Presenters

Jessica Riddell

Founder of Hope Circuits Institute

Dr. Jessica Riddell is a Full Professor of Early Modern Literature at Bishop’s University and holds the Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair of Undergraduate Teaching Excellence. As founder of the Hope Circuits Institute (HCI), she drives systems-change in higher education, focusing on governance, leadership, and student success. In a landscape rife with indictments of broken systems, her work invites people across the post-secondary ecosystem to co-create blueprints for meaningful rewiring that centers justice, equity, and access. Her 2024 book, Hope Circuits: Rewiring Universities and Other Organizations for Human Flourishing (McGill-Queen's Press), offers a roadmap for this transformation.

A recognized leader, scholar, and educator, she serves on multiple boards and has received numerous awards and grants for teaching and leadership, including the 3M National Teaching Fellowship (Canada's highest recognition of educational leadership), the D2L Innovation Award (the highest recognition of innovation in partnerships), and the Forces Avenir award (Quebec's highest recognition of teaching excellence in higher education). 

 

Dr. Jessica Riddell 

Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair of Undergraduate Teaching Excellence 

Full Professor, Department of English, Bishop's University 

3M National Teaching Fellow (2015) 

Author of Hope Circuits: Rewiring Universities and other Organizations for Human Flourishing (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2024). Available here: https://www.mqup.ca/hope-circuits-products-9780228020677.php  

Author, with Dr. Lisa Dickson and Dr. Shannon Murray, of Shakespeare's Guide to Hope, Life, and Learning (University of Toronto Press, 2023). Read an excerpt here. Available here: https://utorontopress.com/9781487570514/shakespeare-and-x2019s-guide-to-hope-life-and-learning/  

Senior Research Fellow, The Maple League of Universities 

Adjunct Professor, Mount Allison University (Department of English) 

Adjunct Professor, Acadia University (Department of History and Classics) 

Adjunct Professor, St. Francis Xavier University (Department of Psychology)