About the President

Dr. Frank Harvey is Dalhousie's acting president while the search for the university's 13th president and vice-chancellor is underway. 

Dr. Harvey has served as Dalhousie's provost and vice-president academic since 2020. Prior to becoming provost, Dr. Harvey was dean of Dalhousie's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences from 2016-2020 and was chair of the department of Political Science from 2014-2016. 

A professor in the Department of Political Science, Dr. Harvey has won numerous teaching awards and has served as University Research Professor of International Relations, director of the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies and research Fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. He also brings administrative experience gained from a term as associate dean of research for Dalhousie's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. 

Read Dr. Harvey's full bio


Prior to becoming acting president, Dr. Harvey was Dalhousie's Provost and Vice President Academic since 2020. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Dalhousie University from 2016-2020 and was Chair of the Department of Political Science from 2014-2016. He held the Fulbright Distinguished Research Chair at Yale University (2018) and held the Eric Dennis Memorial Chair of Government and Politics at Dalhousie from 2013-2021. He also held the position of Distinguished University Research Professorship (International Relations) from 2008-2013.

Dr. Harvey served as Associate Dean of Research in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (2011-2013), held the 2007 J. William Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Canadian Studies (SUNY), is a former Director of the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies at Dalhousie, and was a Senior Research Fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

His most recent book (with his PhD student, John Mitton) was published in 2017 - Fighting for Credibility: U.S. Reputation Building in Asymmetric Crises, 1991-2013 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press). His previous book, Explaining the Iraq War: Counterfactual Theory, Logic and Evidence (Cambridge University Press 2012) received the 2013 Canadian Political Science Association Book Prize in International Relations. His other books include The Homeland Security Dilemma: Fear, Failure and Future of American Insecurity (Routledge 2008); Smoke and Mirrors: Globalized Terrorism and the Illusion of Multilateral Security (University of Toronto Press 2004) - Runner-up 2004-05 Donner Book Prize, and finalist 2005-2006 Harold Adam Innis book prize; Millennium Reflections on International Studies (co-edited with Michael Brecher, University of Michigan Press 2002); Using Force to Prevent Ethnic Violence: An Evaluation of Theory and Evidence (with David Carment, Praeger 2001); Conflict in World Politics: Advances in the Study of Crisis, War and Peace (co-edited with Ben Mor, Macmillan Press 1998); and The Future’s Back: Nuclear Rivalry, Deterrence Theory and Crisis Stability After The Cold War (McGill-Queen’s, 1997).

He has published widely on post-9/11 security, the Iraq war, American foreign and security policy, nuclear and conventional deterrence, coercive diplomacy, proliferation, crisis decision-making, protracted ethnic conflict and national missile defence in International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Security Studies, Journal of Politics, International Journal, International Negotiation, International Political Science Review, Canadian Journal of Political Science, and Conflict Management and Peace Science. His commentaries have appeared in the Globe and Mail, National Post, iPolitics, Calgary Herald, Ottawa Citizen, and Chronicle Herald.

Professor Harvey received Dalhousie’s Alumni Association Award for Excellence in Teaching (2012), Dalhousie’s Outstanding Graduate Advisor Award (2009), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Award for Excellence in Teaching (1998), and the Burgess Research Award (2000). He was a NATO Research Fellow from 1998-2000 and has received several grants from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Department of National Defence and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.


Follow the Office of the President on social media

TwitterInstagram