Cultural Studies Admin Team

Jeff Brison (he/him)
Co-Director, Cultural Studies
Associate Professor, Department of History
cs.director.jbrison@queensu.ca

Jeff is the author of Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Canada: American Philanthropy and the Arts and Letters in Canada, a study that explores the influence of private American philanthropy on the making of a national culture in Canada. A founding member of the North American Cultural Diplomacy Initiative (NACDI), his recent work includes Cultural Diplomacy as Critical Practice, The Global Engagement of Museums in Canada (https://culturaldiplomacyinitiative.com/), and a series of articles exploring the history of Canada’s use of “culture” in advancing its foreign policy initiatives and global orientations. Over two decades, Dr. Brison has supervised more than 40 graduate students and served on dozens of supervisory committees in the Departments of History, Art History, the Faculty of Education, and the Cultural Studies Program. He is the 2014 recipient of the Department of History’s Faculty Teaching Award, 2021 recipient of the Faculty of Arts Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and, in 2023, he was awarded the School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Supervision. He is always eager to help students navigate their way through the Cultural Studies Program and/or to chat about culture and history (and probably anything else!)

Contact Jeff for:

• guidance on committee composition, academic progress (MA and PhD)
• questions about the MA program, professional development, and the Capstone course (CUST 850 Capstone Project)
• admissions-related ideas and queries

Asha Varadharajan (she/her)
Co-Director, Cultural Studies
Associate Professor, Department of English
cs.director.avaradharajan@queensu.ca

An accidental tourist in the academy, Asha Varadharajan thrives on the exhilaration of exile and irreverence.  Her most recent scholarly publications focus on forced migration and involuntary displacement, the crisis of the humanities, pedagogy and decolonization, human rights and sexual violence, the subaltern in contemporaneity, and the legacy of The Frankfurt School.  The most fun she has had writing was while composing her entry on Eric Idle for the Dictionary of Literary Biography.  The most chuffed she has felt was on receiving the Queen's University 2021 Principal's Promoting Student Inquiry Teaching Award and the SGSPA Excellence in Graduate Supervision Award in 2024.  She is eager to discuss any aspect of navigating academic culture, the joys and frustrations of cross-disciplinarity, the lure of the public sphere, and the cultivation of ethical, intellectual, and political sensibilities. There is nothing Asha enjoys more than profound novels, trashy TV, music sampling, and retrochic. 

Contact Asha for:

• questions about Colloquium (CUST 802/902)
• academic progress: proposals, qualifying exams, dissertation-related questions
• admissions: ideas and questions 

Carrie Miles (she/her)
Program Manager
cs.admin@queensu.ca

Originally from Hamilton, Carrie completed a BSc in Psychology and Chemistry at Wilfred Laurier University. Building on jobs counting trees, counting money, and counting the neurons in Einstein’s brain, she joined Queen’s in 2010, working first in Alumni Relations, moving briefly to Smith, and landing in Cultural Studies in May 2016. She’s a soccer mom, an avid hiker, a pitiful but persistent runner, and generally a lover of the outdoors. Plans for the future include one day (soon-ish) pursuing an MA. Carrie oversees budget and student funding, TA and RA positions, and the overall administrative operations of Cultural Studies.

Contact Carrie for:

• Faculty issues: course assignments, affiliation, general support, questions about MA or PHD guidelines
• Student advising on funding implications of withdrawal, medical leave, transfer to part-time
• TA/RA/TF assignments & issues
• Course & curriculum planning, hiring, Collective Agreement issues
• Compensation for Additional Duties per Appendix Q
• Cultural Studies Council and student governance questions 
• Financial requests

Susanne Cliff-Jungling (she/her)
Graduate Program Assistant
custgrad@queensu.ca
613-533-6000 ext. 77027

Contact Susanne for:

• Admissions and assistance with application process
• Course add/drop
• Transcript questions
• Grant, award, and scholarship applications
• Scheduling & protocols of exams & defenses
• Matters regarding enrollment, including time limit extensions, transfer to part time, and annual progress reports