Dr. Michelle Stack
Associate Professor, Department of Educational Studies, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia
Professor Stack's teaching and research are in the areas of university rankings, connecting cooperatives and social solidarity economies, disability justice and anti-racism.
Media
Campus Cooperatives: Reimagining Campus Cooperatives in British Columbia for a World in CrisesRadio/Podcast
3 Episode PODCAST Series for BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly
Role: Host and Producer
Along with faculty and the larger community, students are demanding accountability by university leaders in challenging racism, sexual violence and ableism on campuses and in the education of future professionals. In addition, many students, staff and faculty are housing (Weissman et al., 2019) and food insecure (Laban et al., 2020), leading to significant contrasts between the image of a university as a place of thriving amidst diversity and the reality of it being a place where the stratification and disparities of the wider world are reflected. Cooperatives have an impressive record for providing more affordable democratically governed communities. Could a cooperative model facilitate post-secondary institutions enacting their stated commitments to equitable universities that are committed to climate justice?
The Possibilities of the coop university with Dr. Cilla Ross. Radio/Podcast
In this episode 2020 Wall Scholar Michelle Stack is joined by Dr. Cilla Ross, expert in cooperatives in higher education, for a conversation that challenges us to go beyond thinking of education as strictly a private good and to consider the possibilities — and benefits of — the cooperative university.
Universities should respond to cuts and corporate influence with co-operative governance
The Conversation, February 21, 2024Online
It doesn’t take much to see that today’s higher education system needs a restart. Colleges and universities across Canada face varying degrees of financial crisis and interference in research by corporations and governments. At the same time, students are experiencing growing inequitable access to higher education.
That’s the bad news. The good news is there are proven alternative education models, but it requires moving from the current fixation on rankings to co-operation.
B.C. pledges education action – for the good of democracy, Canada should follow suit
The Conversation, July 27, 2017Online
Over the course of Canadian history, minority governments have resulted in universal health care legislation and the Canadian Pension Plan. Other minority governments, however, have led to another election within six months. As an academic and public education advocate, I hope this partnership survives the full term, which would give the B.C. government until 2021 to implement an ambitious plan.
Think disability is a tragedy? We pity you
The Conversation, August 27, 2017Online
URL: https://theconversation.com/think-disability-is-a-tragedy-we-pity-you-82047
You pick your child up at school and see her hanging out with a child with autism. Your reaction is: A) pride, B) confusion, C) concern, D) pity. If you said yes to any of the above you could have ableism.
In schools, disability prejudice impacts opportunities for connection and learning for all children. Another word for it is “ableism” — a form of discrimination that favours able-bodied people. It has long permeated our culture through stereotypes — from hunchback movie villains to the idea of the “supercrip” that defies all odds.
Why University Rankings Cause Too Much Anxiety
The Tyee, May 12, 2017Online
URL: https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2017/05/12/University-Rankings-Cause-Anxiety/
During the campaign, students expressed fears of facing record high school related debt, and worries they won’t land a job when they graduate. Anxiety about getting into the right school to have the best future starts young. It prompts students to obsess over college rankings, which too often ends up causing them to feel bad for not getting into a top-ranked school. Or, if they do get in, they’re frazzled trying to figure out how to pay the high tuition top-ranked schools demand.
Ignore university rankings, but make higher education an election issue
The Conversation, September 12, 2019Online
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently got some good news after a few weeks of scandal management.
It continues to be in the top 10 universities, according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. That’s despite recently having to apologize for concealing donations it received from financier Jeffrey Epstein, who pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor 10 years before his recent jail-cell suicide.
Charlottesville: White educators need to fight racism every day
The Conversation, August 15, 2017Online
URL: https://theconversation.com/charlottesville-white-educators-need-to-fight-racism-every-day-82550
Like many people, I watched the news coming out of Charlottesville this weekend in horror. Future generations will ask about this moment, wondering: How did this happen? What did you do to resist?
Who and what gets left out of world university rankings?
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings, February 26, 2016Online
URL: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/who-and-what-gets-left-out-world-university-rankings
I often wondered why higher education institutions became implicated in media-business rankings. The major rankings that I analysed for my book, Global University Rankings and the Mediatization of Higher Education, use indicators that tell us more about the wealth of an institution than the quality of students’ educational experience. Rankings have been part of a seismic shift in determining the mission of universities, a shift in who and what is seen as showing evidence of excellence. They play a pivotal role in the dramatic increase in higher education institutions’ spend on marketing and public relations.
