Skip to Main Content
You are now in the main content area

Lisa Barnoff

Associate Professor, School of Social Work and Senior Lead, Social Accountability, School of Medicine
EducationBA, MA, PhD
Areas of ExpertiseAnti-oppressive practices; Feminist organizations; Organizational change; Anti-racism; Social work education

Lisa Barnoff is currently senior lead, social accountability, School of Medicine at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU).  Barnoff joined TMU in 2003  as assistant professor in the School of Social Work. After being awarded early tenure in 2006, she was appointed to an academic leadership position in the School of Social Work as associate director of field education. Since that time, Barnoff has continued to engage in academic leadership roles including a five-year term as director, School of Social Work (2011-2016) and most recently, a five-year term as dean, Faculty of Community Services (2016-2021). Barnoff is known for her collaborative and progressive approach to leadership and for her abilities to engage communities, build consensus among diverse teams, and implement systems that promote equity and inclusion. In 2015, Barnoff was awarded the Usha George Faculty Recognition Award at TMU, and in 2020 her strengths as an academic leader were again recognized by TMU when she was awarded the prestigious Errol Aspevig Award for Outstanding Academic Leadership. Barnoff's program of research and areas of scholarship include anti-oppressive practice, equity and inclusion in social service delivery; anti-racism and anti-oppression approaches to organizational change; LGBT health; and social work education. In the School of Social Work, her teaching has focused in the areas of social work practice, anti-oppression, field practicum and family violence.

Unsettling the classroom: Social work education in the context of new managerialism

Year: 2011
Role: Co-applicant
Funding received: $136,482
Funded by: SSHRC Standard Research Grant

Citizenship and social service: Violence against women in South Asian communities of the GTA

Year: 2011
Role: Co-applicant
Funding received: $19,678
Funded by: CERIS – The Ontario Metropolis Centre, Research Grant

Anti-oppressive practice: Strategies for community based social work agencies

Year: 2006
Role: Principal Investigator (Co-applicants, P. George and K. Moffatt)
Funding received: $64,634
Funded by: SSHRC Standard Research Grant

Articles:

  • Barnoff, L., Moffatt, K., Todd, S., Panitch, M., Parada, H. (In press) Academic leadership in the context of neo-liberalism: The practice of social work Directors. Canadian Social Work Review, 34,1, pages TBD.
  • Todd, S., Barnoff, L., Moffatt, K., Panitch, M., Parada, H., & Strumm, B. (2016) A social work re-reading of students as consumers. Social Work Education, 36, 5, 542-556.
  • Moffatt, K., Panitch, M., Parada, H., Todd, S, Barnoff, L., Aslett, J., Molina, I. (2016). Essential cogs in the innovation machine: The Discourse of Innovation in Ontario. Review of Education Pedagogy and Cultural Studies. 38, 4, 1-24.
  • Todd, S., Barnoff, L., Moffatt, K., Panitch, M., Parada, H., Mucina, M., Williams, D. (2015). Performativity Culture in Universities: Social Work Fabrications. British Journal of Social Work. 45, 511-526.
  • Barnoff, L., McGillicuddy, P., Odette, F. and Grassau, P. (2010). Aiming for better than 'nobody flinched:' Notes on lesbian oppression in cancer care. C. Sinding. Canadian Women's Studies. 28, 2, 89-94.
  • George, P., Coleman, B. and Barnoff, L.(2010). Stories from the Field: Practicing Structural Social Work in Current Times: Practitioners' Use of Creativity. Critical Social Work. 11, 2, 13-27.
  • Moffatt, K., Barnoff, L., George, P. & Coleman, B. (2009) Process as Labour: Struggles for Anti Oppressive / Anti-Racist Change in a Feminist Organization. Canadian Review of Social Policy, 62, 34-54.
  • George, P., Moffatt, K., Barnoff, L., Coleman, B., & Paton, C.  (2009) Image Construction as a Strategy of Resistance by Progressive Community Organizations. Nouvelles Pratiques Sociales. 22, 1, 92-110.
  • Barnoff, L. & Moffatt, K. (2007). Contradictory Tensions in Anti-Oppression Practice In Feminist Social Services. Affilia: The Journal of Women and Social Work. 22, 1, 56-70.
  • George, P., Barnoff, L. & Coleman, B. (2007). Finding Hope in a Hostile Context: Stories of Creative Resistance in Progressive Social Work Agencies. Canadian Social Work. 9, 1, 66-83.
  • Parada, H., Barnoff, L., & Coleman, B. (2007) Negotiating Professional Agency: Social Work and Decision-Making within the Ontario Child Welfare System. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare. 34, 4, 35-56.
  • George, P., Coleman, B., &  Barnoff, L. (2007). Beyond Providing Services: Voices of Service Users on Structural Social Work Practice in Community Based Social Service Agencies. Canadian Social Work Review. 24, 1, 5-22.
  • Barnoff, L., George, P., & Coleman, B. (2006). Operating in Survival Mode: Barriers to Implementing Anti-Oppression Practice within Feminist Social Service Agencies. Canadian Social Work Review. 23, 1-2, 41-58.
  • Sinding, C., Grassau, P., & Barnoff, L. (2006) Community Support, Community Values: The Experiences of Lesbians Diagnosed with Cancer. Women & Health. 44, 2, 59-79.
  • Barnoff, L., Sinding, C., & Grassau, P. (2005) Listening to the Voices of Lesbians Diagnosed with Cancer: Recommendations for Change in Cancer Support Services. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services. 18, 1, 17-35.
  • San Martin, R. M. & Barnoff, L. (2004). Let Them Howl: The Operations of Imperial Subjectivity and the Politics of Race in One Feminist Organization. Atlantis: A Women's Studies Journal. 29, 1, 77-84.
  • Sinding, C., Barnoff, L. &  Grassau, P. (2004). Homophobia and Heterosexism in Cancer Care: Lesbians' Experiences. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research. 36, 4, 170-188.
  • The Lesbians and Breast Cancer Project Team. (2004). Silent No More: Coming Out About Lesbians and Cancer. Canadian Women's Studies. 24, 1, 37-42.
  • Barnoff, L. (2001) Moving Beyond Words: Integrating Anti-Oppression Practice into Feminist Social Service Organizations. Canadian Social Work Review. 18, 1, 67-85.

