Georgetown Professor Wins Prestigious Social Sciences Award

Steven Ward, visiting assistant professor at Georgetown in Qatar, has been awarded the 2012 Harold N. Glassman Dissertation Award in the Social Sciences.

Ward’s dissertation title is Status Immobility and Systemic Revisionism in Rising Great Powers and he is currently revising the manuscript for publication as a book.

In his dissertation about power transition and foreign policy, Ward argues that China’s successful challenge of the international order will depend on whether the international order can accommodate China’s high status claims.

“Dr. Ward’s award-winning doctoral dissertation is, first and foremost, a major new contribution to the subject, and one that will no doubt be a point of reference for many years to come”, said Dr. Gerd Nonneman, Dean of Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q). “It also reaches beyond the realm of specialist academic study to a wider audience, because of its high topical relevance: it is an example of how the thorough, rigorous research that is the hallmark of Georgetown University can contribute to a deeper understanding of the world we live in. Dr. Ward’s award celebrates all this, and recognizes the years of hard, disciplined work that goes into producing such a study. But it is also an accolade for his mentor and the stimulating academic environment that Georgetown provides.”

Associate Professor David Edelstein was the dissertation adviser. Other members of the committee were Professor Andrew Bennett, Associate Professor Keir Lieber and Associate Professor Daniel Nexon.The award was presented at the University’s dissertation dinner on May 16 and Ward was recognized for his achievement at the 2013 graduate commencement ceremony on May 17.

Facilitated by the Georgetown University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and conferred by the Graduate School Executive Committee, the Harold N. Glassman dissertation awards are intended to honor truly distinguished dissertations in the sciences, social sciences and humanities—with one award available in each of these three disciplinary areas.