Dr. Jennifer MacDonald

 
OFFICE: BAC 447
PHONE: 902 585-1243
 

ABOUT ME

“…it has always been my delight to learn or to teach or to write.”
Bede, The Ecclesiastical history of the English People, v.24
 

Dr. MacDonald is Associate Professor and Honours Coordinator in History, Coordinator of the Material and Visual Culture Minor, member of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program Committee, and regular contributor to Acadia Lifelong Learning.

Dr. MacDonald’s academic interests center on Medieval Europe.  She did her graduate work at the world class Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of York, England.  There she studied History and Archaeology, concentrating on Late Saxon England.  At Acadia, she teaches courses such as: Britain and the World to 1707, The Middle Ages: Fact not Fiction, The Vikings, Power & Prestige in Medieval Europe, Medieval Europe through Material Culture, Medieval Women, The Reformation, and The Tudors. Dr. MacDonald’s research has been about medieval travellers.  Now, building on her teaching, she is working on a textbook about medieval material culture.

TEACHING & PEDAGOGY

Teaching Awards

Acadia Alumni Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS, 2019
ASU Leadership in Teaching Award, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS, 2011
CLA Teaching Excellence Award, College of Arts, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, 2006-7
 

Undergraduate Thesis Supervision at Acadia

Supervisor, Laura Sharpe, "Redefining Empress Matilda: A Political Force in Her Own Right", 2023 (winner of Dr. Margaret R. Conrad Award in History)

Supervisor, Sebastian Lidbetter, “Reassessing Innocent III’s Involvement in England Between 1205 and 1215”, 2018 (winner of The Dr. A.H. MacLean Prize in History)

Supervisor, Laura Oland, “The Break from Rome: A Comparison between Henry VIII and Gustav Vasa”, 2017 (winner of The Dr. A.H. MacLean Prize in History)

Supervisor, Jessie Stolz, “The Material Evidence of Scotland’s Hybrid Kingdom Development”, 2017 (winner of Dr. Margaret R. Conrad Award in History)

Supervisor, Cole Smith, “Road Work Ahead: The Use of Road Construction in Roman Britain by the Emperors, Spanning from Claudius until Constantine II”, 2017 (Classics)

Supervisor, Kelsey Comeau, “Devotion and Identity: The Patronage of Stained Glass in Late Medieval England”, 2016 (winner of Dr. Margaret R. Conrad Award in History)

Supervisor, Joni Kokko, “Grand Dukes of the West: The Growth of Valois Burgundy”, 2016

Second Reader, Norah Bonsteel, “ ‘An Intimate Charm’: The Creation of National Parks in England & Wales”, 2016 (winner of The Dr. A.H. MacLean Prize in History)

Second Reader, Lauren Murray, “From Liberation to Oppression: The Erosion of Ascetic Women’s Agency in Early Christianity”, 2016 (Classics)

Supervisor, Margaret Hunter, “Two Conquerors, One Crown: The Legitimacy of Cnut the Great and William the Conqueror in Eleventh Century England”, 2014 (winner of The Dr. A.H. MacLean Prize in History)

Supervisor, Alexandra Munden, “The Lindisfarne Gospels: An Analysis of Northumbrian Identity”, 2014

Supervisor, Elisabet Lindale, “Female agency during the War of the Roses”, 2013 (recipient of Webster Undergraduate Research Award, winner of The Dr. A.H. MacLean Prize in History, and winner of Dr. Margaret R. Conrad Award in History)

Second Reader, Marc Muschler, “From hobbit holes to the Halls of Héorot: the evolution of heroic culture in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings,” 2013 (Department of English)

Supervisor, Jennifer MacMillan, “Growing Together: Viking Age Burials as Indicators of Assimilation in England and Scotland”, 2012

Supervisor, Jerika Coleman, “Thomas Cromwell: Factional Politics at the Tudor Court”, 2012

Supervisor, Sean Grant, “Mechanisms of Conquest: A re-consideration of the Davidian Feudalisation of Scotland”, 2012 (winner of The Dr. A.H. MacLean Prize in History)

Supervisor, Jessica Sealy, “Mary, Queen of Scots:  The Political Career of a Queen Determined to Rule”, 2010 (winner of The Dr. A.H. MacLean Prize in History)

Second Reader, Kristina Kirkham, “True British Tars: The Sailor’s Image in Popular Print, 1793-1815”, 2009