Remembering Carolina De Miguel Moyer (1979 – 2020)

August 21, 2020

The Department is mourning the loss of our dear colleague, Carolina de Miguel Moyer, who died this week of cancer.

From the time she joined our department in 2012, Carol was an integral and valued member of the department. As a researcher, she was well on her way to establishing herself as an important scholar of parties, electoral behaviour, federalism and decentralization, and political geography. Her articles have appeared in BJPS (British Journal of Political Science), CPS (Comparative Political Studies) and Electoral Studies amongst others. She was also the author of several book chapters and was in the process of completing her manuscript, Divided Geographies: Diversity, Inclusive Parties, and the Conditions for Nationalization. Simultaneously, she had been working on several articles related to gender and electoral behaviour. Her publications reflected her enormously sharp intellect and keen insight. One simply had to be in a seminar with Carol and listen to her thoughtful and perceptive comments to recognize the depth of her intelligence. Not only was it the insight of her comments that stood out but also the manner in which she delivered them – calm, composed, collegial, and always constructive.

Carol will be remembered as an incredible public citizen of the department, and her collegiality and willingness to assist others was an example to us all. She was a fine teacher and an outstanding mentor to numerous students. She taught core courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels, organized the department seminar series for several years, and served on a variety of departmental committees.

Away from work, Carol was an amazing mother to Elias and Gabi, an amazing partner to Ben, an amazing daughter to Melissa, an amazing sister to Robert, and an amazing friend to so many people.

Simply put, Carol personified so much that is good in this world and she touched everyone around her deeply with her presence. To know her was to love her. Her loss is devastating and utterly incomprehensible, and no words can adequately convey the depth of the loss of someone so young. As a department, we were so fortunate to have been graced by her presence and her loss will be felt very, very deeply.

Professors Kanta Murali & Wendy Wong