The Department of Economics is pleased to recognize the recipients of its 2024-25 Undergraduate Awards. The awards were presented at the department's annual alumni night in November 2025.  

Organized in partnership with the Economics Students' Association (ESA), alumni night brings together students, alumni and faculty to celebrate academic achievement and explore career opportunities in a variety of fields. 

The department congratulates the following award recipients: 

Chris Sloan Prize 

Ethan Tucker 

Edward A. Beder Memorial Scholarship 

Noam Lasry 
Mohammadtaha Ranjbar 

Stanley L. Warner Memorial Award 

Daniel Yu 
Mohsen Selseleh 

Tait Montague Book Prize 

Eduardo Tramontin 
Andrew Kucheruk 

The Annie Kaplansky Award 

Raamtin Farmani 
Aron Faizi 

The George Doxey Award in Economics 

Philip Lum 

John Robinson Award in Economics 

Rafael Perrion 

William Pearson Scott Scholarship 

Gurminder Kaur 

William Jaffe Book Prize 

Camila Tiemi Nakamura 

Learn more about the department’s scholarships and awards on our website. 

Professors Natasha Tusikov and Merouan Mekouar in the Department of Social Science have co-edited a special issue of Surveillance & Society, a peer-reviewed journal featuring interdisciplinary papers on surveillance, politics and policy. The journal is published by the Surveillance Studies Network Canada.  

This special issue, titled Resisting Surveillance Through Data Visibility and Invisibility investigates workplace surveillance, including Ring doorbells, facial-recognition technologies, period-tracking apps, LGBTQ+ censorship on social media and activist interventions by Forensic Architecture.  

Tusikov’s research focuses on the intersection of law, crime, technology and regulation.She is also a research fellow with the Justice and Technoscience Lab (JusTech Lab) in the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) at the Australian National University. 

Mekouar’s research focuses on social movements, authoritarianism, norm diffusion and political economy in the Middle East and North Africa. He received his PhD in political science from McGill in 2013. 

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A recent article in CTV News discusses a new round of expense reports released by Alberta politicians, disclosing spending on everything from hotel stays and steak dinners to minor purchases like chewing gum. Politicians are required to publicly share their quarterly expenses on legislative websites, as these expenses come out of taxpayers’ pockets. Ian Stedman, associate professor of Canadian public law and governance at 91��ɫ’s School of Public Policy & Administration, was quoted in the article. He said that while most of the expenses were not unusual, some were more questionable. He added that since many politicians expense their meals, this can often look more personal  rather than professional. Rules about which expenses are considered an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars are determined by each caucus.  

Stedman holds a PhD in law from Osgoode Hall Law School. His research interests include law and justice, science and technology, public sector ethics and accountability, as well as AI.  

Read the full article in . 

Tom Hooper, a professor in the Department of Equity Studies, discussed the history of the bathhouse raids, which led to the first Pride parade, in a recent Toronto Today article. On June 22, LGBTQ+ activists and historians gathered for the unveiling of a new plaque commemorating Toronto’s bathhouse raids. Protests surrounding the raids led to the city’s first-ever Pride parade.  

The raids took place in 1981, when police arrested 309 gay men who were gathering peacefully. Hooper said that while he is proud of the plaque, he wishes it contained more information about the events, as well as other bathhouse raids in the city, so that details of this important history are not forgotten.  

Hooper holds a PhD in history from 91��ɫ. His work has explored topics such as the bathhouse raids, the construction of queer historical narratives and the misuse of heritage grants donated to 2SLGBTQ+ organizations. His research specialisms include human rights, law and justice and 2SLGBTQ+ history. 

Read the full article in .  

Premier Doug Ford has made changes to Ontario’s Freedom of Information (FOI) system, exempting the Premier, his cabinet and their staff are from FOI laws. He has defended the decision as being in line with what is done in the federal government, however many critics have raised concerns as requests for information about hospital deficits, flu briefings and airport records have been rejected. 

Zachary Spicer, associate professor in the School of Public Policy & Administration, says that while the FOI system can be cumbersome to administer, it serves an important purpose by allowing the public to see government activity and helps maintain public trust. He said that while the FOI process is important, it won’t capture everything, as politicians may alter or omit information from their written communications knowing they may be viewed.  

