Go ahead...quiz yourself!
KNOWLEDGE MOBILIZATION TEAM
FACULTY MEMBERS
Ben Levin
Canada Research Chair
Dr. Ben Levin is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in the Department of Theory and Policy Studies at the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto.
Ben’s career has been in academia and in government. He is a native of Winnipeg who holds a B.A. (Honours) from the University of Manitoba, an Ed.M from Harvard University and a Ph.D from OISE. His career in education extends over many years, starting with his efforts while in high school to organize a city-wide high school students' union and his election as a school trustee in Seven Oaks School Division at the age of 19. Since then he has worked with private research organizations, school divisions, provincial governments, and national and international agencies, as well as building an academic and research career in education. He has held more than $1 million in research grants, and is currently Academic Director of the Ontario Knowledge Network for Applied Education Research. His most recent book is ‘How to Change 5000 Schools’ (Harvard Education Press, 2008) but he has 3 more in preparation or in press.
Ben has held leadership positions in a wide variety of organizations in the public and non-profit sectors. From late 2004 until early 2007 and again for the first half of 2009 he was Deputy Minister of Education for the Province of Ontario. From 1999 through 2002, he was Deputy Minister of Advanced Education and Deputy Minister of Education, Training and Youth for Manitoba. He is widely known for his work in educational reform, educational change, educational policy and politics. He speaks and consults on education issues across the world.
Ben's home page is available at: http://webspace.oise.utoronto.ca/~levinben/
Email: ben.levin@utoronto.ca
Tel:
Regina Hui, Administrative Assistant
Email: regina.hui@utoronto.ca
Dr Creso Sá
Assistant Professor, Higher Education
Dr. Creso Sá is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Theory and Policy Studies at the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto.
Creso Sá is interested in the institutions and organizations that shape the production and dissemination of academic research. He examines the formation of research policies and how they affect universities, and the dynamics of continuity and change in scientific institutions and organizations. Creso works on projects that investigate science-based economic development policies, interdisciplinary forms of organizing in universities, knowledge transfer and mobilization, and university-industry interfaces.
Email: c.sa@utoronto.ca
ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR
Regina Hui
Administrative Coordinator
Regina is a Departmental Assistant with the Department of Theory and Policy Studies at the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto. She has over 20 years’ secretarial, financial and administrative experience in the private sector, government organizations, academic environment and non-profit sector in Canada and Hong Kong.
Email: regina.hui@utoronto.ca
RSPE RESEARCH & PROGRAM COORDINATOR
Amanda Cooper
KNAER Program Manager, Research & KM
Ph.D. Candidate, Educational Administration
Amanda Cooper specializes in research-practice-policy relationships. Her interests professionally and academically revolve around improving research use in public services. Currently, she is managing the Knowledge Network for Applied Education Research (KNAER), www.knaer-recrae.ca, an ambitious effort to improve knowledge mobilization in education across Ontario. Amanda has also been the coordinator for the Research Supporting Practice in Education program at OISE since its inception in 2007. There is growing awareness that research mediation by intermediary organizations is integral to knowledge mobilization. Amanda’s doctoral research analyzes efforts made by 44 knowledge mobilization intermediaries (third party, research brokering organizations) that facilitate linkages between research producing contexts and research using contexts to increase research use and its impact in education across Canada. She provides talks, workshops and consulting on knowledge mobilization for researchers, practitioners, policymakers, intermediaries and other organizations across sectors.
Email: amanda.cooper@utoronto.ca
GRADUATE ASSISTANTS
Hilary Edelstein
Ph.D. Candidate, Educational Administration
Hilary Edelstein began her studies as a Ph.D. student in the Educational Administration program in the Department of Theory and Policy studies in September 2009. She is interested in studying knowledge mobilization and its potential to bridge the gap between research use, policy, and evidence-based practice in education, and how studying this in education could apply to other sectors.
Prior to beginning the PhD, Hilary completed a B.A.H in history and religious studies and a B.Ed in Primary/Junior education from York University in 2006. After graduating, Hilary taught grade 3 at a Jewish Day School in Toronto teaching Language Arts, Science, Math, Gym, and co-teaching Judaic studies. Questions about the place of faith-based schools within Ontario's education system and an interest in social policy issues surrounding religion, diversity, and tolerance in education led Hilary to pursue a M.Ed, writing her thesis on the 2007 Ontario provincial election and the debate surrounding the funding of faith-based schools. After completing her thesis in January 2009, Hilary worked in OISE's Dean's Office developing the faculty and student poster profiles for OISE's annual Research Celebration and materials for OISE's Annual Report. In the summer (2009), Hilary worked for the provincial government researching employee engagement and retention practices while assisting in the development of an Ontario Public Service marketing campaign focusing on this research.
Email: hilary.edelstein@utoronto.ca
Robyn Read
M.A., Educational Administration and Comparative, International and Development Education
As an undergraduate student, Robyn completed a Bachelor of Arts in International Development and Religious and Cultural Studies. Upon completion of her first degree Robyn spent 5 years working in both the field of international development as well as community development in Toronto.
