OSSC Advisor Profiles
Please use the information below to select appointments with an advisor who will best support your needs. Individual biographies are listed below according to the following categories of support:
♦ Support for All OISE Students (Graduate and Bachelor of Education)
♦ Mathematics Support for Elementary Teacher Candidates (Consecutive Program)
♦ Mentor Support for Teacher Candidates (Consecutive Program)
♦ French Language Support for Teacher Candidates (Concurrent Program)
♦ PREP Program Coordinators for Internationally Educated TCs (Consecutive Program)
♦ Supervisor of Student Services and Personal Support Counselling
Victorina Baxan: Victorina is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Adult Education and Counselling Psychology at OISE. She has experience teaching English as a Foreign Language credit courses to undergraduate students outside of Canada. Victorina has extensive experience advising internationally-trained professionals on evaluation of prior academic studies. She supports both graduate and undergraduate students with academic writing and learning skills. She also advises on scholarship applications, grant and thesis proposal writing, as well as resumes and cover letters. Her research interests include teacher education and development, teacher education for diversity and social justice, internationally-trained teachers, international and comparative education.
Tim Buell: Tim is a doctoral candidate in Higher Education (Theory and Policy Studies) at OISE. He has held graduate and undergraduate teaching appointments in mass media and cultural studies, marketing communications, fund development, technical writing, arts journalism, public speaking, rhetoric, educational psychology, social power theory, educational technology, adult continuing education; as well as music theory and composition, in which he holds a previous Ph.D. He has held research and arts grants from SSHRC, NSERC, NCE, the Canada Council, and various provincial agencies in Alberta and Ontario. He has a special interest in educational technology and faculty (teaching) development, and has received two university teaching excellence awards. His previous appointments (other than professorial) include: Scholar-in-Residence for Interdisciplinary Studies (University of Calgary); Associate Director of Faculty Development at the University of Calgary; and Vice-President (Research and Development), at Lakehead University.
Leah Burns: Leah is a PhD student in Adult Education and Community Development. Leah has experience supporting both graduate and undergraduate students with academic writing and learning skills (including time management, reading, presentations, avoiding plagiarism, research and study skills). She advises students on scholarship applications and grant writing as well as resumes, cv's and cover letters. Leah has taught in the areas of Sociology of Education, Cultural Studies and Environmental Studies at York University and last year she worked as the Coordinator of Student Programs for the Writing & Learning Centre at the Ontario College of Art & Design where she developed policies and practices for better supporting students with disabilities and ESL students. Leah also has experience as a research consultant and research assistant on projects related to community art, arts education and community-based education and research. Her doctoral work focuses on post-secondary art education in Canada and arts practice as a form of research and social change.
Joy Clubine: Joy is an MA student in the Child Study and Education Program. She is a registered Speech-Language Pathologist and has experience working in dozens of elementary and secondary schools across the GTA as a clinician. She is particularly interested in speech, language and literacy development in children at risk, as well as tools and methods to assist educators in identifying and supporting children with speech and language delays in the classroom. She has experience advising graduate and undergraduate students in resume writing, and interview preparation.
James Corcoran: James is a doctoral student in Second Language Education and Comparative/International/Development Education. He has extensive experience teaching ESL/EFL to adults both in Canada and abroad and has worked with international graduate students on academic conversation skills, oral presentation skills, and specific writing skills such as scholarship applications, Curriculum Vitae, and thesis proposals. James is interested in teacher education, sociolinguistics, and the spread of English as a Lingua Franca in Latin America.
Sreemali Herath: Sreemali is a doctoral student in the Second Language Education Programme, in the Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Department. She is a certified TESL teacher with experience teaching and coordinating EAP and ESL programmes in numerous academic settings. She has taught academic reading and writing, presentation skills, note-taking, listening and oral communication and study skills. Her research interests include, second language teaching and learning, language teacher education and development, and curriculum development and program implementation.
