Faculty

At Trent University Durham, faculty across all programs play a key role in fostering a transformative educational experience for all students. They also create the collaborative learning environment for which Trent is known.

Acting as mentors and guides in the learning process, our faculty encourage students to engage in dialogue, ask questions, and challenge ideas.

At Trent University Durham, the average class size is 27 students, which means you as the student have the opportunity to really connect with your professors in an academic setting, on research projects, and beyond the classroom.

Full-time Durham-based faculty members value the collegial and warm environment of an intimate academic community. Interacting with other Durham faculty in different disciplines, Trent University Durham faculty also maintain close ties with their home departments in Peterborough. Our Trent University Durham teaching is complemented by Peterborough faculty who come to Durham to teach a course as part of their regular teaching load, and by highly-qualified and experienced part-time instructors from the GTA.

Renowned for high-quality teaching, our faculty are helping to put Trent University Durham on the map.

 

Anthropology

Helen Haines

Associate Professor, Anthropology
Degrees: Ph.D.
Research Interests: Mesoamerica (specifically Ancient Maya); early states (socio-political and economic organisations and development and sustainability); diet and health of ancient populations; Euro-Canadian history and Cultural Resource/Heritage Management
Email: helenhaines@trentu.ca
Website: www.kakabish.org

Roger Lohmann

Associate Professor, Anthropology
Degrees: B.A., M.A., Ph.D. (University of Wisconsin–Madison)
Research Interests: Ethnography; linguistics; cultural dynamics; religion; dreaming; human ecology; Melanesia
Email: rogerlohmann@trentu.ca
Website: Roger Lohmann

Jen Newton

Assistant Professor, Anthropology
Degrees: B.A. (York University), M.Sc. (Bournemouth University), Ph.D. (James Cook University)
Research Interests: Bioarchaeology; paleopathology; dental anthropology; sociocultural and environmental impacts on health, Southeast Asia (especially Thailand and Cambodia); Mesoamerica (especially Belize)
Email: jennifernewton@trentu.ca
Website: Jen Newton

 

Business Administration

Anita Boey

Assistant Professor, Business Administration
Degrees: Ph.D. (York University)
Research Interests: Knowledge sharing; creativity; experiential teaching and learning
Email: anitaboey@trentu.ca
Website: Website

Ken Chen

Assistant Professor, Business Administration
Degrees: B.B.A. (Schulich, York), Ph.D. (Lazaridis, Wilfrid Laurier)
Research Interests: Dynamic capabilities; networks; organizational learning; strategic entrepreneurship; collaborative innovation; technology platforms; business models
Email: kenchen@trentu.ca

Amina R. Malik

Assistant Professor, Business Administration
Degrees: M.Sc (Punjab University), M.B.A (Toronto Metropolitan University), Ph.D. (York University)
Research Interests: Organizational behaviour; HR management; motivation and compensation
Email: aminamalik@trentu.ca

Yi Liu

Assistant Professor, Business Administration
Degrees: B.Com. (Northeastern University), M.Sc. (Southampton University), Ph.D. (McMaster University)
Research Interests: Banking; financial reporting; voluntary disclosure
Email: yiliu@trentu.ca

 

Child and Youth Studies

Alba Agostino

Assistant Professor, Child and Youth Studies
Degrees: B.A., M.A., Ph.D. (York University)
Research Interests: The development of children’s early number sense and identifying early cognitive precursors of low math achievers to aid the development of early intervention programs.   
Email: albaagostino@trentu.ca

Yana Berardini

Assistant Professor, Child and Youth Studies
Degrees: Ph.D. (Brock University)
Research Interests: Mental health and wellness; positive psychology; young caregivers; at-risk youth
Email: yanaberardini@trentu.ca

Christine Goodwin-De Faria

Assistant Professor, Teaching Intensive, Child and Youth Studies
Degrees: Ph.D. (Toronto Metropolitan University)
Research Interests: Child rights; youth justice; youth participation
Email: cgoodwindefaria@trentu.ca

Nour Hammami

Assistant Professor, Child and Youth Studies
Degrees: Ph.D. (University of Waterloo)
Research Interests: Public health; equity-deserving groups, quantifying intersectional and co-occurring disparities; structural and social inequalities in health; health policy
Email: nourhammami@trentu.ca
Website: https://www.nourhammami.com/

Omar Lujan

Assistant Professor, Child and Youth Studies
Degrees: B.A. (University of Toronto), B.Ed. (University of Ottawa), M.A. (Queen's University), Ph.D. (Toronto Metropolitan University)
Research Interests: Migrant and refugee youth; migrant solidarity practices; precarious status families; decoloniality
Email: omarlujan@trentu.ca

