Our PhD Students

PhD Cohort 2025

Zakaria Aghja


Shawn Darby

  • Queer and Critical Pedagogies
  • Trauma, Identity, and Schooling 
  • Transformative Educational Leadership 
  • Autoethnography and Narrative Inquiry

Nicole Graham


Ashley Guenette


Shawna Partridge

  • Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL)
  • Second Language Acquisition 
  • Linguistic Creativity  
  • Creative Pedagogy  
  • Higher Education

Rebecca Poff


Micaella Riche

PhD Cohort 2024

Amanda Coombs


Amy Dickerson

  • Place-based Pedagogy  
  • Environmental Education  
  • Holistic Education & Sustainable Practices  
  • Autoethnography  
  • Arts-based research methods 

Thomas Doherty

  • First Nation Land-based Delivery Programming 
  • Etuaptmumk/Two Eyed Seeing 
  • Social Constructivism  
  • Narrative Inquiry 
  • Ethnography

Laura Franks

  • Indwelling
  • Regenerative Sustainability
  • Phenomenology
  • Indigenous Ways of Knowing

Michelle Graham

  • Archaeological pottery and ceramic analysis
  • Ethnoarchaeology and the use of time and space in anthropological praxis
  • Academic migration and the use of ethnography and autoethnography in educational research
  • Decolonial and feminist theory and qualitative research methods
  • Postsecondary teaching within the fields of Anthropology, Ethnic Studies, Gender Studies, and Education 

Felicia Yong

PhD Cohort 2023

Jeannie Cameron


Christopher Donaldson


Jennifer Downing


Hiba Kassab


Erin Reid

  • Métis Ways of Knowing
  • Métis educators
  • Critical theory
  • Narrative inquiry as Métissage
  • Sustainability 

Daniel Ryan


Brett Tomlinson

PhD Cohort 2022

Sarah Boddy


Joseph Boivin


Robyn Drodge

  • Autoethnography and Biographies 
  • Learning Methods and the Scholastic Trivium 
  • Worldview and Androgogy 
  • Connections between Literacy, Self-Directed Learning Methods, and Resilience 

Corina Irwin


Kathleen Jessup


Natalia Ritz

  • Nature-based interventions 
  • Teacher Mental Health 
  • Early Years Education 
  • Outdoor Classrooms 

Gregory Santarelli

  • Qualitative Research 
  • Critical Disability Studies   
  • Accessibility and Inclusive Education 
  • Education and Social Policy  
  • Special Education Leadership  

Christopher Stevens


Lindsay Woodman

PhD Cohort 2021

Alain Carlson


Ann Meghan Hachkowski


KJ Hills


Sally Holdsworth


Dr. Rupinder Kaur Kahlon

Graduated October 2025

  • Endarkened ethnographic narrative inquiry 
  • Post-structural feminist and postcolonial theory 
  • South Asian diaspora gender studies 
  • Embodied counter-storytelling 

 


Kieran Peltier


Clara Ryan

PhD Cohort 2020

Dennis Barrow

  • Narrative inquiry
  • Sexual minorities
  • Gender Roles
  • Anti-oppressive Education
  • Critical literacy and social justice
  • Autoethnography

Lynn Cummings

  • Equity and inclusion in education
  • Educational policy
  • Critical pedagogy
  • Integrated curriculum

Christopher Godfrey

  • Educational Technology & Classroom Integration
  • Professional Learning Experiences
  • Participatory Action Research 
  • Qualitative Studies 

Jamie Jackson

  • Mental health of educators 
  • Student well-being
  • Canadian education
  • Critical Theory 
  • Gender Theory

Rebecca Kasperavicius

  • Information Literacy
  • Embedded Librarianship
  • Phenomenology
  • Critical Theory
  • Perceptions of Academic Librarians

Jerome Kroetsch

  • Holistic leadership
  • Educational administration
  • Managerial competency development
  • Indigenous ways of knowing
  • Actor-Network Theory

Christopher Peters

  • Neurodiversity
  • STEAM education
  • Critical theory
  • Long-term impacts of bullying
  • Mixed methods

Dr. Vuong Tran

Graduated October 2024

  • Financial literacy
  • Social justice
  • Equity in education
  • Equity for LGBTQ+

Read Dr. Tran's Dissertation


Tessa Troughton

  • TBA

PhD Cohort 2019

Dr. Leila Kharazmi

Graduated February 2025

  • Narrative inquiry
  • Literature and education
  • Second language education
  • Illustration books and learning
  • Technology in education

Read Dr. Kharazmi's Dissertation


Michelle McMartin

  • Dialogic pedagogy
  • Critical literacy
  • Building learning communities for equity and wellbeing
  • Empowering and valuing the voices of children

Deborah Michaud

  • Participatory action research
  • Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
  • Developmental assets
  • Child welfare training

Dr. Christina Page

Graduated May 2023

  • Internationally-educated learners in post-secondary institutions
  • Educational experiences of refugee-background youth and adults
  • Culturally relevant pedagogies
  • Adult education
  • Critical pedagogies

