Director & Associate Professor, Trent University Durham GTA, Oshawa, Ontario
Educational Background
- PhD Social Work Wilfrid Laurier University, 2013
- MSW Tel-Aviv University, Israel, 2002
- BSW Tel-Aviv University, Israel, 1994
General Background
Marina is a social work researcher, educator and practitioner. Her social work practice experience ranges from individual and family oriented practice to community and program development. As a social worker in Canada and Israel, Marina engaged in community and leadership development; developed culturally-informed means for intervention with immigrant and ethnically and religiously minoritized families; developed and facilitated psycho-educational programs for low-income families, couples, immigrant and ethnic/religious minority parents, youth, and elderly. She provided individual and family counseling and served as a child protection officer in family justice system. Marina consulted and trained other social workers on culturally-specific means of intervention and supervised social work students, preparing them for critically engaged social work practice with marginalized populations and communities. Marina’s practice in different countries has attuned her to social inequalities at local, national and global levels. Her areas of teaching and research interest include social constructivist, feminist intersectional, anti-oppressive, and antiracist approaches to social work with immigrant and ethnic minority individuals, families and groups, and the inclusion of marginalized voices into social work theory, research, and practice.
Teaching and Research Interests
- Feminist Intersectional Analysis of Oppression
- Immigrant Families, Couples and Communities
- Critical Social Work Practice
- Critical Social Work Education
- EDI Issues in Academic Classroom
- Teaching Research to Social Work Students
Academic Excellence
- 2021, Shortlisted for the Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching, Trent University
- 2020, Merit Award—Service, Trent University
- 2020, Shortlisted for the Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching, Trent University
- 2019, Nominated for the Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching, Trent University
- 2013 Medal of Academic Excellence, Wilfrid Laurier University
Funded Research Grants
- 2023, SSHRC Exchange Grant ($3939)
- 2023, Trent Durham Dean’s Research Award ($2,500)
- 2022, Trent SSHRC Explore Grant ($7000)
- 2021, Partnership Engagement Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council ($24,950)
- 2021, Region of Durham Research Grant ($10,000)
- 2020, Trent SSHRC Explore Grant ($5,400)
- 2018, Trent SSHRC Internal Research Grant ($5,000)
- 2018, SSHRC Exchange Grant - International Conference Travel , Trent University Office of Research and Innovation ($1,500)
- 2013, Mitacs-Accelerate Postdoctoral Internship ($30,000)
- 2013, Instructional Development Fund, WLU ($2,500)
- 2013, Research Support Grant, Office of the VP: Academic, WLU ($7,000)
Teaching and Service Excellence
- 2020 Trent Merit Award for Service
- 2014 Instructional Development Travel Grant, WLU, Centre for Teaching Innovation and Excellence
- 2013 Employee of the Year Award, Wilfrid Laurier University, for mentoring minoritized PhD students and excellence in teaching research to MSW students
Competitive Doctoral Research Grants
- 2011 Dr. John Melichercik PhD Social Work Award, WLU
- 2008-9 Ontario Graduate Scholarship
- 2008-9 Stillmark Graduate Students Research Grant, WLU
- 2007-8 Bettina Russell Social Justice Award, WLU
- 2006-7 Ontario Graduate Scholarship
- 2006-7 Graduate Studies Incentive Scholarship, WLU
- 2006-7 Graduate Studies Scholarship, WLU
- 2005-6 Graduate Studies Scholarship, WLU
- 2004-5 Graduate Studies Scholarship, WLU
Competitive Community Scholarships
- 2007-8 Louis Manpel Scholarship, Na’amat, Toronto
- 2006 Sharna Foundation and Shindman Scholarship, Jewish Immigrant Aid Services, Toronto
- 2006 General Scholarship, Jewish Immigrant Aid Services Canada
Peer-reviewed manuscripts under review:
Morgenshtern, M., Schmid, J., and Novotna, G. Photovoice as Knowledge Mobilization. British Journal of Social Work
Morgenshtern, M., Novotna, G., Taylor, D., Danish, U. In Search for Inclusion and Recognition: Immigrant Experiences in the Search for Professional Employment in Durham Region, Ontario. Accepted for publication in a special issue ‘Migrant Integration in Canada’s Small and Medium-Sized Centers’, Canadian Ethnic Studies
Schmid, J., & Morgenshtern, M. (2023). Social Work Journals and the Disciplinary Production of Alternative Knowledge(s). Journal of Progressive Human Services.
