Category: New faculty

New Appointment to Drama Education

cropped-schroeterWe are pleased to announce that Sara Schroeter will take up the tenure-track position in drama education beginning July 1, 2016.  Schroeter is close to the completion of her PhD from the Department of Language and Literacy at the University of British Columbia, with an anticipated defence date in spring 2016. She holds a Master’s of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies (Education, Social Anthropology and Theatre) from York University and a Bachelor’s of Arts in English Literature from McGill. While a doctoral student at UBC, Schroeter has been the recipient of numerous graduate scholarships, including the Graduate Entrance Award and the Faculty of Education Graduate Award. In 2014, she also held the prestigious Killam Graduate Assistant Teaching Award.

Schroeter’s dissertation, Difference at Play: An Ethnography of Discourses and Drama in a French Minority Language School, documents her partnership with a Grade 9 social studies teacher to integrate drama as an aesthetic and kinesthetic meaning-making practice and teaching method. The research draws on both postcolonial theories of difference and feminist approaches to pedagogy to examine the discourses of difference that are embedded in the curriculum and how students understand them. Schroeter’s doctoral work follows her Master’s degree at York University where she studied the use of Theatre of the Oppressed to explore notions of identity, culture, and belonging with refugee students. Both her doctoral and masters research align with the anti-oppressive teacher education focus of the Faculty articulated in our strategic plan, and will undoubtedly make important contributions to the Drama Education subject area and the Arts Education Program area.

We offer a very warm prairie welcome to Sara! We are thrilled to have her join us in the Faculty of Education.

New Appointment for Mathematics Education

We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Alayne Armstrongs200_alayne.armstrong to the Faculty of Education. Dr. Armstrong completed her PhD in 2013 from the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy at the University of British Columbia, where she was a SSHRC Doctoral Scholar. Her Masters and Bachelors of Education were also obtained from UBC. Dr. Armstrong has additional degrees from the University of Manitoba and the Queen’s University along wtih 18 years of teaching experience in the K-12 public school system and extensive experience in post-secondary teacher education. Dr. Armstrong has disseminated her research in mathematics education through journal publications, book chapters, and at national and international conferences. Her doctoral dissertation described the discourse of small groups of grade 8 students and used the concept of authority to posit these groups being the ‘authors’ of their own mathematical storylines as they participated in mathematical tasks. More recently, Dr. Armstrong is researching how learning disabled students have been able to independently adapt in mathematics contexts through the use of technology. The research advocates moving beyond a traditional approach to technology use which privileges abstract and formalized thinking. Her work will undoubtedly make important contributions to the Mathematics Education subject area and the Faculty as a whole.

Her appointment begins July 1, and we look forward to welcoming her to the Faculty, the University, the city and the province.

New Appointment for Science Education

Portrait of Jesse Bazzul
Dr. Jesse Bazzul

We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Jesse Bazzul to the Faculty of Education. Dr. Bazzul received his PhD from the University of Toronto in 2013 where he also served as the Elementary Practicum Coordinator. He has authored or co-authored 10 peer reviewed articles, four book chapters, and has presented his research nationally and internationally at peer reviewed conferences. Dr. Bazzul brings extensive experience in K-12 classroom teaching in addition to work in post-secondary teacher education contexts. Dr. Bazzul is currently on faculty at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, in the Department of STEM Education & Teacher Development. Broadly, his work in science and environmental education employs a critical theoretical lens, and makes important connections between citizenship, and science. He attempts to disrupt normative discourses in science education that work to sustain dominant knowledge systems and prevent sustainable practices. Dr. Bazzul currently has a book contract with Springer for the book The Subject of Ethics and the Twenty-First Century Biology Education and has a co-authored book under review titled Critical Voices in Science Education Research: Narratives of New Scholars. We look forward to the important contributions Dr. Bazzul will make to the Science / Environmental subject area in the Faculty of Education and to faculty scholarship in critical / anti-oppressive education.

His appointment begins July 1, and we look forward to welcoming Jesse to the Faculty, the University, the city and the province.

Dr. Jesse Bazzul via Youtube

New appointment for educational administration position

Ms. Pamela Osmond-Johnson will be joining the Faculty of Education July 1, 2015. She will be defending her dissertation in Educational Administration at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) on June 10! Her doctoral dissertation is a comparative case study that explores discourses of teacher professionalism amongst union-active teachers in Ontario and Alberta. Her work provides a new lens through which to further explore activist teaching identities, teacher leadership, and teacher engagement in educational policy. She will be a strong addition to the current faculty scholarship in leadership.

