معرفی
Dr. Joanne Minaker serves as Professor in the Department of Sociology within MacEwan University's Faculty of Arts and Science, concurrently holding the strategic leadership role of Associate Dean for Student Health and Wellness in Student Affairs. Her decanal responsibilities encompass advancing student wellness initiatives, managing Access and Disability Resources, and fostering inclusive campus communities through operational oversight of psychological services and wellness programs.
Academic Background:
- PhD from Queen's University
- MA from University of Manitoba
- BA from University of Manitoba
Her research synthesizes care ethics with critical analyses of systemic oppression, examining human (dis)connection across three interconnected domains: youth criminalization processes, marginalized mothering experiences, and feminist responses to gender-based violence. Through an ethic of care framework, she investigates tensions between individual agency and structural exclusion affecting criminalized youth, survivors of sexual violence, and marginalized mothers. This scholarship manifests in community-engaged teaching practices and public discourse, notably through TEDxUAlberta's The Power of Meaningful Connections (2016) and TEDxGarneauWomen's Just Care (2013).
Publication trends reveal an evolution from foundational youth justice analyses toward care-centered social transformation, with recent works emphasizing community resilience during crises (e.g., Fort McMurray wildfire study) and institutional responses to campus sexual violence. Her editorial leadership on volumes like Violence Interrupted (2020) demonstrates commitment to actionable knowledge translation.
Recognition:
- MacEwan University Distinguished Teaching Award (2009)
- SSHRC Award to Aid Scholarly Publishing (2019)
- SSHRC Connections Grant (2017)
- SSHRC Institutional Grant (2011-2012)
- Two-time Distinguished Teaching Award nominee (2015, 2018)
Dr. Minaker actively mentors undergraduate researchers through independent studies on projects including Teachers and Care, Female Fight Fans, and pandemic-era mothering narratives. She contributes to academic governance as Editorial Board member of the Centre for International Justice Studies and as member of the International Association of Maternal Action and Scholarship, consistently bridging theoretical rigor with community-based change initiatives to cultivate more just societal structures.
