Teaching and Mentoring

Postdoctoral Supervision/Mentoring:

I have supervised/mentored/worked with several outstanding postdoctoral fellows:

  1. SSHRC postdoctoral fellow, Natasha Stacey-Hildebrandt (PhD, UBC). 2022-2024.
  2. MITACS-funded postdoctoral fellow, Kim DeLaat (PhD, University of Toronto), 2021-2022. 
  3. SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Janna Klostermann (PhD, Carleton University) 2021-2023.
  4. SSHRC Insight Funded Postdoctoral Fellow, Sadie Goddard-Durant (PhD, University of Guelph). 2020-2021.
  5. Brock University (SJRI and President’s Office) and SSHRC-CIHR-funded Postdoctoral Fellow, Eva Jewell (PhD, Royal Roads University, 2018). 2018-2019. (Now Assistant Professor in Indigenous Feminisms, Ryerson University).
  6. SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Sophie Mathieu (PhD Carleton University), (2018-2020). Now SSHRC-funded postdoctoral fellow Téluq University).
  7. SSHRC Banting Postdoctoral Fellow, Robyn Lee (PhD York University) (2014-2016); (Assistant Professor in Social Theory, University of Alberta).
  8. SSHRC Banting Postdoctoral Fellow, Rachel Epstein, (PhD York University) (2015-2017). (Now Executive Director of United Jewish People’s Order).
  9. CRC-Funded Postdoctoral Fellow, Lindsey McKay (PhD, Carleton University). (2015-2017). (Now Lecturer (tenure track), Sociology, Thompson Rivers University, BC).
  10. SSHRC-Insight Grant Funded Postdoctoral Fellow, Lisa-Jo K. van den Scott (PhD, Northwestern University) (2015-2016): (Now Assistant Professor in northern sociology, Memorial University.

Graduate Supervision:

Several maxims guide my graduate teaching and supervision approach.

  • Study what you love and follow what keeps you awake at night.
  • It is your journey, not mine; I am here to support and guide. I will push you to find your path and help you to see both the forest and the trees.
  • Protect your writing time; it is gold. Write everyday if you can; writing is about building, crafting, reworking, polishing; it is much harder than you think it is. In my view, this is the line between those who complete their theses and those who do not. Have your peers read your work. Form a writing group. Get feedback early and often.
  • For excellent tips on the PhD career, please see: Les Back (2002) “Dancing and Wrestling with Scholarship: Things to do and things to avoid in a PhD Career“, Sociological Research Online, vol. 7, no. 4.

Complete PHD Supervisions:

  1. Jihan Abbas (2014) “Invisible Bodies: Revealing the Unseen Contributions of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities. Carleton University, Sociology.
  2. Tamy Superle (2012) “Pleasure and Fear in the City: Women’s Mobility in Urban Public Places.” Carleton University, Sociology.
  3. Karen Foster (2011) “Relating to Work: Generation, Discourse and Social Change.” (Co-supervisor with Janet Siltanen). Carleton University, Sociology.  Now CRC in Sustainable Rural Futures for Atlantic Canada and Assistant Professor, Sociology and Social Anthropology, Dalhousie University.
  4. Mike Graydon (2011)  “(OUT)standing in Their Field: A Qualitative Study of Gays of Ottawa, 1971-1984.” Carleton University, Sociology. Now  Associate Professor, Sociology, Algoma.
  5. Joanne Pocock  (2009) “Social Economy and the Quiet Transformation of Voluntarism in Quebec’s Aging English-speaking Communities: A Mixed Methods Study of the Eastern Townships Region.” (Co-supervisor with Wallace Clement). Carleton University, Sociology.
  6. Lynda Harling Stalker (2006), “Crafting Work: Class Analysis of Newfoundland Craftspeople.” (Co-supervisor with Janet Siltanen).Carleton University, Sociology.  Now Associate Professor, Sociology, St F X.

PhD Committees: Completed theses, Carleton University 

Emma Whalen, William Gotchall, Christian Caron; Lisa Smith; Dale Spencer; Sophie Tamas; Kelly Landon; Kevin Walby; Wayne Miller (Wilfred Laurier University).

