Skip to Main Content
You are now in the main content area
Close-up headshot of Tatyana Terzopoulos smiling. She has curly hair, is wearing red glasses, and a white top with a necklace.

Dr. Tatyana Terzopoulos

Assistant Professor
DepartmentMedia Production
EducationPhD - Language, Culture, and Teaching (York University); MA - Communication and Culture (Toronto Metropolitan University/York University)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tatyanat/; https://smact.ca/; https://www.betweenproductions.ca/

Biography

Dr. Terzopoulos’ teaching and SRC draw from several decades of experience as a Gemini Award–winning creator, producer, director, and writer of children’s and educational/factual media for domestic and international audiences. She is an expert in and passionate advocate for children’s media as well as inclusive, critical, and ethical media education/practice. Her research intersects children’s and youth cultures, education, and media technology, and emphasizes critical, intersectional feminist, and arts- and practice-based approaches. Actively engaged in equity-focused--especially children/youth-centred--initiatives across industry, academia, K-12 educational institutions, and community organizations, and has contributed to projects with Branksome Hall, Corus Entertainment/YTV, and the Council of Ontario Directors in Education. A recipient of top-tier SSHRC grants during her graduate studies, including a distinction “in honour of Nelson Mandela,” Terzopoulos has presented her research internationally and published in journals including E-Learning and Digital Media. Her post-secondary teaching spans children’s programming; youth and media; studio-based production; media project development; digital literacies; research methods; and child development. 

  • Children's/youth media cultures and futures
  • Critical digital/media/tech literacy
  • Critical and ethical media education/practice
  • Child/youth-centred research methods
  • Culturally-responsive and inclusive pedagogies

  • Article: Terzopoulos, T., Jenson, J. (forthcoming). "Creating with Twine in Uncertain Times: Digital Skills Development through Meaningful Making in Teacher Education." Journal of Digital Life and Learning.
  • Article: Terzopoulos, T. (2025). "Children’s Documentary: A Call To Preserve Real Stories. The Children’s Media Yearbook." Children’s Media Foundation.
  • Research Project: (2025-Present). "Factual Media that Matters for/with/by Children and Youth." 
  • Research Project: (2024-Present). Co-Applicant. PI: Dr. Jennifer Jenson. "Schools’ out: Ludic Pathways to STEM Equity?" SSHRC Insight Grant.
  • Research Project: (2023-Present). “Exploring girl-specific communities of media education and production practice.”
  • Research Project: (2024). "Considering DEI & Centring Children in Children’s Media Curriculum."
  • Conference Presentation: (2024). "Centering Girls' Stories and Supporting Girl Storytellers Through Video Production Extracurricular Education." Console-ing Passions Conference. Bloomington, Indiana, USA          
  • Conference Presentation: Terzopoulos, T., Jenson, J. (2024). "Thinking through Multimodal Creation in Education: First-Time Game Design Using Twine." CSSE, Montreal, Canada. 
  • Report: Ashraf, T., Terzopoulos, T., Koustova, N., Gambhir, M. (2022). K-12 Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation programming for girls: A literature review. Branksome Hall/Chandaria Research Centre. 
  • Article: Hebert, C., Jenson, J., Terzopoulos. T. (2020). "Access to technology is the major challenge: Teacher perspectives on barriers to and supports for DGBL in K-12 classrooms." Journal of E-Learning and Digital Media. 

  • 2017 SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) Doctoral Award
  • 2016 SSHRC CGS-Master’s Award with special designation: “in Honour of Nelson Mandela”
  • 2016 Media Innovation “Best in Branded Content” Silver Award for “Big Fun Books in Motion”
  • 2006 CTV Banff Fellowship Award
  • 2005 Warner Bros. Canada/ WIFT Banff Mentorship Award
  • 2005 Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television National Apprenticeship Program Training Award
  • 2004 Gemini Award for Best Children’s or Youth Non-Fiction Program or Series for “SWAP-TV”