About Us
Mission Statement
The Centre for Media and Culture in Education supports interdisciplinary research and teaching agendas that advance ideals of social equity and justice. The CMCE promotes visionary and innovative media and cultural productions positioning us to imagine a different and better world. The Centre reaches out both locally and internationally, seeking connections, networks, relations and exchanges that enhance media, cultural and digital literacies and education.
Centre Director
Miglena S. Todorova is Associate Professor in Social Justice Education, Ontario Institute for Studies of Education, University of Toronto. Her interdisciplinary research, teaching and publications cross cultural, gender, and educational studies, as well as Canada, the United States and former socialist countries in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Dr. Todorova is the Director of the Centre for Media, Culture and Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto where her research further supports media and cultural literacy focused on social differences locally and globally. Todorova’s work has been published in leading academic journals, such as Meridians: Race and Transnational Feminisms, TOPIA: Cultural Studies, Canadian Woman Studies, and Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies. She is the author of Unequal under Socialism: Race, Women and Transnationalism in Bulgaria published in 2021 by the University of Toronto Press. Dr. Todorova is the co-editor of the book collection Decolonizing the Spirit in Education and Beyond (2019) by Palgrave Macmillan Press. She is the recipient of the Canadian Association for the Study of Women and Education/ Association Canadienne Pour L’étude sur les Femmes et L’éducation (CASWE/ACÉFÉ) 2023 Award Achievement Award for Outstanding Research and Teaching Contributions to Women and Education in Canada.
Centre Co-Directors
Hayley H. Brooks earned her PhD in Social Justice Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto. She specializes in the areas of critical international education, media and cultural studies, and gender-based violence prevention in public education. She has delivered guest lectures, workshops, and scholarly presentations to academic and community audiences including K-12 educators in Ontario, international exchange students in higher education, international scholars and activists in violence prevention, and colleagues at the Canadian Society for Studies in Education, the American Educational Research Association, and the Association for Women and Gender Studies/Recherches Féministes. Her research on the relationship between mass media, popular culture, and sexual and gender-based violence prevention is published in the Journal of Media Literacy Education (2019) and Comparative and International Education (2022). Her innovative study of curriculum designs for international education and violence prevention is forthcoming in the 2022 Annual Review of Comparative and International Education. In 2022, Dr. Brooks received the University of Toronto’s Graduate Award for Scholarly Achievement in the Area of Gender-Based Violence for her research, service, and commitments to violence prevention in and through education. In 2023, she also received the Canadian Federation for Humanities and Social Sciences Merit Award for research excellence in these areas.