Marian Simms
{{Short description|Australian professor of politics (1951–2021)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox academic
| name = Marian Simms
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| image = {{#statements:P18}}
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{#statements:P569}}
| birth_place = {{#statements:P19}}
| death_date = {{#statements:P570}} (aged 69)
| death_place = {{#statements:P20}}
| resting_place = {{#statements:P119}}
| resting_place_coordinates =
| other_names =
| citizenship =
| nationality =
| fields =
| workplaces = {{#statements:P108}}
| patrons =
| alma_mater = {{#statements:P69}}
| thesis1_title = John Latham and the Conservative response to the Great Depression in Australia
| thesis1_url =
| thesis1_year = 1974
| thesis2_title = The Menzies Government and Government Enterprise
| thesis2_url =
| thesis2_year = 1979
| doctoral_advisor = {{#statements:P184}}
| academic_advisors = {{#statements:P1066}}
| doctoral_students = Diane Stone
| notable_students =
| known_for =
| author_abbrev_bot =
| author_abbrev_zoo =
| influences =
| influenced =
| awards = {{#statements:P166}}
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| website =
| footnotes =
| spouse =
| children =
}}
Marian Jane Simms (14 December 1951 – 28 April 2021) was an Australian political scientist, and was a full professor at the University of Otago, and Deakin University. She specialised in gender studies in leadership and political science.
Early life and education
Simms was born in Canberra, and grew up on its outskirts. She attended Lyneham High School, followed by the Australian National University, where she gained a Bachelor of Arts with honours in 1974. Her honours thesis was on John Latham and the Great Depression in Australia, and was supervised by L. F. Crisp.{{Cite web |last=Halligan |first=John |title=Marian Jane Simms (1951–2021) |url=https://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/simms-marian-jane-32975 |access-date=23 February 2024 |website=Obituaries Australia}}{{Cite web |title=Simms, Marian Jane |url=https://www.womenaustralia.info/entries/simms-marian-jane/ |access-date=23 February 2024 |website=The Australian Women's Register |language=en-AU}} Simms taught for a year at the University of Adelaide before enrolling for a PhD, initially at Melbourne University. Simms transferred to La Trobe University and went on to complete a PhD under the supervision of Australia's first woman chair of politics, Joan Rydon. Simms graduated in 1979 with a thesis on the Menzies Government.
Academic career
After completing her PhD, Simms lectured for five years at Canberra College of Advanced Education (now the University of Canberra), and then from 1987 was based at Australian National University.
In 2002, Simms was appointed as the Chair of Political Studies at the University of Otago in New Zealand, where she was the first woman professor of political science. She was Head of Department from 2002 until 2007, and remained at Otago until 2009.{{Cite web |date=10 November 2008 |title=Spouses of party heads escape the glare |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/spouses-party-heads-escape-glare |access-date=23 February 2024 |website=Otago Daily Times |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Rudd |first=Allison |date=9 August 2008 |title=Political internship gives taste of grassroots activism |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/political-internship-gives-taste-grassroots-activism |access-date=23 February 2024 |work=Otago Daily Times |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Gibb |first=John |date=6 October 2008 |title=National candidate questions education commission spending |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/news/politics/national-candidate-questions-education-commission-spending |access-date=23 February 2024 |work=Otago Daily Times |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Gibb |first=John |date=25 June 2010 |title=Surreal touch to leader switch |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/surreal-touch-leader-switch |access-date=23 February 2024 |work=Otago Daily Times |language=en}} Simms left Otago to join Deakin University as Head of the School of History, Heritage and Society. From 2011 to 2016, Simms was the Executive Director for Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences at the Australian Research Council.{{Cite web |last=Australian Research Council |title=Vale Professor Marian Simms |url=https://www.arc.gov.au/news-publications/media/feature-articles/vale-professor-marian-simms |access-date=23 February 2024}} Following this, she was at the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis at the University of Canberra, where she worked on the "50:50 by 2030 initiative", a programme to achieve gender equity in public service and government leadership across Australia.
