Cathy Bruce

Catherine Bruce is the 9th president and vice chancellor of Trent University. She is also a professor with the university’s School of Education, of which she is a former dean, and prior to her term as president, served as the university’s vice-president of Research and Innovation since 2022. She is the author of three books and is known for her research on the teaching of mathematics to primary and secondary school students.

Education Bruce received her BA and BEd from York University, and later earned an MA from OISE of the University of Toronto and her PhD from the University of Toronto. As a teacher, she is a recipient of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations Teaching Award. In addition to teaching, she served in administrative roles including the director of graduate programs, Founder of the Centre for Teaching and Learning, and Dean of the university’s School of Education. During her time as dean, she served as president of the Association of Canadian Deans of Education. In that role, she established the university’s Early Career Researcher Awards and created a Trent-specific Research Grant Incentive Program.

Research In the field of primary education, Bruce co-authored the book From Patterns to Algebra, published by Nelson in 2012. In 2016 her co-authored book Taking Shape: Activities to Develop Geometric and Spatial Thinking was published by Pearson Education. Bruce has worked on a research project entitled “Math for Young Children”, which resulted in publications including her 2022 co-authored book Rethinking Fractions: 8 Core Concepts to Support Assessment and Learning. Her work has also appeared in journals including Educational Action Research, Teacher Development, and Canadian Journal of Action Research.

She was the lead researcher for the Trent Math Education Research Collaborative, which enabled collaborations between researchers and both primary educators and their school boards.

Personal life Bruce is married to her partner Paul, with whom she has two children.