Meet The Team

GSRC 2023 Co-Chairs

Amy Leung (She/Her)

Master of Education in Developmental Psychology & Education (APHD)

Amy’s research interests include literacy education, learning disabilities, inclusive education, assistive technology, mental health and educational neuroscience, and bridging theory and practice. She is actively involved in the Geva Lab as a Research Assistant on the Test of Higher Order Language Project. As a co-chair, she is excited to contribute to the OISE community through collaborating with her fellow graduate students in all aspects of the conference planning processes to showcase their research accomplishments. Outside of academia, she is an early intervention practitioner and ESL instructor, and enjoys playing the piano.

Sigrid Roman (She/Her/Elle)

PhD Candidate in Educational Leadership and Policy, 6th Year

(LHAE)

Sigrid’s research is in the fields of educational leadership & policy, comparative, international & development education, and conflict & violence studies. Her professional hope is to build strong collaborative relationships with/between partners across communities, civil society organisations, research institutions and governments to develop research insights and policy initiatives that respond to contemporary issues of political violence. Sigrid’s doctoral research is focused on secondary teachers’ roles, agency, and didactic-curricular practices in two Canadian provinces as they relate to political violence subject matter. Her research goal is to theorise the study of political violence in education and across sectors for peacebuilding. She has previously lectured on research-practitioner engagement in development and community-engaged research.

As a co-chair, Sigrid is excited to bring in her experience and knowledge to support student networking and professional development. Outside of academia, she is a freelance journalist, writer, and abstract painter.

Kai Forcey-Rodriguez (They/Them)

Master of Education in Developmental Psychology and Education (APHD)

Their research interests are Autism Mental Health: creating frameworks to prevent suicide and nonsuicidal self-Injury in Autistic people and supporting the establishment of a formalized Canadian preservice special educator/inclusive educator training programmes that follow frameworks that promote Diversity, Belonging, Inclusion, and Equity (DBIE). Kai is also the sole author of an upcoming paper in the emerging field of Autism Mental Health called, “The Risk Factors and Preventative Methods of Self-Harm and Suicidality of Autistic People” to be published in the Canadian Journal of Autism Equity in April 2023.

As a co-chair, Kai is excited to use their knowledge and experience to contribute to the OISE community. Outside of the office, Kai enjoys being a musician, adores cheese, fancies themselves as a combination of Dean Pelton & Abed from the TV show “Community” and a comedian able to do voice impressions along with saying “oooh” to things.

Logistics

Claire Wilkins (She/They)

MT-J/I Stream student in Curriculum,Teaching and Learning, 2nd year (CTL)

Claire (she/they) is a second year Teacher Candidate in the Master of Teaching program at OISE’s Department of Curriculum, Teaching & Learning.

They raised 5 kittens in their one bedroom apartment in the fall semester. They also love checking out new live music events in the city on the weekends.

Zein Abuosbeh (She/Her)

PhD student in Developmental Psychology & Education, 1st year (APHD)

Zein is a first year PhD student in Development Psychology and Education. Her research in the Multilingualism and Literacy lab focuses on language and literacy development in French Immersion (FI) students and Arabic-English bilingual children. Zein is especially interested in using her research to help create interventions for at-risk readers in multilingual learning environments.

In her free time, Zein loves to go on walks and explore new cities in Canada and abroad.

Rema Passarelli (She/Her)

PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy (LHAE)

Rema is an experienced Catholic elementary school teacher, SERT and assistant to the principal. Her academic interests centred on cognitive development, knowledge building, and educational leadership. She completed a dissertation on Formal Teacher Leadership and the Education Management Hierarchy in the Fall, 2022. She is inspired by educational theories which encourage collective responsibility and promote enabling bureaucratic structures. Her work addresses relationships between principals, teacher leaders and their peers, uncovering the ways some teachers engage in invisible leadership within elementary schools.

Rema also enjoys hiking, sewing, playing the piano and working as a realtor.

Publications

Corinna Di Luciano (She/Her)

Master of Education in Developmental Psychology & Education (APHD)

Corinna Di Luciano (she/her) is a graduate student in the Developmental Psychology and Education program in the Applied Psychology and Human Development (APHD) department. She studied human development and neuroscience during her undergraduate degree and is now in her second year at OISE, earning a Master of Education. Corinna currently works as a data analyst and dance teacher. She loves to dance and teaches children of all ages. Corinna is very excited to be a part of the GSRC Publications team and is looking forward to seeing the profound research that alums and students at OISE have been conducting!

Corinna also loves animals and has a pet cat of her own!

Rebecca Schmor (She/Her)

PhD candidate- Language and Literacies Education (CTL)

Rebecca has taught English, Spanish, and German in higher education and private language institutions in Canada, China, and Cuba. She is currently a course instructor and graduate research assistant at the University of Toronto. Her main research interests are linguistically inclusive language education and teacher identity.

When not teaching or researching, Rebecca enjoys visiting family and friends in Mexico and Germany.

Communications

Justin Patrick (He/Him)

PhD student in Educational Leadership and Policy, 3rd year (LHAE)

Justin Patrick (he/him) is in year three of a PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy in LHAE. His research focuses on student government and student leadership. He holds a master’s degree in political science from the University of Toronto and a bachelor’s degree in political science and history from the University of Ottawa. He serves as the President of the Global Student Government and has served in executive roles in the International Association for Political Science Students and the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union, among others.

In the brief interstices when not doing PhD stuff, he enjoys creative writing.

Teresa Orbillo (She/Her)

Master of Education in Developmental Psychology & Education (APHD)

Teresa has 6 years of clinical and community experience working with neurodiverse individuals to help them achieve their goals. Teresa also has a combined 4 years of research experience, with her primary research focus regarding stressors in the autistic community. She hopes to one day open her own wellness centre.

A fun fact about Teresa is that she danced professionally for years, and even got to share the Disney World stage with Pluto and Mickey!

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Gayatri Thakor (She/Her)

Master of Education in Social Justice Education, collaborative specialization: Environment & Health (SJE)

Gayatri (she/her) is a 2nd year Master of Education student in Social Justice Education with a collaborative specialization in Environment and Health. Prior to starting grad school, she worked in student development and programming within higher education. Her research interests are decolonizing education through the application of diverse Indigenous and non western pedagogies.

In her free time, Gayatri enjoys visiting new cafes, playing board games, and traveling.

Jessica Machado (She/Her)

Master of Arts in Adult Education and Community Development, 2nd year (LHAE)

Jessica Machado (she/her) is pursuing her M.A. in Adult Education and Community Development in LHAE. She’s a part-time student in her second year. Outside of her studies, Jess is the Programming and Stakeholder Engagement Officer at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Office of Social Innovation. She holds a B.Sc in Biology and a Certificate in Indigenous Knowledges and Experiences from Toronto Metropolitan University.

Jess enjoys action-adventure and role-playing video games, and has started venturing into collaborative board games. Her cat, Esme, makes an appearance (filled with meows) in nearly every virtual class and meeting.

Connect with us by emailing oise.gsrc@utoronto.ca