Simms was president of the Australian Political Studies Association in 1992–3, and was an editor of the Australian Journal of Political Science.{{Cite web |last=Sullivan |first=Helen |date=10 May 2021 |title=Vale Professor Marian Simms |url=https://auspsa.org.au/news/vale-professor-marian-simms/ |access-date=23 February 2024 |website=Australian Political Studies Association |language=en-AU}} Simms chaired the International Political Science Association's Research Committee on Gender, Globalization and Democratization for three years, from 2003.
Simms authored or co-authored six books, and edited or co-edited another ten.
Honours and awards
Simms was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2003, for "her contribution made to Australian society, specifically for her research on the 1901 election".{{Cite web |last=Australian Government: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |date=1 January 2001 |title=Australian Honours Search Facility: Award 1125305 |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1125305 |access-date=23 February 2024 |website=honours.pmc.gov.au}} She was also a Fulbright Fellow, using her award to visit the University of Southern California campus in Washington DC.
Selected works
{{scholia}}
= Books =
- {{Citation |last1=Sawer |first1=Marian |title=A woman's place : women and politics in Australia |year=1993 |publisher=Allen & Unwin |language=English |isbn=1863731695 |last2=Simms |first2=Marian |author-link=Marian Sawer}}
- {{Citation |title=1901 : the forgotten election |year=2001 |editor-last=Simms |editor-first=Marian |publisher=University of Queensland Press |language=English |isbn=0702233021}}
- {{Citation |title=Australian women and the political system |year=1984 |editor-last=Simms |editor-first=Marian |publisher=Longman Cheshire |language=English |isbn=0582715016}}
- {{Citation |last1=Simms |first1=Marian |title=Julia 2010 [electronic resource] : the caretaker election / edited by Marian Simms and John Wanna |year=2012 |url= |publisher=ANU E Press |language=English |last2=Wanna |first2=John |author-link2=John Wanna}}
- {{Citation| title=Special issue : Kevin 07 : the 2007 Australian election, part II | editor-last=Simms|editor-first=Marian | year=2010 | publisher=Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis | language=English}}
- {{Citation | title=A woman's place : women in Australian and British politics | last=Simms|first=Marian | year=1989 | publisher=Sir Robert Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London | isbn=1855070057 | language=English}}
- {{Citation | title=Militant public servants : politicisation, feminisation, and selected public service unions | last=Simms|first=Marian | year=1987
| publisher=Macmillan | isbn=0333450760 | language=English}}
- {{Citation | title=Morrison's miracle : the 2019 Australian federal election
| editor1-last=Gauja
| editor1-first=Anika
| editor2-last=Sawer
|editor2-first=Marian
| editor3-last=Simms
|editor3-first=Marian
| author4=Australian National University Press
| year=2020
| publisher=ANU Press
| isbn=9781760463625
| language=English
}}
- {{Citation | title=The paradox of parties : Australian political parties in the 1990s / edited by Marian Simms
| editor-last=Simms
| editor-first=Marian
| year=1996
| publisher=Allen & Unwin in association with the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia
| isbn=1864480513
| language=English
}}
- {{Citation | title=A hundred years of women's politics| editor-last=Simms| editor-first=Marian | year=2002 | publisher=Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia | language=English}}
= Articles =
- {{Cite Q|Q124639888}}
- {{Cite Q|Q58517628}}
- {{Cite Q|Q58351340}}
- {{Cite Q|Q57572762}}
- {{Cite Q|}}
- {{Cite Q|}}
- {{Cite Q|}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.womenaustralia.info/exhib/caucus/index.html Women Who Caucus – Feminist Political Scientists] – Online exhibition featuring Marian Simms, via The Australian Women's Register
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simms, Marian}}
Category:New Zealand academics
Category:New Zealand women academics
Category:Academic staff of the University of Otago
Category:Australian political scientists
Category:Academic staff of Deakin University
Category:Australian National University alumni
Category:La Trobe University alumni