Not whether to cover suicide, but how...
The Globe and Mail, September 12, 2012Online
URL: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/not-whether-to-cover-suicide-but-how/article6218954/
In the late 1990s, as a communications director for the B.C. Children’s Commission, an office that investigated child deaths, I worked with journalists covering suicide. For the most part, stories about suicide were thoughtful, although, occasionally, editors and I would disagree. In my experience, editors could be persuaded to end sensational coverage when the risk of copycat suicides was explained.
Back to School ABCs
Sage Social Science Space, September 8, 2016Online
URL: http://www.socialsciencespace.com/2016/09/back-to-school-abcs/
A is for Academic. Your professor gives you academic credit to read about a pandemic. It might seem esoteric. Even though it is not generic it could have merit, and clarify the polemics around socioeconomics, and even pathogenics..... B is for....
Chromatic Ten Meditations on Crisis in Art and Letters
by by Purang, A., Black, J., Boyd, L. Jenkins, C. Kong, H. Ramana, M.V., Reynolds, S., Stack, M., Teves S. and Troeung, Y-D.
Published by UBC Press
October 1, 2021
1775276651, 9781775276654
Chromatic: Ten Meditations on Crisis in Art and Letters is a collection of essays and illustrations as diverse as the subject of crisis itself. Imagined and brought to life by the 2020 Wall Scholars during their time at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at UBC, Chromatic asks what it means to be in crisis and grapples with the personal and societal impacts of crisis during a time of unprecedented global upheaval.
Bodies of Knowledge and their Discontents, International and Comparative Perspectives
by Editors André Mazawi and Michelle Stack
Bloomsbury
December 21, 2021
9781350192744
Course Syllabi in Faculties of Education problematizes one of the least researched phenomena in teacher education, the design of course syllabi, using critical and decolonial approaches. This book looks at the struggles that scholars, policy makers, and educators from a diverse range of countries including Australia, Canada, India, Iran, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the USA, and Zambia face as they design course syllabi in higher education settings. The chapter authors argue that course syllabi are political constructions, representing intense sites of struggles over visions of teacher education and visions of society. As such, they are deeply immersed in what Walter Mignolo calls the “geopolitics of knowledge”. Authors also show how syllabi have become akin to contractual documents that define relations between instructors and students Based on a set of empirically grounded studies that are compared and contrasted, the chapters offer a clearer picture of how course syllabi function within distinct socio-political, economic, and historical contexts of practice and teacher education.
Global University Rankings and the Politics of Knowledge
by Editor Michelle Stack
University of Toronto Press
December 21, 2021
9781487523398
For many institutions, to ignore your university's ranking is to become invisible, a risky proposition in a competitive search for funding. But rankings tell us little if anything about the education, scholarship, or engagement with communities offered by a university. Drawing on a range of research and inquiry-based methods, Global University Rankings and the Politics of Knowledge exposes how universities became servants to the education industry and its impact.
Conceptually unique in its scope, Global University Rankings and the Politics of Knowledge addresses the lack of empirical research behind university and journal ranking systems. Chapters from internationally recognized scholars in decolonial studies provide readers with robust frameworks to understand the intersections of coloniality and Indigeneity and how they play out in higher education. Contributions from diverse geographical and disciplinary contexts explore the political economy of rankings within the contexts of the Global North and South, and examine alternatives to media-driven rankings. This book allows readers to consider the intersections of power and knowledge within the wider contexts of politics, culture, and the economy, to explore how assumptions about gender, social class, sexuality, and race underpin the meanings attached to rankings, and to imagine a future that confronts and challenges cognitive, environmental, and social injustice.https://utorontopress.com/9781487523398/global-university-rankings-and-the-politics-of-knowledge/#:~:text=This%20book%20allows%20readers%20to,future%20that%20confronts%20and%20challenges
Global University Rankings and the Mediatization of Higher Education (Palgrave Studies in Global Higher Education)
by Michelle Stack
Palgrave Macmillan
1137475943
Representing a coherent brand out of incommensurate goals.
by Liang, J. & Stack, M.
Published by Comparative and International Education Society of Canada
March 1, 2022
Chromatic Ten Meditations on Crisis in Art and Letters
by Purang, A., Black, J., Boyd, L. Jenkins, C. Kong, H. Ramana, M.V., Reynolds, S., Stack, M., Teves S. and Troeung, Y-D.
