ACSUS Distinguished Dissertation Award
The ACSUS Distinguished Dissertation Award is awarded to a successful nominee's dissertation which represents original work that makes a significant contribution to the nominee's discipline and to the study of Canada.
The Award consists of an honorarium of $500, a certificate of citation, complimentary membership in ACSUS for two years, and reasonable travel expenses for the recipient to attend the biennial ACSUS conference at which the award will be conferred. The awardee will be expected to make a twenty-minute presentation on his or her work at the conference.
Nominations. Faculty serving on dissertation committees at universities in the US and individual members of ACSUS are invited to nominate deserving students who have completed the Ph.D. degree between August 2016 and August 2021. The nomination must be accompanied by two letters of support, one from the student's dissertation advisor and one from a second referee. The advisor and referee need not be members of ACSUS.
Supporting Materials. Each nomination should be accompanied by a copy of the dissertation, a dissertation abstract not to exceed 500 words (typed, double-spaced), and a one-page resume of the nominee. These materials should be submitted electronically to info@acsus.org by August 1, 2021.
Criteria. The successful nominee's dissertation should represent original work that makes a significant contribution to the nominee's discipline and to the study of Canada. The dissertation must contain at least 50% content on Canada; the topic may, however, be comparative in nature. The dissertation will be judged on substantive and methodological quality, originality of thought, and clarity.
Deadline for the receipt of all nomination materials for the 2021 award is August 1, 2021. Please send all materials to info@acsus.org prior to that date.
2019 Award
The winner of the 2019 ACSUS Distinguished Dissertation Award was Dr. Emma Elliott-Groves, Assistant Professor in the College of Education, University of Washington. Dr. Elliott-Groves’ dissertation was entitled New Thinking for Intervention: Towards a Culturally Responsive Model of Understanding Indigenous Suicide. She successfully defended her dissertation in 2016 at the University of Washington in Seattle.
2017 Award
The winner of the 2017 ACSUS Distinguished Dissertation Award was Dylan McLean, Lecturer, Department of Political Science, University of West Georgia. Dylan's dissertation was entitled Gun Test: Evaluating Theoretical Explanations for Canada-U.S. Political Differences Through the Lens of the Politics of Gun Control. Dylan successfully defended his dissertation in July 2015 at the University at Buffalo - State University of New York. The award was presented to Dylan by Patrick Coleman (UCLA), Chair of the selection committee, at the 24th Biennial conference of ACSUS in Las Vegas, NV in October 2017.
2015 Award:
The winner of the 2015 ACSUS Distinguished Dissertation Award was Barry Eidlin, Assistant Professor of Sociology, McGill University, for his doctoral dissertation entitled "The Class Idea: Politics, Ideology, and Class Formation in the U.S. and Canada in the Twentieth Century," University of California, Berkeley, December 2012. The award was presented to Dr. Eidlin by the chair of the selection committee, Professor Jean-Jacques Thomas (UB-SUNY) at the awards banquet of the 23rd Biennial conference, Las Vegas, NV on October 16th, 2015.
Deadline