Manuscripts in press:
Schmid, J., & Morgenshtern, M. (2023). The (Necessary) Expansion of Social Work Knowledge. Soziale Arbeit.
Textbook:
Calderwood, K., Morgenshtern, M., & Absolon, K. (2023). Re-Search Methods in Social Work: Linking Ways of Knowing to Knowledge Creation. Submitted to Canadian Scholars’ Press.
Refereed Publications
Yu, N., Morgenshtern, M., Schmid, J. (2023). Social Work’s Colonial Past with Indigenous Children and Communities in Australia and Canada: A Cross-National Comparison. Child & Family Social Work. DOI: 10.1111/cfs.13070
Morgenshtern, M., Schmid, J., & Levere, C. (2023). Social work journals: A key disciplinary resource. South African Journal of Social Work and Social Development. https://doi.org/10.25159/2708-9355/12713
Morgenshtern, M. & Schmid, J. (2023). The value of sourcing social work journals archives for critical discourse analysis. Qualitative Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1177/14733250231178259
Schmid, J., & Morgenshtern, M. (2022). In history’s shadow: Child welfare discourses regarding Indigenous communities – Canadian Social Work. International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies (IJCYFS), 13(1), 145-168.
Morgenshtern, M., Schmid, J., and Yu, N. (2022). Interrogating settler social work with Indigenous persons in Canada. Journal of Social Work, 22(5), 1170-1188. https://doi.org/10.1177/14680173211056823
Morgenshtern, M., & Schmid, J. (2021). Contextualized social work education in Canada: Understanding educators’ perspectives. Social Work Education, the International Journal. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2021.1900807
Schmid, J., Morgenshtern, M., and Turton, Y. (2021). Contextualized social work education: A critical understanding of the local. Journal of Social Work Education (in press). DOI: 10.1080/10437797.2021.1969300
Schmid, J., & Morgenshtern, M. (2019). Pulling together the threads: Contextualized Social Work education as an alternative to mainstream Social Work education. Critical Social Work, 20(1), 67-86.
Morgenshtern, M. (2019). “My Family’s Weight on My Shoulders”: Experiences of Jewish Immigrant Women from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) in Toronto. Social Sciences, 8(3), 86, doi.org/10.3390/socsci8030086.
Morgenshtern, M., & Yu, N. (2018). Who Owns the Case Record? Client Access to Case Records in Canadian Social Work Practice. International Social Work Journal, 63(3) 337–350. doi.org/10.1177/0020872818790690
Schmid, J., & Morgenshtern, M. (2017). Successful, sustainable? Facilitating the growth of family group conferencing in Canada. Journal of Family Social Work, 30(4), 322-339.
Morgenshtern, M., & Pollack, S. (2016). Stories of (be)longing to the center: Race class and ethnicity in FSU Jewish immigrant experiences. The International Journal of Diversity in Organizations, Communities and Nations: Annual Review.
Morgenshtern, M., Freymond, N., Hong, L., Adamowich, T., Duffie, M. (2015). Researcher? Social worker? “Let us be both”: Exploring the binaries that condition graduate social work research training. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 191, 2002-2007.
Morgenshtern, M., & Pollack, S. (2014). "Changing the Rules of the Game": Experiences of Jewish Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union. Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, 26, 1-21.
Freymond, N., Morgenshtern, M., Duffie, M., & Hong, L. (2014). Developing Social Work Researchers: Mapping the Tensions among MSW Students. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 34(3), 248-268.
