Marquette.edu // Office of Research and Innovation //

Lawrence G. Haggerty Faculty Award for Excellence in Research

About the Award

The Lawrence G. Haggerty Faculty Award for Excellence in Research recognizes scholarly distinction at Marquette University. The award is Marquette's highest honor for research and scholarship.

In 1998, Haggerty Enterprises, Inc., announced the endowed award, established to honor Lawrence Haggerty. Throughout his career and until his death in 1994, Lawrence Haggerty generously supported Marquette through various initiatives, including his sponsorship of the Reverend John P. Raynor, S.J., Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence. Thus, it is a fitting tribute that the Lawrence G. Haggerty Faculty Award for Excellence in Research complements, in the name of scholarship, Lawrence Haggerty’s all-encompassing belief in excellence.

Current Recipient

Dr. Risa Brooks

Dr. Risa Brooks is the Allis-Chalmers Professor of Political Science. She is also a Senior Fellow at West Point’s Modern War Institute and a Fellow in the Future Security program at New America. Brooks has an accomplished career studying issues related to the armed forces in politics and political violence. Her research focuses on the relationship between the military and democracy, both in the U.S. and in countries around the world. In democratic countries, militaries play a role in defending the state against challenges from other countries that threaten its citizens’ security. They remain fully subordinated to elected leaders in that mission and abstain from participation in internal politics. Yet, there are today many challenges to those principles and norms of the military’s role in democracy. Militaries are increasingly being pulled into politics to act as allies of political leaders in elections and beyond, while their mandates have been expanded to include new missions, including everything from policing citizens to managing public health crises.

brooks Brooks’ research explores both the origins and implications of these important challenges to democracy. One of Brooks’ priorities has been to translate insights generated from her research into accessible commentary for a wide variety of public audiences. Her articles have appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, and the top foreign policy publication in the country, Foreign Affairs. Her comments and insights have been solicited by journalists at those publications, as well as a wide variety of top media outlets. Her research has been called “field-altering.” Students describe her as a teacher-scholar who has inspired curiosity about the broader world and a commitment to make it a better one. For these reasons and more, Dr. Brooks epitomizes the research excellence recognized by the Lawrence G. Haggerty Faculty Award.