
Our Community Economic & Social Development Program
Algoma University’s four-year Bachelor of Arts in Community, Economic, and Social Development (CESD) is the only undergraduate program of its kind in Canada!
Are you a college student? Visit the ONTransfer website to view more of our pathway agreements.
Community, economic, and social development provides students with the tools and knowledge to make meaningful change within their community and the world around them. This distinctive interdisciplinary program integrates several disciplines including CESD, social work, sociology, political science, geography, economics, and business administration. Due to the broad-based structure of the program, students will develop a holistic perspective of the world around them and develop the knowledge and understanding to work to advocate for positive change, fight for economic and social equality, and defend human rights, with a specific focus on smaller urban, rural, northern, and Indigenous communities. Students can also minor in environmental sustainability and social justice and globalization.
In students’ third-year of study, they will complete a 150-hour work placement, while in their fourth-year, they will be required to complete a 300-hour placement and a major paper or project. Students have been placed in organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, the Children’s Aid Society, Batchewana First Nation, Garden River First Nation, NORDIK Institute, United Way, Ontario Trillium Foundation, and more. These placements allow students to apply concepts, theories, and methods from their coursework in the community, advocate for change, and implement new analytical strategies, making the degree action-packed and very hands-on.
Graduates will be eligible for certification by the Economic Developers’ Association of Canada (EDAC) and the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Offices (CANDO). Graduates from the CESD program have gone on to work in the local, provincial, and federal government, not-for-profit and cooperative agencies, youth development agencies, rural and urban economic development associations, have worked as researchers, advocates, and more graduates have also been accepted into prestigious graduate programs in geography, education, sociology, sustainable development, and community economic development.
Hear what professors from the CESD program have to say about this distinctive interdisciplinary degree!
What You Can Expect
Hands-on learning, a close-knit campus community, and caring faculty.
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Be a changemaker in your community
Fight for social and economic equality, defend human rights, and bring about positive change – that’s what CESD is all about.
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Get hands on experience
In your third and fourth year of CESD, students will participate in a 150-hour and 300-hour field placement, which will apply concepts, theories, and methods learned in the classroom to real life. You’ll get real hands-on working knowledge, and valuable experience to add to your resume.
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An interdisciplinary Career
With courses in CESD, social work, political science, geography, and business administration, students will earn a well-rounded and holistic degree that opens them up to countless career paths. Your options are endless with a degree in CESD.
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Spring Institute
The CESD Spring Institute provides education and professional development in Community Development with a specialized focus on northern, rural and Indigenous communities. They offer unique university course credits that can be applied to a degree at Algoma U, professional development for those already working in the field, and interactive, hands-on learning experiences.
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The Animator (CESD News)
The Animator is a quarterly newsletter created and published by the CESD program. By subscribing to the newsletter, students receive valuable, up-to-date information, of everything happening within the program.
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The CESD Club
The CESD Club is run by students and supporters of CESD. The club commits to undertaking campaigns and initiatives to raise awareness of, and attempt to redress, local and global issues. These initiatives include developing The People’s Garden on Algoma U’s campus, performing ongoing academic research on a range of community concerns, and coordinating an international learning exchange with the community of Intag, Ecuador. To contact the CESD Club, please email [email protected].
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NORDIK Institute
Created with the help of CESD Professor Dr. Gayle Broad, NORDIK has been instrumental in investigating key issues which directly affect Northern Ontario. Students can become involved with NORDIK in a variety of ways, including as volunteers, interns, summer student programs, work study programs, and through graduate studies supervision. For more information, please visit NORDIK’s website. LEARN MORE
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The People’s Garden
The People’s Garden is an initiative started and maintained by the CESD program, in partnership with the Algoma U Student Food Bank, Student Services, and Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig. The People’s Garden was undertaken in an effort to address student food security, as well as to provide an arena for fun on-campus events and community-building activities.
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Community Based Delivery
The CESD Department has been delivering Community Based courses in partnership with communities and organizations for more than a decade. Past Community Based Partnerships included working with Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, Atlantic Policy Congress (APC) of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat, Kenjgewin Teg Educational Institute (KTEI), Fort Albany First Nation and Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation. Our current partner for the First Nation Social Service Administrators Certificate is The Ontario Native Welfare Administrators Association (ONWAA).









