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 (B.A. or B.Sc.)

Helen Hainesm - Assistant Professor

Degrees Held: B.A. Hons (University of Toronto, St. George), Ph.D.(Institute of Archaeology, University College London, UK)

Contact:

Durham Campus Rm. 181
905-435-5102 ext. 5045
helenhaines@trentu.ca

Research Interests:

• Ancient Maya Culture
• Development of Complex Societies
• Ontario Archaeology (Prehistoric and Historic)

Courses Taught:

• ANTH-2012H   
• ANTH-2030H     
• ANTH-2050H     
• ANTH-3000Y    
• ANTH-3100Y

Roger Lohmann - Associate Professor

Degrees Held: B.A., M.A., Ph.D (University of Wisconsin – Madison)

Contact: 

Durham Campus Rm. 182
905-435-5102 x5043
rogerlohmann@trentu.ca

Research Interests:

Causes of Religion
Dreaming, Imagination and Perception
Cultural Dynamics

Courses Taught 2015/2016: 

• ANTH 1001H
• ANTH 1002H 
• ANTH 2311H
• ANTH 3160H
• ANTH 3991H

Bachelor of Social Work (B.S.W.)

Shana Almeida - Assistant Professor

Degrees Held: B.A. (York University), Hons. Post-Degree BSW (York University), MSW (York University), Ph.D. (York University)

Contact:

shanaalmeida@trentu.ca

Research Interests:

• Diversity
• Race and racism
• Identity
• Space
• Municipal government
• Social policy
• Social justice
• Interlocking systems of oppression
• Anti-oppressive theory and practice
• Decolonizing knowledge production

Susan Hillock - Associate Professor

Degrees Held:

BA (Mount Allison University), BSW (Saint Thomas University), MEd (University of New Brunswick), PhD (Memorial University)

Contact:

905-435-5102 ext. 7741
susanhillock@trentu.ca 

Teaching and Research Interests:

• Exploring equality and social justice
• Promoting social change
• Studying how privilege and experiences of oprression play out in the classroom and in the field

Marina Morgenshtern - Assistant Professor

Degrees Held: BSW (Tel Aviv University), MSW (Tel Aviv University), PhD (Wilfrid Laurier University)

Contact:

Durham Campus, Rm. 187
marinamorgenshtern@trentu.ca
905-435-5102 ext. 5020
 

Teaching and Research Interests:

• Feminist Intersectional Analysis of Oppression
• Immigrant Families, Couples and Communities
• Critical Social Work Practice
• Teaching Research to Social Work Students
• Diversity Issues in Academic Classroom

Business Administration

Amina R. Malik - Assistant Professor

Degrees Held: MS (Punjab University, Pakistan), MBA (Ryerson University, Canada), PhD (York University, Canada), 

Contact:

Durham campus, Rm 165
905-435-5102 ext. 5067
aminamalik@trentu.ca

Teaching and Research Interests:

• ADMN-2230H-A Human Resource Management
• ADMN-2220H-A Organizational Behaviour
• ADMN-3220H-A Organizational Selection
• ADMN-3280H-A Motivation and Compensation

Caitlin McLaughlin - Assistant Professor

Degrees Held: BBA (Bishop's University), MA (Michigan State University), PhD (Michigan State University)

Contact:

caitlinmclaughlin@trentu.ca

Research Interests:

• Social Media and Brand Communities and how businesses can use these platforms to their best advantage
• Word of mouth

Courses Taught 2015/2016:

• ADMN 2010H
• ADMN 2100H
• ADMN 3150H
• ADMN 3170H
• ADMN 3230H

Mark Thomas - Assistant Professor

Degrees Held: B.Sc. (Dalhousie), B.BA. (University of New Brunswick), M.B.A. (University of Toronto), PhD (University of Toronto)

Contact:

Durham Campus Rm.165
markthomas@trentu.ca

Research Interests:

• Labour Relations
• Human Resource Management
• Organizational Behaviour

Courses Taught 2015/2016:

• ADMN 2230H     
• ADMN 2510H     
• ADMN 3220H     
• ADMN 3270H     
• ADMN 3280H     

Child and Youth Studies (B.A.)

