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Biography
Dr. Jessica Riddell is the inaugural Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair of Undergraduate Teaching Excellence, and Associate Professor (medieval and early modern dramatic and non-dramatic literature) in the English Department at Bishop's University.
As the Jarislowsky Chair, she explores innovative teaching and learning practices, creates mentorship opportunities for students and faculty, enhances professional development initiatives for her colleagues, and collaborates at the national and international levels.
Riddell is the Executive Director of the Maple League of Universities, the VP Canada on the Board of ISSoTL (International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning), and a Board member for the 3M National Fellows Council Executive. She is the faculty columnist for University Affairs Magazine: her articles appear in a series called “Adventures in Academe.” She is the Chair of the Teaching and Learning Centre.
Her disciplinary research theorizes that sixteenth-century drama provides well-documented intersections between politics, performance, and power. Her recent SSHRC IDG investigated how technologies in the sixteenth century recorded and shaped identity and gender, especially pertaining to political leadership in Elizabeth I’s court.
Her research into higher education is diverse: she has published on experiential learning in the humanities, using legal trials as models of undergraduate inquiry, and how we change institutional cultures to support scholarly teaching. She is currently writing a book with two colleagues on critical empathy and Shakespeare in the 21st century.
Riddell was awarded the 3M National Teaching Fellowship in 2015, and the William and Nancy Turner Award for Teaching Excellence (2011-2012).