Faculty Funding - News & Updates

Michael Wilkinson, Ph.D., coordinator and professor of the sociology and human services programs at TWU and the director of the Religion in Canada Institute, is working with researchers at Canadian universities to explore how well second generation immigrants integrate into Canadian society. The three-year project received $141,000 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Along with research associates, Sam Reimer, professor of sociology at Atlantic Baptist University and Andrew Grenville, chief research officer at Angus Reid Strategies, Wilkinson was also funded $45,000 by the Centre for Research on Canadian Evangelicals (CRCE) to study congregational health among Canada’s evangelical congregations.

Rob Hiebert, Ph.D., director of the Septuagint Institute of Trinity Western University and ACTS Seminaries, Septuagint scholar and professor, has been awarded several grants in support of Septuagint research. He received $13,020 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and (together with co-applicant, Larry Perkins, Ph.D. of ACTS) $13,000 from the Priscilla and Stanford Reid Trust, to help fund a Septuagint conference that was held at TWU on September 18-20, 2008. He was also awarded $61,270 over three years from SSHRC for a project entitled Commentary on the Septuagint of Genesis. In addition, he is preparing the critical edition of the Septuagint of IV Maccabees, a project that has received generous support from SSHRC, the Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen (Germany), the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, and the Lilly Theological Research Grants program, through which Hiebert was awarded a $30,000 Faculty Fellowship.

Jens Zimmermann, Ph.D., holds a CRC in the humanities. Zimmermann’s research chair was awarded to address the spiritual problem of finding a concept of human nature in which both differing religious and secular beliefs can find common ground. Zimmermann’s research analyzes religion’s ability to provide two essential traits toward a common humanity: interpretation and world-connectedness. First, a religion must be critically self-reflective and must accept that even eternal truths must find culturally relevant expressions. Second, a religion’s central doctrines must express respect for all human beings, including non-believers. To supplement this study, Professor Zimmermann has organized inter-faith meetings (with colleagues John Rowe, Ph.D., and John Dyck, D.PHIL.) and he also explores Western Christian thinkers such as Jacques Maritain and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Peter Flint, Ph.D., received the CRC in Dead Seas Scrolls Studies in August 2004, with funding of $200,000 annually. Since then, Flint has prepared several critical editions, commentaries, and studies of key biblical texts of the Dead Seas Scrolls. Current CRC projects include The Official Edition of the Isaiah Scrolls from Cave 1 at Qumran published by the Oxford Press, and the book of Psalms for The Oxford Hebrew Bible. Flint is also editing the series Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature. His research contributes significantly to the scholarly understanding of the evolution of two of the world’s major religions: Judaism and Christianity. Flint and colleague, Martin G. Abegg, Jr., Ph.D., also co-direct the only Dead Sea Scrolls Institute in North America.

Eve Stringham, Ph.D., is involved in two major research projects that aim to improve the understanding of the body at a molecular and cellular level. Stringham received crc funding of $100,000 per year, as well as $27,000 per year from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Counsel of Canada (NSERC). Her goal for the first project is to gain a greater understanding of cell migration and shape change in order to better understand cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, and to promote healing after neural injury. Stringham’s second research project, aided by the TWU Diabetes Research Fund ($20,000 divided between Stringham and biology Professor Dennis Venema, Ph.D.), analyzes the role of insulin in growth, stress resistance, lifespan regulation, and aging with the intent to aid in the treatment of cancer, diabetes, and other chronic diseases.

Canada Research Chairs (CRC) are instituted by the Canadian government to facilitate research into and find solutions for issues of contemporary Canadian society and a global world. Trinity Western is pleased to have three CRC chairs.

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