Dr. Susan A. McDaniel, FRSC
Professor of Sociology
University of Alberta.
e-mail: Susan.McDaniel@UAlberta.ca

She has been at the University of Alberta since 1989 when she moved there as a Professor after serving on faculty at the University of Waterloo since 1976.

Research interests:
  • social and health policy
  • family; family and gender
  • gender
  • aging -- population aging and social policy (pensions, gender issues..)
  • demography -- feminist demography
Other active research interests:
  • shifting age structures in the workplace and in society
  • science and technology and their impacts/interactions with the social
  • socio-historical family

Teaching interests:

Regularly teaches courses in gender, gender and family, and socio-historical family in Canada; has taught and could teach in given year, aging, family, and introductory sociology.

For a bird's-eye glimpse of publications, click here.

Current Research (1997 period and beyond)

  • aging workforce (funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Strategic Grant)
  • on balancing work and family in mid-life
  • on intergenerational relations and policy equity
  • on health policy in a restructuring Canada
  • on developing a feminist demographic framework for analysis of fertility (book)

Significant Honours:

  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (1994), the highest honour Canada bestows for lifetime achievement in scholarly work.
  • Nominated for University of Alberta Cup (2001), the highest honour given for continuing record of research and teaching excellence
  • Nominated for University of Alberta's Wall of Fame, 2001
  • Shortlisted for the Henry Marshall Tory Chair, University of Alberta, 2000
  • Nominated for University of Alberta Board of Governors Award of Distinction, 2000
  • J. Gordin Kaplan Award for Excellence in Research, University of Alberta, 1999
  • One of the 2000 Outstanding Women of the Twentieth Century, including a Medal of Distinction, 2000
  • Nominated for an Honorary Doctorate, Ryerson Polytechnic University, 1997
  • Faculty of Arts, University of Alberta, Teaching Award, 1995
  • Professional Woman of the Year, Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, 1988
  • Distinguished Teacher Award, University of Waterloo, 1981
  • First Recipient, Therese Casgrain Research Fellowship, 1987-88
  • Listed in: The Who's Who of Women in the World
    Canadian Who's Who
    Who's Who of Canadian Women

Public Service:

Dr. McDaniel is very active in public service and policy-advising, bringing her lastest research immediately into the public sphere and the policy realm. She is much in demand as a keynote speaker.

Major recent keynotes:

  • Plenary Speaker, BUGS: 2001 International Sociological Association Conference, Montreal (postponed to 2002)
  • Plenary Speaker, World Congress of Sociology: The Social World in the 21st Century: Ambivalent Legacies and Rising Challenges, Australia (July 2002)
  • Plenary Speaker, ISA First Regional Conference for Latin America, Globalization and Equity, Venezuela (2001)
  • International Sociological Association Research Council Conference, Montreal (2000)
  • Invited by Institut national de la recherche scientifique (Paris) to present thematic paper at Deuxiemes Rencontres Sauvy, Le Contrat social a l'epreuve des changement demographiques, Montreal (2000)
  • International Symposium, A Sociological Census of Democratization in South Africa, Cape Town (1999)
  • National Seminar: Demographic Change and Population Aging, Moncton (1999)
  • Invited for National Policy Conference, Ottawa (1999)
  • 9th Annual John K. Friesen Lecture, Simon Fraser University (1998)
  • Invited presentation to International Sociological Association Young Sociologists' Award Recipients, World Congress of Sociology, Montreal (1998)
  • Keynote address, McMaster Summer Institute (1996)
  • Plenary Speaker, Institute of Public Administration Canada, Victoria, B.C. (1996)
  • Keynote Address, Conference for Research on Healthy Aging: Challenges in Changing Times, Halifax (1996)
  • 23rd Annual Sorokin Lecture, University of Saskatchewan (1992)
  • Keynote speaker (only Canadian), Closing Conference, United Nations' International Year of the Family, Montreal (1994)
  • 1996 Bayne-Galloway Research Lecture, Toronto (1996)
  • Opening Plenary Speaker, U.S./Canada Women's Health Conference, Ottawa (1996)
  • Plenary Speaker, Tri-national Conference on Women at the Millennium, Mexico City (1996)

Policy involvements (selected):

    Census Communications Committee, appointed by Chief Statistician of Canada, 2001

    National Statistics Council of Canada, from October 1992 -- a council of "outstanding Canadians" which advises Statistics Canada on all data and statistics collected in Canada (appointed by the Minister Responsible for Statistics C anada, reappointed in June 1995)

    Chair, Expert Advisory Committee on Science and Technology to the Chief Statistician of Canada, 1996-1999

    Expert Advisor on the Implications of an Aging Society, invited by Federal, Provincial and TerritorialMinisters Responsible for Seniors, 1999

    Advisory Roundtable on Pension Reform, Advisory to the Parliamentary Committee on Human Resources, 1995

    Advisor to federal Department of Finance on Making Public Policy, 1995

    Member, Expert Task Force on Women and Social Security, Appointed by the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, 1994

    Appointed member, Canada Committee for International Year of the Family, 1993-94

    Chair, Expert Advisory Committee on Demographic Data and Statistics to the Chief Statistician of Canada, 1987-1990.

Other major professional service (selected):

    Editor, CURRENT SOCIOLOGY, official journal of the International Sociological Association, and the oldest and most widely cited Sociology journal in the world, 1997-2001

    Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association President, 2001-2002

    International Advisory Board, British Journal of Sociology, 2001-2006

    Editor, Canadian Journal of Sociology, 1994-1997.

    President, Canadian Population Society, 1990-1992

    Vice-President, Canadian Population Society, 1988-1990

    On Editorial Boards: Canadian Research Policy Networks, Inc.

    Journal of Women and Aging, 1990+
    Canadian Journal of Health and Society, 1990+
    Atlantis: A Women's Studies Journal, 1991-1993
    Canadian Journal of Sociology, 1989-1991, 1997-2000
    Canadian Studies in Population, 1993-1994