Books:

  • Parada, H., Barnoff, L., Moffatt, K. and Homan, M. (2011). Promoting Community Change: Making it Happen in the Real World (First Canadian Edition). Toronto: Nelson Education.

Book Chapters:

  • Barnoff, L., Abdillahi, I. & Jordan, B. (2017). Building anti-oppressive organizations: Thoughts from a multidimensionally informed journey. In S. Wehbi & H. Parada (Eds.), Re-imagining anti-oppression social work practice. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press, 137-151.
  • Moffatt, K., Barnoff, L., George, P. & Coleman, B. (2017). Process as Labour: Struggles for Anti-Oppressive / Anti-Racist Change in a Feminist Organization. In H. Parada & S. Wehbi (Eds.), Re-imagining anti-oppression social work research. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press, 49-60.
  • Barnoff, L. (2017). Business as usual: Doing anti-oppressive organizational change. In D. Baines (Ed.), Doing Anti-Oppressive Practice: Social Justice Social Work (3rd Ed.). Halifax: Fernwood, 172-192.
  • Sinding, C., Barnoff, L., McGillicuddy, P., Grassau, P., Odette. F. (2015). In B. Cranney and S. Molloy (Eds.), Aiming for better than 'nobody flinched:' Notes on oppression in cancer care. Canadian Woman Studies Reader (3rd Ed.). Inanna Publications. 429-436.
  • Barnoff, L. (2011). Business as usual: Doing anti-oppressive organizational change. In D. Baines (Ed.), Doing Anti-Oppressive Practice: Social Justice Social Work (2nd Ed.). Halifax: Fernwood. 176-193.

Technical Reports:

  • Korteweg, S., Abji, S., Barnoff, L., Mattoo, D. (2013). Citizenship, Culture, and Violence Against Women: Social Service Provision in the South Asian Communities of the GTA. CERIS Research Report. 40p.
  • L. Barnoff (2005). Implementing Anti-Oppressive Principles in Everyday Practice: Lessons from Feminist Agencies. Final Research Report. 76p.
  • Barnoff, L., Parada, H. & Grassau, P. (2005) Transforming Social Work: Creating Space for Anti-Oppression and Social Justice Practices. Conference Report. Toronto: School of Social Work, Ryerson University. 44p.
  • Lesbians and Breast Cancer Project Team. (2004). Coming Out About Lesbians and Cancer. Research Report. Toronto: Ontario Breast Cancer Community Research Initiative. 115p.
  • Lesbians and Breast Cancer Project Team. (2004). Coming Out About Lesbians and Cancer. Summary Research Report. Toronto: Ontario Breast Cancer Community Research Initiative.