Madison Moore

Assistant Professor, Child and Youth Studies
Degrees: B.A. (York University), M.Ed. (York University), Ph.D. (Trent University)
Research Interests: Social media; art; rights; mental health; photovoice methodology
Email: madisonmoore@trentu.ca

 

Communications

Christopher Cwynar

Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator, Communications
Degrees: B.A. (Mount Allison University), M.A. (Western University), Ph.D. (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Research Interests: Public service media; podcasting and audio media; popular music; national identity; strategic communication
Email: christophercwynar@trentu.ca

Andrew Monti

Assistant Professor, Communications
Degrees: B.Sc. (Bocconi University), M.A. (York University), Ph.D. (Toronto Metropolitan University)
Research Interests: Propaganda; satire; experiential education; work-integrated learning
Email: andrewmonti@trentu.ca

Maggie Reid

Assistant Professor, Communications
Degrees: B.A., M.I. (University of Toronto), Ph.D. (Toronto Metropolitan University)
Research Interests: Journalism and public relations; personal branding; the public sphere; propaganda; digital storytelling
Email: maggiereid@trentu.ca

 

Computer Science

Alaa Alslaity

Assistant Professor, Computer Science
Degrees: Ph.D. (University of Ottawa)
Research Interests: HCI; Persuasive Technologies; Personalization and Adaptation; Applied ML; Recommender Systems
Email: alaaalslaity@trentu.ca

Wenying Feng

Professor and Dean (Trent Durham), Department of Computer Science and Department of Mathematics
Degrees: Ph.D. (University of Glasgow)
Research Interests: Fixed point theory; differential/difference equations; neural networks; machine learning
Email: wfeng@trentu.ca

 

English Literature

Joel Baetz

Assistant Professor, English Literature
Degrees: B.A. (McGill University), M.A. (McGill University), Ph.D. (York University)
Research Interests: Urban theory; happiness; Canadian literature; comics
Email: joelbaetz@trentu.ca

Rita Bode

Professor, English Literature
Degrees: Ph.D. (University of Toronto)
Research Interests: Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century British and American women writers; transatlantic studies; L.M. Montgomery; Edith Wharton
Email: rbode@trentu.ca

Ihor Junyk

Full Professor, Journalism and Creative Writing
Degrees: Ph.D.
Email: ihorjunyk@trentu.ca

Amanda Paxton

Assistant Professor, English Literature
Degrees: B.A. (University of Toronto), M.A. (York University), Ph.D. (York University)
Research Interests: British nineteenth-century literature and culture; queer theory; artificial intelligence and writing pedagogy; gothic literature and film; mathematics and aesthetics
Email: amandapaxton@trentu.ca 

 

Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Ali Vaezi

Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator, Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Degrees: Ph.D. (McMaster University); CSCP; CLTD; SAP Associate
Research Interests: Supply chain risk; supply chain analytics; risk mitigation; emergency management; rail hazardous materials transportation; logistics planning; network design optimization
Email: alivaezi@trentu.ca

 

History

Robert Wright

Full Professor, History
Degrees: Ph.D.
Email: rawright@trentu.ca

 

Master of Management

Yanina Chevtchouk

Assistant Professor, Master of Management
Degrees: Ph.D. (University of Glasgow)
Research Interests: Branding; brand experience; services; luxury; ethics and ethical communication; digital marketing; creative industries/cultural industry
Email: yaninachevtchouk@trentu.ca

Rob Elkington

Assistant Professor, Master of Management
Degrees: Ph.D. (Northwestern University)
Research Interests: AI and leadership; Indigenous conceptions of leadership; women's agentic leadership in STEM; e-leadership; Ubuntu and the diversity ice breaker; META and leadership development; leading transformation for data modernization in organizations
Email: robelkington@trentu.ca

 

Media Studies

Karl Manis

Assistant Professor, Media Studies
Degrees: B.A. (Carleton Unversity), M.A. (University of British Columbia), Ph.D. (University of Toronto)
Research Interests: media theory and history; contemporary fiction; practices of reading; digital culture; screen and sound studies.
Email: karlmanis@trentu.ca

 

Philosophy

James Connelly

Associate Professor and Associate Chair, Philosophy
Degrees: Ph.D. (York University)
Research Interests: Wittgenstein; Russell; philosophy of language; history of analytic philosophy
Email: jamesconnelly@trentu.ca

Martina Orlandi

Assistant Professor, Philosophy
Degrees: Ph.D. (McGill University)
Research Interests: Philosophy of mind; philosophy of action; moral psychology; epistemology
Email: martinaorlandi@trentu.ca
Website: https://www.martina-orlandi.com/

 

Policing and Community Well-Being

Amy Spendik

Assistant Professor, Policing and Community Well-Being
Degrees: Ph.D.
Research Interests: Perpetrators of human trafficking; prisons; punishment; policing
Email: amyspendik@trentu.ca

 

