Bruce, who has been serving successfully as interim vice-president since September 2020, is a highly-regarded researcher with an established career at the University for nearly 20 years. In the role, she will continue to oversee the Office of Research & Innovation, strengthening and expanding research activity at Trent, both within academia and through strategic partnerships.
“Dr. Cathy Bruce is an inspirational exceptional administrator with a passion for research, innovation, and mentorship. She brings an exceptional combination of skill and experience to this key role,” said Dr. Leo Groarke, president and vice-chancellor of Trent University. “I look forward to the opportunity to continue to work with her in a way that will advance Trent’s reputation and performance as a leading research-intensive institution.”
In the role, Bruce will build on the successes of her term as interim vice-president, during which time she led the development of new policies, created Early Career Researcher Awards, and established a new Trent-specific Research Grant Incentive Fund of $265,000.
As vice-president, Bruce will coordinate the development of a set of strategic research priorities for the University to deepen connections between academic programming and research, intensify existing research activity, and identify diverse and interdisciplinary areas of research potential. She will oversee all research activity at Trent and research partnerships with government, industry and community partners, while supporting priority initiatives for the University such as Trent’s long-term care research partnership, Cleantech Commons research and development, and the work of the EaRTH District.
“I am thrilled and also humbled by this opportunity to build on the considerable success of the Office of Research & Innovation at Trent,” said Bruce. “I consider this role as one of service and support to the University, local and global communities, faculty, staff and students—and as I have spent most of my career in education, my approach will be, and as it always been, to focus on nurturing the potential, passion and expertise of others.”
Bruce is also a full professor in the Trent School of Education, where she has been conducting and publishing federally-funded research throughout her career.
Her research focus is mathematics learning and the role of spatial reasoning and self-efficacy in that learning. Bruce acts as lead researcher for the Trent Math Education Research Collaborative (TMERC), a research program that enables collaborative research with teachers, other researchers, mathematics educators, early childhood educators, and school districts. She also recently served as president of the Association of Canadian Deans of Education.
A co-author of two math professional texts based on her research program, with a third coming out this spring, Bruce has been recognized as a leading educator and researcher.
She was named one of Ontario’s most outstanding university teachers by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) in 2012 and was recipient of the Eduardo Flores International Leadership Award in 2015 for her leadership in action research.
Bruce holds a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto; an M.A. from OISE of the University of Toronto; and a B.A. and B.Ed. from York University.
