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Ontario Tech acknowledges the lands and people of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

Learn more about Indigenous Education and Cultural Services

Headshot of Alyson King

Alyson King
PhD

Associate Professor

Associate Dean, Undergraduate Student Experience

Faculty of Social Science and Humanities

Contact information

Room 307
Downtown Oshawa
2000 Simcoe Street North
Oshawa, ON L1G 0C5

905.721.8668 ext. 3421

alyson.king@ontariotechu.ca

Research topics

  • higher education
  • Under-represented students
  • Multiliteracies
  • History of education
  • Women's history
  • Supported education, Literacy and mental health
  • Graphic novels

Learn more

Researcher Profile

Research and expertise

  • education and mental health
  • higher education in Canada
  • global communities
  • history of education
  • international relations
  • social issues and policy
  • social movements
  • supported education for adults living with mental illness
  • student experiences and strategies for success in post-secondary education
  • women’s history and Canadian history

Honours theses

Dunn, A. (2015.) Replacing the Gardiner: Walkability’s Importance in an Unexpected Place.

McKenzie, S. (2013). Ontario Tech in the News: Examining the institutional and geographical contexts surrounding the institution’s inception. [We developed the material from the thesis into a publishable article, which was published by the Canadian Journal of Higher Education in 2016.]

Independent Study course projects

Nieto, Israel Guzman. (Fall 2016). Policies against sexual violence and sexual harassment: History and current policy implementation.

O’Neill, Carolyn. (Fall 2016). Challenging the culture of the hypersexualization of women: How the sexual health and media literacy education curricula in the Ontario secondary school system become ineffective curricular add-ons.

Student Research Award supervisions (undergraduate summer research awards)

Jackson, D. (2017). Project: Tools for Success: Helping Students Achieve and Succeed

McKenzie, S. (2012). Project: Ontario Tech in the News (won Student Research Showcase Award for her poster on her research.)

McKenzie, S. (2011). Project: Voices of Ontario Tech (won Student Research Showcase Award for her poster on her research.)

McKenzie, S. (2010). Project: Voices of Ontario Tech (won Student Research Showcase Award for her poster on her research.)

Diversities of resilience: understanding the strategies for success used by underrepresented students in Canadian universities (SSHRC Partnership Development Grant: $135,794)

  • Research will examine how underrepresented post-secondary students from across Canada are able to be successful in persisting to graduation.
  • Dr. Alyson E. King (PI); co-investigators: Drs. Nawal Ammar (Ontario Tech), Dr. Allyson Eamer (Ontario Tech), Dr. Susan Brigham (MSVU), Lorena Fontaine (University of Winnipeg), and Dr. Fiona McQuarrie (University of the Fraser Valley).
  • two years (2016-2018)

Increasing literacies through supported education and policies of inclusion (SSHRC Insight Grant: $169,389)

  • Project will examine supported education programs for adults at psychiatric hospitals across Canada.
  • Dr. Shanti Fernando (PI); Ontario Tech Co-Investigators Dr. Alyson King; Dr. Allyson Eamer; Dr. Tyler Frederick; Dr. Laura Pinto; Collaborators: John Rodnick- Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care; Kathryn Kunkel Selkirk Mental Health Centre. 
  • five years (2016-2021)

Participation and persistence: An analysis of immigrant visible-minority students at Ontario Tech (Ontario Tech SSHRC Small Research Grant Program: $2,908)

  • This research that aims to understand the prevailing facilitative factors (both structural and individual) that help immigrant visible minority university students to succeed.
  • Dr. Alyson E. King (PI); co-investigators: Dr. Allyson Eamer and Dr. Nawal Ammar.
  • one year (2014-2015)

Academic Integrity Project (Teaching Innovation Fund Grant: $17,222)

  • Principal Investigator on applied research project to develop new resources and tools for Ontario Tech’s academic integrity website; created learning modules, quizzes, teaching assignments and activities, and case studies to assist in teaching the fundamentals of academic integrity.
  • one year (2014-2015)

Supported Literacy Education for Persons Living with Mental Illness: Exploring Economic and Social Implications (SSHRC Insight Development Grant: $50,926)

  • Case study of the Supported Education Program at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, in Whitby, Ontario, to understand the social, economic and political implications of low literacy skills for people living with mental illness.
  • Dr. Shanti Fernando (PI); co-investigators: Drs. Alyson E. King, Allyson Eamer, Wendy Stanyon, Ontario Tech, and Ms. Wanda Huntington, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences.
  • two years (2013-2015)

Voices of Ontario Tech oral history project (funded through Provost’s Office)

  • Oral history interviews that will be deposited into the university archives. Three undergraduate research assistants (through the STAR awards and University Works programs) in each year of the project assisted in conducting interviews, transcribing interviews, recording interviews and organizing project.
  • Dr. Shirley Van Nuland (PI) and Dr. Alyson E. King (co-investigator). Funded by the Provost’s Office, Ontario Tech.
  • three years (2010-2013)