Morgenshtern, M., Freymond, N., Agyapong, S., & Coutch, L. (2011), Graduate social work students’ attitudes toward research: Problems and prospects. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 31(5), 552-568.
Morgenshtern, M., & Novotna, G. (2011), (In)(Out)Sider(s): White immigrant Ph.D. students reflecting on their teaching experience. Social Work Education: The International Journal. doi: 10.1080/02615479.2010.538377
Refereed Journal Article Reviewer
- Critical Social Work (2021)
- Canadian Social Work Review (2021)
- Journal of Family Social Work (2019)
- Forum: Qualitative Social Research (2016-current)
- British Journal of Social Work (2016)
- International Journal Of Community Diversity (2016)
- International Journal of Qualitative Methods (2013-14)
Book Proposal Reviewer for Sage Publication
- González-López, G. The Researcher’s Heart: Lessons from the Field about Community Engagement, Sensitive Topics, and Self Care.(2012)
Conference Abstract Reviewer
- Canadian Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences Congress: CASWE- ACFTS Conference Abstract Reviewer (2013-current)
- International Institute for Qualitative Methodology: Qualitative Methods Conference Abstract Reviewer (2010-12)
Refereed International and National Conference Presentations
Danish, U., Morgenshtern, M., Novotna, G., Taylor, D., Hickman, S. (2023, June). Take a Walk in My Shoes: Photovoice Methodology as a Pedagogical Tool for Transformational Learning. European Conference on Social Work Education, Porto-Matosinhos, Portugal.
Morgenshtern, M., Schmid, J., & Turton, J. (2023, June). Contextualized Social Work Education as a Practice of Freedom and a Pedagogy of Hope. European Conference on Social Work Education, Porto-Matosinhos, Portugal.
Schmid, J., & Morgenshtern, M. (2023, June). Knowledge curation and generation by social work journals and its implication for education. European Conference on Social Work Education, Porto-Matosinhos, Portugal.
Novotna, G., Morgenshtern, M., Taylor, D., Danish, U. (2023, May). Photovoice as a method for critical dialogue with immigrants who seek their integration into professional job market. International Federation of Social Work European Conference, Prague.
Danish, U., Morgenshtern, M., Novotna, G., Taylor, D., Hickman, S. (2023, May). Humanizing Immigrants: Using Photovoice Project on Racialized Immigrants’ Search for Professional Employment to Re-Imagine Social Work Education and Prepare Students for Social Justice Work. Canadian Social Work Education Conference, York University, Toronto.
Danish, U., Morgenshtern, M., Novotna, G., Taylor, D., Hickman, S. (2023, May). Reckoning inclusion and recognition: immigrant experiences in the search for professional employment in Durham region, Ontario. Canadian Sociological Association Conference, York University, Toronto.
Morgenshtern, M., Novotna, G., Taylor, D., & Danish, U. (2023, April). In Search for Inclusion and Recognition: Immigrant Experiences in the Search for Professional Employment in Durham Region, Ontario. The TransAtlantic Policy Lab Conference, York University, Toronto, ON.
Morgenshtern, M., & Schmid, J. (2023, April). The Value of Sourcing Social Work Journals Archives for Critical Discourse Analysis. European Conference on Social Work Research-2023 “Social Work research through and towards human relationships”, Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy.
Morgenshtern, M. (2023, February). Opportunities, Challenges and Solutions in Immigrant Search for Professional Employment. Paper presented as part of the panel “Intertwining histories of colonization: Labor market precarity and the experiences of racialized immigrants and skilled immigrant women from the Caribbean in Canada”, Canada-Caribbean Research Symposium on Decoloniality: Past, Present and Future Directions, University of West Indies, Barbados.
Morgenshtern, M., Novotna, G., Taylor, D., and Danish, U. (2023, January). Immigrant Experiences of Empowerment and Exclusion in Professional Employment Search. Poster presented at 27th Society for Social Work and Research conference, Phoenix, Arizona.
