Andy Knight is University of Alberta's first Black Distinguished Professor
June 18, 2021
Dr. Andy Knight has chalked up a few firsts in a brilliant academic career.
He was McMaster University Student Union’s first Black President and the University of Alberta’s (U of A) Political Science department first Black Chair.
Earlier this year, Knight was appointed a Distinguished Professor at U of A, making him the first Black academic to be elevated to the eminent position in the university’s 113-year history.
The title is bestowed on the top tenured professors who are considered leaders in their fields of study.
The three-year term appointment is renewable for an additional two years upon review and the appointee receives $20,000 annually.
Joining U of A in 1998 after teaching for five years at Bishop’s, a small liberal arts university in Quebec, Knight is a professor in the Faculty of Arts – Political Science department.
“This is a great honour because it recognizes not just the work I am doing on campus in terms of teaching, research and service, but the work I do outside the university,” the global governance expert said.
In the summer of 2019, Knight and U of A sociologist Temitope Oriola went to Nigeria to interview female students kidnapped by Boko Haram, a terrorist organization based in the northeastern part of the West African country
He also led a program aimed at rehabilitating former child soldiers.
Steven Dew, the Provost & Vice-President (Academic), said the honour recognizes Knight’s outstanding record of scholarly research, teaching and service to the university and community.
“Your leadership in global governance is more relevant than ever given our current global climate,” he added. “Your passion for teaching is evident in your undergraduate students who continue to sing your praises. Respected international scholars celebrate your expertise in traditional international relations and multilateralism, describing you as one of Canada’s and the world’s most prolific and well-regarded scholars. You have brought great honour to the University of Alberta and I am pleased that we can recognize your contributions in this manner.”
Knight’s impactful teaching and dogged research also led to his appointment as a Fulbright Canada Distinguished Chair in International & Area Studies at Yale University for 2021-2022.
As a specialized scholar, he will conduct research of importance to the university and engage in campus life to interact with students, faculty and the boarder community.
“It gives me an opportunity work with people like Paul Kennedy who is widely known for his writings and commentaries on global, economic and strategic issues and a number of other scholars at Yale in addition to opening the door for me to do certain things at a high level,” said Knight who started the Peace & Post Conflict Studies Certificate program at the U of A. “Not many Blacks get the opportunity to do this kind of work on this scale.”
Catherine Kellogg, the Chair of U of A Faculty of Arts – Political Science, was honoured to support Knight for the Fulbright position.
“Andy has been a mentor and cherished colleague since I came to the university 20 years ago,” she pointed out. “He has been a sounding board, a calm voice and wise counsel as a former Chair and in the last year and a half since I became Chair. He has the personality and charisma of a diplomat, a quality that animates the passion in his research which is nothing less than world shaping. His research has put him at the table not only with respected scholars around the world but also with policymakers at the highest levels of world government.
“This expertise means that undergraduate students clamour for his courses and many have attended the Model United Nations which he began here about two decades ago. He provides exemplary mentorship and supervision of graduate students and junior faculty members with whom he regularly publishes. It’s not surprising then that Andy has held a vast number of leadership roles in the university, the department, his scholarly community and the international arena of global governance.”
To mark the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, Knight launched a podcast, ‘BlackTalk’, that provides a unique perspective on the Black experience to help people of all backgrounds open their eyes, reflect and challenge their thinking.
“The George Floyd moment made me realize that we had not progressed much when it comes to race,” said the 2010 Harry Jerome Award winner whose family members include late Barbadian leaders Grantley Adams and his son, Tom Adams. “The legacy of slavery is still much with us, so I thought now is the time to have some serious conversations. We want people to know there is a history here that has led to this sort of systemic and structural racism that continues to exist.”
He chose one of his students, Zack Penddah, to help him produce the podcast.
“He was one of the top students in my class and I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to mentor someone,” said Knight who has authored 13 peer-reviewed books and has three more in press. “Young Black students at the University of Alberta are yearning for this kind of mentorship because there are only 20 Black faculty members with tenure. It was important for me to be one of the examples of a Black person who has made it to some extent within the university system to take on that challenge of mentoring and let them know they can accomplish what I have done and perhaps more.”
Dropped on May 25, the first five episodes include interviews with University of the West Indies Vice-Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles, University of Alberta nursing professor Bukola Salami, former University of Guyana Vice-Chancellor Ivelaw Griffith, University of Buffalo history professor Cecil Foster and former Member of Parliament Celina Caesar-Chavannes.
“Based on the reaction of this inaugural series, we will decide if we are going to Season 2 and if that’s the case, it will be in the Fall,” said Knight who was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada a decade ago.
Born in Barbados and with an interest in the Caribbean, Knight accepted a secondment in 2013 to the University of the West Indies St. Augustine campus in Trinidad & Tobago.
As Director of the university’s Institute of International Relations (IIR) & the Diplomatic Academy of the Caribbean, he ensured it served as a conduit for building capacity for leadership throughout the English-speaking Caribbean in the areas of diplomacy, foreign affairs, national/regional security and intelligence in addition to connecting it to the rest of the world by plugging into established global research bodies, multilateral and international donor organizations, global non-governmental organizations and academic institutions from outside the region.
Knight signed Memorandums of Understanding with Wuhan University in China, the Rio Branco School of International Relations in Brazil, the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the Indian and Argentinian foreign ministries and the University of Havana.
He also created an academic journal, ‘The Caribbean Journal of International Relations & Diplomacy’, revitalized the Diplomatic Dialogues Forum, set up senior visiting fellows and diplomats-in-residence programs and secured research funding and the IIR bid for the Caribbean Child Rights Observatory Network hub to be located within the institute.
“We all know that children form the most vulnerable group in our society,” said Knight who was the first Executive Director of the New York-based United Nations Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect. “Yet, they are the most valuable resource of the nation because they represent each country’s future. We ought to be nurturing and protecting our children so that they can grow into productive members of the community. I certainly believe everyone should have an interest in promoting and protecting children’s rights and in ensuring that governments are living up to their obligations to do the same.”
Knight has served on several boards, including the United Nations System Academic Council, the Canadian Consortium for Peace Studies, the John Humphrey Centre for Peace & Human Rights, the International Education for Peace Academic Research Council and the Organization for the Prevention of Violence and was the International Development Research Centre Governor for four years.
The accomplished artist, who graduated with a Fine Arts degree from McMaster University, switched to Political Science after being told by his parents that sustaining a livelihood working in the arts could be challenging.
Knight completed a Master’s in Political Science at Dalhousie University in 1986 and his PhD. in International Relations nine years later at York University.
