Trent Report
  Friday, 24 September 1999



Want to know more about Trent?

Many members of the current Trent community - including recruiters, faculty (Professor Daniel Powell is shown), staff, alumni and students - were busy last weekend talking with potential future Trent members at the Toronto recruiting fair. The three-day event attracted thousands of secondary students and their parents.


Native Studies PhD program begins

Seven students - including two Trent University graduates - have just begun a program of study here at Trent leading to Canada's first PhD in Native Studies.

Those accepted to the new program already have a Master's degree and will take three or four years to complete the PhD requirements and graduate, according to Professor Don McCaskill, first PhD program director and a Native Studies professor.

"We anticipated admitting between four and six students, but because of the large number of applications received and the very qualified nature of some applicants, we enrolled seven," says McCaskill. Both Trent's Native Studies department and its Native Studies PhD Graduate Council considered applications. The latter is somewhat unique in that it comprises members from Trent's faculty and other universities, along with members of the aboriginal community, such as elders and executive directors from aboriginal organizations.

The PhD program's sub-committee on curriculum development has incorporated traditional aboriginal knowledge with academic scholarship. Some of the program this year will be based on indigenous knowledge taught by elders, with discussion and field trips replacing textbooks. During the second year of the program, students will be required to do a practicum field placement of work for an aboriginal organization or in an aboriginal community.

The Trent Native Studies PhD program underwent a year-long rigorous academic review by Trent and the Ontario council on Graduate Studies. Trent's is just the second Native Studies PhD program in all of North America. The other is at the University of Arizona.

McCaskill says these first Native Studies PhD recipients could become academics working in departments of Native Studies or other programs, they might conduct research for aboriginal communities, work in one of the 10,000 aboriginal businesses in Canada, or work on policy development for government.

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Trent Report is published by the Trent University Communications Department on the fourth Friday of each month during the academic year. A reduced schedule is in effect during July and August.
E-mail: trentreport@trentu.ca
Fax: (705) 748-1029
Telephone: (705) 748-1303

EDITOR
Kathleen Bain (705) 748-1303

PRODUCTION (print edition)
Richard Miller (705) 748-1418

WWW COMMUNICATIONS DEVELOPER
Maureen Wideman (705) 748-1214

 

 


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Last updated: September 24, 1999