uOttawa News

OTTAWA, November 1, 2012  —  The University of Ottawa is pleased to announce the winners of its 2012 Excellence in Media Relations Awards, Philippe Lagassé, assistant professor of public and international affairs (francophone recipient) and Miles Corak, professor of economics (anglophone recipient). Both professors teach at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

Philippe Lagassé is an expert on the constitutional monarchy in the Westminster system, the Canadian Crown and executive power, the relationship between Parliament and the executive, Canadian defence policy and procurement and the machinery of government relating to foreign and national security affairs. Professor Lagassé has become the go-to expert for both French-language and English-language media on the topics of national defence and the constitutional monarchy in Canada. He has offered his insights to a number of media outlets, including Le Devoir, Radio-Canada, La Presse, CBC, CTV, the National Post, The New York Times, the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail. Professor Lagassé is also extremely active on Twitter and uses this platform to interact with journalists and share his insights with the general public.

Miles Corak is an expert on issues associated with child poverty, access to university education, immigration, intergenerational earnings and education mobility and unemployment. These issues touch upon most aspects of social policy, labour markets and family policy in Canada and other OECD countries. Professor Corak’s research and expertise have been cited in several national and international media, including The Globe and Mail, the New York Times, CNN, The Economist, Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek and The Guardian. In addition, Professor Corak uses social media to share his research outside of the university and engage in discussions with a larger audience. In fact, journalists look to his blog and oftenuse it as a source. This year Professor Corak’s research was cited by the Economic Report of the Presidentas a result of exchanges he had with the White House.

Each year, many University of Ottawa professors share their knowledge, research and insights with the media. In doing so, they provide a service to the University and to the community at large by educating the broader public and encouraging discussion on a variety of topics that affect our lives. The Excellence in Media Relations Awards are given annually to members of the University of Ottawa faculty to recognize this outstanding service. Each award comes with a $5,000 prize.

The University would like to thank the journalists who formed the 2012 selection panel for their hard work reviewing all the nominations and making the final decisions.