Robyn is a global citizen and has extensive international experience. She has lived on 4 continents and traveled to more than 25 countries.
Robyn believes that education is the key to development. She began her M.A. at OISE in the fall of 2009 in order to learn more about the relationship between education and poverty reduction. Her research focus is the role of intermediaries in connecting research, policy and practice in international development education.
Email: robyn.read@utoronto.ca
Bingyan Liu
M.Ed. Student, Educational Administration
Bingyan is a second year M.Ed. student in Educational Administration in the Department of Theory and Policy Studies at OISE. He is currently working on a KM Website Analysis project, which investigates the website strategies employed by educational and other organizations to communicate their research.
Email: bingyan.liu@utoronto.ca
Saira Shah
Ph.D. Student, Educational Administration
Saira Shah is a Ph.D. student, Educational Administration, in the Department of Theory and Policy Studies at OISE, University of Toronto. Prior to beginning the Ph.D. program she completed her M.Ed. and B.Ed. degrees at the University of Windsor. She has also worked as an Autism Program Teacher in the Toronto District School Board. This experience propelled her interests in knowledge mobilization with particular emphasis on research, policy and evidence-based practices in the area of special education.
Email: ssaira.shah@utoronto.ca
Shasta Carr-Harris
M.Ed. Student, Educational Administration
Shasta's graduate work focuses on social networks and social conditions within networks that support macro-level innovation and change. Her current research investigates the evolution and success of a teacher-academic-policy maker network, which led to macro level reforms in Ontario including the historic introduction of Philosophy into the Ontario secondary school curriculum.
Shasta has a background in philosophy, education and media. She earned an undergraduate degree in Philosphy from the University of Ottawa, and a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Toronto. Shasta is a certified primary and secondary school teacher with teaching experience in the United Kingdom and has worked for news organizations in Canada and Pakistan.
Shasta is currently managing the Research Brokering in Education (RBE) and Ontario Education Research Exchange (OERE) projects, part of the Knowledge Network for Applied Education Research (KNAER), and is content editor of the RSPE website.
Email: shasta.carr.harris@utoronto.ca
Nathalie Carrier
Ph.D. Candidate, Educational Administration
As a scholar in development and valuing versatility in her doctoral experience, Nathalie [Nat] has conducted research and written in a number of areas in the past couple years including: the development of micro-political savvy amongst social justice education leaders and administrators; an outline of student-centered learning practices and the implications of their implementation across high performing districts in the United States; a quantitative comparison of leadership programming experiences of engineering and non-engineering students via the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership at the University of Toronto; a social network analysis of leaders and practitioners in underperforming school districts under the corrective action requirements of NCLB; why and how Canada outperforms other countries on international assessments; and a look at the importance of school architectural design principles in school improvement frameworks.
Nathalie has a background in international education, business and sociology, and has been on the founding team of entrepreneurial education organizations. Her current thesis research examines the diffusive characteristics of faddish-type educational innovations, where she finds a strong link to knowledge mobilization work. As part of the KM team, Nat will be investigating the ways research based innovations (products) are interpreted and acted upon, and how they might be crafted in ways that are more attractive and impactful to users. A native of California, Nat earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, and holds masters degrees from Stanford and the University of California, San Diego.
Email: nat.carrier@utoronto.ca
Jacqueline Sohn
Ph.D. Student, Educational Administration
Jacqueline is a PhD student in the department of Theory and Policy Studies, Educational Administration, and the Collaborative Program in Educational Policy. Prior to beginning her doctoral studies, she completed her masters degree in education at OISE, and her bachelors degree in political science at the University of Toronto. She has also worked for the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, where she gained experience in public policy development.
Through her work on a research project looking at education issues in post-apartheid South Africa, and involvement in an inner-city after school program, she became interested in pursuing studies on ameliorating the impacts of poverty on students educational experience. Her current research interests include the use of research in public policy development, particularly in the area of poverty policy in education.
Email: jackie.sohn@utoronto.ca
Tracy Qing Wang
M.Ed., Educational Administration
Tracy Qing Wang graduated from OISE in March 2011, holding a degree of Master of Education in Educational Administration from the Department of Theory and Policy Studies. She is interested in learning Knowledge Mobilization and is currently working as an administrative assistant to help Amanda Cooper and Regina Hui to coordinate Knowledge Network for Applied Education Research (KNAER).
Before coming to OISE, Tracy completed her undergraduate study in China, majoring in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language. She spent two months teaching in Poland before she graduated in 2009. Tracy also had experiences in coordinating big events, such as the 5th International Alliance of Leading Education Institutes (IALEI) Conference and the ten year anniversary gala for Canadian Consulate in Chongqing.
Email: qingtracy.wang@utoronto.ca
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Jie Qi
Ph.D., Educational Administration
Jie's research interests include: Knowledge Mobilization in different social contexts.
Email: jqi@utoronto.ca