Our Courses
For more detailed information on our courses, please visit our courses schedule section
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Are you ready to apply theory and academic content to real-world experiences? It's time to make your plan!
START NOWMeet our Faculty
Our CESD faculty are experts in the field. Get to know them!

Dr. Paulette Steeves
Faculty Member of Cross Cultural Studies, Canada Research Chair Tier 11 Healing and Reconciliation, Professor
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Dr. Sean Meades
Assistant Professor; Chair, Department of Community Economic and Social Development
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Melissa Jones
Community Economic and Social Development Program and Learning Support Coordinator
View Full BioEdna Dontoh
CESD Program and Learning Support Coordinator
Dr. Paulette Steeves
Faculty Member of Cross Cultural Studies, Canada Research Chair Tier 11 Healing and Reconciliation, Professor

[email protected]
705-949-2301 ext. 4339
Dr. Paulette Steeves. Ph.D. – (Cree- Metis) was born in Whitehorse, Yukon Territories, and grew up in Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada. She is an Indigenous archaeologist focusing on the Pleistocene history of the Western Hemisphere. In her research, Steeves argues that Indigenous peoples were present in the Western Hemisphere as early as 60,000 years ago and possibly much earlier. She has created a database of hundreds of archaeology sites in North and South America that date from 200,000 to 12,000 years before the present, challenging the Clovis First dogma of a post 12,000 year before present initial migration. Dr. Steeves received her BA in Anthropology, Honors Cum Laude from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, then completed a two-year internship with the Quapaw NAGPRA program during her undergraduate studies. In 2008 Dr. Steeves was awarded the Clifford D. Clark fellowship to attend graduate studies at Binghamton University in New York State. Dr. Steeves’s dissertation Decolonizing Indigenous Histories: Pleistocene Archaeology Sites of the Western Hemisphere. Her dissertation is the first dissertation framed in Indigenous Method and Theory in Anthropology-Archaeology within the United States. In 2011 and 2012, she worked with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to conduct studies in the Great Plains on mammoth sites, which contained evidence of human technology on the mammoth bone, thus showing that humans were present in Nebraska for over 18,000 years ago. Dr. Steeves has taught Anthropology courses with a focus on Native American and First Nations histories and studies and decolonization of academia and knowledge production at Binghamton University, Selkirk College, Fort Peck Community College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Mount Allison University, she is currently an Full Professor in Geography Geology and Land Stewardship, Member of the Faculty of Cross-Cultural Studies, and Chair of the Algoma University Senate IEDI Committee. She is a Canada Research Chair in Indigenous History Healing and Reconciliation at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. https://vancouversun.com/news/national/aboriginal-anthropologist
Areas of Teaching and Research Interest
My teaching interests are woven through areas of Anthropology, Indigenous Studies, Heritage Studies, Archaeology, and Decolonization. I have training and experience in Anthropology, Archaeology, Physical Anthropology and Genetics, Heritage Studies, Indigenous Studies, Social Cultural Studies, and Museum Curation and Collections. I have area expertise in North, and South American archaeology sites and material remains during the Pleistocene, pre- 11,200 years before the present, including published research in Pleistocene archaeology and links to Indigenous heritage and identity. As an archaeologist, I have experience in research and excavations in Canada and the USA across time from the Pleistocene to the present day. In teaching, I focus on historical and contemporary processes of colonization, Agnotology, and decolonization to create discussion on challenging discrimination and racism within society.
Teaching Philosophy
My goal in the classroom is to challenge students to apply critical thought and become active and engaged learners. I have worked to create a curriculum that is challenging yet, also considers diverse learning styles and student backgrounds. I encourage students to arrive at a deeper understanding of the historical processes of colonization and how their education and future work and scholarship may support processes of reconciliation and decolonization. Providing this historical framework of processes of colonization and decolonization in Canada allows students to become informed of a history many were unaware of until very recently and challenge stereotypes and think critically about their future role as peers and scholars. I encourage students to explore areas of interest and study by introducing productive research strategies that highlight learning practices both in and outside the class. In teaching engaged community research and applied scholarship, I provide students with contemporary examples of research focused on applied scholarship, community engagement, and collaboration. I aim to instill an understanding of important issues such as the historical background of knowledge production and the opportunity to become informed through a study of multiple perspectives of heritage, identity, and history. In my classes, I introduce students to social and political processes, such as how people acquire their sense of history and nationality. I discuss with students how we can focus our studies and research to support social justice and make the world a better place for all people.
Academic Publications and Presentations
Steeves, P. (2021). the Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere (the Americas). Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press.
https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9781496202178/
Steeves, P (2021). Singing to Ancestors Respecting and Re-telling Stories Woven Through Ancient Ancestral Lands. In A. McGrath & Russell, (Eds). Companion to Indigenous Global History. Routledge.
Steeves, P. (2020). Our Earliest Ancestors: Human and Non-Human Primates of North America. In Martin Porr & Jacqueline Matthews (Eds.), Interrogating Human Origins. Decolonization and the Deep Past. New York, NY: Routledge.
