Headshots

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Jared Wesley is Associate Dean (Graduate Studies), a professor of political science and member of the Black Faculty Collective at the University of Alberta.  He studies the links between public opinion, public policy, and political culture.  His career path has included several senior management positions with the Government of Alberta. Based in Edmonton, Alberta, he is a lucky husband and proud father of two daughters.

Jared Wesley is Associate Dean (Graduate Studies), a professor of political science and member of the Black Faculty Collective at the University of Alberta.  

Jared specializes in the comparative analysis of provincial politics, with a particular focus on political culture and public opinion.   

He leads the Common Ground initiative -- a long-term research project aimed at examining the gap between who Western Canadians are and who they see themselves to be.  His team uses Viewpoint Alberta surveys to analyze public opinion, and focus groups to compare those individual attitudes to the norms and values that underpin politics in the region.  

Jared has co-authored two practical accounts of Canadian politics: Inside Canadian Politics (published by Oxford University Press) and The Public Servant’s Guide to Government in Canada (University of Toronto Press).  These top-selling books blend practitioner and academic perspectives, offering students and the general public an accessible view of Canadian democracy and government.  

Jared is founding Director of the Café Pracademique initiative, a national event series geared toward improving the design, delivery, and study of public policy (SSHRC Connections). The Café model has been adapted for use in other research projects, including “Building a Resilient Housing Sector in Canada” (SSHRC Partnership Development) and “The Charter at 40” (SSHRC Connections).

From 2011 to 2015, Jared was principal investigator of the of the SSHRC-funded Comparative Provincial Elections Project – at the time, the largest subnational study of its kind in Canadian history and a catalyst for the Consortium of Electoral Democracy (CDem).

Over the last five years, Jared has delivered over 80 presentations as a panelist, roundtable presenter, and keynote speaker on topics related to his research, academic and public sector career and professional development, negotiation, policy-development, and academic-public sector collaboration.

Jared has served in various academic and non-partisan public service roles throughout his career. Most recently, he served as director of intergovernmental relations, senior manager of cabinet coordination, and director of learning and development with the Government of Alberta.

Jared has extensive experience in graduate student mentorship and training. This includes serving as founding director of the Alberta Policy Internship Program, the IPAC Public Sector Graduate Internship Program, and the University of Alberta Political Science Graduate Student Mentorship Program. To date, he has supervised over three dozen graduate students to completion of their thesis projects, research assistantships, or internships.  He has also supervised over a dozen high school students as part of the Black Youth Mentorship Program.

Born and raised in Minnedosa, Manitoba, Jared lives in Edmonton, Alberta, with his wife and two children.