Dr. Jeff MacLeodAssociate Professor and ChairCo-ordinator of Public Policy Program
PhD, (Political Science), University of Western Ontario
MA, (Political Science), Acadia University
BACS, Cape Breton University
Dr. MacLeod has long believed that a considered understanding of the process of politics is essential for improving social justice and striving for the public good. The strength of the academic discipline of political science is its ability to consider political thought and action from a variety of perspectives, for, at its core, it is an inter-disciplinary field.MacLeod’s research interests capture this inter-disciplinary approach through published articles in the fields of health policy, English literature and Canadian politics. His most recent work concentrates on examining the connection between visual art and politics. Journals in which his work is published include: The Canadian Journal of Political Science, Myth lore (Tolkien studies), Healthcare Papers and the Canadian Parliamentary Review.This inter-disciplinary spirit is also evident in his teaching dossier as he regularly offers courses in the disciplines of public policy, political science and public relations.
MacLeod maintains that direct, intuited experience informs a fuller understanding of the dynamics of the political process. His scholarship has been expanded through lessons gleaned while serving the Canadian government in the legislative branch as a policy advisor to the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology; the executive branch, as a senior policy advisor with Health Canada; and in the provincial sphere as the executive assistant to the Nova Scotia Minister of Health in the Government of Premier John Savage. He also served through leadership positions in a variety of political campaigns.
His academic career is complimented by his active work as a visual artist. He was born on Cape Breton Island and has lived throughout Nova Scotia and Ontario.
Dr. Michael MacMillanProfessorMA, PhD, University of Minnesota
BA (Hons), University of New Brunswick
Michael MacMillan was born in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia and grew up in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He joined the Department in 1978, and is serving as Department Chair for the third time. He also is Co-ordinator of the Public Policy Studies Program.
He has published a number of articles on issues regarding language rights and language policy, culminating in his book, The Practice of Language Rights in Canada, published in 1998 by the University of Toronto Press. This book was short-listed for the prestigious Donner Prize, for the best book in public policy published in that year. His other publications include “Social versus Political Rights: A Distinction without a Difference?” in the Canadian Journal of Political Science in 1986, “Federal Language Policy in Canada and the Quebec Challenge”, a chapter in the book, Linguistic Conflict and Language Laws: Understanding the Quebec Question, Pierre Larrivee, editor, published by Palgrave Macmillan (U.K.) in 2002. More recently, he has examined the comparative policy treatment of language issues in Canada and the United States, especially in the courts, culminating in the co-authored article “Judicial Activism or Restraint?: The Role of the Highest Courts in Language Policy in Canada and the United States” in the American Review of Canadian Studies in 2003. He has presented numerous papers at regional, national and international conferences on a range of topics including human rights, Quebec nationalism, and democracy and democratic theory.His current research explores issues in democratic theory and practice, specifically techniques of auditing democracy in organizations of civil society.
The following is a link to the presentation of Dr. MacMillan's recent research on the citizen consultation on heritage planning in Nova Scotia. Please click here to view the presentation.
Dr. Meredith RalstonProfessor
PhD (Political Science), Dalhousie University
MA (International Relations), University of Sussex
BA (Political Science), University of Toronto
A member of the Department of Women’s Studies since 1993, Dr. Ralston was cross-appointed to this Department in 2004. Her academic interests include homelessness and prostitution in comparative contexts, women’s rights as human rights, women in politics, and critiques of neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism. Her published works include “Nobody Wants to Hear Our Truth” in Homeless Women and Theories of the Welfare State, published by Greenwood Press in 1996 and “Homeless Women and the New Right” in Francois-Pierre Gingras’ Gender and Politics in Contemporary Canada, published by Oxford University Press in 1995. She is currently involved in a collaborative development project on the sex trade industry in the Philippines.
Dr. Ralston has been actively involved in the women’s community in Nova Scotia and organized a grass roots project in preparation for the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in 1995.
She has written and directed a National Film Board of Canada production “Why Women Run” which profiles Alexa McDonough and Mary Clancy. She has also co-directed and co-produced “Wendy Lill: Playwright in Parliament” which follows Wendy Lill in her first year as a rookie MP.
Dr. Ralston is currently working on her third documentary on sex tourism in the Philippines. She continues to work with her Filipino colleagues on participatory video and theatre of the oppressed techniques.
Dr. Tammy FindlayAssistant Professor
PhD (Political Science), York UniversityMA (Political Science), York University
BA (Political Science), Huron University College, University of Western Ontario
Tammy Findlay grew up in London, Ontario. She came to Halifax from Vancouver, British Columbia, where she did a post-doctoral fellowship in the College for Interdisciplinary Studies’ Human Early Learning Partnership at UBC. Before joining the faculty at the Mount, Dr. Findlay taught at York University, Trent University, and the University of Western Ontario in political science, women’s studies, social science and Canadian studies. She has also worked as a policy researcher for a national social policy organization. Professor Findlay’s research interests are in the areas of Canadian politics, gender and politics, gender and public policy, social policy, community engagement, multilevel governance, and representation. She is currently working on two projects related to democratic governance, social capital, and child care policy in Canada, and is completing a book on women’s representation in the Ontario public service. Findlay values interdisciplinary and community-based research that fosters social change, and has been involved in a variety of university and community service.Dr. Findlay teaches the Canadian Studies core courses, and serves as faculty advisor to its majors and the Canadian Studies Student Society.
Dr. Reginald StuartProfessor
PhD, University of Florida
BA, MA, University of British Columbia
Dr. Reg Stuart is from Vancouver, B.C., and taught at universities in Prince Edward Island and elsewhere in Canada before he came to MSVU as Dean of Arts and Science in 1988. Since then he has taught aspects of American History and Politics, with a focus on Canadian-American Relations, Comparative North American Politics, and Canadian Foreign Policy. He won awards at the University of P.E.I., various research grants from each university and from Canadian and American granting agencies. In 2004 he held a Canada-U.S. Fulbright Fellowship at the Canada Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Stuart has written, spoken and published widely on his various research projects and current affairs for academic and private audiences, local and national radio and television programs, and newspapers. He has travelled in Canada, the United States and parts of Western Europe on academic, research and sabbatical work.
His books include United States Expansionism and British North America, 1775-1781 (1988; 1990 Albert Corey Prize winner); The First Seventy-Five Years (1988); War and American Thought: From the Revolution to the Monroe Doctrine (1982), and The Half-Way Pacifist: Thomas Jefferson’s View of War (1978). His many articles and reviews have appeared in The American Review of Canadian Studies, Diplomatic History, Canadian Journal of History, International History Review. His current book project is Dispersed Linkages: Canadians and North America’s Layered Relationship.
Dr. Nargess KayhaniChair/ Associate Professor
BS (Tehran)
MS
PhD (Oregon)
Dr. James SawlerAssociate Professor
Bcomm (Magna Cum Laude)
MA, PhD (Economics), Dalhousie University
James Sawler joined the faculty at Mount Saint Vincent in July 2006. Prior to that, he was an assistant professor at Concordia University and Acadia University.
Dr. Sawler’s research interests include decision-making involving strategic alliances, international competition and merger policy, and the teaching of economics. His recent publications include articles in Managerial and Decision Economics, Canadian Competition Record, and the Journal of Economic Education. He is an associate with the European Union Centre of Excellence at Dalhousie University and serving as a director of the Atlantic Canada Economics Association.