Published by UBC Press
October 1, 2021
Chromatic: Ten Meditations on Crisis in Art and Letters is a collection of essays and illustrations as diverse as the subject of crisis itself. Imagined and brought to life by the 2020 Wall Scholars during their time at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at UBC, Chromatic asks what it means to be in crisis and grapples with the personal and societal impacts of crisis during a time of unprecedented global upheaval.
The murder of George Floyd and the mediatization of solidarity by top-ranked universities.
by Stack, M.
Published by Routledge
2021. Language and Intercultural Communication, 21(6), 749–764.
Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic: University rankings or co-operatives as a strategy for developing an equitable and resilient post-secondary education sector?
by Stack, M.
Published by Springer
2021. International Review of Education, 67, 127–144.
Media and government framing of asylum seekers and migrant workers in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic.
by Stack, M., & Wilbur, A.
Published by Springer
2021. International Review of Education, 67, 895–914.
Academic stars and university rankings in higher educational: Impacts on policy and practice.
by Stack, M.
Published by Society for Research into Higher Education
2020. Policy Reviews in Higher Education, Volume 4. - Issue 1, 4(1), 4–24.
Students’ perceptions of belonging: A photovoice participatory action research project.
by Stack, M., & Wang, F.
Published by Nippising University
2018. Canadian Journal of Action Research, 19(1), 48–66.
Vomitorium of Venom": Framing culpable youth, bewildered adults, and the death
Published by ABC-CLIO/Greenwood
Chapter in edited book - Debates for the Digital Age: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of our Online World
2015.
“El tratamiento mediático de la educación en Canadá”
Published by Revue internationale d'éducation de Sèvres
Canada’s only national public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, has suffered from massive government cutbacks. At the same time, corporate media consolidated, which resulted in many media workers reporting for multiple sister outlets with little time to do investigative work. The consequence is coverage of education that is mainly framed through press releases provided by government and other large entities. Child and youth activism and issues of systemic injustice and marketization of education continue to be underreported, however, there is room for educators, researchers and activists to inform conversations about education.\
2014.
The Times Higher Education ranking product: Visualising excellence through media
by Stack, M.
Published by Globalisation, Societies and Education
This paper will examine the Times Higher Education's (THE) World University Rankings as a corporate media product. A number of empirical studies have critiqued the methodology of the THE, yet individuals, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and governments continue to use them for decision-making. This paper analyses the influence of rankings through the concepts of mediatization and visualisation. To this end, this paper will examine how media defines excellence in HEIs through rankings, and how HEIs use rankings to define themselves within a competitive educational marketplace.
2013.
URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14767724.2013.856701
'Bridging journalistic-academic divides to promote democratic dialogue and debate
Published by Routledge Books
Kelly, Deirdre and Michelle Stack in edited book Knowledge Mobilization and Educational Research: Politics, Languages and Responsibilities. Routledge Books, 2011.
'Spin as symbolic capital: The fields of journalism and education policy- making: A Bourdieuan reading'.
Published by International Journal of Leadership in Education
How do policy‐makers and journalists accumulate symbolic capital in terms of their strategic positioning in relation to policy making? How do they negotiate their impact on policy making across fields? How do they gain access to information, and how is this information constructed in terms of education and schooling? This paper focuses on Bourdieu’s concepts of symbolic capital and field to analyse 17 interviews with former Canadian ministers of education, premiers, senior bureaucrats and journalists. This paper argues that journalism and educational policy making are separate but have structural points of convergence. The study concludes that issues of electoral and news cycles and the politics of recognition within the fields of journalism and government educational policy making are crucial to understanding what counts for common sense educational policy.
URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13603120903121721
Biography
Michelle Stack, Ph.D., serves as the Academic Director at the Learning Exchange, University of British Columbia, and is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Studies. She is a proud member of the Diverse Solidarity Economies Collective. Her research primarily explores the categorization of people, knowledge, and institutions and how these classifications affect our collective capacity to address the crises we face globally. Presently, she focuses on cooperative colleges and universities, looking at their potential to enhance democratic decision-making and bolster student and staff food, job, and housing security.
Dr. Stack is an author and editor in her field. Her works include "Global University Ranking and the Mediatization of Higher Education" (Palgrave) and she is the editor of "Global University Rankings and the Politics of Knowledge" (Open Access Book, University of Toronto). She also co-authored “Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic: University Rankings or Co-operatives as a Strategy for Developing an Equitable and Resilient Post-Secondary Education Sector?” (International Review of Education) and co-edited "Course Syllabi in Faculties of Education: Bodies of Knowledge and their Discontents, International and Comparative Perspectives" (Bloomsbury) with Dr. André Mazawi.
