Political scientist will spend year in Boston studying with expert in international environmental policy
BY ANDREW VOWLES
Uof G graduate student David Hornsby will spend next year at Tufts University in Boston under a Canada-U.S. Fulbright Fellowship. The $15,000 US award will allow Hornsby, a master's student in political science and longtime U of G student leader, to study trade and the environment.
“This is an important accolade for Guelph,” says president Alastair Summerlee. “It speaks highly of the calibre of students we produce. I am absolutely delighted for David and for the University. He clearly deserves the award. He has worked very hard and will be an outstanding ambassador for Canada in the program.”
The Fulbright program is an international educational exchange program designed to increase mutual understanding between the United States and other countries. Since the program was established in 1946, more than 250,000 people chosen for academic merit and leadership potential have studied and taught in partner countries.
Alumni include Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, ambassadors and artists, prime ministers and heads of states, scientists and professors, and CEOs.
The Canada-U.S. Fulbright Program is nearly 15 years old and has graduated about 700 students and scholars.
“I see the Fulbright Fellowship as promoting deep connections between countries,” says Hornsby, who learned in late February that his application had been recommended. Appropriately enough, he got the word in an e-mail received while en route to CBC Radio's Toronto studio to tape a commentary about his research on the implications of the North American Free Trade Agreement for Canada's commitment to the Kyoto Protocol. The award was confirmed in late April.
“I'm honoured and humbled to be a Fulbright Fellow,” he says. Referring to previous fellowship recipients such as Stephen Clarkson, a writer and University of Toronto professor, and Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant, he says: “Those are big shoes to fill.”
Hornsby will work with William Moomaw, a professor in international environmental policy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and director of the Global Environment and Development Institute in Medford, Mass. Tufts will also afford Hornsby connections to trade and environmental experts at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston University.
“It's an excellent opportunity to access people who will help me in achieving my research goals.”
From NAFTA to the World Trade Organization, trade negotiations need to go beyond economics alone to consider environmental effects, he says. His thesis looks at the impact of the precautionary principle on Canada-U.S trade relations and how to use risk management to encourage sustainable trading practices in both countries.
Hornsby studied political science at Guelph for his undergraduate degree before beginning his master's last fall with political science professors Maureen Mancuso, provost and vice-president (academic), and Melissa Gabler.
His interest in trade and environmental policies was sparked during an undergraduate class when he learned that international trade discussions paid scant attention to environmental effects. That hit home for a student who had grown up in Elora planting trees with his parents and taking birding expeditions with his grandparents.
“I remember being bowled over,” says Hornsby, who went on to study the Kyoto Protocol and the WTO for his undergraduate honours thesis.
Earlier, he had considered becoming a scientist. In fact, he spent two summers as a high school student working on the relaxin hormone in Summerlee's lab in the Department of Biomedical Sciences. Although Hornsby was intrigued by the science and had a chance to co-author several papers with his supervisor, he says he's drawn more to politics — an interest that led him naturally to student government.
“I'm deeply interested in people, how they act, what drives their decisions,” says Hornsby, a self-described political junkie who became the youngest intern ever appointed to the Canadian Embassy program in Washington, D.C., in fall 2000. In 1999, he had been the youngest intern appointed to the office of Ontario's lieutenant-governor.
Among his political heroes, he points to Lester Pearson, Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan and Stephen Lewis. In a statement written for his Fulbright application, Hornsby wrote: “I am interested in pursuing a career in politics. I have a strong sense of responsibility and commitment to represent Canadians at home and abroad.”
Among his numerous leadership positions in student government and University governance, he has served on the Central Student Association as academic commissioner and on the Graduate Students' Association as vice-president (external). He was a member of the Board of Governors in 2001/02. Since 2000, he has belonged to Senate, where he has chaired the Senate Committee on Awards and has served on the executive committee and the Board of Undergraduate Studies.
Among key contributions to U of G, he points to his membership on the Presidential Task Force on Accessibility to University Education.
“That will have a huge impact on the University,” he says, pointing especially to recommendations contained in the task force report for increasing enrolment of first-generation students at Guelph. That and other recommendations were shared with the Rae advisory panel during the panel's recent review of post-secondary education. “A lot of our recommendations were adopted by the Rae panel.”
Hornsby, 24, claims deep roots in the Guelph area and at the University. His grandmother, Norma Martin, completed a master's degree at the Ontario Agricultural College in the 1940s. His grandfather was a researcher at the Ontario Veterinary College before the couple went to the United States for PhD studies.
Hornsby's sister, Rachel, will begin her third year in human kinetics in the fall. “Science was very much part of the family,” he says.
An uncle, Neil Hornsby, completed a degree in hotel and food administration.
This year, David Hornsby became a member of the board of directors of the Canadian Bureau for International Education, which promotes academic exchanges and international education policy.
Among his earlier awards, he received a $17,500 grant this year from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. He also received a Latornell travel grant for work in Buenos Aires, a graduate entrance scholarship and the Walter Vaughan Medal for contributions to student life and Senate.
Hornsby smiles as he recalls his parents' reaction to the news of his Fulbright award. “My mom started to cry. My dad immediately started to brag.”
No word yet on what Summerlee will do for a squash partner. “David has started beating me now, so perhaps it is time for him to go.”
