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Background
Leah has been a PhD candidate at the Balsillie School since 2007 and has held a Balsillie Fellowship throughout this tenure. Leah’s research assesses the efficacy of a global education policy realizing the right to universal primary education in national policy contexts. In particular, Leah is analyzing the impact of the Education for All policy in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Prior to attending the Balsillie School, Leah completed her MA in International Development Studies at Saint Mary’s University. Leah is also a trained project evaluator and has worked for organizations in Ghana, Tanzania, and a Miq’Maq community in Nova Scotia in this capacity. She has considerable training in gender sensitivity and community development, including courses at the Dubai Women’s College, United Arab Emirates, and the University of Legon, Ghana.
Why she chose the Balsillie School: "I chose the Balsillie School primarily for the opportunity to tackle international development issues within the lens of global governance. Globalization has impacted the consequences of, and solutions to, development such that new approaches to theory and practice are essential. The Balsillie School prompts the multi-disciplinary approach that I embrace in my education policy research."
Select Publications
- McMillan, Leah (Forthcoming: 2011). "What’s In a Right?: Two Variations for Interpreting the Right to Education." International Review of Education.
- McMillan, Leah (Forthcoming: October, 2010). "Ghana’s Education System: Where Rhetoric Meets Reform." In Children’s Rights in Ghana: Rhetoric or Reality? Robert Ame and DeBrenna Agbenyiga (Eds.). Lanham, MD: Lexington.
- McMillan, Leah (Forthcoming: Fall, 2010). "The Bottom of the Bottom Billion: the Deceleration of Africa’s MDGs in the Wake of the Financial Crisis." CIGI Working Paper. Waterloo: Centre for International Governance Innovation.
- McMillan, Leah and Hany Besada (2010). "Reaching Success or Reaffirming Failure: The G8 Muskoka Declaration." Appeared in: The Korean Times, July 18; The New Nation – Bangladesh, July 19; The Japan Times, July 26; New Straits Times, July 29.
- McMillan, Leah. Book Review for Wangari Maathai’s “The Challenge for Africa” (Pantheon Books, 2009). Canadian Journal of African Studies, 43, 3, pp. 611-14.
Academic/Professional Awards
- Balsillie Fellow, 2007-11
- President’s Entrance Graduate Scholarship – 2007-08
- SSHRC Canadian Graduate Scholarship – 2006-07
- Saint Mary’s Graduate Student of the Year – 2006-07
