Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences welcomes a new President and four new Board members

News
February 17, 2015

OTTAWA, February 17, 2015 – The Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences is welcoming a new President, as well as four new Board members to its 13-member Board of Directors.

Elections ran from February 2, 2015 to 4:00 pm on February 12, 2015. The Federation thanks all those who nominated and voted, as well as those who ran as candidates in this election process.

“It is my great honour to assume the position of President of the Federation’s dynamic and engaged Board of Directors,” said Stephen Toope, the new President of the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences. “I extend my heartfelt thanks to outgoing President Antonia Maioni for her stewardship of the Federation and for the dedication she has shown in advancing the organization’s strategic agenda.”

The new appointments will be as follows:

Stephen Toope will end his term as President-Elect and will be President of the Board until March 2017. He is Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, and formerly President and Vice‐Chancellor at the University of British Columbia, President of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, Dean of Law at McGill University, and a Supreme Court of Canada Law Clerk.  He publishes in leading international journals on international dispute resolution, international environmental law, human rights, the use of force, international legal theory, and international relations. 

After completing her term as President, Antonia Maioni will hold the position of Past-President until March 2016. She is a Professor in the Department of Political Science as well as in the Institute for Health and Social Policy at McGill University. She has published widely in the fields of Canadian and comparative politics, with a particular focus on public policy, social policy and health care reform.

Carmen Charette is being appointed by the Board to the role of Treasurer. She is Vice-President, External Relations at the University of Victoria, where her broad portfolio includes alumni relations, fundraising, government relations, university communications and marketing, community relations, corporate relations, awards facilitation and events. She has had a long and distinguished career with the Federal Public Service, including senior roles at SSHRC and CFI.

Michael E. Sinatra was acclaimed as Director, Research Dissemination. He is a Professor of English at the Université de Montréal, and President of the Canadian Society for Digital Humanities. He has great professional interest in the impact of technologies on knowledge transfer in the social sciences and humanities.

Julia Wright was elected as Director, Associations. She is a Professor in the Department of English at Dalhousie University, as well as Associate Dean of Research for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Her recent work is focused on ideas of nationalism and other theories of political sovereignty in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British and Irish literature.

Lisa Young  was elected as Director, Institutions. She is a Professor of Political Science as well as Vice-Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies at the University of Calgary. She has a particular interest in influencing how the research environment in Canada, coupled with challenges facing post-secondary education, requires strong advocacy for humanities and social science scholarship and teaching.

As well, the following directors were re-elected or re-appointed:

Lisa Philipps was acclaimed for a second term as Director, Research Policy. She is a Professor at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, where she teaches and writes on taxation law and fiscal policy. She is a leading socio-legal scholar in the fields of tax law, fiscal policy and feminist legal studies.

Ann-Marie Fortier will be re-appointed by the Board to the position of Chair, Award to Scholarly Publications Program (ASPP) Academic Council. She is a Professor in the Department of Literature at Université Laval, and has already served one full and fruitful term in this role with the ASPP.

Dominique Marshall was re-elected for a second term as Director, Associations. She is Chair of the History Department at Carleton University as well as chair of the Canadian Historical Society, and specializes in Canadian and Quebec history of poverty and welfare, families and childhood, state formation, as well as the transnational history of humanitarian aid, and Political Economy.

Michael Owen was re-elected for a second term as Director, Institutions. He is Vice-President, Research, Innovation and International at the University of Ontario Technology Institute, where he also served as Associate Provost, Research. He was Associate Provost Research and OCAD’s Associate Provost Research and VP Research & Graduate Studies, before which he served as Associate VP Research & International at Brock University and as Director, Research Services at Brock University, Ryerson University and the University of Saskatchewan.

Election results will be ratified by the current Board of Directors at their next meeting, on March 27, 2015.

The Federation would like to thank outgoing Board members: Lyne Sauvageau, Treasurer, Raymond Siemens, Director, Research Dissemination, Nadia Abu-Zahra, Director, Associations, and Gayle MacDonald, Director, Institutions.

“We have benefited immensely from the leadership and guidance received during their terms,” said the Federation’s Executive Director, Jean-Marc Mangin. “We are especially grateful to outgoing President Antonia Maioni, who has been on our Board since 2013, for her leadership in increasing our public profile and in developing renewed strategic directions for the Federation during her tenure.”

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The Federation’s new Board of Directors

*Signifies new and acclaimed appointments

Stephen J. Toope*University of Toronto, President

Antonia Maioni*, McGill University, Past-President

Cindy Blackstock, University of Alberta

Carmen Charette*, University of Victoria

Anne-Marie Fortier*, Université Laval

Fernand Gervais, Université Laval

Dominique Marshall*, Carleton University

Michael Owen*, University of Ontario Institute of Technology

Douglas Peers, University of Waterloo

Lisa Philipps*, York University

Michael E. Sinatra*, Université de Montréal

Julia Wright*, Dalhousie University

Lisa Young*, University of Calgary

Media inquiries:

Nicola Katz
Manager of Communications
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences
613-238-6112, ext. 351
nkatz@ideas-idees.ca

About the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences

The Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences promotes research, learning and an understanding of the contributions made by the humanities and the social sciences towards a free and democratic society. Established in 1940, with a membership now comprising 160+ universities, colleges and scholarly associations, the Federation represents a diverse community of 85,000 researchers and graduate students across Canada. The Federation organizes Canada’s largest academic gathering, the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, bringing together more than 8,000 participants each year. For more information about the Federation, visit www.ideas-idees.ca.