What inspired you to become an instructor?
During my undergraduate and graduate studies, I worked as a Life Skills Instructor with children with developmental disabilities. I found the work challenging and rewarding and chose to continue being an educator.
At CNC, I get to have in-depth conversations with students who want to deeply engage with material that matters to them. Psychology lends itself well to the intersection of theory and practice for class discussions.
Why does it make sense for students to continue to invest in their education after high school?
I believe that post-secondary education is more important now than ever. Information about every possible facet of our lives is overly abundant, and ironically, that abundance makes it difficult to wade through. Post-secondary education offers us a place to explore our interests, both personal and professional, in a setting which encourages both foundational skills and critical thinking skills.
What should potential students know about the Quesnel campus?
The Quesnel campus is warm and inviting, and the faculty and staff genuinely want to see students flourish. Class sizes are small, which means learning can be tailored to the classroom community. Our classes inspire authentic connections. Instructing is not a one-way street – we all learn from one another and bring valuable insight to classroom discussions.
Also, people tend to choose to remain in Quesnel since northern communities offer a different lifestyle to bigger centers. Instructors and graduates remain in our community with purpose. As technology has continued to build connections, those of us who stay in a place like Quesnel want to stay here.
What motivated you to pursue a PhD?
The inspiration for my doctoral work in Education came at the intersection between my therapeutic background and instructing at CNC. I am interested in how instructors’ inner lives (both conscious and unconscious) affect their classroom presence, teaching, assumptions, and curriculum.
I have been reading and writing about doing “inner work” in an effort to lay bare what might be gained from taking inner work seriously and how a lack of insight into how we function doesn’t stop it from affecting the teaching and learning environment.