Morgenshtern, M., Novotna, G., Taylor, D., & Danish, U. (2022, October). Skilled Immigrants' Experiences of Empowerment and Exclusion in Professional Employment Search in Canada: A Photo-Voice Project. Migration Practicalities: Host Country Responses to Authorized and Unauthorized Migrants. Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia Department of Social Work and European Research Centre in Policies and Action on Minors and Migration (ERCPAMM), Madrid, Spain.
Turton, Y., Schmid, J., And Morgenshtern, M. (2022, April). Critical Contextualised Social Work Education: South African Insights. Engaged Scholarship: Interdisciplinary Perspectives through Research-led Creation and Design. University of Pretoria, South Africa (virtual).
Morgenshtern, M., Hira-Friesen, P., Taylor, D., and Danish, U. (2022, March). Labour Market Integration of Canadian Racialized Immigrants: Newcomer Hazing? Workshop presented at 2022 Metropolis Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Turton, Y., Schmid, J., And Morgenshtern, M. Y. (2021, July). Contextualised Social Work Education Towards Capacity Building for Social Development. 22nd Biennial Conference of the International Consortium for Social Development. University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Schmid, J., Morgenshtern, M., and Turton, Y. (2021, June). Re-setting Social Work Education: Canadian and South African (Contextualized) Perspectives. 2021 Virtual Canadian Association of Social Work Education (CASWE) Conference.
Morgenshtern, M., Schmid, J., and Turton, Y. (2021, March). Challenges and Capacities of Contextualized Social Work Education: Canadian and South African Perspectives.International Social Work Education and Development Online Conference 2021.
Yu, N., Morgenshtern, M., and Schmid, J. (2021, March). Interrogating Social Work Professional Discourse on Practice with Indigenous People. International Social Work Education and Development Online Conference 2021.
Morgenshtern, M., McMaster, L., & Dickson, V.L. (2020, November). S.O.B. (Sense of Belonging) Stories: Navigating Student Belonging through Storytelling. Paper presented at Centre for Innovation in Campus Mental Health (CICMH) Virtual 2020 Conference.
Morgenshtern, M., Schmid, J., and Young, S. (2019, June). Circles of Conversations: Contextualized Social Work Education. Paper presented at 2019 Canadian Association of Social Work Education (CASWE) Conference, Vancouver, BC.
Morgenshtern, M., Schmid, J., and Young, S. (2019, March). Contextualized Social Work Education: A Dance of Multiple Perspectives. Paper presented at Learning at Intercultural Intersections (LII): Toward Equity, Inclusion, and Reconciliation, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC.
Morgenshtern, M. (July, 2018). “I’ve been the Head of the Family Since ‘91, Carrying Its Weight on My Shoulders”: Jewish Immigrant Women from the Former Soviet Union in Toronto. Presented at the Joint World Conference on Social Work, Education and Social Development 2018 (SWSD 2018), Dublin, Ireland.
Morgenshtern, M. (2018, January). A Journey of (In)(Out)Sider Researcher: On the Intricacies of Being, Becoming And Belonging(s). Paper presented at The Qualitative Report Ninth Annual Conference, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida USA.
Morgenshtern, M., & Yu, N. (2017, May). Who Owns the Case Record?: Client Access to Case Records in Canadian Social Work Practice. Paper presented at Canadian Association of Social Work Education (CASWE), Toronto, Ontario.
Mandell, D., Schmid, J., & Morgenshtern, M. (2016, November). Growing Family Group Conferencing programs in Ontario: A study of organizational development. Paper presented at the Child Protection Alternative Dispute Resolution Symposium, Toronto, Ontario.
Morgenshtern, M., Freymond, N., Adamowich, T., & Grant, S. (2016, May). “The Very Possibility that Research is a Practice in Social Work is Missing”: Facilitators and Barriers in Creating Positive Future MSW Research Training. Canadian Association of Social Work Education (CASWE) 2016 Conference, Calgary, Alberta.
