Dean's Office

Dr. Carl N. Still (PhD) president of St. Thomas More College (STM) announced Dr. Sarah Knudson (PhD) appointed as the next Dean of STM for a five-year term, effective July 1, 2026.
Knudson received her Honours Baccalaureate in Sociology in 2005 from the University of Ottawa. She then completed her MA (2006) and PhD (2012) in Sociology from the University of Toronto.

Knudson began her career at STM in 2012 as Assistant Professor of Sociology and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2017. She was promoted to Full Professor earlier this year.

Knudson is an accomplished teacher and scholar, with noted strengths in teaching, research, and student supervision. Over the course of her 14 years at STM, she has taught 11 courses in Sociology and Interdisciplinary Studies, three of which she created. She has supervised 11 undergraduate and four graduate students and served on 15 graduate students’ advisory committees. Knudson is the co-editor of Committing Sociology, which is widely used as a core sociology text in Canadian universities. She has received nominations for both the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union Teaching Excellence Award and the STM Teaching Excellence Award.

Knudson conducts research on families, gender, intimate relationships, and life transitions. In addition to the sociology textbook, she has authored or co-authored nine book chapters and 20 refereed articles in scholarly journals. Knudson has held multiple internal and external research grants, including SSHRC Insight Development Grants. She is frequently sought after for media interviews about her work on relationships and has made more than 60 presentations in scholarly and public contexts.

Knudson also brings significant administrative experience to the Dean’s role, including serving as STM Department Head of Sociology from 2017-2023. She has also chaired STM’s Indigenous Search Committee, Tenure and Promotions Committee, Research Committee, and Committee for the Minor in Critical Perspectives on Social Justice and the Common Good. Knudson has served on the Bylaws Committee of the College of Arts and Science and on the Teaching and Graduate Studies committees of the USask Department of Sociology. She has also served as STM’s representative to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Sociological Association.

"I am originally from Coquitlam, British Columbia (Kwikwetlem traditional and ancestral lands), and finding an academic home at the College has been a welcome return to Western Canada. As a person of faith, I deeply appreciate the opportunity to learn and teach in a community that supports the synthesis of faith and reason in our work."

"I would also like to acknowledge the great respect I have for several people in my extended family who have very recently lived, or who are currently living, lives of service within the Order of Saint Benedict and the Sisters of St. Joseph. Their work has in many ways deepened my appreciation for STM’s identity as a Catholic liberal arts college. In this current life chapter, as a parent of students in the Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools system, I am also growing in my appreciation of how faith and reason are nurtured in communities of younger learners. And, being a sociologist, I need no convincing that—as per the College’s mission statement—our work “must find application for the good of humanity.” My academic training has always aligned with aims of service, justice, and dignity for all persons. In short, I feel quite at home at STM, and I am thankful for its support of my personal and professional growth."