Maggie Heeney: Maggie is a doctoral student in Second Language Education. She teaches in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) teacher training programs and is a credit EAP instructor with a focus on academic reading and writing, presentation skills, and pronunciation. She has taught Workplace Business English programs to second-language adults and professionals for a number of years. Other experience includes writing curricula for occupation specific language training programs. Her research interests include second language learning with a focus on the relationship between reading and writing development.
Kamara Jeffrey: Kamara is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Theory and Policy Studies, specializing in federal-provincial relations, policy development, and the history of Canadian immigration and settlement policy. She has policy analysis and research experience from the United Way Toronto and Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and has also worked as a teaching assistant at the undergraduate level. She is available to assist students with e-Portfolio development as well as to advise students on resumes, curriculum vitaes and cover letters.
Yongfang Jia: Yongfang is a doctoral student in the department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education (SESE). Her research interests include workplace learning, gender and work, sociolinguistics, and intercultural communication studies. She has taught EFL to graduate and undergraduate students for many years. She has experience in working as an ESL/EFL instructor and curricula writer. She is also a community English teacher for LINC and other English training programs where she helps new immigrants and non-native-English students with their speaking and writing.
Donna Kakonge: Donna is a PhD student in CTL. If you have basic French needs, she can help with teaching strategies, CVS, presentations, understanding assignment outlines, reading help, and organization skills. Her specialization with the OSSC is helping concurrent teacher candidates with e-Portfolio. If you require any other assistance she would be happy to help you.
Katherine Kristalovich: Katherine is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Curriculum Studies and Teacher Development at OISE. Katherine has extensive experience teaching high school Music and English language arts. She has instructed undergraduate English language arts curriculum. She has additionally been a Resource teacher focussed upon study skills and academic writing. Her primary research interests include critical literacy, democratization, social justice, and citizenry. Within these areas, she explores the promotion of critical consciousness for social change. She has presented her research at various national and international conferences and her passion for literacy across the curriculum has led to various writing partnerships and research collaborations. She is currently an educational advisor with McGraw Hill publishing.
Megan McIntosh: Megan is a PhD student in the Curriculum Studies and Teacher Development Program. Her main academic interests are conflict resolution and peacemaking through education, community development and the effects of dominant international development theories on education. Megan is also a part of the collaborative PhD program in Comparative, International and Development Education. She has experience working as an English as a second language (ESL) teacher in both France and South Korea. Megan has also worked in a university supporting students in structuring and editing course papers, writing funding proposals and improving presentation skills. She also looks forward to supporting international students in their academic endeavours.
Jeff Myers: Jeff is a PhD student in the Adult Education and Community Development Program. His main academic interests are nationalism, globalization, community development, knowledge construction, cultural hegemony, immigration and citizenship. Jeff is also part of a collaborative PhD program based at the Munk Centre called, "The Dynamics of Global Change". Jeff also has considerable English as a second language (ESL) experience as a teacher, administrator, recruiter, and curriculum writer. Some of his non-academic interests include film and video, music, and travel.
Maureen Neill: Maureen is a doctoral candidate in the Theory and Policy Department in OISE/UT. She completed her M.Ed. in Language, Culture and Teaching. Maureen’s primary interests are intersections of conflict which occur in gender, class, race and nationalism. She has over twenty years of experience as a teacher and supervisor in educational settings. Maureen has taught most grades including university, but has a particular interest in Primary, Junior and Intermediate students. In addition she taught ESL in Canada and EFL in Asia. Outside interests include learning about effective communication, travelling, and cooking for friends and family.
Sheila Stewart: Sheila is a doctoral candidate in the Adult Education and Community Development program, in the Leadership, Higher, and Adult Education Department. Her main academic interests are poetic inquiry, arts-informed research, how we listen and learn across social differences, emotion and learning, the effect of trauma on learning, the writing process, and ecopoetics. Sheila held research and arts grants from SSHRC, Canada Council on Learning, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and Toronto Arts Council. She has advised students on SSHRC and OGS applications. She taught adult literacy in Parkdale and ESL in Swaziland and Libya. She has two published poetry collections.
