It's a period of revitalization for the University of Alberta Faculty of Law.
Hillary Nye is the fourth tenure-track new hire during the Faculty's current recruitment cycle, and the 11th during Dean Paul Paton's tenure - about one-third of the faculty's entire complement.
An engaging and forward-thinking community (characteristics she found during her visit to UAlberta Law) is vital for Nye in a professional environment.
"For me, academia has always been about connecting with other scholars and sharing ideas," she said. "From my visit, I got the sense that the U of A is a vibrant and wonderful place for that type of engagement, and I'm excited to join such a rich academic community."
Nye completed her JSD at the New York University School of Law. Her dissertation, titled, "Legal Philosophy in Quest of Itself: A Rule-of-Law Centred Approach to the Philosophy of Law," argued that normative questions that have practical upshots for our lives should be paramount in legal philosophy.
The fact that UAlberta Law offers jurisprudence as a compulsory course was a crucial factor in her decision to join the faculty.
"It's so valuable that students are able to learn about moral and political questions that are related to the profession they're going to join," she said. "Legal philosophy allows us to question what law is and what it should be, and to bring a critical perspective to the practice of law."
As well as a JSD, Nye holds an LLM in legal theory from New York University School of Law; a bachelor of arts from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, with majors in philosophy and political science; and an honours bachelor of laws, also from the University of Queensland.
Currently, Nye is an LSE Fellow at London School of Economics and Political Science. Before that, she held a visiting doctoral researcher position at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.
Her peer-reviewed articles have been published in the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies and Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence, and include the pieces, "A Critique of the Concept-Nature Nexus in Joseph Raz's Methodology," and "Staying Busy While Doing Nothing? Dworkin's Complicated Relationship with Pragmatism."
Nye is also an experienced presenter, having spoken on such topics as the rule of law, philosophy of law, pragmatism and philosophical methodology. She said that while researching and writing are both important components in the world of academics, the opportunity to encourage and promote the exchange of ideas can't be understated.
"Academia can be very solitary at times, especially when you're writing, but ideas don't find their shape until they're tested in front of other audiences and shared," she said, adding she's looking forward to applying that experience to teaching at U of A Law.
"Students come with different perspectives, eager to take what they learn out into the world, and I'm excited to be at a place with the level of energy that's prevalent at the U of A right now," she said.