Her career before academia included roles as a senior advisor to a Minister of Education, a communication director for the former BC Children’s Commission, and an adult educator.
In addition to her academic pursuits, Dr. Stack has ventured into stand-up comedy and was a Leighton writer in residence at Banff, following her completion of the SFU Certificate in Creative Writing, SFU Writing Studio in 2017.
Recognition/Reconnaissance
Public Humanities Award | Professional
Inaugural Public Humanities Hub award for her role as a public scholar and her efforts in broadening academic discourse through media engagement.
Knowledge Mobilization Scholar, UBC | Professional
Inaugural Knowledge Exchange and Mobilization Scholar for expertise in knowledge translation and commitment to capacity building.
Killam Teaching Award | Professional
Killam Award for Teaching for innovative pedagogy and dedication to intergenerational and community-engaged learning, and advocacy for students.
Additional Titles and Affiliations
Knowledge Mobilization Scholar, UBC
Member of the Diverse Solidarity Economies Collective
Canadian Society for Studies in Education : Member
Past Talks
University Rankings, Mediatization and Celebrification
Mediatization Research: Culture, Conflict and Organizations Seminar
Copenhagen, Denmark
Research Grants
Public Humanities Hub
Organization: University of British ColumbiaDetails:
2023
Explore Grant
Organization: Social Sciences and Humanities Research CouncilDetails:
2022
COVID19 Response: Building Higher Learning Resilience in the Face of Epidemics
Organization: UBC Peter Wall Institute for Advanced StudiesDetails:
2020 Principal Investigator: Michelle Stack, UBC; Co Investigator(s): André Mazawi, UBC; Deirdre Kelly, UBC;
Bathseba Opini, UBC; Cilla Ross, Cooperative College, UK; Shirley Lew, Student and VCC; Ben Hyman, VIU; Elvy Del Bianco, Vancity; GRA: Sameena Jamal.
The impact of university and journal rankings
Organization: UBC Education FundDetails:
2018 Principal Investigator: Michelle Stack, UBC; Co-Investigator(s): André Mazawi, UBC; GRA: Pamela Leticia Garcia.
International Research Collaboration on Rankings
Organization: Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies UBCDetails:
2018 Principal Investigator: Michelle Stack, UBC; Co-Investigator(s): André Mazawi, UBC;
GRA: Jingwun Liang.
Newcomer mothers learn about Canadian schools and expand conversations about what a good education is and could be
Organization: John and Doris Andrews Research and Development AwardDetails:
2017 Principal Investigator: Michelle Stack, UBC; Co-Investigator(s): Bathseba Opini, UBC;
GRAs: Sonia Medel and Sameena Jamal.
What Do Rankings Tell Us about Higher Education? International and Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Organization: Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies UBCDetails:
Principal Investigator(s): Dr. Michelle Stack, Department of Educational Studies, UBC; Dr. Mary Lynn Young, School of Journalism, UBC; Dr. André Mazawi, Department of Educational Studies, UBC; Dr. Mayumi Ishikawa, Centre for Global Initiatives, Osaka University, Japan. Roundtable will be held in May 2017.
More information: http://www.pwias.ubc.ca/profile/michelle-stack
Public Affairs Directors in Universities as Boundary Setters
Organization: Granting Agency UBC Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Research FundDetails:
2012 – 2014 Role: Principal Investigator
Journalists, Policymakers and What Happens in Schools: An Analysis of the Relationship Between Journalists and Educational Policymakers
Organization: Granting Agency: HamptonDetails:
2004 - 2007 Role: Principal Investigator
Jacqueline Farquhar Endowment for Children's Mental Health
Organization: University of British ColumbiaDetails:
Studies point to connections between students having a sense of belonging, community and purpose at school and their mental well-being (Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2013; Ontario Ministry of Education, 2013; Rowling, 2009; Rowling & Weist, 2004). We used a Photovoice methodology with high school students to answer three questions: 1) How can Photovoice methods be used as a means to integrate student voice into the development of a District Code of Conduct 2) How do photographic images taken by students help us understand when students feel included versus when they feel excluded from school? 3) What recommendations can be made to create a culture of belonging in schools based on analysis of the photos? Findings of the evaluation of this Photovoice research project will inform the development of a youth-led “Belonging at Schools” project to be implemented across the district.