Read Dr. Page's Dissertation


Dr. Deborah Yawney

Graduated May 2023

  • Critical theory
  • Narrative inquiry
  • Food literacy
  • Sustainability 

Read Dr. Yawney's Dissertation

PhD Cohort 2018

Dr. Kari Janz

Graduated February 2023

  • Student mental health
  • Guided mindfulness meditation
  • Holistic therapy
  • Psychology
  • Quantitative methodology

Read Dr. Janz's Dissertation


Dr. Jeff Thornborrow

Graduated October 2024

  • Children's mental health
  • Attachment based education
  • Social work leadership
  • Social constructivism
  • Humanist perspective
  • Mixed methodology

Read Dr. Thornborrow's Dissertation


Dr. Melanie Manitowabi

Graduated May 2023

  • Indigenous methodologies and its impact on profession learning
  • Critical race theory
  • Mentorship and its impact on student learning
  • Anishaabemowin and land based learning and its impact on well-being

Read Dr. Manitowabi's Dissertation


Dr. Jessica Poff

Graduated May 2024

  • Alternative schooling (unschooling, homeschooling, free schooling)
  • Risk-aversion and resilience
  • Critical theory

Read Dr. Poff's Dissertation


Dr. Betty Jo McCabe

Graduated May 2022

  • Workplace learning
  • Leadership and change

Read Dr. McCabe's Dissertation


Angie Bruce

  • Indigenous leadership, governance and political structures
  • Indigenous methodologies
  • Relationship dynamics and empowerment

Dina Moati

  • Equity and inclusion
  • Adult learning
  • Faculty vitality
  • Learner-centred teaching
  • Learners as partners
  • Identities and intersectionalities
  • Universal design for learning

Dr. Allison Tucker

Graduated February 2022

 

Read Dr. Tucker's Dissertation

PhD Cohort 2017

Dr. Susan Picard

Graduated October 2020

  • Special education with a focus on gifted education
  • Perspectives on inclusion
  • Theory of positive disintegration and emotional development
  • Ecopedagogy and sustainability
  • Qualitative inquiry: appreciative and narrative

Read Dr. Picard's Dissertation


Dr. Deva Balan Moorthy

Graduated May 2024

  • Truth and reconciliation
  • Indigenous principles of learning in schools
  • Social constructs of race and race relations
  • Ethics of care in school systems
  • Creating equitable learning spaces

Read Dr. Moorthy's Dissertation


Dr. Dany Dias

Graduated June 2021

  • Critical pedagogy/critical theory
  • Adolescent literacy
  • Critical literacy and social justice
  • Mental health issues in education
  • Qualitative research methodology

Read Dr. Dias' Dissertation


Dr. Vivian Papaiz

Graduated October 2023

  • Palliative care nursing education
  • Experiential learning, reflexive learning, adult learning
  • Humanism and the ethic of care, ways of knowing
  • Nursing competencies in hospice palliative care

Read Dr. Papaiz's Dissertation

PhD Cohort 2016

Patricia Chabbert

  • TBA

Dr. Michael Crant

Graduated June 2020

  • Inclusive educational values and practices for non-traditional learners
  • Identity and student development
  • Universal design
  • Global and holistic education

Read Dr. Crant's Dissertation


Dr. Nicole Enns Gardner

Graduated June 2025

  • Values-based pedagogy
  • Sustainable living
  • Self-directed, life-long learning
  • Holistic education
  • Psychology

Read Dr. Enns Gardner's Dissertation


Richard Kennelly

  • Education leadership
  • Ethical decision-making
  • Boys achievement
  • Equity

Dr. Dave Kydd

Graduated May 2023

  • Social work education
  • Field placement in social work education
  • The intersection of class and field education
  • Qualitative research methodology
  • Principles of praxis in post-secondary education

Dr. Randi Ray

Graduated May 2023

  • First Nations policies
  • First Nations governance
  • Sustainable education funding for PSE for First Nations
  • Indigenous knowledge and pedagogy

Read Dr. Ray's Dissertation

PhD Cohort 2015

Dr. Daniel Brant

Graduated October 2021

  • First Nations governance

Read Dr. Brant's Dissertation


Dr. Sandra Browne-Kealey

Graduated May 2019

  • Mental health
  • Inclusive education
  • At-risk learners
  • Educational leadership

Read Dr. Browne-Kealey's Dissertation


Dr. Erin Horvath

Graduated October 2024

  • Change-orientated leadership
  • Experiential and adventure-based teaching/learning
  • Indigenous rights and worldviews
  • Arts-based research and learning methodologies
  • Resilience and skill development in traumatized populations

Read Dr. Horvath's Dissertation


Dr. Sarah Hunter

Graduated February 2021

  • Universal design for learning
  • Mindfulness and the post-secondary learner
  • Student development and post-secondary persistence

Read Dr. Hunter's Dissertation

PhD Cohort 2014

Dr. Michelle Brunette

Graduated May 2018

  • International students; cross-cultural transitions
  • Sport and physical activity as an educational tool
  • Public private partnerships; sport and education marketing
  • Leadership and cross-cultural competency skill building

