of our event consisted of a Q&A with our seven extraordinary alumni providing insightful knowledge and experiences of their own undergraduate studies and transition into their exciting careers. Our panel discussion was followed by an evening of networking among our alumni, current students and faculty. We would like to thank each of our panelists for their time and contribution to the event!
If you would like to participate in future events please contact: pol-advisor@utsc.utoronto.ca
Photos taken by Samira Warsame
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
"I had a very memorable experience studying political science at UTSC"
- Adam Liu, Political Science Alumnus
I had a very memorable experience studying political science at UTSC. Arriving from China just a few days before the 2005 academic year began, I initially had a hard time acculturating in a world class English-speaking university. Yet, a set of highly supportive institutions on campus quickly got me on track. In particular, the English Language Development (ELD) program spearheaded by Dr. Elaine Khoo was instrumental in helping me overcome the academic language barrier.
UTSC was the very first lens through which I began to understand the “western” world. It was the place where I first read Aristotle, Plato, Locke and Rousseau; the place where I first observed how a multicultural community could function well; the place where I began to think about, to this day, why different countries have vastly different institutions governing their politics and society. In thinking about these questions, I was not alone, as many professors guided me. For example, Professor Grace Skogstad introduced me to Canada’s federal political system, which had since become my point of reference for thinking about the nature of political decentralization in my own country; Professor Susan Solomon taught me how to think about politics analytically, and we discussed intensely in and outside class why the Soviet Union collapsed—I wrote an A+ paper on that topic; and Professor Carla Norrlof opened my eyes to the world of “game theory”, which I found tremendously useful to know in applying to graduate school in the U.S.
UTSC was also where I started to understand my own country more critically. I distinctly remember that most books on Chinese history and politics were clustered on one book shelf on the second floor of the library. I read almost every single one of them. One year before I graduated, the Asian studies program was taking off. The “dynamic couple”, Professors Li Chen and Ruoyun Bai, offered fascinating new classes on late imperial Chinese history and on the politics of contemporary Chinese media. I have since become life-long friends with Li and Ruoyun. In my final semester, I took UofT’s inaugural summer class on Chinese politics, taught in China by Professor Joe Wong. I am very much indebted to Joe, as he was the first to encourage me to pursue a PhD in political science. He still is the kind of political scientist I aspire to be. With my professors’ support, I was admitted to the political science doctoral program at Stanford University in 2011.
At Stanford, my research has focused on comparative political economy, the political economy of finance, authoritarian politics and contemporary Chinese politics. Combining these interests, my book-length dissertation project explores the puzzle of the exponential growth of banking institutions in China in the past two decades, when political change—what is usually thought of as a prerequisite for financial development—is absent. Using a self-collected spatial data set that covers the universe of Chinese banks and their branches, a survey experiment of Chinese loan officers, existing Chinese firm data sets, as well as over one year of field research, my dissertation examines the political logic and the economic consequences of China’s bank proliferation.
I have a few simple suggestions for current students at UTSC. First, try to get to know your Professors and TAs outside class; whether you decide to pursue grad school or not, they have a lot more insights and advice than they could possibly offer in classroom. Second, get to know the university better. There are more supporting facilities on campus than you imagine (the ELD program in my case), take advantage of them. Third, and this is for students interested in pursuing graduate studies in the social sciences, try to take classes outside your home department, as interdisciplinary and collaborative research is becoming more important in the academic community. And of course, taking some math classes (probability and linear algebra) will also help if you later decide to engage more in computational social sciences.
We hope you enjoyed this issue of our newsletter and continue to stay in touch with us. If you would like more information regarding our current programs or would like to be featured in our next newsletter please contact pol-advisor@utsc.utoronto.ca
Tomorrow is created here.