Our Leadership Team​

Our Director and Associate Directors work to vision, strategize, plan, and execute Institute initiatives in collaboration with one another.

Katie (Kathleen) Steeves, PhD

Associate Director of Research
Assistant Professor of Sociology,
Trinity Western University

Biography

Katie is an Assistant Professor of Sociology specializing in gender, religion, micro-sociology and qualitative research methods. Katie’s passions include teaching theory and introductory sociology courses and working with undergraduate research assistants. Her current research attempts to explore the experiences of women in religious leadership positions, investigating and encouraging the budding relationship between sociology of religion and feminist theories in sociology while also connecting with and contributing back to religious practitioners. She is also involved in research on flourishing congregations in Canada as part of a national team exploring definitions and experiences of flourishing in several case study congregations.

Selected Research Grants & Funding

2021-2023: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Counsel of Canada Insight Development Grant: Religious and Gendered Selves on the Front Stage of Leadership, $44,196.00 CAD

2020: Council for Christian Colleges & Universities Networking Grant for Christian Scholars (with Michael Wilkinson (PI), Cathy Holtmann, Joel Thiessen, Mark Chapman and Sam Reimer), $38,000 USD

Publications

  • Steeves, Kathleen. 2023. “Symbolic Interactionism,” pp. 457-462 in Varieties of Qualitative Research Methods: Selected Contextual Perspectives edited by J. Okoko, S. Tunison and K. Walker. Springer. DOI:10.1007/978-3-031-04394-9_71
  • Steeves, Kathleen. 2021. “Preserving a Place for Interpretive Work in Canadian Sociology: a Reflection on Dorothy Pawluch’s Contributions.” The American Sociologist.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-021-09518-9.
  • Steeves, Kathleen, Jennifer Williams and Samantha Clarke. 2019. McMaster University Graduate Thesis Toolkit. https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/macgradthesistoolkit/.
  • Steeves, Kathleen and Deana Simonetto. 2018. “Using a ‘Visual Interview Guide’ as a Method of Qualitative Interviewing” pp. 178-184 in The Craft of Qualitative Research edited by S.W. Kleinknect, L. van den Scott and C. Sanders. Toronto: Canadian Scholar’s Press.
  • Pawluch, Dorothy and Kathleen Steeves. 2018. “Constructionist Reflections on Noetics” pp. 83-98 in Lawrence Krader: Beyond the Juxtaposition of Nature and Culture edited by C. Levitt and S. Sander. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
  • Steeves, Kathleen. 2017. “Experiencing a Call to Ministry: Changing Trajectories, Restructuring Life Stories.” Qualitative Sociology Review 13(4).

Education

  • PhD, Sociology (McMaster University)
  • MA, Sociology (McMaster University)
  • BA, Sociology (Crandall University)