Read Dr. Brunette's Dissertation


Dr. Amanda Carvalho

Graduated May 2018

  • Vocational education
  • Critical narrative research
  • Feminist epistemology

Read Dr. Carvalho's Dissertation


Dr. Sarah Driessens

Graduated October 2018

  • Student engagement
  • Higher education
  • Critical pedagogy
  • Holistic education
  • Social inequality in higher education

Read Dr. Driessens' Dissertation


Dr. Kathryn Ewers

Graduated October 2021

  • Nursing curriculum and evaluation models
  • Nursing preceptor education

Read Dr. Ewers' Dissertation


Dr. Laurie Peachey

Graduated October 2018

  • The use of maternal child simulation in nursing education
  • Self-efficacy and self-regulated learning
  • Maternal confidence in childbirth experiences
  • Preparation for entry-level nursing competencies

Read Dr. Peachey's Dissertation


Dr. Adam Podolski

Graduated May 2018

  • Student resiliency
  • Critical theory
  • Narrative inquiry
  • Ethnography

Read Dr. Podolski's Dissertation


Dr. Sunaina Sharma

Graduated August 2018

  • Student engagement
  • Technology use in the classroom
  • Understanding the 21st century learner
  • Experiential learning

Read Dr. Sharma's Dissertation


Dr. Kerry Surman

Graduated June 2017

  • Critical theory
  • Educational policy analysis
  • College curriculum and pedagogy
  • Critical narrative
  • Institutional ethnography

Read Dr. Surman's Dissertation

PhD Cohort 2013

Dr. Melissa Corrente

Graduated June 2020

  • Teacher attrition
  • Childhood obesity
  • Teacher education
  • Narrative inquiry

Read Dr. Corrente's Dissertation


Dr. Glenn Hanna

Graduated June 2016

  • University/college partnerships
  • Post-graduation student success
  • "Practical reason"

Read Dr. Hanna's Dissertation


Dr. Brooke Growden

Graduated May 2018

  • Homeschooling
  • Unschooling
  • Early literacy
  • Narrative inquiry
  • Willed curriculum

Read Dr. Growden's Dissertation


Dr. Betty Ann Martin

Graduated June 2017

  • Narrative
  • Holistic education
  • Gender studies
  • Cultural studies
  • Birth and mothering
  • Identity; depressive illness

Dr. Christine McIntosh

Graduated June 2017

  • Healthcare education (systemic)
  • Health literacy
  • Patient-centred learning
  • Healthcare provider education
  • Patient self-management

Read Dr. McIntosh's Dissertation


Dr. Anna-Liisa Mottonen

Graduated May 2019

  • Gender stereotyping
  • Gender difference in education
  • Reading and literacy
  • Mental health issues in education

Read Dr. Mottonen's Dissertation


Dr. Olga Shugurova

Graduated June 2017

  • Experiential Learning
  • Educational Leadership
  • Cultural-Historical Context of Learning
  • Qualitative Arts-Based Research

Read Dr. Shugurova's Dissertation


Dr. Lisa Taylor

Graduated May 2019

  • Math
  • Financial literacy
  • Non-experimental research

Read Dr. Taylor's Dissertation


Dr. Taunya Wideman-Johnston

Graduated June 2016

  • Chronic illness
  • Holistic education
  • Willed curriculum
  • Resilience
  • Special education
  • Pre-service teacher education
  • Psychology

Read Dr. Wideman-Johnston's Dissertation

PhD Cohort 2012

Dr. Jeff Adams

Graduated May 2019

  • Arts-based research
  • Poetic inquiry
  • Narrative inquiry

Read Dr. Adams' Dissertation


Dr. Jeremy Bisson

Graduated February 2020

  • Ethical reasoning
  • Authentic identity
  • Narrative inquiry

Read Dr. Bisson's Dissertation


Dr. Elizabeth Campbell

Graduated February 2019

  • Living educational theory
  • Action research
  • Alternative ways of knowing, researching, and representing
  • Holistic, democratic, student-directed learning
  • Values-based pedagogy
  • Contemplative pedagogy

Read Dr. Campbell's Dissertation


Dr. Lorna Carol Corzine

Graduated June 2016

  • Narrative
  • Mental health, depression, anxiety
  • Adolescents
  • Workplace

Read Dr. Corzine's Dissertation


Dr. Tara McGoey

Graduated October 2016

  • Physical activity and cognitive development in children

Read Dr. McGoey's Dissertation


Dr. Casey Phillips

Graduated December 2016

  • Secondary traumatic stress
  • Student engagement
  • Student leadership
  • Student success
  • Self-authorship
  • Higher education
  • Mental health

Read Dr. Phillips' Dissertation


Dr. Tiffany Roberts

Graduated June 2017

  • Adolescent literacy
  • Differentiated instruction
  • Authentic assessment
  • Safe schools
  • Ethical leadership

Read Dr. Roberts' Dissertation


Dr. Carmen Schlamb

Graduated June 2016

  • Ecological identity
  • Nature-deficit disorder
  • Narrative inquiry

Read Dr. Schlamb's Dissertation


Dr. Erin Truswell

Graduated October 2020

  • Student success
  • Vulnerable school populations
  • Technology in schools

Read Dr. Truswell's Dissertation