Steeves, P. (2020). Re-Claiming and Re-Writing the Past Through Indigenous Voices and Worldviews. Journal of American Archaeology.
Steeves, P. (2020). Indigenous Methodologies in Archaeology. Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology 2nd edition. (Ed.), Claire Smith. Springer, New York. On-line 2019.
Steeves, P. (2020). The La Sena Site (18,440 ± 90 14 C yr BP): A Pre-Clovis site in South West Nebraska. Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology 2nd edition. (Ed.), Claire Smith. Springer, New York. On-line 2019.
Steeves, P. (2020). Deloria, Jr., Vine. Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology 2nd edition. (Ed.), Claire Smith. Springer, New York. (Revised entry upcoming in 2nd edition). On-line 2019.
Steeves, P. (2020). Mesa Verde Geography and Culture. Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology 2nd edition. (Ed.), Claire Smith. Springer, New York. (Revised entry upcoming in 2nd edition). On-line 2019.
Steeves, P. (2020). Clovis and Folsom, Indigenous occupation prior to. Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology 2nd edition. (Ed.), Claire Smith. Springer, New York. (Revised entry upcoming in 2nd edition). On-line 2019.
Steeves, Paulette. (2018). “Indigeneity.” In Oxford Bibliographies in Anthropology. Ed. John Jackson. New York: Oxford University Press. Oxford Online.
Steeves, P. (2017). Unpacking Neoliberal Archaeological Control of Ancient Indigenous Heritage. Archaeologies, 13(1), 48-65.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11759-017-9312-z
Steeves, P. (2015). Decolonizing the Past and Present of the Western Hemisphere (The Americas). Archaeologies, 11(1), 42-69.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11759-015-9270-2
Steeves, P. (2015). Academia, Archaeology, CRM, and Tribal Historic Preservation. Archaeologies, 11(1), 121-141.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11759-015-9266-y
Steeves, P. (2014). Deloria, Jr., Vine. Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, (pp. 2091-2093). Springer, New York.
https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4419-0465-2_411
Steeves, P. (2014). Mesa Verde Geography and Culture. Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, (pp. 4776-4780). Springer, New York.
https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4419-0465-2_1658
Steeves, P. (2014). Clovis and Folsom, Indigenous Occupation Prior to. Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology (pp. 1508-1513). Springer, New York.
https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4419-0465-2_1847
Selected Conference Presentations
NAISA regional conference, Lakehead University. Telling Our Own Stories: Indigenous Self-Determination in Data and Research. Indigenous Science: Reinterpreting Data to Reclaim and Rewrite Indigenous History.
Keynote speaker. Seminole Tribe of Florida, Tribal Historic Preservation Office. Strategic Planning Retreat. Reclaiming Indigenous History and Links to Homelands.
Archaeological Conservancy (USA) Archaeology’s Place in Healing and Reconciliation: Reclaiming the Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere. The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere, reclaiming Indigenous history in the Western Hemisphere, how archaeologists can work for and with Indigenous communities in reclaiming history, and challenging racism and discrimination.
Ontario Archaeology Symposium. Oral Histories and Archaeology. Archaeology’s Place in Reclaiming and Reconciliation: Supporting Indigenous Archaeologies and Paths to Healing.
University of Southampton, UK. Centre for the Archaeology of Human Origins (CAHO) Seminar Series-Rebecca Ferreira organizer. The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere.
Register of Professional Archaeologists USA, Register of Professional Archaeologists UK. RPA Ethics Workshop and Unmarked Burials.
Inaugural Seminar in the Manchester Museum Indigenizing Museums Indigenous Experts Series. Finding Home Reviving, Reclaiming, and Rewriting the Indigenous Past for the Present.
Flinders University, Archaeology Research Seminar Series. Finding Home: Reviving, Reclaiming, and Rewriting the Indigenous Past for the Present.
United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Oceans and Energy Management Tribal Oceans Summit Underwater Paleolandscapes and Cultural Heritage. Pleistocene Archaeological Sites of the NE USA. Acknowledging a Human presence on the Continental Shelf and in the NE USA prior to 9,000 years ago.
Algoma University. Keynote Address, 4th Bi-Annual Anishnaabe Knowledge and Research. Sault Ste Marie, ON. Pyro-epistemology: Indigenous Research Methodology Weaving Paths to Healing
Algoma University
Plenary Lecture: 5th Annual Universities Canada Building Reconciliation Forum
Pyroepistomology: Reviving and Reclaiming Humanities and Human Rights after Genocide. There can be no Reconciliation or Healing without Truth.
The 56th International Congress of Americanists, Salamanca, Spain, Unerasing an Erased History: Working to protect Indigenous cultural heritage and history.
University of Montana at Missoula, Student Archaeology Conference. Key Note Lecture. Decolonizing Indigenous Histories in Archeology; Pleistocene Archaeology Sites of the Americas.
World Archaeological Congress 8. Kyoto, Japan. Archaeology in Education (tertiary) Linking Land to Heart, Mind and Heritage. Session Co-Chair and presenter.
Association of Critical Heritage Studies. 3rd Biennial Conference, Montreal, Canada. Heritage and the Late Modern State. Un-Erasing the Indigenous Paleolithic: Re-Writing the Ancient Pleistocene Past of the Western Hemisphere (the Americas).
Organization of American Historians. Providence, RI. Honoring Ancestors: Indigenous Leaders and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA).
The 48th Annual Chacmool Conference. University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. Shallow Pasts, Endless Horizons: Sustainability & Archaeology. Sustaining a Meaningful Archaeology Through Ceremonies of Research.
Society for American Archaeology 78th Annual Meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii. Symposium, Shifting Archaeological Borders and Boundaries. Decolonizing History and Academia. Rebuilding Bridges to the Indigenous Past. Session organizer and chair.
Columbia University, New York, N.Y. Indigenous Spaces: Pushing the Boundaries of History, Bodies, Geographies, and Politics. Decolonizing Indigenous Histories.
Dr. Sheila Gruner
Associate Professor

