Amongst a group of highly-qualified applicants, Briana stood out for being a top student in finance and economics. She is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Economics from Carleton University and graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics.

Now he’s receiving a prize named in honour of the Canadian economist for a book he co-authored entitled Interregional Migration and Public Policy in Canada: An Empirical Study.

This book canvases the thoughts and practices of Kenneth W. Thompson, who has contributed a “public philosophy” of multidimensional and interdisciplinary ideas and practices. Drawing on interviews with Thompson and those surrounding him, this work is organized around the three dimensions of Thompson’s public philosophy: theory, education, and politics. These three pillars show how Thompson’s ideas establish a system of thought that not only helps in understanding the human condition during the Cold War but also enlightens humanity at large to navigate and make decisions in the public sphere. Most importantly, his theories help the world, in his own words, “move civilization ahead.”

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The panel of Maxime Fougère (Assistant Director, Labour Market Research and Forecasting,  HRSDC), Annette Ryan (Chief Economist and Director General  – Economic, Research and Policy Analysis Branch, Industry Canada), and Jean-Francois Tremblay (Associate Professor, Dept. of Economics, University of Ottawa) added valuable insight in regards to the role of of employment prospects (or perceived employment prospects), tax structure and economic variations from province to province, and the role variances in all aspects of society from region to region play in the migration decision.

Join us for our next Author Meets Readers on May 23, 2013 – details here: http://events.carleton.ca/author-meets-readers/

On Wednesday, April 10, 2013, the Faculty of Public Affairs celebrated the best of our faculty at a reception in the River Building. This new focus of this event is to both highlight our research and to create a fun and social atmosphere so we can all enjoy the work the faculty has conducted over the previous 12 months. More than 100 members of the faculty and staff of FPA attended this event.

Awarded annualy, the Staff, Teaching and Research Excellence Awards demonstrate the faculty’s commitment to recognizing the outstanding work of all of our members and to awarding those who stand out above everyone else.

l to r: Steve Tasson, Melanie Adrian, Carole Craswell, Zhihao Yu, and Brian Schmidt

This Year’s Recipients:

Staff Excellence Award
Carole Craswell – School of Journalism and Communication.

Carole Craswell has been with the School for 26 years, since 1987 – and was the first support staff member hired specifically for what is now the Communication Studies program. In 2008, she became administrator of the entire School of Journalism and Communication, which means she is responsible for five degree programs, two separate timetables and two separate budgets and was the chief administrative officer in charge of the School’s move from St. Pat’s to the River building. Carole has been for long years at the heart of the collegiality of the School of Journalism and Communication and also organizes the annual Christmas potluck and the annual summer picnic.

Teaching Excellence Award
Prof. Melanie Adrian – Department of Law and Legal Studies
Prof. Brian Schmidt – Department of Political Science
and
Steve Tasson – Department of Law and Legal Studies

Melanie Adrian has created a teaching style all her own that is exciting, innovative, and and interactive. She has consistently won the praises of her undergraduate students as an approachable and gifted mentor who utilizes everything from books to slam poetry in her pedagogical approach. It is this dynamic nature that has earned her this recognition.

Brian Schmidt has shown remarkable diversity in his approach to teaching that includes both undergraduate and graduate-level courses. Add to this his mentoring skills, the ongoing curriculum development, graduate supervising and, to top it all off, his dedication to research projects, and you have someone who has earned an excellence ward in teaching.

Steve Tasson is the very nature of academia personified. Still in the process of attaing his PhD, he lectures in all course levels and continues show great persistence in his teaching even after 10 years as a contract instructor. Steve worked for Carleton’s Centre for Initiatives in Education from 2001-2006 and has also taught courses for the Department of Law ranging from Global Governance and Human Rights to Legal Research Methods; Law and Regulation; Law in the Information Society; and Introduction to Legal Studies.

Research Excellence Award
Zhihao Yu – Department of Economics

With a passion for both research and teaching, Zhihao Yu has proven himself over the last two years by maintaining a high level of teaching while, at the same time, creating a large output of peer reviewed material and research output. With expertise in international trade with special emphasis on outsourcing and intra-industry trade, the political economy of government policy, and trade and the environment, Zhihao Yu never rests on his laurels and has several more articles close to being published. He continues to exemplify a dedication to ongoing research and publication excellence in the field of Economics and is regarded highly in his field both both by his peers and his students.

Teaching Achievement Awards

Simon Power, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Faculty of Public Affairs
Project Title: The Undergraduate Econometrics Curriculum Revisited

Simon Power specialises in the teaching of econometrics- the specification, estimation, and testing of statistical models in economics. He will be revisiting the undergraduate econometrics curriculum at Carleton with a view to restructuring and re-visioning this critical component of our Honours Economics and Honours Applied Economics programs. This project is particularly timely due to the increasingly rapid development of the econometrics field with the concomitant requirement for ever-increasing levels of skill and understanding among our graduates, together with the associated problem of providing our students with appropriately sophisticated econometrics training at an early enough stage in their programs to facilitate the completion of state-of-the-art empirical projects in final-year capstone seminar courses.

Professional Achievement Award

Danette Nearing-Guibord, Instructor II, Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice

My teaching philosophy is quite simple, to engage students and to help them to link theory with practical experience. As co-ordinator of the field placement program and instructor for their seminar class I have an audience of the top 80 third and fourth year criminology students for the whole school year. I provide them with an opportunity to work in the criminal justice field and, through the seminar classes, I expose them to current topics in criminal justice, through a variety of mediums such as: guest speakers; videos; current news and research. The classes provide interactive discussions and opportunities to share placement experiences. I communicate regularly with the students about job postings and volunteer opportunities. Outside the classroom I promote community-university engagement by being active on various committees; I am active in recruitment events; and I am also the Faculty Advisor for the Criminology Society where I provide contacts and support for the students in doing institutional tours; guest speakers etc.

Contract Instructors Award

Vlasios Melessanakis, School of Public Policy and Administration, Faculty of Public Affairs

As a lecturer in the SPPA and Kroeger College, the centerpiece of Vlasios’ teaching approach is to exhibit to his students his own sense of vibrant passion for public policy discourse and development. His teaching style can be characterized as “story-telling” and sharing with his students his own personal (and purposely comical) anecdotes and professional experiences in government. Vlasios teaches a highly popular graduate seminar on the regulation of financial institutions- the only one of its kind in Canada. The innovative aspect of this course, which he developed, is that it is specifically designed for non-economics and non-business students. In this course, he “de mystifies” the root causes of the recent global financial crisis and explains, in a layman’s fashion, the often technical economic concepts that are frequently referenced in the business media, but yet few understand outside of financial circles.

More HERE:

In the process, Dehejia and Subramanya find answers to entangled questions and discover new angles to old mysteries. Written with sharp, insightful and humorous prose, Indianomix reveals how life’s everyday situations – even something as simple as trying to flag down a taxi – can be better explained when you analyse them with an economic outlook. It isn’t about figuring out where the stock market is heading, what the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy should be or providing a dissertation on the need for economic reforms. Instead it is about debunking myths and calling into question bits of conventional wisdom about India – and showing that when you dig down into the deeper mechanisms hidden below all the confusing patterns in the country, India makes sense after all.

More info here.