Roberta Lexier

Associate Professor, Department of General Education Mount Royal University

  • Calgary AB

Activist and university professor with a teaching and research focus on social movements, social activism, and social change.

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Biography

Roberta is an Associate Professor in the Department of General Education at Mount Royal University. Her teaching and research focus is social movements, social activism, and social change. She is trained as a historian and has studied student movements, feminism and women's movements, Indigenous movements, economic movements, environmental movements, and the counterculture. She is working on a research project on the intersection between social movements and political parties, especially the New Democratic Party (NDP).

She is also writing a book titled Resisting the Ivory Tower: Activism in Canadian Universities that examines the ways that universities contribute to social change. Her main interest is in how and why individuals band together to try to effect social change.

Roberta also organizes and leads international field schools to Honduras and has developed a Community Service Learning course that seeks to connect universities with community organizations. She has undertaken research projects related to these initiatives and to the concept of Global Citizenship.

Roberta has a B.A. (History and Political Science) and M.A. (History) from the University of Regina and a PhD (History) from the University of Alberta.

Areas of Expertise

Social Movements
Student Movements
Feminism
Women's Movements
Indigenous Movements
Environmental Movements
Economic Movements
Counterculture
Women and Politics
Protest
Protest Movements
Social Activism
Politics and Social Movements
International Education
Community Service Learning
Universities
Social Democracy
New Democratic Party
History
Canada

Education

University of Alberta

PhD

History

2009

Dissertation Title: The Canadian Student Movement in the Sixties

University of Regina

MA

History

2003

Thesis Title: Student Activism at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus, 1961-1974

University of Regina

BA

History and Political Science

2000

Media Appearances

Why there's a local Women's March on Washington the day after Trump was sworn in

CBC News  online

2017-01-18

Commentary on the reasons women in Calgary were participating in the Women's March Washington

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Lexier: More education will put Alberta at the head of the class

Calgary Herald  print

2017-01-14

Op-Ed on the Value of Higher Education in Alberta

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The Purpose of Higher Education: Three National Studies

Active History  online

2013-11-15

Analysis of the historical conceptions of the university.

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Research Grants

TransCanada Grant

Mount Royal University Institute for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

2016-05-01

How do students understand Community-Service Learning?

Knowledge Synthesis Grant

SSHRC

2016-04-01

Global Learning in a Canadian Context: A Knowledge Synthesis

Institute for Environmental Sustainability Grant

Mount Royal University

2015-04-01

From Field to Cup: Sustainable Coffee Production

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Articles

“Two Nations in Canada: The New Democratic Party, the Waffle Movement, and Nationalism in Quebec,”

British Journal of Canadian Studies

2017-06-01

This article examines the influence that the Waffle movement, a short-lived attempt by some young members of the New Democratic Party (NDP) to shift the party further to the left, had on party discussions around Quebec separatism. The Waffle pushed the NDP on its policies related to Quebec nationalism in the late 1960s and early 1970s at a time when nationalist sentiment was evolving and growing among Quebeckers. Waffle members argued that the NDP should recognize that Canada was comprised of two distinct nations and that alliances could be created among socialists in English- and French-Canada that could advance Canadian nationalism. However, they also insisted that Quebec had the right to self-determination and should be allowed to separate if it was the will of the people. The NDP has long struggled with the national question and, while the Waffle existed for only a short time, it was an important part of these debates and represents some of the on-going tensions with the party around this issue.

. “Global Citizenship in Canadian Universities: A New Framework”

Journal of Global Citizenship and Equity Education

2016-06-30

The value and importance of global learning is widely promoted and debated in the literature but, without a common language to frame this discussion, we cannot accurately assess its effectiveness or value. One term frequently used in these conversations, and extolled by universities, is the idea of global citizenship; however, there is no consistent definition of this concept. In this article, we describe the philosophical traditions surrounding the term global citizenship and explain the roots of the debate over its use. To further understand how this term is used among institutions of higher education, we investigated how select Canadian universities discuss global citizenship and identified some of the key terms used as proxies for global citizenship. By bringing together the existing academic literature, the available statistics, and a survey of mandates and practices across Canadian universities, we have developed a framework that defines a global citizen in a Canadian context. This shared framework that universities can adapt and modify to meet their own institutional needs is necessary to enhance their ability to develop the next generation of global citizens. A consistent language and vision will better shape the experiences students have, ensure the evaluation of university programs is both possible and effective, and creates common goals that can be shared among industry, government, and universities.

“How Did the Women’s Liberation Movement Emerge From The Sixties Student Movements: The Case of Simon Fraser University,”

Women and Social Movements in America, 1600-2000

2009-09-01

Women's Liberation movements in the 1960s in Canada

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