Pamela is the recipient of a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, a University of Toronto Excellence Award, an Ontario Graduate Scholarship and numerous other grants and awards. She has authored or co-authored several peer reviewed articles, book chapters, research reports, and has presented her research nationally and internationally at peer reviewed conferences.

Pamela brings extensive experience in K-12 classroom teaching and school based administration to this position, in addition to her university teaching in teacher education contexts at OISE and at Memorial University in Newfoundland. Outside of her doctoral research, she has been a co-investigator on an Alberta Teachers’ Association Member Engagement Study, and has participated in numerous other research studies in teacher education and educational administration.

New appointment for early childhood education position

Ms. Christine Massing will be joining us July 1, 2015 to take up her tenure-track position.

Christine is nearing completion of her dissertation in Early Childhood Education in the Department of Elementary Education at the University of Alberta. Her doctoral dissertation is an ethnographic study of the experiences of immigrant and refugee women enrolled in an early childhood education program. Her work explores how these women experience the discontinuity between the authoritative discourse of early childhood education, bolstered by Western developmental theories and normative practise, and their personal and cultural beliefs, values, and knowledge. Christine’s research will make important contributions to the current faculty scholarship in early childhood education.

Christine is the recipient of the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC), an Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship, a President’s Doctoral Prize of Distinction and numerous other grants and awards during her graduate work. She has authored or co-authored numerous peer reviewed articles and book chapters, and has presented her research nationally and internationally.

Christine brings extensive experience in K-12 classroom teaching locally and internationally to this position, in addition to her university teaching in early childhood education at the University of Alberta and Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton. Further, she has been a curriculum developer for NorQuest College and Grant MacEwan University in their early learning and child care programs. She has participated in several research studies and been the Project Coordinator for an international SSHRC study on early childhood teacher education in Canada, Colombia and Namibia.

New Faculty

Born and raised in Taixing, China, Dr. Xia Ji went to West China University of Medical Sciences (now known as the West China Center of Medical Sciences in Sichuan University) with the dream to study medicine and become a medical doctor. Instead, Xia got a B.A. degree in English for Medical Science and Technology and discovered the amazing work of environmental education through participation in the Keepers of the Waters community engagement projects in Chengdu and Tibet, China. These projects eventually led to the creation of the Living Water Garden – the first inner city ecological park in China devoted to ecological restoration and environmental education. Upon graduation, Xia continued to graduate studies at the University of Minnesota and received her M.Ed. degree in Environmental Learning and Leadership, and her Ph.D. degree in Science and Environmental Education.

 

In China, Xia taught English to freshmen medical school students and to a multi-age elementary class. While in Minnesota she taught outdoor and environmental education classes in various nature centers and at the Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning. Before moving to Regina Xia Ji worked at the University of Minnesota in various roles such as a teaching assistant, a research assistant, a graduate instructor, and an academic advisor. Xia taught graduate courses such as global environmental education, elementary and middle school science methods courses. She supervised scores of elementary and middle school pre-service teachers during their student teaching experiences. Xia also initiated and co-led a global seminar course in Sichuan, China to teach students from U.S. and China about community involvement in Water Resources Issues in China. Xia Ji likes to build upon the relationships she has developed with various educators and researchers in the international community, to continue her international work and research.

 

Currently, Xia is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Regina. She teaches the nature of science and science methods courses to pre-service elementary and middle school teachers. Xia Ji’s research interests originated from her work at the University of Minnesota as a Research Assistant on a United States Information Agency funded CUAP (College and University Affiliations Program) research project focused on multidimensional citizenship education, global environmental education, and teacher education. In her dissertation research, Xia studied the significant life experiences of teacher educators/ environmental educators in China, and the relationship between their life experiences and their conceptual understanding of environmental education. To summarize, Xia is interested in studying educators’ life experiences; educators’ conceptions of environmental education and sustainability and how these conceptions impact their practices professionally and personally; the relationship between global environment changes and educational policy and practices; multidimensional environmental citizenship education; use of environmental and community issues as integrating contexts for learning; and teacher identity formation.

 

Xia Ji just moved to Regina with her husband Sakar and two young daughters. Xia Ji is an experienced Re-evaluation Counseling (RC) counsellor, and loves to listen to people’s stories. She enjoys reading, hiking, singing, mindful living, and most of all, playing with her two amazing children,  Lishing and Ann Shing.