June 2026
Academic appointments and promotions
Jun-han Yon, Ph.D. ’24: Lecturer in Political Science, Seoul National University; Research associate, Cosmos Foundation
Kieran Mabey, Ph.D. ’24: Postdoctoral Associate and Lecturer in Political Science, Yale
Mary Jo MacDonald, BA ’17: Asssistant Professor of Political Science, Mount Allison University
Emma Planinc, MA ’12, promoted to Associate Professor of Liberal Arts and Political Science, Notre Dame
Isaac Stethem, BA ’13 MA ’16: Lecturer in the Discipline of Political Science and the Core Curriculum, Columbia
Will Tilliczek, postdoc ‘23-25: Assistant Professor of Political Science & Global Development Studies, Saint Mary’s
Timothy Waligore, postdoc 2011-13: promoted to Full Professor of Political Science, Pace University
Jordan David Thomas Walters, Ph. D. ’25: Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Western Australia
Other student and alum recognition
Tim Gulliver, BCL/ JD 3, Supreme Court Clerkship 2027-28
Jeanne Mayrand-Thibert, BA '19 BCL/JD '23, Trudeau Foundation Scholar
Elena Choquette, BA ’11, Canada Prize, Federation for Humanities and Social Sciences, for Land and the Liberal Project
RGCS in academic year 2025-26
RGCS Charles Taylor Student Fellowship books
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations; Adam Ferguson, An Essay on the History of Civil Society; François Fénelon, Telemachus
RGCS Lectures
Daniel Lee, Berkeley, Political Science. “Excessive Beneficence:
Regulating Generosity in the Modern Natural Law School of Hugo Grotius”
Tom Ginsburg, Chicago, Law. "Governing Across Time: Transitional Provisions in Constitutions"
Emma Planinc MA ’12, Liberal Arts, Notre Dame. “Regenerative Politics”
Other RGCS events
Book launch, Yann Allard-Tremblay, Disjunctures: Indigenous Redirections in Political Theory
Book manuscript workshop, Kelly Gordon, Conservatism Otherwise: A Feminist Method for Reading the Right
Lin Centre events
10th anniversary lectures: Jill Frank, Cornell, “Crafting Order: Plato and the Shape of Democracy”
Steven Pincus, Chicago, “The South Asian Origins of American Independence: Empire, Political Economy, and Partisan Politics”
Annual Lecture: Kim Lane Scheppele, Princeton, “Counter-Constitutions: Being the Object of a Coup”
Alums’ dissertations defended:
Emma Ebowe, BA ’18, Ph.D. in Government, Harvard. “Intimately Bound: Injustice and the Foster System”
Zoë Miller-Vedam, BA '12, Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Irvine. "Birthing Citizens: Pregnant Immigrants and the Boundaries of Belonging"
Eric Schildroth MA ’17, Ph.D. in Political Science, University of Toronto. “Ethical pluralism and public office: The ethics of political and administrative officials in liberal democracies"
Isaac Stethem, BA ’13 MA ’16, Ph.D. in Political Science, Columbia University. “Planetary Peoples: Historical Continuity and Contemporary Spaces.”
Faculty honours and awards
Yann Allard-Tremblay’s book Disjunctures was a finalist for the CB MacPherson Prize from the Canadian Political Science Association
Evan Fox-Decent was renewed as Canada Research Chair in Cosmopolitan Law and Justice
Jacob Levy: Dean of Students’ Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Academic Advising, academic staff category
Aaron Mills: Principal's Prize for Excellence in Teaching, Assistant Professor category
New books by RGCS faculty and alums
Yann Allard-Tremblay, Disjunctures: Indigenous Redirections in Political Theory, Oxford University Press
Alfred Moore and Samuel Bagg, postdoc 2017-19, eds., Democracy and Competition, Liverpool University Press
Xavier Boileau, postdoc 2023-25, Multiculturalisme, impérialisme et culture, Presses de l’Université du Québec
Evan J. Criddle and Evan Fox-Decent, Mandatory Cooperation Under International Law, Cambridge University Press
Emmett Macfarlane and Kate Puddister Ph.D. ’15, eds., Disciplinary Divides in the Study of Law and Politics, University of Toronto Press
Timothy Waligore, postdoc 2011-13, Reparations and Redress for Historical Injustice, Cambridge University Press
RGCS Charles Taylor Student Fellowship; Shklar Room
This year’s McGill24 spring fundraiser saw 116 donors add $25,500 to the Fellowship’s endowment including the University’s matching funds, in addition to a $25,000 gift from the Lemieux Family Foundation. Today we can announce that, thanks to the good offices of RGCS faculty member Chris Manfredi, a $10,000 donation from the Max Bell Foundation will bring the total endowment to $250,000— the level that permanently pays out $10,000 per year, the amount for 20 x $500 stipends for the Fellows.
Next milestone: $325,000 will fully support stipends and books!
McGill24 ambassadors: Natalie Pennisi, coordinator; Madison Albert, Alex Byrne, Jake Bleiberg, Alexandra Gastaldi, Bria LaBella, Antoine Lespine, Elisa Muyl, David Oh.
In 2025-26, the University officially completed the naming of the reading room as the Judith Nisse Shklar Reading Room. The publisher Liberty Fund made a major gift of around 400 volumes worth about $10,000 to the Shklar Room’s collection of books in the history of political thought, including their complete collection of “Natural Law and Enlightenment Classics” with works primarily from the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as the complete works of John Stuart Mill and Adam Smith, and major additions to the collections for the Scottish and French Enlightenments and the American Revolution and US constitutional founding era.