Alba Agostino - Assistant Professor

Degrees Held: B.A., M.A., Ph.D. (York University)

Contact:

905-435-5102 ext. 5074
albaagostino@trentu.ca
 

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.   

Recent Publications: 

Mathematical Skills in 3- and 5-Year-Olds with Spina Bifida and Their Typically

Developing Peers: A Longitudinal Approach.
Theory of mind depends on domain-general executive functions of working memory and cognitive inhibition in children with traumatic brain injury.

Courses Taught:

• CHYS 1000H: Introduction to Child and Youth Studies
• CHYS 1001H: Child and Youth: Theory and Voice
• CHYS 2000H: Introduction to Research Methods

 

Karleen Pendelton Jimenez - Associate Professor

Degrees Held:

BA (UC Berkeley), MFA (San Diego State University), PhD (York University)

Contact:

905-435-5102 ext. 7728
kpendletonjimenez@trentu.ca

Research Interests

• Gender and Children/Youth
• Tomboys and Other Gender Heroes - a study that brings together gender stories from apx. 600 children and youth in both urban and rural settings. Young people were asked how their schools and communities repond to their bodies, passions, and imaginations

Communications and Critical Thinking (B.A.), English Literature (B.A.)

Joel Baetz, Assistant Professor

Degrees Held: B.A. (McGill University), M.A. (McGill University), Ph.D. (York University)

Contact Info:

Durham Campus Rm. 158
905-435-5102 x5074
joelbaetz@trentu.ca

Research Interests: 

• Urban theory
• Happiness
• Canadian literature
• Comics

Courses Taught 2015/2016:

• ENGL 1005H    
• ENGL 2805H     
• ENGL 3502Y     
• ENGL 4501H     

English Literature (B.A.)

Rita Bode - Associate Professor

Degrees Held: B.A., M.A., Ph.D. (University of Toronto)

Contact:

Durham Campus Rm. 155
905-435-5102 x5002
rbode@trentu.ca

Research Interests:

• 19th- and Early 20th-century British and American
• Transatlantic studies
• Women writers
• Young adult fiction

Courses Taught 2015/2016:

• ENGL 1001H     
• ENGL 3307H     
• ENGL 3701H     

Rob Winger - Assistant Professor

Degrees Held: B.A. (Mount Allison), B.Ed (Ottawa), M.A. (Guelph), PhD (Carleton)

Contact:

Durham Campus Rm 156
905-435-5102 ext. 5025
robwinger@trentu.ca

Research Interests:

• Canadian Literature and Culture
• Creative Writing
• Creative Critique
• Contemporary and 20th century Poetry and Fiction
• Gender Studies

Courses Taught 2015/2016:

• ENGL 2810Y
• ENGL 1005H
• ENGL 4801H

History (B.A.)

Jennine Hurl-Eamon - Full Professor

Degrees Held: B.A. (Western); M.A.(Queen's); PhD (York)

Contact:

905-435-5102 ext. 6270
jenninehurleamon@trentu.ca

Research Interests:

• Plebeian life in eighteenth-century Britain
• War and society
• Specializing in marriage, parenting and childhood in the army

Robert Wright - Full Professor

Degrees Held: B.A. (Trent), M.A. (Queen's), Ph.D. (Queen's)

Contact:

Durham Campus Rm. 167
905-435-5102 ext. 5046
rawright@trentu.ca

Research Interests:

Modern Canadian politics, culture and diplomacy

Courses Taught 2015/2016:

• HIST 2450Y
• HIST 3310/4310Y
• HIST 3061H/4061H
• HIST 3381H/4381H

Media Studies (B.A.)

Alan O'Connor - Full Professor

Degrees Held: B.A. (Trinity College, Dublin), M.A. (York University), PhD. (York University).

Contact:

Durham Campus Rm. 164
905-435-5102 ext. 5030
aoconnor@trentu.ca

Research Interests:

• Popular Culture and Media
• Alternative community media and how they become the means for the expression of group and subcultural identities

Courses Taught 2015/2016:

• CUST 3531H
• CUST 3535H
• CUST 3538H
• CUST 6100H
• CUST 6110H

Philosophy (B.A.)

James Connelly - Assistant Professor

Degrees Held: B.A. (University of Alberta), M.A. (University of Saskatchewan), Ph.D. (York University). 

