Political scientist Antonia Maioni succeeds Desmond Morton
New head of McGill Institute for the Study of Canada
McGill Principal Bernard Shapiro has announced that political scientist Antonia Maioni will be the next director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, succeeding well-known historian and commentator Desmond Morton. Dr Maioni has published extensively in the field of comparative politics, with a particular focus on health policy. She is the author of Parting at the Crossroads: The Emergence of Health Insurance in the United States and Canada (Princeton University Press, 1998) and has written on a number of related topics such as market incentives and public opinion in health care reform, federalism and social policy-making, and the welfare state in Canada.
Dean of Arts Carman Miller says, "Dr Maionis training, linguistic skills and international exposure are entirely appropriate, given the changing reality of Canada. A William Dawson scholar at McGill and an adjunct professor at the Université de Montréal, she represents a new generation of academic leadership."
And what does the founding director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada think of his successor? Desmond Morton responds, "Antonia Maioni was one of the brilliant younger faculty McGill was lucky enough to attract some years ago. She knows the Institute well, and I am confident she has the talent, energy inspiration and support for the job. Dr Maioni is interrupting a conventional academic career for the sake of a high-profile administrative task with opportunities for innovation and experiment. As the mother of three very young boys, she has also had to demonstrate extraordinary organizational ability -- shes a great choice."
A multilingual Montrealer, Antonia Maioni studied at Université Laval and subsequently earned a masters degree at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton and a doctorate at Northwestern University. She has held visiting appointments at Harvard and Duke universities in the U.S. and at the European University Institute in Italy. She is currently investigating political change and the future of the Canadian health care model, with strategic funding provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
The McGill Institute for the Study of Canada was founded in 1994, thanks to a $10 million gift from Charles Bronfman and his family. Its goals are to produce new insight into Canadian issues and to promote understanding and solutions to social, political, and economic problems affecting the country. Mr Bronfman notes, "The appointment of Dr Maioni to succeed Dr Desmond Morton marks an important new phase in the development of the Institute. My colleagues on the Board of Trustees and I are pleased to welcome a respected scholar who will bring fresh energy to the Institutes efforts to promote knowledge and understanding of Canada. We are also deeply indebted to Desmond Morton. His innovative leadership enabled the Institute to become an important addition to the Canadian Studies world in a very few years."
