About the Contributors
Ali A. Abdi
is Professor of Education in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia. Previously, he was Professor of Education and Co-director of the Centre for Global Citizenship Education and Research (CGCER) at the University of Alberta. His areas of research and teaching include citizenship and human rights education, social and cultural foundations of education, multicentric philosophies and methodologies of education and anti-colonial studies in education.
Sung Kyung Ahn
is a PhD candidate in the Department of Secondary Education, University of Alberta, Canada. Her research interest is in developing curriculum for teaching and learning a second language (L2), including curriculum theory and language teaching in diverse classrooms for both language and non-language teachers.
Chouaib El Bouhali
is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Education Policy Studies at the University of Alberta. He has participated in community projects with several NGOs in Edmonton and also a number of courses for the Department of Education Policy Studies at the University of Alberta. Chouaib is a teacher with Edmonton Public Schools and has previously worked as a director at Al-Mustafa Academy in Edmonton. He is also a certified settlement practitioner with the Alberta Association for Immigrant Serving Agencies (AAISA) and a member of the Alberta Teachers’ Association.
Xochilt Hernández
is an Adjunct Lecturer at the Universidad Americana (UAM) in Managua. She holds a Bachelors (Hons) in Anthropology and International Development Studies from Trent University. Her research interests include teacher education, international education and community development. At the time of publication, she is pursuing a Master of Philosophy in Education at the University of Cambridge.
Carrie Karsgaard
is a doctoral student in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Alberta, Canada, specializing in Theoretical, Cultural, and International Studies in Education. She is also a higher education professional, currently working within the International Programs and Services department at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus, where she initiated and directs the Intercultural Development Program.
Marlene E. McKay
is a faculty member at the University of Alberta, Faculty of Education. She was raised in Cumberland House, Saskatchewan and is a member of the Cumberland House Cree Nation. Marlene identifies as an Aboriginal feminist. Her research interests include anti-racism, social justice, feminism, and critical race theory. Marlene acknowledges and is grateful for having been raised by hard working Aboriginal women. This particular piece is a synopsis of her dissertation research.
Michael O’Sullivan
is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Education, Brock University. He has written on critical pedagogy and global education and, more recently, with co-author Harry Smaller, on the impact of International service learning on visiting students and on host communities.
Christina Palech
completed a Master of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alberta in November 2016. Christina is currently working as a spatial metadata technologist and is looking forward to growing her career in information management and librarianship.
Karen Pashby’s
work centres on critical engagements with global citizenship education. She is Senior Lecturer in Education Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University and contributor to its Education and Social Research Institute. She held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Oulu and the Centre for Global Citizenship Education and Research at University of Alberta. She completed her PhD at the University of Toronto where she coordinated the Global Citizenship and Sustainable Development cohort in teacher education.
Karen J. Pheasant-Neganigwane
is a dancer, writer, educator and artist. She has served as a cultural programmer/adviser from a local level to National table participation. Karen’s lifetime interest is with Indigenous knowledge sustainability in a contemporary context, as an educator, cultural theorist and writer. Pheasant’s other passion is with her dance where she has work-shopped, created, and choreographed several dance pieces. Currently, she is a PhD scholar with the University of Alberta, Faculty of Education.
Thashika Pillay
has a PhD in Educational Policy Studies from the University of Alberta. She has extensive teaching experience in K-12 and higher education, having taught in Canada, Australia, and Ethiopia. Her scholarship focuses on issues related to educational policy, migration studies, critical and anticolonial feminisms, community engagement and anti-racist pedagogies. Her work engages issues of social and cognitive justice, critical global citizenship and Indigenous knowledge systems and aims to recentre marginalized knowledges and perspectives.
Ashley Rerrie
holds a Master of Arts in Development Studies from York University. She is interested in the differences between charity and solidarity, the relationships between Canadian organizations and local communities in Nicaragua, and international service learning. She currently works in with a Canadian NGO in Nicaragua.
Grace Rwiza
has a PhD in Administration and Leadership in Education from the University of Alberta and received her master’s degree in education from the University of Dar es Salaam. She worked with the Ministry of Education Science and Technology, Tanzania. Her work experience includes regional education officer and Assistant Director, Primary Education Department, at the ministry level. Her scholarly interests include educational administration and leadership, global governance, diversity and inclusion in education.
Toni Samek
is a Professor and Chair at the School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alberta. Toni’s book projects include: Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility in American Librarianship 1967 to 1974; Librarianship and Human Rights: A Twenty-First Century Guide; She Was a Booklegger: Remembering Celeste West; and Information Ethics, Globalization and Citizenship: Essays on Ideas to Praxis. Toni serves on the Advisory Board of Canada’s Centre for Free Expression.
Lynette Shultz
PhD, is Associate Dean, International, and Director of the Centre for Global Citizenship Education and Research in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. She has published widely on the topics of education policy, democracy, social justice, and global citizenship with a particular focus on decolonialism and the geo-politics of knowledge. She teaches courses on the topics of internationalization, global governance and education policy, and global citizenship education at the University of Alberta and the Universidade Católica de Brasilia where she is an Adjunct Associate Professor.
Harry Smaller
is a now-retired school teacher and faculty member in Education at York University. He continues to research and write in the areas of international service learning, along with interests in teacher work and teacher unions.
Crain Soudien
is the CEO of the Human Sciences Research Council and formerly a Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Cape Town. His publications in the areas of social difference, culture, education policy, comparative education, educational change, public history and popular culture include three books, four edited collections and over 190 articles, reviews, reports, and book chapters. He holds a PhD from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Derek Tannis
has worked for over 20 years as an instructor, curriculum developer, evaluation coordinator and administrator in the fields of international education, global citizenship education and English for Academic Purposes. He is currently completing his doctorate at the University of Alberta in Educational Policy Studies. His avid interest in phenomenology extends into his work, studies and enjoyment of taking long walks along the Saskatchewan River Valley.
Irene Friesen Wolfstone
lives in a round home on sacred land in Pinawa, Manitoba, located in the Canadian Shield. She is engaged in doctoral studies at the University of Alberta where she explores the links between matriculture, food sovereignty and climate change adaptation. She earned a Master of Arts in Integrated Studies from Athabasca University where her thesis focused on relationality with nature. You can read more about Irene’s work at www.terramandala.ca.