[email protected]
705-949-2301, ext. 4375
Credentials: BA Hons (University of Guelph), MES (York University), PhD (OISE – University of Toronto)
Dr. Laura Wyper
Assistant Professor

Assistant Professor
[email protected]
705-949-2301 ext. 4811
I was born in Sudbury and largely raised in Sault Ste. Marie, so I have spent summers on Goulais River, Goulais Bay, and Lake Superior kayaking, canoeing, and swimming. I’ve also spent a good deal of my time walking local hiking trails, camping at local provincial parks, and sitting on the Robertson Lake cliff tops while working a student summer job in my early twenties. This has given me a love for this land, an understanding of indigenous sovereignty, and a consciousness of my place in this history as someone of settler ancestry who sees reconciliation as our way forward.
I spent more than a decade away from the area related to my studies and my work as I have a Bachelor of Health Sciences in Midwifery from Laurentian University, a Bachelor of Education from Trent University, a Master of Arts in Adult Education and Community Development from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto, and a PhD in Adult Education and Community Development with a specialization in Comparative, International and Development Education from OISE, at the University of Toronto.
I have worked in community development for more than twenty years in women’s health care, informal community-based adult education settings, and formally within adult education for the Algoma District School Board (ADSB) at Northland Adult Learning Centre as a Literacy and Basic Skills Instructor and then a Program Coordinator for three of their adult education programs. From 2012 – 2017 I worked for both ADSB and at Algoma University (AU) in the Community Economic and Social Development (CESD) Department. My CESD work has included both part-time and full-time faculty positions with a complete move over to Algoma University in January of 2018 for a full-time contract position.
Because of my background I have a commitment to Northern Ontario in relation to place-based development and I love working at Algoma University in what I consider my ‘home’ community. Outside of my university work I put into ‘praxis’ some of the activism I teach in courses like: Environment and Community Resilience, Sustainable Community Development, and Community Advocacy and Social Justice, for CESD.
As most of my degrees, besides my Bachelor of Health Science degree, were acquired while raising my daughter and working fulltime, I have an appreciation and understanding of adult learners who often have full plates, and a respect for the work I see from students in the classroom. I love meeting, working with, and learning from students and other faculty, and I look forward to meeting all new students!
Dr. Sean Meades
Assistant Professor; Chair, Department of Community Economic and Social Development

