Denis Stairs

Denis W. Stairs is professor emeritus in political science at Dalhousie University.

Education and academics

Denis Stairs obtained a B.A. in history from Dalhousie University in 1961. He went on to get his second B.A. from Oxford in 1964, this time in philosophy, politics and economics. He completed his Ph.D. in political science at the University of Toronto, where he specialized in international politics and foreign policy.

Stairs joined Dalhousie’s Department of Political Science in 1966, and was the founding director of its Centre for Foreign Policy Studies from 1970 to 1975. He served as chair of his department from 1980 to 1985, and as Dalhousie’s vice-president (academic and research) from 1988 to 1993. In 2005 he was appointed Professor Emeritus. He is the former President of the Canadian Political Science Association, a member of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada from 1981 to 1987 and of the Research Council of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research from 1986 to 1997. He has been a member of the board of directors of the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre since 2007.

Stairs is a two-time recipient of the Marcel Cadieux Distinguished Writing Award.