Sheila Batacharya

Sheila has been teaching university and college courses since 2007, and this experience inspired her to specialize in English language learning and teaching. Sheila became a certified member of TESL Ontario in 2018 and completed a Master of Arts degree in Applied Linguistics at York University in 2020. She holds a Ph.D. in Adult Education and Community Development from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto.

Sheila has contributed to the University of Toronto community for many years teaching in the Vic One Program at Victoria College for four years and working at UTM as a writing and course instructor since 2018. Her role as an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream (LTA) has provided the opportunity to support undergraduate students and advance her work in critical pedagogy and English language learning at the Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre (RGASC) and the Institute for the Study of University Pedagogy (ISUP). As of July 1, 2022, Sheila will be a full-time Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream in ISUP.

Sheila uses a learner-centred approach that fosters metacognition and agency, and it is in this context that she endeavours to become an ally in each student’s learning process. She accomplishes her teaching goals by acknowledging students’ lived experiences and ensuring that learning objectives are relevant, achievable, and transparent. Sheila thoroughly enjoys working with undergraduate students to help them develop confidence and competence as knowledge producers in their distinct academic journeys.

Sheila’s academic work in Women and Gender Studies, Sociology and Equity Studies, and Adult Education continues to provide her with an interdisciplinary foundation for her teaching and research. Her publications include two co-edited volumes, Reena Virk: Critical Perspectives on a Canadian Murder (2010) and Sharing Breath: Embodied Learning and Decolonization (2018), and she presented Watershed Memory, Drainpipe Story (2018) at The Work of Wind Air Land Sea, Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto Mississauga.

Sheila is approachable and enthusiastic about community building, so please contact her for more information about the RGASC and ISUP.