Contact:

Durham Campus Rm. 175
905-435-5102 ext. 5056
jamesconnelly@trentu.ca

Research Interests:

History of analytic philosophy, with focus on the monumentous philosophical interchanges between Wittgenstein and Russell

Courses Taught 2015/2016:

• PHIL 1100H     
• PHIL 1200H     
• PHIL 2010H  
• PHIL 2030H   
• PHIL 3140H   

Psychology (B.A. or B.Sc.)

Jeff Adams - Assistant Professor

Degrees Held: B.A. (Concordia), M.A. (University of Guelph), Ph.D. (York University).

Contact:

Durham Campus Rm. 163
905-435-5102 ext. 5029
jadams@trentu.ca

Research Interests:

• Dreams
• Human cerebral laterality (hemisphreic differences)
• General cognition
• Personality
• Sleep

Courses Taught 2015/2016:

• PSYC 1020H
• PSYC 1030H
• PSYC 2018H
• PSYC 2019H
• PSYC 2600H
• PSYC 4780H

Alba Agostino - Assistant Professor

Degrees Held: B.A., M.A., Ph.D. (York University)

Contact:

Durham Rm. 159
905-435-5102 ext. 5053
albaagostino@trentu.ca

Research Interests:

• Development of mathematical reasoning in both the normal and atypical population
• Relation between cognitive abilities and mathematical cognition

Courses Taught 2015/2016:

• PSYC 2300H
• PSYC 3730H
• PSYC 3750H
• PSYC 3510H

Ben Bauer - Associate Professor

Degrees Held: B.A., M.A., Ph.D. (University of Waterloo)

Contact:

Durham Campus Rm. 177
905-435-5102 ext. 5037
benbauer@trentu.ca

Research Interests:

Visusal cognition/perception

Courses Taught 2015/2016:

• PSYC 2400H
• PSYC 3430H
• PSYC 3451H
• PSYC 3460H

Teresa DeCicco - Professor

Degrees Held: B.A. (McMaster University), B.Sc. (University of Manitoba), M.Sc. (Trent University), Ph.D. (York University)

Contact:

905-435-5102 ext. 7749
teresadecicco@trentu.ca

Research Interests:

• Personality, self-construal (identity) and adaptive coping
• Relationship between trait measures of anxiety and adaptive coping
• Perfectionism and motivation in relation to depression, anxiety and performance
• Identity and health (physical and emotional)
• Dreams and health

Courses Taught 2015/2016:

• PSYC-1030H
• PSYC-3780H
• PSYC-1020H
• PSYC-4170H

Nancie Im-Bolter - Associate Professor

Degrees Held: B.Sc. (University of Toronto), M.A. (York University), Ph.D. (York University).

Contact:

Durham Campus Rm. 171
905-435-5102 ext. 5033
nimbolter@trentu.ca

Research Interests:

• Language, social cognition and cognition in typical and atypical development
• Language and learning disabilities
• Mental health and psychopathology in children and adolescents
• Psychological assessment and measurement

Courses Taught 2015/2016:

• PSYC 1030H
• PSYC 2500H
• PSYC 3510H
• PSYC 3530H
• PSYC 3451H

Sociology (B.A.)

James Cosgrave - Assistant Professor, Full-Time

Degrees Held: Ph.D. (York University)

Contact:

Durham Campus Rm. 174
905-435-5102 ext. 5049
jimcosgrave@trentu.ca

Research Interests:

• Sociological analysis of risk and gambling
• Gambling expansion and the state
• Financial markets
• Sociology of money
• Canadian identity and culture
• Sociological and social theory

Courses Taught 2015/2016:

• SOCI 1001H
• SOCI 1002H
• SOCI 3111H
• SOCI 4040H
• SOCI 4410H

Graham Potts - Assistant Professor

Contact:

Durham Rm. 185
905-435-5102 ex. 5048
grahampotts@trentu.ca

Research Interests:

​Applications of social, political, and queer theory to processess of digitilization 

Courses Taught 2015/2016:

• SOCI 1001H
• SOCI 1002H
• SOCI 3100H                
• SOCI 3460H
• SOCI 4951H