Advisor & Co-Advisor

• 11 Post-Doctoral Fellows & Research Associates since 2015
• 20 Master and Doctoral students since 2012

Transformational Change Methodologies Lab – SOPR*6200, University of Guelph, Course Co-Director

2020 – Ongoing

In this course, we examine various interdisciplinary entanglements between creative accessible research methods and social justice (including but not limited to critical, community-oriented, and feminist research practices), exploring the challenges, possibilities, and tensions that define our academic fields and range of social practices. The course foregrounds four critical spheres in contemporary qualitative research methodologies and accessibility practices: 1) decolonizing and Indigenous research; 2) feminist intersectionality research; 3) post-qualitative inquiry; and 4) arts-based /creative research.

Along the lines of a “Master Class,” the course will engage with students’ research interests in conjunction with readings, lectures, and creative and accessibility experiments.

Interdisciplinary in its approach, the course content works across the arts, humanities and social sciences to explore tensions that emerge at sites of human/ nonhuman/ social/ artful/ spatial/ temporal intersections as entanglements. Following from Kathleen Gallagher, students are encouraged to “engage in honest struggle with the knotty methodological dilemmas” (2008, 2) in justice-seeking research, including entanglements of theory and practice, of analysis and agency, of culture and nature, and of embodiment and difference. Students will explore the role of place, space, and memory, of art and community-making, of colonial legacies and Indigenous voices and perspectives, and of love and resistance.

In addition to core readings and other research tools and materials, students build a reading list and artefacts file in-keeping with their areas of research and interest. Learners also gain experience with designing and carrying out a critical, arts-based and /or accessibility-attuned and community-engaged research project in an on-line space. We aim to uncover how methodological approaches can be understood as malleable, processual, and mobile, as transformed by and transforming of each researcher and research project that engages and experiments with them.

Affect Theory Reading Group, University of Guelph, Organizer

2019 – Ongoing

In this reading group we engage deeply with the affective turn in critical theory, namely the work of Sarah Ahmed, Brian Massumi, Erin Manning, Dian Million and others. Members include post doctoral fellows, research associates, doctoral students and advanced masters students from Guelph and nearby universities.

Re-thinking the Human – FRAN 6200, University of Guelph, Course Director

2017 – 2019

In this course, we identify and engage with emerging directions and critical dialogues in the inter- and trans-disciplinary study of the “human”. We collectively determine course topics, pedagogy and assessment methods. This allows us to centre professor/student collaboration in innovative ways that open up space for all to actively engage in teaching and learning. Fusing critical pedagogy, methodology and theory, the course provides a unique opportunity for students to become immersed in important new directions in theory and to gain greater familiarity with emergent and creative methods for understanding, and appreciating, the diversity of human experience. Emphasis will be placed on student research interests and on emergent notions of the human and of human experience as becoming.

Becomings: Emerging Directions and Critical Dialogues in Gender, Sexuality and Human Development – FRAN 6200, University of Guelph, Course Director

2015

In this course, we engage with emerging directions and critical dialogues in the inter- and trans-disciplinary study of gender, sexuality and “human development” (broadly defined). By collectively determining course topics and evaluation methods, we centre professor/student collaboration in innovative ways that open space for maximum teacher/learner engagement in curriculum development and delivery. Fusing critical pedagogy, methodology and theory, the course provides a unique opportunity for students to become closely acquainted with important new directions in theory and to gain greater familiarity with emergent and creative methods for understanding and appreciating the vast diversity of human experience. Emphasis will be placed on student research interests, on gender and sexuality theory, and on emergent notions of human development as becoming.

Digital Storytelling: An Introduction, University of Guelph, Course Director

2015

Critical Psychologies – FRAN 6200, University of Guelph, Course Director

2012, 2014

This is a graduate level course exploring principles and practices of critical and feminist psychologies, theories of difference and identity development, and poststructuralist and postcolonial accounts of subjectivity and self-other relations. Focus of seminars is on constructivist, post-colonial, and feminist critiques of psychology and contributions to psychology. Topics related to the psychology of women, gender, and race across the life span will be highlighted. Specific themes covered include: histories and methods of feminist and critical psychologies; theories of difference and self-other relations; difference attribution and identity development; theoretical approaches to emotion; theorizing selves from experiences of injury, adversity, and capacity; and genealogies of harmful practices and problems in families, institutions, communities, and nations. Throughout classroom discussions, we consider how social relations and symbolic systems constitute the subjectivities and identities of diverse individuals and groups. Application of relational, critical, post-colonial, and narrative approaches to diverse problems and social groups is emphasized throughout course readings and requirements.

