Gillian Hamilton joined the University of Toronto in 1994 as an assistant professor in the Department of Economics in the Faculty of Arts & Science and the University of Toronto Mississauga and became an associate professor in 2001. She is an affiliated faculty member with the Centre for the Study of the United States at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. She served as Associate Chair, Undergraduate of the Department of Economics from 2015-2020 and Chair of the Faculty of Arts & Science Council.  Since 2020, she served the Faculty of Arts & Science as Associate Dean, Unit-Level Reviews; Acting Vice-Dean, Academic Planning and Acting Vice-Dean, Academic Operations.

She is currently serving as the Vice-Dean, Academic Planning (2024-). The Vice-Dean, Academic Planning is responsible for all matters related to the Faculty’s academic planning process and has oversight and management of the University of Toronto Quality Assurance Process (UTQAP) reviews, new program proposals and unit reorganizations.

Professor Hamilton’s research focuses on Canadian economic history — particularly child labour, marriage and fertility in pre-industrial Quebec. She has served on the Canadian Economics Association’s Executive Council and the Board of Trustees of the Cliometric Society. In 2020, Hamilton received the Faculty of Arts & Science’s Outstanding Teaching Award, a distinction that recognizes teaching excellence in the classroom as well in course design and curriculum development.