The Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta is widely regarded as a supportive and rewarding place to study, work and visit. Our talented and industrious community consists of about 30 academic faculty members, 13 academic instructors, 5 adjunct professors, and 3 administrative staff members. In any year, there are also about 100 graduate students and over 1200 undergraduate majors and minors. The Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta is internationally acclaimed for its critical, progressive, and plural approaches to the study of politics. We offer a collegial and supportive environment for students who are committed to the advanced study of power, governance, and political life. We are Canada’s premier institution for the study of Gender and Politics, Critical Political Economy, and the politics of Canada and Alberta. There are also clusters of faculty working on more specific themes: indigenous politics and decolonization; China and the world; the politics of resource extraction and environmentalism; ethnic politics and migration; and globalization. The department is home to two Canada Research Chairs—Janine Brodie in Political Economy and Social Governance and Cressida Heyes in Philosophy of Gender and Sexuality—and Mojtaba Mahdavi holds the ECMC Chair in Islamic Studies; we also host the European Union Centre of Excellence directed by Lori Thorlakson as the Jean Monnet Chair in European Politics. Our faculty are a close-knit group of emerging and established scholars who stress excellence in teaching and mentoring, and who seek to integrate graduate students as junior scholars into our intellectual community.
