Governor General's International Award in Canadian Studies

It is with great pleasure that the International Council for Canadian Studies (ICCS) announces that Professor Stephen J. Hornsby of the University of Maine has been awarded the Governor General’s International Award in Canadian Studies in 2025.

A professor of Geography and Canadian Studies and former Director of the Canadian-American Center at the University of Maine, Professor Hornsby has made, through a career dedicated to Canadian Studies, an outstanding contribution to scholarship and to the development of Canadian Studies internationally through research, teaching, outreach and the promotion of the study of Canada.

As Director of the Canadian-American Center at the University of Maine, Professor Hornsby established the centre as a leading institution for the study of Canada in the United States. Thanks to his grantsmanship and awareness of the importance of outreach, the Centre has received continued funding as a National Resource Centre on Canada funded by the US Department of Education. Through this funding, Professor Hornsby enhanced the Centre’s reputation for scholarly research, strengthened its teaching mission, and supported its outreach in Canadian Studies. Keenly committed to the reinforcing the link between teaching and research, Professor Hornsby teaches large service courses as well as specialized courses on the geography of Canada. Professor Hornsby was appointed University of Maine System Trustee Professor in 2016.

Professor Hornsby has authored and co-edited ten books many of which have received international recognition, including Surveyors of Empire: Samuel Holland, J .F-W. Des Barres, and the Making of the Atlantic Neptune, which was awarded the Pierre Savard Award in 2011. Cod Coasts: Cultural Landscapes of the Cod Fishery from Cape Cod to Labrador (University of Maine Press) was published in 2025.

In addition to administration, research and teaching, Professor Hornby has taken a lead role in service and outreach. He served on the Executive Council of the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States (ACSUS) from 1996–1999 and the Fulbright Committee on Graduate Awards for Canada (1998–2000). He currently serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Historical Geography. Professor Hornby has been a reviewer and referee for McGill-Queen’s University Press, University of British Columbia Press, Island Studies Press, Acadiensis, Canadian Geographer, Canada Research Chairs, Killam Research Fellowship, the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada, and the Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C.

In recognition of his many outstanding contributions to Canadian Studies, the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States (ACSUS) awarded him the prestigious Donner Medal in 2023.