The Robert F. Harney Professorship And Program

The Robert F. Harney Professorship and Program in Ethnic, Immigration, and Pluralism Studies supports and promotes interdisciplinary research and teaching on ethnic diversity and interethnic group relations in Canadian society in a comparative context. Its purpose is to develop graduate programs in the study of ethnicity, and to involve faculty, professionals, and students from various disciplines. Expertise in the study of ethnicity is greatly valued by social agencies, consulting firms, hospitals, civic organizations, and other institutions that deal with issues that include: immigration and immigrant adjustment, Native Peoples, race and race relations, attitudes towards diverse cultures, minority group conflicts, and cultural diversity policies.

The Harney Professorship and Program offers a Graduate Collaborative Program in Ethnic and Pluralism Studies in which students have the opportunity to take courses outside of their department or faculty as they work towards an interdisciplinary specialization at either the Master's or the Doctoral level. Please note that this program does not confer a degree of its own, but upon successfully completing program requirements, students receive a specialization noted on their transcripts as "Completed Collaborative Program in Ethnic and Pluralism Studies." in addition to the Master's or Doctorate in their area.

Participating departments and faculties include: Anthropology, Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (CERES), Geography, History, Industrial Relations and Human Resources (CIRHR), Nursing Science, Political Science, Religion, Social Work, Sociology, Sociology and Equity Studies in Education (SESE), Theory and Policy Studies in Education (TPS), Women and Gender Studies Institute (WGSI).

For more details, please visit our "Graduate Program" page.

Graduate program announcements

News & Events

Details and Call for Papers for the 3rd Annual Graduate Research Conference (January 28-29, 2010) can be found on our Events page

11th session of the Core Seminar (JTH3000H), Monday November 23, 2009, 4:10- 6:00pm (Classroom: BL312).

JTH3000 course outline and reading list (updated September 14, 2009) can be found here.

Professor Jeffrey Reitz gave a lecture entitled "Multiculturalism and Social Cohesion: Potentials and Challenges of Diversity" in the President's Lecture Series at the University of British Columbia, in the Department of Sociology, on November 5, 2009.

Professor Jeffrey Reitz participated in "MULTI-CULTURALISM AND ITS DISCONTENTS", September 24 & 25, 2009, a conference organized by the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies (Glendon College, York University). Professor Reitz's paper is entitled "Realizing the potentials - and facing the challenges - of multiculturalism in Canada". For more details, please see the conference program. You can view Professor Reitz's paper as well as all other papers presented at this conference.

New Book:

Multiculturalism and Social Cohesion: Potentials and Challenges of Diversity
(by Jeffrey G. Reitz, Raymond Breton, Karen K. Dion, and Kenneth L. Dion, Springer, 2009)

Does multiculturalism ‘work’? Does multiculturalism policy create social cohesion, or undermine it? Multiculturalism was introduced in Canada in the 1970s and widely adopted internationally, but more recently has been hotly debated, amid new concerns about social, cultural, and political impacts of immigration. See Publications for more details.

On June 11, 2009, The Metropolis Project sponsored an Armchair Discussion on Multiculturalism and Social Cohesion. Click here for more details.

Program Director:
Jeffrey G. Reitz
Courses, 2009-2010

Program Administrator:
Momo Kano Podolsky

Collaborating Departments:

Anthropology
European, Russian, & Eurasian Studies
Geography
History
Industrial Relations & Human Resources
Nursing Science
Political Science
Religion
Social Work
Sociology
Sociology & Equity Studies in Education
Theory & Policy Studies in Education
Women & Gender Studies