Marian Simms

Marian Jane Simms (14 December 1951 – 28 April 2021) was an Australian political scientist, and was a full professor at the University of Otago, and Deakin University. She specialised in gender studies in leadership and political science.

Early life and education
Simms was born in Canberra, and grew up on its outskirts. She attended Lyneham High School, followed by the Australian National University, where she gained a Bachelor of Arts with honours in 1974. Her honours thesis was on John Latham and the Great Depression in Australia, and was supervised by L. F. Crisp. Simms taught for a year at the University of Adelaide before enrolling for a PhD, initially at Melbourne University. Simms transferred to La Trobe University and went on to complete a PhD under the supervision of Australia's first woman chair of politics, Joan Rydon. Simms graduated in 1979 with a thesis on the Menzies Government.

Academic career
After completing her PhD, Simms lectured for five years at Canberra College of Advanced Education (now the University of Canberra), and then from 1987 was based at Australian National University.

In 2002, Simms was appointed as the Chair of Political Studies at the University of Otago in New Zealand, where she was the first woman professor of political science. She was Head of Department from 2002 until 2007, and remained at Otago until 2009. Simms left Otago to join Deakin University as Head of the School of History, Heritage and Society. From 2011 to 2016, Simms was the Executive Director for Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences at the Australian Research Council. Following this, she was at the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis at the University of Canberra, where she worked on the "50:50 by 2030 initiative", a programme to achieve gender equity in public service and government leadership across Australia.

Simms was president of the Australian Political Studies Association in 1992–3, and was an editor of the Australian Journal of Political Science. Simms chaired the International Political Science Association's Research Committee on Gender, Globalization and Democratization for three years, from 2003.

Simms authored or co-authored six books, and edited or co-edited another ten.

Simms died suddenly on 28 April 2021.

Honours and awards
Simms was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2003, for "her contribution made to Australian society, specifically for her research on the 1901 election". She was also a Fulbright Fellow, using her award to visit the University of Southern California campus in Washington DC.