Spicer holds a PhD in political science from the University of Western Ontario. His research interests include politics and government, public administration, local government, smart cities, data governance and innovation policy.  

Read the full story in .  

Janusz Przychodzen, a professor in the Department of French Studies, was selected by the Canadian Association of University and College Teachers of French for the Association of Professors of French at Canadian Universities and Colleges (APFUCC) Prize.  

The APFUCC Prizes are awarded annually, on a rotating basis. They recognize an article or book published in French and dealing with the French language, literatures or cultures, as well as the best presentation given at the APFUCC annual conference by a young researcher. You can read his selected article on .

Learn more about the awards on the .  

Thomas Klassen, a professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration, has co-edited a new book that examines contemporary Korean popular culture over the past quarter century. The book, titled Contemporary Korean culture from the edge: transgression, innovation, and intimacy (Bloomsbury, 2026) was edited by Hong Kal, Thomas R. Klassen and Jooyeon Rhee.  

This book seeks to provide new perspectives on contemporary Korea, exploring topics like fashion, food, music, art, literature, architecture and more, looking at how culture has shaped the country.  

Thomas Klassen holds a PhD from the University of Toronto. His research specializes in employment and labour, public administration, comparative labour market policies, income security policies, retirement and pensions, Korea and East Asia.  

Learn more about the book on .  

The School of Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies is proud to announce that Tera Gosse has been named the recipient of the 2026 Melissa J. Knauer Essay Prize. This prestigious honour is awarded for the best essay submitted in the social sciences on a topic relating to women. 

Gosse’s winning submission, titled On the Language of the Historical Colonial Contract: Language, Performative Acts, and White-Streaming Heteropatriarchy, offers a rigorous look at the mechanisms of institutional power. In Gosse’s words, the work “examines how settler colonialism persists through language as well as through law and policy.  Drawing on feminist theories of performativity, Indigenous feminist scholarship, and historical case studies, it argues that colonial authority is continually reproduced through bureaucratic, legal and institutional language that transforms domination into consent. The essay concludes by examining testimony, artistic expression, and Tori Gosse's poem All My Relations Blame You as forms of refusal that challenge and disrupt the narratives sustaining colonial power.”  

For Gosse, a Gender & Women’s Studies major, the recognition represents both academic rigor and personal history.   

“Winning the Melissa J. Knauer Essay Prize is deeply meaningful because it recognizes work that brings together my academic interests in feminist theory, Indigenous studies and social justice with my lived experiences as a woman of Mi'kmaq ancestry,” says Gosse. “My family history and especially the influence of my late Mi'kmaq grandmother, has profoundly shaped how I understand the issues explored in my research. Receiving this award affirms the importance of critically examining the systems and narratives that continue to shape our society and encourages me to continue pursuing scholarship that amplifies Indigenous and feminist perspectives.”  

Faculty members have praised the essay for its sophisticated and interdisciplinary approach. Nominator Professor Tanya Taylor noted that “Tera Gosse's work is original in both approach and content. Its sophisticated interdisciplinary analysis brings feminist theory, Indigenous scholarship and historical research into productive dialogue.”  

Taylor further observed that the research provides a vital contribution to modern scholarship, saying “Tera's investigation of how language itself reproduces colonial power demonstrates exceptional theoretical depth while remaining attentive to the lived realities and ongoing effects of settler colonialism. Ultimately, On the Language of the Historical Colonial Contract: Language, Performative Acts, and White-Streaming Heteropatriarchy accomplishes more than advancing a compelling ethical and political argument about resistance, testimony and Indigenous forms of refusal; it becomes a site of knowledge production that contributes meaningfully to ongoing conversations about Indigenous resurgence, historical accountability and reconciliation.”  

The Undergraduate Awards Committee corroborated this assessment, finding that “the paper was well-argued, clear and consistent unpacking of colonial governance and of how bureaucratic language works as a tool of control.”  The award marks a significant milestone in Gosse's academic studies, highlighting the vital intersection of Indigenous and feminist perspectives in the social sciences.