Embodiment and Bodily Difference – FRAN 6200, University of Guelph, Course Director

2011, 2013

This course examines theories and experiences of embodiment and bodily difference in western science and societies, focusing on understanding and positively intervening in misconceptions and marginalization of people living with differences in social institutions and health care encounters. Drawing on feminist-informed fat, disability, and critical race studies, the course introduces phenomenological, poststructuralist, and new materialist perspectives on the body, and through these lens, interrogates the implications of diverse embodiments for human subjectivity and social life. Myths and misconceptions of bodily differences that circulate throughout popular and professional cultures, and inform public policies and everyday practices are analyzed. Course readings and visual texts emphasize the problematics of normalcy across the life span and among diverse populations, and reflect on issues of obesity and fatness, disability, facial and physical difference, illness and disease, aging and racialized bodies, eating disorders, cosmetic and plastic surgery, and gender, sex, and sexual variance.

Gender and Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Course Director

2003, 2004

Digital Storytelling Disability, King’s College, University of Western Ontario, Course Co-Developer and Co-Director

2014

According to David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder, “Nearly every culture views disability as a problem in need of a solution.” Disability is represented as a problem in multiple and pervasive ways: medicine and rehabilitation represent disability as a problem of science and biology; mental institutions and mental health centres represent disability/madness as a problem of sanity and social obedience; prisons represent disability as a problem of civil compliance; special education classrooms represent disability as a problem of education; beauty industries and aesthetic culture represent disability as an antithesis to health and beauty. Although dominant representations are powerful, disability is also represented differently. Disability communities of disabled people, Mad-identified people, friends and allies, including disability artists, poets, musicians, dancers, playwrights, directors, performers, writers, scholars, theorists, and activists represent disability as desirable, creative inspiration, and welcomed expressions of the diversity of embodiments.

Using a disability studies framework, this course will explore cultural representations of disability, particularly disability stories, before giving us all a chance to create our own digital stories. At its core, this course will engage the political implications of representing embodiments that are mis-represented in our culture, while at the same time understanding the imperative to story disability and embodied difference differently. This course recognizes that we all—disabled people and non-disabled people alike— are implicated in the ways that disability is represented as a ‘problem in need of solution’ in our culture and, therefore, we all have permission, a responsibility even, to story disability differently. Throughout the course we will think through the purpose and power of arts-informed research, engaging questions such as ‘How and what do the arts teach?’ and ‘What does art do’? We will watch many digital stories and discuss the cultural and pedagogical power of this discipline.

Gender and Health – FRHD 4070, University of Guelph, Course Director

2013 – 2014

This course is an upper year interdisciplinary course designed to examine the relationship between gender and interrelated social variables such as sex, class, race, age, culture, size, disability and sexuality, and health. We explore various models of health and illness, consider the contextual causes of health inequities, and analyze the origins and theoretical underpinnings of women’s and people’s health movements in western and global contexts. Questions of gender and social justice and its relationship to health equity are emphasized. Students address topics through an interdisciplinary lens and are given opportunity to develop their self-reflexivity skills and pursue their research interests.

The Abject Body – WMST 492H, Trent University, Course Director

2008

In this course, we study the concept of abjection as articulated by feminist philosopher Julia Kristeva, and the implications of the concept for embodiment and bodily difference. We explore questions and issues surrounding embodiment, including “obesity” and fatness, cosmetic and plastic surgery, disability and physical difference, self-injury and problem eating, and the performativity of gender, sex, and sexuality.

Feminist Psychologies – WMST 4796H, Trent University, Course Director

2006 – 2009

This is an upper level course exploring principles and practices of feminist psychology, contemporary theories of difference and identity development, and feminist accounts of subjectivity. The focus of our seminars is on feminist critiques of psychology and feminist contributions to psychology. Application of feminist relational, critical, and narrative approaches with diverse problems and groups of women is emphasized throughout course readings and requirements.

Feminist Research Methods – WMST 3021H, Trent University, Course Director

2007 – 2010

This course introduces students to qualitative and creative methods used in feminist research. Students develop conceptual and practical skills as critical researchers by understanding key debates in, and various approaches to, doing feminist research. Topics covered range from study design and ethical dilemmas to data gathering and analysis. Classes in this course will be lecture and workshop based. Throughout the course, students will have opportunity to create a research proposal, carry out a component of their proposed research, present their research in class, and offer reflections on their research process.

