Professor Sherry Fukuzawa joined the Department of Anthropology at the Mississauga Campus in 2018, after many years as a sessional instructor. Her teaching is based on inclusive pedagogical principles that promote pluralistic ontologies to include a diversity of knowledge systems in the Academy. She believes diversity and differences empower students to become self-directed independent lifelong learners. All her courses involve active learning components to encourage self-reflection, collaborative small group problem-solving, as well as flexibility and choice in assessment options. She has developed problem-based and community-engaged learning projects involving practical experiences where students engage in course material within an applied framework.  

Professor Fukuzawa is currently involved in research investigating ways to utilize technology to implement problem-based learning experiences across disciplines. Her online hybridized problem-based learning webtool called “The Virtual Mystery” is funded by the Learning Education Advancement Fund (LEAF). She is also a founding member of the Indigenous Action Group (IAG) where she fosters and facilitates community-engaged learning (CEL) and community-initiated research (CIR) in partnership with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. The IAG is currently implementing a CEL course at UTM entitled “Anthropology and Indigenous Peoples in Turtle Island” (ANT241H) funded by a Connaught Community Partnerships Grant. The IAG is also running a mixed methods longitudinal study on the influence of community-engaged learning with a local Indigenous community on students’ academic learning, personal growth and civic activism.