Kaija Schilde Awarded Gitner Family Prize
Kaija Schilde, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, has been awarded the School’s 2018 Gerald and Deanne Gitner Family Prize for Faculty Excellence.
Schilde was presented with the award’s commemorative silver plate at the Pardee School Convocation Ceremony on Saturday, May 19, 2018 at the Walter Brown Arena.
The Gitner Family Prize for Faculty Excellence was endowed by the Gitner Family in 2014. The Gitner Prize honors teaching and mentoring excellence and is awarded each year to a faculty member who embodies the School’s mission to advance human progress. The prize also includes a cash award. Pardee School Dean Adil Najam said that “the generosity of the Gitner family and the establishment of this award has allowed the School to recognize what Boston University and those now in the Pardee School have always valued highly – good teaching, mentorship, and service.”
Schilde joined the Pardee School in 2010 and has distinguished herself for both scholarly and pedagogical innovation. She is described as “inspirational” by her students and admired for “her passion for her craft, her scholarly brilliance, and her ability to light a spark of intellectual curiosity within her students.”
According to one of her undergraduate students, Schilde embodies the essence of the Pardee School experience: “faculty members who recognize, value, and respect their students, and who are dedicated to the pursuit of academic excellence.”
Another student said “[Schilde] inspired me to ‘question everything’ and encouraged both my sense of inquiry and intellectual curiosity.” Another describes her as “an awe-inspiring scholar and educator” who “never waivers from adopting experimental and intimidating innovations in pedagogy.”
Students nominating her for the award highlight her “brilliance” in explaining complex ideas, her “passion” for the issues she works on, including forced migration, and above all her “exceptional dedication” to her students. Nominating students consistently rave about her “willingness to engage with students both inside and outside of the classroom” and more than one writes that she has been their most important influencer in college.
Schilde’s primary research interests involve the political economy of security and transatlantic security. Her book, The Political Economy of European Security (Cambridge University Press, 2017) investigates the state-society relations between the EU and interest groups, with a particular focus on security and defense institutions, industries, and markets. Her research interests span multiple dimensions of the historical institutionalism of security organizations, including the causes and consequences of military spending; the relationship between spending, innovation, and capabilities; defense reform and force transformation; the politics of defense protectionism; and the international diffusion of internal and border security practices. She has published articles in the Journal of Common Market Studies, European Security, and the Journal of Peace Research. You can learn more about her here.
Past winners of the Gitner Family Prize for Faculty Excellence include Assistant Professor of International Relations Noora Lori, Professor of International Relations and History William Keylor, and Assistant Professor of International Relations Jeremy Menchik.