About Me

Hi there,

Although this blog's not really about me, I think it's important to say a bit about my experience as an educator, and my interest in the Ontario College system.  I’ve been a professor at Mohawk College in Hamilton for the past 10 years.  The first five of these years I worked as a partial load faculty, and the last five as full-time.  I’ve taught various social science courses in Mohawk’s General Arts and Science program, and have also delivered courses to students in Human Services and Health Science.  I've been a steward of OPSEU Local 240 for the past two years, chair of the Local 240 Political Action Committee, and communications officer for the past year.

My academic background is a bit of a mix - I started an undergraduate degree at McMaster University in visual art, then switched to philosophy in second year.  I then moved to psychology, with a minor in anthropology.  After graduating with a BA in psychology I applied to McMaster for graduate school in anthropology, studying the use of holistic medicine in nursing.  After my MA, I entered the Ph.D. program with a research focus on activism in the anti-globalization movement.  After completing my comprehensive exams I took what I thought would be a short leave from my Ph.D. to coordinate a community development project.  This project involved a group of six people creating the Sky Dragon Community Development Cooperative, purchasing a derelict building in downtown Hamilton, and renovating it to create a multi-use community centre.  I've been Executive Director of the Sky Dragon Cooperative since March of 2004.

I love teaching, but this school year I've made the difficult decision to leave the classroom to work on something that I am very passionate about - quality, critical education.  As a professor I feel that I share a primary interest with the students I teach, and that is to provide an engaging, creative and transformative educational experience.  In my 10 years of teaching I've seen this task become increasingly difficult due to reduced post-secondary funding, and an increasingly corporate learning environment.  From my experience the quality of post-secondary education is slipping, faculty's hands are being tied by a lack of academic freedom, and students are paying more and getting less.  This is unacceptable at a time when the millennial generation is facing unprecedented challenges, and needs, more than ever, to develop the employment skills, critical thinking tools, and democratic capacities required to meet them.  Ensuring a high quality of post-secondary education isn't just about getting good value for student's hard-earned money (although this is important enough!), it's about the kind of country we want to live in, and the kind of future our youth can expect.