Stephen Ahern, B.A. (Queen's), M.A. (Carleton), Ph.D. (McGill)
Associate Professor, Department of English and Theatre
Coordinator, Writing Centre

Research Interests

• Cultural theory: identity, ethics, multiculturalism, the public sphere
• Antislavery literature and the rhetoric of the early abolitionist movement
• Second-language pedagogy (particularly teaching English as second language); international students, cultural difference, and the effectiveness of university education

Current Research

In my role as an ACSED director I am currently developing research projects and organizing workshops and colloquia.  I am also editing a collection of essays for Ashgate on antislavery literature and the politics of the early abolitionist movement titled The Bonds of Sentiment: Affect and Abolitionism in the Transatlantic Enlightenment.

With colleagues Sonya Major, Bob Perrins, and Doug Symons, I produced a report that assessed the effectiveness of the educational experience for international students, titled "Academic and social adjustment of foreign students for whom English is a second language."  Based on focus group interviews with different groups of students, this report provides fresh insight into the challenges they face adapting to the norms and expectations of North American university life.