Heather Rollwagen

Dr. Heather Rollwagen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Associate Dean, Programs at the Yeates School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, Toronto Metropolitan University. She holds a BA (Queen’s University), MA (University of Waterloo), and PhD (University of Calgary). Her research focuses on housing tenure dynamics, urban crime perceptions, and mixed-methods approaches. Current projects include qualitative studies on young adults’ housing aspirations and interdisciplinary work with the Canadian Worlds of Journalism team examining journalists’ professional identities.

Her academic expertise spans housing policy, fear of crime in urban contexts, and police decision-making processes. She teaches courses like SOC 105 (Introduction to Sociology), SOC 402 (The City and Social Problems), and advanced quantitative research methods (SOC 483/PD 9004). She contributes to graduate programs in Policy Studies and Public Policy & Administration.

Dr. Rollwagen’s work bridges sociology, criminology, and media studies, addressing intersections between social structures and individual experiences. Her research highlights how housing ideologies shape crime risk perceptions and explores evolving professional roles in journalism. She has authored/co-authored influential papers in Housing Studies, Canadian Journal of Political Science, and Journalism Studies, among others.