Leslie Shumka is an assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies’ new Community Engaged Learning Program. She teaches courses on compassion, engagement in distressed communities, and narrative’s role in community work. She also works closely with CENL students on their practica, and has supervised studies of community supported education, mentorship of BIPOC youth, and programming for neurodiverse youth in the Tantramar region.

Dr. Shumka collaborates with departmental and university colleagues on a range of projects, and has partnered with a variety of individuals, organizations, and schools locally. Her teaching, praxis, research, and collaborations with colleagues, have been generously supported by New Brunswick Future Ready, the province’s Environmental Trust Fund, and CEWIL Canada.   

Before she became enamoured of the community engaged life, Dr. Shumka taught courses in ancient Roman history, art, and Latin, and studied the lives of marginalized peoples such as slaves, children, women, and the poor. She continues to work on the survival strategies of disempowered individuals in the face of cultural attitudes and legal mechanisms that curtailed their full participation in Roman society.