{"id":2003,"date":"2017-06-01T13:42:25","date_gmt":"2017-06-01T17:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/?p=2003"},"modified":"2026-04-13T16:08:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T20:08:17","slug":"william-stairs-appointed-practitioner-residence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/2017\/william-stairs-appointed-practitioner-residence\/","title":{"rendered":"William Stairs Appointed Practitioner-in-Residence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"w-screen px-6 cu-section cu-section--white ml-offset-center md:px-8 lg:px-14\">\n    <div class=\"space-y-6 cu-max-w-child-5xl  md:space-y-10 cu-prose-first-last\">\n\n            <div class=\"cu-textmedia flex flex-col lg:flex-row mx-auto gap-6 md:gap-10 my-6 md:my-12 first:mt-0 max-w-5xl\">\n        <div class=\"justify-start cu-textmedia-content cu-prose-first-last\" style=\"flex: 0 0 100%;\">\n            <header class=\"font-light prose-xl cu-pageheader md:prose-2xl cu-component-updated cu-prose-first-last\">\n                                    <h1 class=\"cu-prose-first-last font-semibold !mt-2 mb-4 md:mb-6 relative after:absolute after:h-px after:bottom-0 after:bg-cu-red after:left-px text-3xl md:text-4xl lg:text-5xl lg:leading-[3.5rem] pb-5 after:w-10 text-cu-black-700 not-prose\">\n                        William Stairs Appointed Practitioner-in-Residence\n                    <\/h1>\n                \n                                \n                            <\/header>\n\n                    <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n<p>The Clayton H. Riddell Graduate Program in Political Management at Carleton University is pleased to announce the appointment of William Stairs as practitioner-in-residence for the 2017\u201318 academic year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The former CEO of Delta Media, Stairs spent two decades working in federal politics. He served as director of communications for two federal party leaders, as well as director of issues management for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Stairs holds a PhD from Universit\u00e9 Laval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stairs will be teaching two courses on strategic communications, acting as mentor to students, and organizing public events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter wp-image-2006\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"457\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/233\/StairsWilliam2011.jpg\" alt=\"William Stairs (2011)\" class=\"wp-image-2006\" srcset=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/233\/StairsWilliam2011.jpg 457w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/233\/StairsWilliam2011-160x224.jpg 160w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/233\/StairsWilliam2011-240x336.jpg 240w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/233\/StairsWilliam2011-400x560.jpg 400w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/233\/StairsWilliam2011-360x504.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 457px) 100vw, 457px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">William Stairs (2011)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Riddell program offers Canada\u2019s only graduate degree in applied politics. Twenty-five students are admitted each year to study Canadian political institutions, strategic communications, public opinion research, leadership, advocacy, policy, and campaigns. Graduates work for Cabinet ministers, members of Parliament, senators, government relations firms, advocacy organizations, and business associations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stairs is the program\u2019s third practitioner-in-residence, following media relations consultant Bill Fox (2015\u201316) and public affairs specialist Rob Silver (2016\u201317).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft wp-image-2005 size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"240\" height=\"264\" src=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/233\/CurranRachel2-240x264.jpg\" alt=\"Rachel Curran\" class=\"wp-image-2005\" srcset=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/233\/CurranRachel2-240x264.jpg 240w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/233\/CurranRachel2-160x176.jpg 160w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/233\/CurranRachel2-768x846.jpg 768w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/233\/CurranRachel2-400x441.jpg 400w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/233\/CurranRachel2-360x397.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rachel Curran<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The program has also hired Rachel Curran and Paul Thomas to teach courses, replacing core faculty member Paul Wilson while he is on sabbatical in 2016\u201317. Curran is a management consultant who previously served as Stephen Harper\u2019s director of policy. She holds a law degree from the University of Victoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright wp-image-2007 size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"240\" height=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/233\/ThomasPaul-240x240.jpg\" alt=\"Paul Thomas\" class=\"wp-image-2007\" srcset=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/233\/ThomasPaul-240x240.jpg 240w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/233\/ThomasPaul-160x160.jpg 160w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/233\/ThomasPaul-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/233\/ThomasPaul-400x400.jpg 400w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/233\/ThomasPaul-200x200.jpg 200w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/233\/ThomasPaul-360x360.jpg 360w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/233\/ThomasPaul.jpg 1585w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Paul Thomas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thomas is a postdoctoral fellow at Carleton University. Before earning a PhD from the University of Toronto, he worked in the office of Senator Yoine Goldstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other courses are taught by former Conservative party campaign chair Guy Giorno, pollster David Coletto, and core faculty members Jennifer Robson and Stephen Azzi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information, contact Stephen Azzi, associate professor and program supervisor, Clayton H. Riddell Graduate Program in Political Management, stephen.azzi@carleton.ca.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Clayton H. Riddell Graduate Program in Political Management at Carleton University is pleased to announce the appointment of William Stairs as practitioner-in-residence for the 2017\u201318 academic year. The former CEO of Delta Media, Stairs spent two decades working in federal politics. He served as director of communications for two federal party leaders, as well [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2003"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2025,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2003\/revisions\/2025"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/politicalmanagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}