Completed MA Supervisions: Carleton University (Sociology) and Brock University Sociology (Sociology;  Social Justice and Equity Studies) 

  1. Noemí Gómez, MA, Social Justice and Equity Studies, The Abuela’s Unpaid Carework during the COVID-19 pandemic. An Autoethnography about Taken for Granted Realities. Major Research Paper submitted May 2023. Brock University. 
  2. Sali Salah Moieldin, MA, Social Justice and Equity Studies, Canada through an African Immigrant Mothers Eyes: A Critical Autoethnography on the Struggles and Challenges of African Immigrant Mothers. Major Research Paper submitted May 2023. Brock University. 
  3. Sierra Kiers, MA, Social Justice and Equity Studies, Education as Reconciliation?: Unpacking the Relationship between Non-Indigenous Canadian/Indigenous Reconciliation and Ontario Secondary School Canadian History Textbooks. August 2022. Brock University. 
  4. Janet Moore, MA, Critical Sociology, The Influence of the Church on Homosexual Men Married to Women. Major Research Paper. Completed December 2019. Brock University. 
  5. Michelle Arnett, MA in Critical Sociology, Exploring the Narratives of Mothers Who Work as Strippers, MA thesis defended August 2019. Brock University. 
  6. Robin Cummings, MA, Social Justice and Equity Studies, The Role of Masculinities in the Existence, Persistence, and Prevention of Intimate Partner Violence-Against Women. Major Research Paper. Completed December 2018. Brock University. 
  7. Hamin Kim, MA, Critical Sociology, “First Person Plural: A Transnational and Racialized Analysis of Family Photographs”. Major Research Paper. Completed December 2017. Brock University. 
  8. Crystal Adams Coons, MA, Critical Sociology, “Deconstructing the ‘Breadwinning Mother’”. Major Research Paper. Completed September 2017. Brock University. 
  9. Ensslen, MA, Critical Sociology, With Care and Deliberation: Saskatchewan Teachers go to Work, Defended 3 June 2016. Brock University. 
  10. Sara Viera (2013)  (MA Critical Sociology, Brock).“You Know What I Mean?”- Language and Cultural Retention in Luso-Canadian Mothers in the Greater Toronto Area”. Brock University.
  11. Elana Finestone (2011) (MA, Sociology, Carleton): “Just Trying to Avoid Doing It: Exploring Gendered Interpretations and Discussions of Sexual Assault Media Campaigns for Men on Campus.” Defended with distinction. Carleton University.
  12. Elisabeth Wilson (2010 (MA, Sociology, Carleton) Who will be Rocking the Cradle and When? Examining Gender Differences of How Young Women and Men Envision Becoming a Parent. Defended with distinction. Carleton University. 
  13. Esther Baum (2009) (MA, Sociology): “Prenatal Genetic Testing.” Defended with distinction. Carleton University. 
  14. Sylvie Polk (2009) (MA, Sociology): “Jobs on the Line: Closing Down the Smith Falls Hershey Chocolate Factory.”  Carleton University. 
  15. Jill Bucklaschuk (2007) (MA, Sociology): “Women Doing Gender Down on the Farm: Rural Ideology, Hard Work, and Being Less Feminine and Less Masculine.” Carleton University. 
  16. Aimee Campeau (2006) (MA, Sociology): “Cultivating Gendered Underdeveloped Subjectivities: Tracing the Constitutions of Girlhoods within Mainstream Development Discourse.” Carleton University. 
  17. Jen Budney (2003) (MA, Anthropology, co-supervised with Valda Blundell): “Hiding the Real Under the Formal: The Secret Power of Whiteness in Brazilian Contemporary Art.” Defended with distinction. Carleton University. 
  18. Kelly McDonald (2003) (MA, Sociology, co-supervised with Janet Siltanen): “Childcare Policy and the Division of Paid and Unpaid Labour in Quebec and Canada.” Carleton University. 
  19. Mary Ann Jenkins (2002) (MA, Canadian Studies): “An Evaluation of the LEAP Program for Single Mothers in Ontario.” Carleton University. 
  20. Sarah Marceau (2000) (MA, Sociology): “The Feminist Stay-at-Home Mother: Contradiction or Utopia?” Carleton University. 

Teaching: 

Over the past two decades, I have taught a variety of university courses, including undergraduate courses in gender, work and families, care work, masculinities, and qualitative methods and graduate courses in qualitative methodologies, gender and sexuality, gender and international development, narrative and knowing, feminist approaches to methodologies and epistemologies, and narrative analysis.

My teaching philosophy is one that incorporates: participatory pedagogy, learning through building on personal experience and biography; visual technologies, the use of creative medium for grounding and exploring theoretical concepts (such as fiction and popular films); and critical thinking skills. First and foremost, I see myself as a facilitator of students’ personal, critical, and creative learning processes. I have a background in participatory research, and was fortunate to train with an international innovator in participatory research methods, the late Dr. Lyra Syrinavasan, while working with the United Nations Development program. Much of my teaching philosophy comes from that approach.