Deadline. All materials for the 2011 competition must be submitted electroncially by   July 1, 2011 to info@acsus.org. Competition has not yet been announced.  

2011 ACSUS Distinguished Dissertation Award

Award. The ACSUS Distinguished Dissertation 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 United States and individual members of ACSUS are invited to nominate deserving students who have completed the Ph.D. degree between August 2009 and August 2011. The nomination must be accompanied by a letter of support from the student's dissertation advisor and from one additional 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. Appendi­ces containing charts, tables, and bibliographies should also be included. These materials should be submitted electronically toinfo@acsus.org by July 1, 2011.

Award Committee. The President of ACSUS will name a Dissertation Award Committee to include one ACSUS officer, one ACSUS councilor, and two additional ACSUS members, one from the humanities or fine arts and one from the social sciences or business. At the committee's discretion, additional consultation may be sought.

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.

Past winners:

Kate Dunsmore, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Studies at Fairleigh Dickinson University, is the recipient of the 2009 ACSUS Distinguished Dissertation Award in Canadian Studies for "Mediating Alliance: The Role of the Press in Sustaining Reciprocity in the US-Canada Relationship."

In Dunsmore’s study of how major news organizations help sustain Canada-US relations and frame the bilateral 'narrative', she presents an insightful review of how central decision makers on both sides of the border come to share common expectations. One committee member stated that Dunsmore’s research "pushed me further along in thinking about some of   the theoretical issues in discourse analysis and media."

The Distinguished Dissertation Award recognizes outstanding doctoral research on  Canada at American institutions and is granted in conjunction with ACSUS’ biennial conference. The dissertation represents original work and makes a significant contribution to the study of Canada.

2007

Sara Beth Keough, while at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, was the recipient of the 2007 Distinguished Dissertation Award in Canadian Studies for "Canada's Cultural Media Policy and Newfoundland Music on the Radio: Local Identities and Global Implications."

Contactinfo@acsus.org for full list of previous recipients