Congratulations to Our Recent Honours Graduates!
The Department of Social Justice and Community Studies congratulates our recent Honours graduates on their achievements!
Rena AlexanderHonours Thesis Title: Operationalizing Justice: Translating Reconciliation Mandates into Anti-Racist Human Resources Management (HRM) Action in Nova Scotia
Callum BurrellHonours Thesis Title: Knowing Our Past to Better Our Future: A Policy-Driven History of Housing and Social Welfare in Nova Scotia, and Its Impacts on Contemporary Housing and Homelessness Programs
Faculty News!
Dr. Roshan Arah Jahangeer (she/her/elle/li) joins the Department of Social Justice and Community Studies at Saint Mary’s University. She earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from York University and taught in both French and English at Glendon College (York University). She was the inaugural postdoctoral fellow in Islamophobia in health professions education at the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine and served as a Research Fellow in Islamophobia Studies at the Carleton Centre for the Study of Islam (Carleton University).
Dr. Jahangeer’s research examines transnational Islamophobia through the circulation of anti-veiling laws between France and Québec, and explores their impacts on Muslim women in relation to secularism, feminism, and migration. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals and edited collections, including Secularism, Race, and the Politics of Islamophobia and Producing Islam(s) in Canada: On Knowledge, Positionality and Politics. She has collaborated with Muslim community organizations such as the Tessellate Institute, where she served as both Research Director and Board Member.
Award News
Dr. Rachel Zellars (SJCS) received the Father Stewart Medal for Excellence in Teaching (2025) & the Dr. Geraldine Thomas Educational Leadership Award (2025).
Dr. Rachel Zellars (SJCS) received the SMUSA Award for "Overall Excellence in the Field of Education” (2021), recognizing her work in creating rigorous, respectful learning spaces and teaching challenging subjects with great care.
The Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami's 2018 Inuit Cultural Repatriation Award recognized the collaborative work of the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre (ICRC, Inuvik, Inuvialuit Settlement region), the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, Val Marie Johnson (SJCS), and the Anglican Church General Synod Archives (Toronto), to repatriate copies of archival documentation from Shingle Point Eskimo Residential School (1929-1936), to the ICRC: "National Inuit org honours Inuit and Inuit allies: Precious archival materials from 1930s-era residential school returned to the Inuvialuit," Nunatsiaq News (August 17, 2018)
SJCS applauds the work of its stellar faculty.
For Dr. Rachel Zellars’ work on the uprisings against racist, including state, violence see: Reakash Walters & Rachel Zellars, “We don't need the police. We need each other,” rabble.ca (June 10, 2020) https://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/views-expressed/2020/06/we-dont-need-police-we-need-each-other
For SJCS-organized guest speaker, Dr. Malinda S. Smith see:
"Diversity and equity scholar Dr. Malinda Smith shares knowledge," SMU Campus News (October 30, 2019)https://campusnews.smu.ca/campusnotes/2019/10/30/malinda-smith
For media engagement with Dr. Val Marie Johnson's research see:Julia Jacobs, "Their Land Became Part of Central Park," New York Times (October 20, 2019) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/20/arts/lyons-seneca-village-monument.html
For a recent brief interview with SJCS faculty see: "Saint Mary’s University Arts: Ethical community engagement," Career Minded in The Coast (March 01, 2018)Saint Mary’s University Arts: Ethical community engagementA new program aims for action, not just words, to fight injustice.
SJCS & Inuit Cultural Repatriation: See recent news on the collaboration of the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre (ICRC in Inuvik, Inuvialuit Settlement region), the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, Dr. Val Marie Johnson (SJCS, SMU), and the Anglican Church General Synod Archives (Toronto), to repatriate to the centre copies of archival documentation from the Shingle Point Eskimo Residental School (1929-1936), recently awarded the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami's Inuit Cultural Repatriation Award:" National Inuit org honours Inuit and Inuit allies: Precious archival materials from 1930s-era residential school returned to the Inuvialuit," NUNATSIAQ NEWS (August 17, 2018) http://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/65674national_inuit_org_honours_inuit_and_inuit_allies/