Maryam Wagner: Maryam is a doctoral student in the Second Language Education Program in the Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Department.
She is particularly interested in language testing and fairness issues in assessment. Maryam has taught various courses in an English for Academic Preparation program at a Canadian university. She has also taught Principles of Teaching English as a Second Language courses to teacher candidates. Maryam has a great deal of experience with all aspects of the research process including writing research reports and proposals. Last year, she was the editor of the graduate student journal: Canadian Journal for New Scholars in Education/ Revue canadienne des jeunes chercheures et chercheurs en éducation, and is currently one of the journal's associate editors. She also serves as an advisory member of the Canadian Journal of Education. Additionally, Maryam has made numerous presentations on her research, and facilitated workshops for students and colleagues.
Jennifer Calix: Jennifer is a doctoral student in the Curriculum Studies and Teacher Development Program. Her current research interests are focused on elementary mathematics education and how tools/technology and instructional strategies influence teaching, learning, teacher/student interactions and discourse in the classroom. She is a certified Secondary Business Studies educator and a teaching team coordinator with over 15 years international experience teaching at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels in various subject areas, including HS Business, Elementary ICT, and Mathematics to grades 4 – 6. This year, in addition to conducting Elementary Mathematics Concepts workshops, she will offer one-on-one support to teacher candidates in the Elementary Initial Teacher Education Program who require assistance to develop a better understanding of Mathematical concepts and strategies essential to the teaching of Mathematics to meet the diverse needs of learners in K-8 classrooms.
Sana Zareey: Sana Zareey is a Math and Physics secondary school teacher and community educator. Having first obtained his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Western, Sana followed his passion for education by later completing his Bachelors of education at OISE. Sana is currently pursuing his master's in sociology and equity studies in education. His research interests include: the adverse impacts of streaming students in inner city high schools of Toronto; the qualities and capacities that make an educator able to effectively engage students; and to learn about effective ways that technology can be implemented in the classroom to engage students. Internationally, Sana has volunteered with the United Nations Voices of Youth project in 2009-2011, helping to ensure that the voices of those typically excluded from spaces of international discourse are heard. Also, while working in Lusaka, Zambia (2010-2011), Sana promoted educational initiatives in rural and urban communities. Since retuning from Zambia he has piloted a community tutoring initiative called "Latent Gems Tutors". The purpose of the company is to ensure that high quality tutoring services are accessible to disadvantaged communities.
Robert Kline: Robert is a doctoral student in the Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning program. His research interests include queer theory and queer issues in high schools, manifestations of auto/biography in education research, and the impact of peer mentorship on student success. Robert is a flexible time PhD student who is also currently in his ninth year of teaching high school English. Aside from English, he has also taught Leadership, Drama, History, and Social Studies. Robert has twice served as an associate teacher for teacher candidates, and has actively been a staff sponsor and coach for a wide range of extra-curricular programs in the arts, athletics, and student activities. Robert offers support to teacher candidates in any aspect of teaching, curriculum, writing, or research.
Shoja Santinoli Rahi: Shoja is currently enrolled in the M.Ed. Counselling Psychology Program at OISE, after spending 3 years teaching at an all-boys elementary school in the United Arab Emirates. He received his B.Ed. (primary/junior) from OISE in 2009, and his Hons. B.A. Psychology at the University of Windsor in 2005, which included an undergraduate thesis. He has also contributed to various research projects, including work at a regional children's centre in Ontario that examined the impact of arts on children's clinical treatment outcomes. Shoja's experiences across a wide range of settings have benefited tremendously from an enriched cultural awareness and sensitivity provided by his mixed family background (Italian-Argentinian, Afghan, Chilean and German ancestry) and extensive travels.
Irene Cheung: Irene is an M.Ed. student in the Collaborative Program in Educational Policy in the Educational Administration program. Her main academic interests are the relationship between youth mentorship and academic achievement, issues of equity and access in public schools, and bridging the gap among research, policy, and practice. She is also an experienced secondary school teacher of French, Visual Arts, and History. She can offer teacher candidates support in improving French proficiency, teaching, finding resources, academic writing, and résumés and covering letters.
