Academic Sites › canadian studies › Students ›

Dr. Sarah Riegel `95

Hometown: 
Cincinnati, OH

At St. Lawrence

Major: 
Canadian Studies and Government

Having grown up in the Midwest, I may never have heard of St. Lawrence if not for being a hockey fan. One afternoon during my sophomore year in high school, I was working in the college counseling office to get out of study hall, opening envelopes of literature from different colleges and filing them. When I came across one from St. Lawrence, a name I knew from following hockey, I decided to leaf through it. What a fortuitous decision that turned out to be, as I discovered SLU offered a degree in Canadian Studies. I had been very interested in Canada for several years at that point, and the opportunity to  study Canadian politics and society in college was very exciting. I remember going home that day and telling my parents that I thought I’d found the college for me.

And a couple of years later, I did indeed arrive at St. Lawrence as a Canadian Studies and Government combined major.  St. Lawrence was the perfect place to be a Canadian Studies major in the United States. The courses offered by the Canadian Studies department were excellent. There was also great value in the interdisciplinary nature of the department, and how it interacted with my other major. I got to consider Canada through the lens of literature, popular culture, history, geography – not just the narrow view I would have gotten doing a political science major at a larger university.

The proximity to Canada was another benefit to being at St. Lawrence. We had Canadian TV and radio stations available, so it was easy to follow to news. And it was a short drive to Ottawa to do research or just spend the day sightseeing.

The small class sizes at St. Lawrence were a great aspect of the university. I was able to get so much personal attention and mentoring from my professors. It wasn’t until I was a doctoral student at a larger university that I truly realized how special it was to have gotten that level of individualized attention as an undergrad.

By arrangement with the Canadian Studies program, I was able to spend my junior year at Carleton University in Ottawa.  I got to take courses in Carleton’s highly regarded political science department and also got some first-hand experiences with Canadian politics, volunteering on a campaign in the federal election that year.

After Graduation

Additional Degrees: 
M.A. Political Science, Wilfrid Laurier University '96; Ph.D. Political Studies, Queen's University '03
Professional Position: 
Lead Research Analyst, SEIU District 1199 (West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky)

After graduating from SLU, I decided to pursue further study in political science in Canada. I completed a master’s degree at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, and then a Ph.D. at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. The St. Lawrence Canadian Studies connection continued to be important throughout my academic career. As a doctoral student, I twice presented papers at the biennial meeting of the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States. And a paper I co-authored with two colleagues was published in the American Review of Canadian Studies.
During my Ph.D. studies, I recognized that I did not want a career in academia as much as I’d once thought, so after graduating from Queen’s, I went in a different direction. For the past six years, I have worked as a researcher for a local union with 27,000 members in health care and social services across Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky. My interest in unions went back to my undergraduate days at St. Lawrence – my honors thesis for the Government department examined the relationship between organized labor and the New Democratic Party in Canada.
My job entails a variety of different types of research and analysis – everything from financial analysis to opposition research to public policy work. The skills and habits of mind I learned through doing an interdisciplinary undergraduate degree have been very helpful in doing this kind of work. I have to be flexible, to utilize many different types of sources, to draw conclusions from disparate pieces of evidence, and to think creatively and strategically. And perhaps most importantly, to always be learning new things. It’s never a boring job, and I feel like I’m making some difference in the world, which is important to me.
And I still find time to follow the Saints, and cheer them on when they make appearances in the Midwest.