Freymond, N., Morgenshtern, M., Adamowich, T. (2014, October). Cultivating Research Curiosity And Creativity In Graduate Social Work Students: The Key To Future Professional Success. International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 2014 (ISSOTL14), Quebec City Convention Center, QC.
Morgenshtern, M., & Freymond, N. (2014, February). Beyond the Research Methods Classroom: Research-Led Learning for Social Work Practitioners. Sixth World Conference on Educational Sciences, University of Malta, Malta.
Morgenshtern, M. & Pollack, S. (2013, June). Journeys of (Be)Longing to the Centre: The Use of the Feminist Intersectional Analysis to Understand the Socio-Political Family Stories of the Jewish Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in Canada. Canadian Association of Social Work Education Conference, University of Victoria, BC, June 3-6, 2013.
Morgenshtern, M., Freymond, N., Hong, L., & Duffie, M. (2010, November). Research Self-Efficacy of Master Social Work Students: What Graduate Schools of Social Work Shall Know about Their Incoming Students. 43rd Annual Conference of New York State Social Work Education Association (NYSSWEA), Saratoga Springs, NY.
Freymond, N., Morgenshtern, M., Hong, L., & Duffie, M. (2010, November). “I Think I Can Do Research Now”: Strategies for Developing the MSW Clinician-Researcher. 43rd Annual Conference of New York State Social Work Education Association (NYSSWEA), Saratoga Springs, NY.
Freymond, N., Morgenshtern, M., Hong, L., & Duffie, M. (2010, September). The Learning-by-Doing Data Analysis Project. Poster session presented at the Annual Teaching Day, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON.
Morgenshtern, M., & Pollack, S. (2010, February) What’s so Feminist about Testimonio? Fourth Israeli Interdisciplinary Conference of Qualitative Research, The Israeli Center for Qualitative Research of People and Societies (ICQM), Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheba, Israel.
Morgenshtern, M., & Pollack, S. (2009, March). On the Intricacies of Identity(ies) and Belonging(s): Multiculturalism, Soviet Jewish Immigrants and the Canadian Jewish Community. 34th Annual Conference, British Association for Canadian Studies “Being, Becoming and Belonging: Multiculturalism, Diversity and Social Inclusion in Modern Canada”, St Anne’s College, Oxford, United Kingdom
Morgenshtern, M., & Pollack, S. (2008, October). A Fusion of Testimonio and Oral History Methodologies: A Critical Collective Witnessing of Immigrant Couples’ Stories. Ninth Advances in Qualitative Methods Conference, International Institute for Qualitative Methods, Banff, Alberta, Canada.
Morgenshtern, M. (2008, April). Witnessing the Socio-Political Stories of Immigrant Couples. CERIS Annual Graduate Students Conference "Rethinking the Mosaic: Immigration, Settlement, and the Lived Experience", McLaughlin College, York University, Toronto.
Morgenshtern, M. (2008, February). Unraveling Jewish Identities in Toronto. Australian Centre for the Study of Jewish Civilization 20th Conference "A people that dwells apart"? Exploring the boundaries of Jewishness”, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
Morgenshtern, M., & Novotna, G. (2007, November). Within and Under the Canadian Gaze: Teaching Experiences of Immigrant PhD Students. 1st Bi-annual Doctoral Student Conference on Teaching in Social Work, Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto.
Invited Talks:
Morgenshtern, M. (2023, March). Research in Action: Innovative Approaches for Knowledge Mobilization. The Community Knowledge Program project. Wellesley Institute. (virtual)
Community Events:
Guided tour of the photo-exhibit and round table discussion at Pickering Welcome Centre, January 2023
Guided tour of the photo-exhibit at Pickering Public Library, April 2023
Guided tour of the photo-exhibit at Region of Durham HQ, June 2023