Women and Health – WMST 212/313H, Trent University, Course Director

2005 – 2010

Introduction to Women’s Studies – WMST 100, Trent University, Course Co-Director

2004 – 2007

This course provides an introduction to some of the major issues and themes in the interdisciplinary field of scholarship called Women’s Studies. Women’s Studies draws on many perspectives and disciplines, such as history, sociology, psychology, politics, economics, law, literature, and biology, and insights from past and contemporary women’s and other social justice movements. Placing women and gender relations at the centre of inquiry, Women’s Studies analyzes and challenges women’s exclusion and marginalization in much ‘traditional’ scholarship, explores how gender, sexuality, race, disability, and economic class interact in different contexts, and examines women’s roles in transformative social and political movements. The course highlights both the Canadian and the global context.

Women and Popular Culture – WMST 220, Women’s Studies Program, Trent University, Course Director

2004 – 2005

How do cultural images and messages shape women’s lives? This course explores popular culture and social interaction as key sites of cultural transmission. Using a participatory approach, it immerses students in engaging encounters with feminist-informed cultural studies, social theory, and critical psychology to investigate communication practices that shape their conceptions of others and themselves as gendered, sexed, raced, classed, and dis/abled people. Students begin by examining concepts of culture and society. They are then introduced to contemporary theory concerning the construction, circulation, and subversion of body images, differences, and identities in cultural representations and in everyday exchanges. Analyzing images and messages conveyed in print, television, film, music, and electronic genres, they explore female audiences’ contradictory responses to popular representations and efforts of artists and activists to intervene in representations. Students use tools of analysis learned in the course to research a chosen aspect of popular culture and offer their own readings of its’ possible meanings and effects.

Gender and Health, Department of Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Course Director

2003 – 2004

Hiring Committee for The Helderleigh Foundation Professorship in Food Literacy, College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, University of Guelph, Member

June – August 2020

University Awards Committee Covid 19 Emergency Funding, University of Guelph, Replacement Member

May 2020

Research Advisory Committee, College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, University of Guelph, Member

May 2019 – Ongoing

College Tenure and Promotion Committee, College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, University of Guelph, Member

May 2019 – August 2021

CSAHS PhD in Social Practice and Transformational Change Faculty Advisory Committee, University of Guelph, Member

January 2019 – Ongoing

Sexualities, Bodies, and Genders Graduate Program Development Advisory Committee, College of Social and Applied Human Sciences & College of Arts, University of Guelph, Member

March 2019 – Ongoing

Proposal to resource and implement Objective 3 of the University’s CRC Equity, Diversity, Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan, University of Guelph, Advisor

September 2018 – January 2019

Live Work Well Research Centre (formerly the Centre for Families, Work and Well-being), Disabilities, Access and Inclusion Research Cluster, University of Guelph, Member

July 2018 – Ongoing

Associate Dean Research and Grad Studies CSAHS Hiring Committee, University of Guelph, Member

August 2018 – December 2018

CSAHS PhD in Social Practice, Policy and Transformational Change Development Committee, University of Guelph, Member and Faculty

March 2017 – July 2018

CSAHS Teaching Awards Committee, University of Guelph, Member

July 2016 – July 2017

Research Ethics Board, University of Guelph, Alternate Member

July 2015 – July 2017

Research Ethics Board, University of Guelph, Ethics Representative

July 2013 – July 2015

College Tenure and Promotion Committee, College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, University of Guelph, Member

August 2013 – August 2015

5th Annual University of Guelph Accessibility, Organizer and Speaker

April 2013 – June 2013

Re-Claiming Beauty, A Collaborative Project between The Wellness Centre at The University of Guelph and Project Revision, Organizer

January 2013 – March 2013

International Day of the Girl Committee, University of Guelph, College Representative

June 2012 – June 2013

CFT Hiring Committee, University of Guelph, Voting Member

January 2012 – July 2012

Ad Hoc Graduate Curriculum Review Committee, University of Guelph

December 2011 – Ongoing

Women’s Studies External Program Review Committee, Trent University, Member

2008 – 2009

Trent University Senate Committee, Member

September 2008 – December 2008

Women’s Studies Department, Trent University, Acting Chair

June – July 2008

Women’s Studies Department Research Ethics Committee, Trent University, Chair

January 2007 – Ongoing

Women’s Studies Department Chair Search Committee, Trent University, Chair

2007 – 2008

Women’s Studies Department Chair’s Advisory Committee, Trent University, Member

2007 – Ongoing

Research Ethics Committee, Women’s Studies Department, Trent University, Member

January 2006 – January 2007

OGS and SSHRC Ad Hoc Ranking Committee, Women’s Studies Department, Trent University, Member

January – February 2005, 2006, 2007

Women’s Studies Department Program Committee, Trent University, Member

2004 – Ongoing

Women’s Studies Department Personnel Committee, Trent University, Member

2004 – Ongoing