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Canada Program
The Canada Program, made possible by the William Lyon Mackenzie King endowment, presents rich intellectual opportunities for Canadian studies at Harvard: graduate and undergraduate courses offered by distinguished visiting Canadian scholars across the social sciences and professional schools, dissertation research grants for Harvard graduate students, thesis research and travel funding for Harvard undergraduates, a vibrant seminar series of esteemed Canadian guest speakers, and an annual faculty-led conference.
The endowment was established in 1967 following a campaign spearheaded by David Rockefeller, who wished to honor William Lyon Mackenzie King (1874–1950), a great friend of his father, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. A Harvard graduate, King was deputy minister of labour in Canada when, in 1914, he was recruited as an industrial consultant tasked with brokering an agreement between management and labor workers at the Rockefeller-controlled Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. According to Harvard's Directory of Named Chairs, a dispute between management and labor had resulted in "a long, bitter and bloody strike against the company." And, "[w]hile Rockefeller hoped King would help extricate his company from a labor dilemma which he believed had been badly handled, he had a larger purpose in urging the Rockefeller Foundation to use the Colorado situation as a means of recommending a plan of broad application to industrial relations generally." King managed the situation, helped amend public perception of Rockefeller, and produced a book for the foundation, Industry and Humanity (1918). After a time as industrial adviser to a number of American utility and extraction firms, King returned to Canadian politics, took leadership of the Liberal Party, and went on to serve Canada as prime minister for a collective twenty-two years.
In 1967, the president of the University of Toronto, Professor Claude T. Bissell, was named the first William Lyon Mackenzie King Visiting Professor of Canadian Studies. Bissell's research assistant at the time was Michael Bliss, now a distinguished Canadian historian, author, and former University of Toronto professor. Their time at Harvard was, Bliss noted, "one of the happiest years of our lives."
Professor Elke Winter joins us as the 2019–2020 William Lyon Mackenzie King Visiting Professor of Canadian Studies. Dr. Winter, a professor of sociology at the University of Ottawa, teaches the graduate course "Nationalism and Citizenship in Comparative Perspective" (fall 2019), and "Nationalism and Ethnic Diversity" (spring 2020) through the Department of Sociology.
Anne-Marie Livingstone and Troy Vettese join us as the 2019–2020 William Lyon Mackenzie King Postdoctoral Fellows. Professor Livingstone teaches the undergraduate seminar, "Race, Public Policy, and Social Change" (fall 2019) through the Department of Sociology.
Since 2008, the Canada Program has granted more than $1,000,000 in dissertation research funding to more than eighty graduate students—some of whom are engaged in research concerning government, law, sociology, history, music, education, public health, and urban design—and thesis support for undergraduate students, all of whom are known as Canada Research Fellows.
Eighteen student Canada Research Fellows join the program in 2019–2020, with fellows representing the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School of Design, the Graduate School of Education, and the College.
Helen Clayton is the program administrator. The program offices are located at 1727 Cambridge Street.
Canada Program Website
Current Program Affiliates
Funding: Canada Program Fellowships for Dissertation Research
Funding: Canada Program Undergraduate Thesis Research Grants
William Lyon Mackenzie King Chairs
Canada Program Faculty Advisory Committee
See also: Programs, Current Programs
Elke Winter
William Lyon Mackenzie King Visiting Professor of Canadian Studies, Canada Program. Professor of Sociology, School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies, University of Ottawa.
Research interests: Political sociology; race and ethnicity; nationalism; citizenship; multiculturalism; immigration and refugees; and the history of sociology/social theory.
1727 Cambridge Street, E207
ewinter@fas.harvard.edu
Anne-Marie Livingstone
William Lyon Mackenzie King Postdoctoral Fellow, Canada Program. PhD, Department of Sociology, Johns Hopkins University.
Research interests: Racial stratification; urban poverty; urban sociology; and political sociology.
anne-marie_livingstone@fas.harvard.edu
Troy Vettese
William Lyon Mackenzie King Postdoctoral Fellow, Canada Program. PhD, Department of History, New York University.
Research interests: Environmental history; animal studies; economic history; and Marxism.
Timothy J. Colton
Chair, Canada Program Faculty Steering Committee; Chair, Weatherhead Research Cluster on Regions in a Multipolar World; Faculty Associate; Harvard Academy Senior Scholar.
Morris and Anna Feldberg Professor of Government and Russian Studies, Department of Government, Harvard University.
Research interests: Political leadership in post-Communist countries; parties and mass politics in Russia; and the interaction between domestic and international politics in the post-Soviet space.
tcolton@fas.harvard.edu
Helen Clayton
Administrator, Canada Program.
canada@wcfia.harvard.edu
Weatherhead Research Clusters: A Three-Year Pilot Program
Center for History and Economics (CHE)
SCANCOR-Weatherhead Partnership
Weatherhead Scholars Program
Program Administrator, Canada Program.