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Thomas O. Enders Distinguished Dissertation Award

Thomas O. Enders Distinguished Dissertation Award

The Thomas O. Enders Distinguished Dissertation Award is awarded to a successful nominee’s dissertation which represents original work that makes a significant contribution to the nominee’s discipline and to the study of Canada.

Named in honor of the former US Ambassador to Canada (1976-81), a generous supporter of Canadian Studies in the US, the Award consists of an honorarium of $5,000, a certificate of citation, and complimentary membership in ACSUS for two years. The awardee will be expected to attend the ACSUS Biennial conference where the award will be conferred and may be asked to give a 20-minute presentation on their work at the conference.

Apply if you meet this criteria:

Successful applicants will be selected according to the following criteria:

  • The dissertation’s substantive and methodological quality, originality of thought, and clarity;
  • The dissertation represents original work that makes a significant contribution to the nominee’s discipline and to the study of Canada;
  • The dissertation contains at least 50% content on Canada;
  • Strength of the letter of support

( N.B. Incomplete applications will not be considered. )

Apply Now
August 1, 2025
$5,000
August 2023 - August 2025
August 31, 2025

Nominations

Faculty serving on dissertation committees at universities in the US and individual members of ACSUS are invited to nominate deserving students who have completed the Ph.D. degree between August 2023 and August 2025. The nomination must be accompanied by two letters of support, one from the student’s dissertation advisor and one from a second 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. These materials should be submitted electronically to info@acsus.org

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

2023

The winner of the 2023 Thomas O. Enders Distinguished Dissertation Award is Dr. Antoinette Williams-Tutt, Southern Methodist University. Dr. Williams-Tutt’s dissertation was entitled Where Do We Go from Here? Québécois Identity in The Road Novel from 1964 to 2008. The dissertation explored the changing and often hybridized aspects of Québécois identity, that challenge static concepts of the Québécois state and people, through an examination of road novels by Québécois authors Claude Jasmin, Jacques Poulin, Guillaume Vigneault, and Catherine Mavrikakis.

Due to complications caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Distinguished Dissertation prize was not awarded.
The winner of the 2019 ACSUS Distinguished Dissertation Award was Dr. Emma Elliott-Groves, Assistant Professor in the College of Education, University of Washington. Dr. Elliott-Groves’ dissertation was entitled New Thinking for Intervention: Towards a Culturally Responsive Model of Understanding Indigenous Suicide. She successfully defended her dissertation in 2016 at the University of Washington in Seattle.
The winner of the 2017 ACSUS Distinguished Dissertation Award was Dylan McLean, Lecturer, Department of Political Science, University of West Georgia.  Dylan’s dissertation was entitled Gun Test:  Evaluating Theoretical Explanations for Canada-U.S. Political Differences Through the Lens of the Politics of Gun Control.  Dylan successfully defended his dissertation in July 2015 at the University at Buffalo – State University of New York.  The award was presented to Dylan by Patrick Coleman (UCLA), Chair of the selection committee, at the 24th Biennial conference of ACSUS in Las Vegas, NV in October 2017.
The winner of the 2015 ACSUS Distinguished Dissertation Award was Barry Eidlin, Assistant Professor of Sociology, McGill University, for his doctoral dissertation entitled “The Class Idea: Politics, Ideology, and Class Formation in the U.S. and Canada in the Twentieth Century,” University of California, Berkeley, December 2012.  The award was presented to Dr. Eidlin by the chair of the selection committee, Professor Jean-Jacques Thomas (UB-SUNY) at the awards banquet of the 23rd Biennial conference, Las Vegas, NV on October 16th, 2015.

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