Psychology

Jeff Adams

Assistant Professor, Psychology
Degrees: B.A. (Concordia), M.A. (University of Guelph), Ph.D. (York University).
Research Interests: Dreams; human cerebral laterality; hemispheric differences; general cognition; personality; sleep
Email: jadams@trentu.ca

Ben Bauer

Associate Professor, Psychology
Degrees: B.A., M.A., Ph.D. (University of Waterloo)
Research Interests: Visual cognition/perception
Email: benbauer@trentu.ca

Korri Bickle

Assistant Professor, Psychology
Degrees: Ph.D. (Ontario Tech University)
Research Interests: Understanding helping work (e.g. police officers, correctional officers, child and youth workers, etc); unique experiences of helping professionals, what influences their work, how they conceptualize and approach their work, and how they interact with those in their care; correctional officer work.
Email: korribickle@trentu.ca

Jenny Eastabrook

Assistant Professor, Psychology
Degrees: Ph.D.
Email: jennifereastabrook@trentu.ca

Nancie Im-Bolter

Associate Professor and Associate Chair (Psychology, Trent Durham), Psychology
Degrees: B.Sc. (University of Toronto), M.A. (York University), Ph.D. (York University)
Research Interests: Language and cognition; social cognitive processes; language disorders; mental health; social relationships and autism
Email: nimbolter@trentu.ca

Raheleh Saryazdi

Assistant Professor, Psychology
Degrees: B.Sc. (Trent University Durham GTA), M.A. (University of Toronto), Ph.D. (University of Toronto)
Research Interests: Cognitive aging; dementia; language and memory; multisensory integration; human-computer interaction; technology-based interventions
Email: rahelehsaryazdi@trentu.ca

Brenda Smith-Chant

Associate Professor, Psychology
Degrees: B.Sc. (Trent University), M.Sc. (Carleton University), Ph.D. (Carleton University), 
Research Interests: Psychology of self-regulation, stress, and learning; role of policy and programs to effect behavioural change (e.g., education, parenting, health); community-driven research
Email: bresmith@trentu.ca

 

Social Work

Kimberly Calderwood

Full Professor, Social Work
Degrees: B.A. (Waterloo), M.S.W. (Wilfrid Laurier), Ph.D. (University of Toronto)
Research Interests: linking ways of knowing to knowledge creation; social work education; field education; student recruitment, support, and retention; anti-oppressive micro-level practice; bereavement
Email: kcalderwood@trentu.ca

Susan Hillock

Full Professor, Social Work
Degrees: B.A. (Mount Allison University), B.S.W. (Saint Thomas University), M.Ed. (University of New Brunswick), Ph.D. (Memorial University of Newfoundland)
Research Interests: Scholarship of teaching and learning; feminism/femagogy; environmentalism/sustainability; structural social work; trauma informed social work practice; integration of theory & practice; queering social work
Email: susanhillock@trentu.ca

Marina Morgenshtern

Associate Professor and Chair, Social Work
Degrees: Ph.D. (Wilfrid Laurier University), MSW (Tel-Aviv University), BSW (Tel-Aviv University)
Research Interests: Immigrant families; couples and communities; equity issues in academic classroom; critical social work practice and education; decolonizing social work education; linking ways of knowing to knowledge creation; feminist intersectionality
Email: marinamorgenshtern@trentu.ca

 

 

Sociology

Nadiya Nur Ali

Assistant Professor, Sociology
Degrees: Ph.D. (York University)
Research Interests: Black Studies; race; racism & racialization; Critical Muslim Studies; community-engaged research
Email: nadiyaali@trentu.ca
Website: https://www.nadiyaa.com/

James Cosgrave

Associate Professor, Sociology
Degrees: Ph.D (York University)
Research Interests: Sociology of gambling; gambling expansion and the state; financialization; Canadian culture and identity; sociology of humour; social theory
Email: jimcosgrave@trentu.ca

Valerie Damasco

Assistant Professor, Sociology
Degrees: B.Sc. (University of Toronto Scarborough), M.A. (University of Toronto), Ph.D. (University of Toronto)
Research Interests: Nurse migration; migration, work, and racialization processes; interprofessional and integrated labour in healthcare systems (nursing, medicine, education); social organization of work and labour in healthcare; access to mental health services; social policy, public policy, and governance; community development; public sociology
Email: valeriedamasco@trentu.ca

Adwoa Onuora

Associate Professor, Sociology
Degrees: B.A. (University of Toronto); M.A. (OISE/University of Toronto); Ph.D. (OISE/University of Toronto). 
Research Interests: Health equity and social justice; Black and intersectional feminist theories; Black and African diaspora 2SLGBTQ+ issues; sexual- and gender-based violence; social reproduction, care policies, and the care economy
Email: adwoaonuora@trentu.ca