Faculty & Staff

Administrative title: Chair, Department of Child Studies and Social Work

Academic title: Associate Professor

Office: T378
Email: mpauls@mtroyal.ca
Phone: 403.440.8481

Monica has been teaching at MRU for over 15 years. Her teaching philosophy is grounded in the connection between theory with practice and she works to create a participatory learning environment, partnering with agencies and organizations in the field and providing opportunities for the practical application of knowledge. Monica has extensive experience in applied research, program development, program evaluation, and policy analysis. Upon completing her Masters’s degree, she worked as a Research Coordinator at the Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family (CRILF) and as a Policy Analyst for the United Way of Calgary and Area. Prior to this, she worked for several years with vulnerable youth in schools, community programs and residential facilities. Monica completed her PhD in Sociology at the University of Calgary.

Areas of instruction

• Community-Based Research 
• Program Design
• Program Evaluation
• Systems and Social Policy
• Child and Youth Care Practice

Areas of scholarship

• Social Media and Youth
• Youth Activism
• Youth Justice
• Social Movements
• Community Development

Selected Publications

McAleese, S., Kasimov, A., Leskovac, M., Pauls, M., Zhang, J., & Brisson-Boivin, K. (in
press). Committing (to) digital sociology: Opportunities and challenges for graduate
students and early career researchers. Canadian Review of Sociology.

Pauls, M., Hoa, N., & Nelson, F. (2024). Learning about trauma, online: What works and
what is. Imagining SoTL, 4(1), 2-19.

Pauls, M., Cole, R. & Dean, Y. (2019). For all the right reasons: Exploring social responsibility through field school participation. International Council on Social Welfare, Global Cooperation Newsletter.

Pauls, M., Warthe, D. G. & Winterdyk, J. (2016). Preventing domestic violence: An international overview. In J. Winterdyk (Ed.), Crime Prevention: International Perspectives, Issues and Trends (pp. 115-146). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Pauls, M. & Smey Carston, C. (2016). The matter of care. Relational Child and Youth Care Practice, 29(3), 82-90.

Pauls, M. & Winterdyk, J. (2015). Family violence and abuse within a Canadian context. In P. O'Reilly & T. Fleming (Eds.), Violence in Canada. Canada: de Sitter Publications.

Hincks, C., Miller, A. & Pauls, M. (2013). The Grande Prairie PACT program evaluation: Discrepancy between model evaluation practice and constrained real world evaluation of crime prevention in small communities. The International Journal of Child, Youth & Family Studies, 4(1), 136-146.

Selected Presentations

Online Communities as Working Utopias: Exploring Connections Among Youth Activists on
Twitter. (2025). Annual Conference of the Canadian Sociological Association.

It’s Not All Bad: Exercising Agency in Online Spaces. (2024). Association for Research in
the Cultures of Young People, Youngsters 3: Undisciplined.

Being Online: A Conversation about Doing Digital Sociology. (2023). 56th Annual
Conference of the Canadian Sociological Association (virtual).

Does this work? Examining the Effectiveness of Learning about Trauma, Online. (2022).
Symposium for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

(Virtual) Space for Change: Youth Social Movements and the Online Medium. (2019). Canadian Sociological Association Conference, Congress 2019. Vancouver, B.C.

For All the Right Reasons: Exploring Social Responsibility through Field School Participation. (2019). MRU Research and Scholarship Days. Calgary, AB.

A Saviour Among Us: The Spectacularization of Emma Gonzalez. (2018). 3rd International Conference on Communication and Media Studies. Berkeley, CA.

Conversations About: Field Practicum in Child and Youth Care Education. (2018). 20th National Child and Youth Care Conference, Transitions and Transformations. Vancouver, B.C.

Relevant Community Service

• Grants Advisory Committee Member, Education and Lifelong Learning Committee, Calgary
  Foundation.
• Member, Canadian Sociological Association
• Member, Child and Youth Care Association of Alberta