Dr. Sean Meades is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Economic and Social Development and Director of the Northern Ontario Research Development Ideas and Knowledge (NORDIK) Institute, Algoma’s community development and research group that emerged from the program’s longstanding record of community engagement.
Meades was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland and raised in the small community of Flatrock before relocating to Sault Ste. Marie with his family in 1995.
He completed his B.A. (Hons.) with a double major in in Gender and Women’s Studies and Linguistics at Dalhousie University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at York University. His research focuses on political economy of language policy, Indigenous social policy; community engagement and local governance; discourse analysis, cultural and heritage policy; land-use planning and community economic development in northern, rural and Indigenous communities
After returning to Sault Ste. Marie from Nova Scotia, Meades worked in popular education as an anti-homophobia and safe-sex educator with the Access AIDS Network. He later joined the team at NORDIK first as an intern in 2008. During this time, he took Anishinaabemowin and Anishinaabe Studies courses through AU and Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig, which led to a number of years volunteering and working with Shingwauk Education Trust.
Meades’ community involvement has included work with the LGBT2SQ community, anti-racism and Anishinaabe solidarity causes, cultural policy, and urban sustainability. He is currently the chair of the Cultural Vitality Committee for the City of Sault Ste. Marie and serves on the Municipal Heritage Committee.
Melissa Jones
Community Economic and Social Development Program and Learning Support Coordinator

Dr. Ushnish Sengupta
Assistant Professor

Ushnish Sengupta is an Assistant Professor in Community Economic and Social Development at Algoma University. He has a PhD from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, an MBA from the Rotman School of Management, and a degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto. Ushnish Sengupta’s PhD focused on data governance theory for social economy organizations. Dr. Sengupta is an award winning teacher and has taught courses at post-secondary institutions and at community based organizations. In addition to his academic
experience, he has worked in various private sector, public sector, and social sector organizations including Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Cedara Software Corp, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, OntarioMD, Ontario Telemedicine Network, and eHealth Ontario. Dr. Sengupta’s research interests include Nonprofits, Cooperatives, Entrepreneurship, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Open Data, Diversity, and the Social and Environmental impact of technology projects. He is currently researching the social and environmental impacts of the adoption of technology in Smart City projects, and underrepresented groups in social economy organizations.
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“In my fourth year placement, I organised an advisory committee for the Soup Kitchen to change into a Community Health Centre. It was such a great experience. The placement allowed me to bring the skills I had learned in class and apply them to the centre. I was given freedom to explore and develop new projects and analyse how effective other plans were. I was subsequently hired by the Soup Kitchen.”
Allyson Schmidt
MA, Sociology, BA, CESD

“I loved the passion in the students at Algoma. I did a lot of social and environmental activism and volunteer work while at school, from gathering like-minded individuals to tackling today’s issues on campus with the CESD Club to helping grow organically produced food, free to the student population. This all added to my future and my degree. It stretched me as an individual and gave me the hands on experience that I needed to solidify what theory was learned within the classroom.”
Carly Breckenridge
BA, CESD

“We receive a lot of hands-on experience and placement opportunities outside of the classroom, which really helps to apply what we are learning in real-life situations.”
Johnathan Lalonde
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