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New Faculty Hires

In the Faculty of Arts, we take great pride in hiring leading-edge tenure-track faculty, a process that helps shape our institutional reputation and the direction of Toronto Metropolitan University’s exciting future. The colleagues we are welcoming to campus represent the diversity of Arts and contribute to the strength of our faculty.

With our new hires, we place renewed emphasis on excellence in research, teaching and social awareness. Their addition to our faculty reflects our celebration of the humanities’ rich tradition of exploring ideas and cultures across ever-broadening contexts. They also help us pay tribute to the social sciences' rich tradition of exploring the nature of institutions, social phenomena and human behaviour through collaboration and innovative methodologies.

Get to know our new Faculty members 2024-2025

Dr. John Carlaw
Dr. John Carlaw, Criminology

Dr. John Carlaw joins the Department of Criminology after four years with TMU’s Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Migration and Integration Program as a Research Fellow (2020-2023) and Senior Research Associate (2023-2024), where he co-led the politics and narratives of migration research theme.

John holds a PhD in Political Science from York University, supported by a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship, and led its Syria Response and Refugee Initiative (2015-2019), a refugee sponsorship and education initiative at its Centre for Refugee Studies. He is Principal Investigator of a SSHRC Insight Development Grant-funded project, “Contemporary Paradoxes and Struggles of Migration and Belonging in Canada.” His civil society activities have included engagements with the FCJ Refugee Centre, Canadian Council for Refugees and its Youth Network, and Toronto Refugee Rights Month Planning Committees.

Dr. Angela Doku

Dr. Angela Doku, Economics

Dr. Angela Doku is an applied microeconomist who specializes in environmental, development, and behavioural economics. She is particularly interested in policy questions concerning beliefs and environmental attitudes and actions; climate and development; and adolescent development.

Prior to TMU, Angela was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Chicago, with a joint affiliation with the John Mitchell Economics of Poverty Lab in Australia National University.

Previously, Angela worked as an Economist at the ILO, and for organizations such as GIZ, DFID, and the Centre for the Study of African Economies. Angela completed her PhD in Economics at the University of Geneva; an MA in Economics at the University of Toronto; and an MSc in Environment and Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Dr. Marie Chistelle Mabeu
Dr. Marie Chistelle Mabeu, Economics

Dr. Marie Christelle Mabeu is joining TMU as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Ottawa. Her research areas include Applied Microeconomics, Development Economics, Family Economics, and Political Economy.

Some of Marie’s recent studies examine how colonial policies have persisted and shaped current economic development, with a focus on demographic issues. Much of her current research focuses on sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to joining TMU, she worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Stanford University and Princeton University. She was a World Bank Group African Fellow.

Dr. Jessica Penney
Dr. Jessica Penney, Sociology

Dr. Jessica Penney (she/her) is a Nunatsiavut Inuk scholar raised in Iqaluit, Nunavut with family from Rigolet and Carbonear, Newfoundland and Labrador. Her research focuses on strengthening Inuit health, wellbeing and food sovereignty in the context of environmental issues in Inuit communities (such as environmental contaminants and climate change). 

Jessica's PhD research at the University of Glasgow focused on the lived experience of the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project in Labrador, and she most recently held a Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. Dr. Penney is also passionate about collaborative Inuit research methodologies and ethics and serves on Qaujigiartiit Health Research Centre’s Ethics Katimajiit and the National Inuit Ethics Review Committee.

Dr. Allison Petrozziello
Dr. Allison Petrozziello, Politics and Public Administration

Dr. Allison Petrozziello is a global governance scholar specialized in gender and human-rights based approaches to the governance of migration and citizenship. Her academic work builds on over 15 years of experience in international research, teaching, and policy advocacy work, mostly in Latin America and the Caribbean, with stakeholders ranging from grassroots organizations to policymakers to the UN.

Allison’s research, as featured on TMU’s Borders & Belonging podcast, examines global patterns of intersecting forms of social inequality which can make children of migrants and refugees stateless. She joins TMU from the Balsillie School of International Affairs, where she has taught for Wilfrid Laurier University’s School of International Policy and Governance, Political Science, and Women & Gender Studies.

Dr. Abigail Salole
Dr. Abigail Salole, Criminology

Dr. Abigail Salole (she/they) is a scholar and educator specializing in how non-profit organizations participate in youth criminal justice processes and how they can support new possibilities for contending with crime and other social problems. They earned her PhD in Criminology from the Queensland University of Technology. 

Abigail also holds a Master’s degree in Social Work and a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology, both from the University of Toronto. For more than 15 years, Abigail has taught, researched, and held administrative positions in Ontario’s postsecondary system. Their research has been published in criminology and social policy journals. She currently co-leads the Hearts + Minds research project, an arts-informed participatory action research project about connections between Black and Indigenous youth.

Dr. Bernice Yanful
Dr. Bernice Yanful, Sociology

Dr. Bernice Yanful will join the Sociology Department in January 2025 as an Assistant Professor focused on food policy. She is a SSHRC-funded postdoctoral fellow. Her research explores the principles, meanings and practices of food justice and food sovereignty, with a particular interest in urban food systems.  

Bernice’s doctoral work explored school food programs in Ghana as a tool for food systems change. Bernice previously worked for an Ontario public health unit in the areas of school health and health equity.

  • Dr. Alyssa Counsell (Psychology)
  • Dr. Damien Lee (Sociology)
  • Dr. Ajay Sandhu (Criminology)
  • Dr. Zahir Kolia (Criminology)
  • Dr. Rohan Sud (Philosophy)
  • Ms. Hyunju Lee (Economics)
  • Dr. Diane Enns (Philosophy)
  • Ms. Conely de Leon (Sociology)
  • Dr. Hongbing Yu (Languages, Literatures & Cultures)
  • Dr. Naomi Hamer (English)
  • Dr. Doosoo Kim (Economics)
  • Dr. Katherine Zubovich (History)
  • Ms. Lauren Kirshner (English)
  • Dr. Antoine Panaïoti (Philosophy)
  • Dr. Shiri Pasternak (Criminology)
  • Dr. Christopher Wellen (Geography)