Anne Rovers: Anne is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at OISE. She is especially interested in language and the arts. Her Master’s of Education thesis married these two passions exploring French language acquisition through arts pedagogy. Anne has extensive experience teaching French as a second language, French Immersion, and Francophone school curricula both at the elementary and secondary levels. In addition, she has taught music and is currently a French language instructor at the University of Toronto, Scarborough. Anne’s doctoral research project examines Canadian national identity transmission via the discourse of CBC radio Q. Specifically attuning to the linguistic and ideological function of language, Anne explores the concomitant role of discourse, media, and the arts in articulating the ways text and talk manage the mind and ‘manufacture consent’ yet at the same time articulate and sustain resistance and challenge. Through this project, Anne also examines the role of critical listening for transformative learning for social justice. She has presented her research at national and international conferences.
June Starkey: June is a doctoral student in the in the Teacher Development program in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning. Prior to beginning her doctoral studies June was an award-winning French immersion teacher; she has taught in three divisions (Kindergarten to Grade 8) for two school boards in Ontario. Both as a teacher and a student June has come to know that goal structures and assessment practices profoundly affect whether students learn and engage with improving their performance. June’s research explores how assessment can give feedback to instruction, and how feedback can facilitate student learning. For the past 3 years June taught an undergraduate course in pedagogy in French, and became aware of the many strategies and resources available to students for improving their French proficiency. June has presented at national and international conferences in English and French.
Jesse Bazzul: Jesse is a PhD student in Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning (CTL). His research interests are science education, specifically the nature of science, issues of equity and epistemology raised by postmodern, post-structural, and feminist readings of science(s), as well as interdisciplinary work in the sciences. He has taught science and mathematics in diverse settings including international schools in China and Ukraine, and Ontario public (Peel Region) and private schools. His primary interests include reading fiction, poetry, and particular topics in religious studies. Jesse is also involved in the Concurrent Education mentoring for the ACSC.
Prof. Antoinette Gagné: Dr. Gagné teaches in both pre-service teacher education and graduate programs. Her graduate level courses include "The Methodology and Organization of Second Language Teaching," "Communicative Competence," and " Second Language Teacher Education." The B.Ed. courses she teaches include "Language and Culture in the Classroom" and "ESL Across the Curriculum".
As Academic Advisor for the Academic and Cultural Support Centre at OISE (ACSC), she has the opportunity to work closely with a team of 9 doctoral candidates to meet the academic and cultural needs of undergraduate and graduate students in education.
One of her recently funded research projects is entitled "The Impact of Infusing ESL Issues and Teaching Strategies in Pre-service Teacher Education Programs." She examined how pre-service teacher education programs can prepare teachers for the ever-increasing multilingual and diverse student population in schools in North America.
Dr. Gagné has received a number of internal and external grants including those from SSHRC, Canadian Heritage, and TESOL International Research Foundation. Beside the research mentioned above, Dr. Gagné is currently involved in another research project "Closing the Gap: Exploring Strategies to Build Positive Relationships between Parents from Low-voice Immigrant Communities and Teachers of these Communities," funded by Canadian Heritage.
Dr. Gagné is also involved in research with immigrant teachers along with colleagues in a number of immigrant receiving countries including the UK and Australia. She has also been a member of the Advisory Board for Teach in Ontario, a bridging program for internationally educated teachers in Ontario.
Dr. Carrie Chassels: Carrie earned her Ph.D. at OISE in Theory and Policy Studies in Education. Through her work as a researcher, initial teacher educator, Supervisor of Student Services, teacher and school administrator with the Toronto District School Board, Carrie has developed extensive knowledge of research related to issues of inclusion and accommodation of students with various disabilities, medical considerations, and cultural and linguistic backgrounds in higher education and in field placements. Carrie has been awarded a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship and has received research grants as a project collaborator from the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario and the Canadian Council on Learning to investigate issues significant to the labour market inclusion of internationally educated professionals.