Replacing the Canadianization Generation: An Examination of Faculty Composition from 1977 through 2017

Amid growing numbers of doctoral graduates entering an increasingly competitive global academic job market, concerns about equity in the hiring process and the value of the Canadian Ph.D. are mounting. Grounded within the historical context of the Canadianization Movement, we examine the doctoral credentials of 4,934 U15 social science faculty between 1977 and 2017 to understand the ebb and flow of incoming and outgoing faculty across the country's academic field. Our trend analyses reveal an overall increase in the proportion of Canadian-trained faculty hires with the noted exceptions of Canada's top three universities who display a strong presence of high-status American-trained faculty throughout. Results from the contemporary period, between 1997 and 2017, reveal a time of retirement during which outgoing Canadian-trained faculty are replaced with increasing proportions of American-trained academics.