Congratulations to all of our Graduate Students and their Supervisors on the successful defence of their PhD dissertations, and or MA thesis.
2026
Kathryn Ovenell-Carter
Master of Arts (MA) | Science Education
May | 2026
Dissertation Title | Shaping teacher beliefs through implementing a socioscientific issue-based curriculum: an autoethnographic account
Supervisor | Dr. Samson Nashon
Nashwa, Khedr
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
March | 2026
Dissertation Title | TEACHER AGENCY IN NEOLIBERAL AUTHORITARIAN CONTEXTS: NEGOTIATIONS, CONSTRAINTS, AND POSSIBILITIES
Supervisor | Dr. E. Wayne Ross
Sushmita, Roy
Master of Arts (MA) | MTSE
April | 2026
Dissertation Title | Poems Travel, Scales Don’t: What India’s Largest Preschool System Misses About STEM Learning
Supervisor | Dr. Samia Khan
2025
Stephen McGinley
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
November | 2025
Dissertation Title | Much the same or radical change? The case for a multisectoral approach to quality physical education
Supervisor | Dr. LeAnne Petherick
Jill Morris
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
October | 2025
Dissertation Title | A curriculum of revelation: Jean-Luc Marion’s saturated phenomena in the classroom
Supervisor | Dr. Anne Phelan
Elise Chu
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
September | 2025
Dissertation Title | Understanding curriculum as play: transdisciplinarity, spirituality, and consciousness
Supervisor | Dr. Anne Phelan
Roshni Warnakulasuriya
Master of Arts (MA) | Health, Outdoor and Physical Education
September | 2025
Dissertation Title | A narrative inquiry of international graduate students’ (shifting) understandings of health and how they navigate healthcare in Canada
Supervisor | Dr. Shawn Forde
Manisha Tripathy
Master of Arts (MA) | Art Education
September | 2025
Dissertation Title | Embracing glitches: exploring AI’s limitations and creative opportunities in contemporary art education
Supervisor | Dr. Anita Sinner
Kieran Forde
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
August | 2025
Dissertation Title | Pilgrimage, reorientation, and reconciliation: teacher inquiry and the curriculum of the self
Supervisor | Dr. Jillianne Code
Seray Cagla Keles Elbasan
Master of Arts (MA) | Health, Outdoor and Physical Education
August | 2025
Dissertation Title | Gendered experiences in climbing: how being a woman changes the whole experience of the sport
Supervisor | Dr. LeAnne Petherick
Hsuan-Yu Tsao
Master of Arts (MA) | Social Studies Education
July | 2025
Dissertation Title | Between inclusive discourse and normative institutions: a queer analysis of Taiwan’s gender equity education act
Supervisor | Dr. Harper Keenan
Megan Zeni
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
June | 2025
Dissertation Title | Expanding understandings of outdoor play and learning in K-8 elementary schools
Supervisor | Dr. Leyton Schnellert
Cristina Soto Quintero
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
June | 2025
Dissertation Title | Pablo superstar: public pedagogies in Generation Z’s cultural memory of Escobar and narco-trafficking
Co-Supervisors | Dr. Jillianne Code and Dr. Kerry Renwick
Serene Rodrigues
Master of Arts (MA) | Science Education
June | 2025
Dissertation Title | Instructor experiences with alternative grading at the University of British Columbia
Supervisor | Dr. Marina Milner-Bolotin
Dayne (Daeyoung) Goh
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
June | 2025
Dissertation Title | Reimagining citizenship in unification education: the discursive formation of naturalized citizens in a divided Korea
Supervisor | Dr. E Wayne Ross
Lindsay Snyder
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
May | 2025
Dissertation Title | Unboxing object-based learning: exploring teachers’ object-based pedagogies with museum kits in elementary classrooms
Supervisor | Dr. David Anderson
ldiko Kovacs
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
May | 2025
Dissertation Title | Participatory Planning Pedagogy and curriculum for environmental and sustainability education: a children’s right to the city initiative
Supervisor | Dr. Samia Khan
Lee Iskander
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
April | 2025
Dissertation Title | Gender normativity in teacher education: a critical participatory action research study with trans and gender nonconforming preservice teachers in Canada
Co-Supervisors | Dr. Harper Keenan and Dr. Leyton Schnellert
Yukiko Kaneko
Master of Arts (MA) | Art Education
March | 2025
Thesis Title | Artist-in-residence as space, place, and curriculum: becoming betweenness within material entanglement at the Aomori Contemporary Art Centre
Supervisor | Dr. Anita Sinner
Maria Athie Martinez
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
January | 2025
Dissertation Title | Understanding reconciliation in the classroom: teachers’ responses to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Calls to Action
Supervisor | Dr. Cynthia Nicol
2024
Diana Royea
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
December | 2024
Thesis title | Preservice teachers’ experiences of learning study in an elementary mathematics education course: an activity theory-informed phenomenological inquiry
Supervisor | Dr. Cynthia Nicol
Liya Ma
Master of Arts (MA) | Curriculum Studies
December | 2024
Thesis title | Teaching from east to west: Chinese immigrant teachers negotiating professional teacher identity
Supervisor | Dr. Lisa Loutzenheiser
Julia Nord-Leth
Master of Arts (MA) | Health, Outdoor and Physical Education
December | 2024
Thesis title | Fresh air, fresh perspectives: teachers’ experiences, COVID-19, outdoor learning, and holistic health
Supervisor | Dr. LeAnne Petherick
Elysia Jellema
Master of Arts (MA) | Science Education
December | 2024
Thesis title | Understanding secondary science teachers’ beliefs through a learning study in the context of socioscientific issues
Supervisor | Dr. Yuen Sze Michelle Tan
Scott Robertson
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
November | 2024
Dissertation title | Teaching from multiple midsts: autonomous secondary ELA teachers negotiating agencies in the context of K-12 curricular revision
Supervisor | Dr. Anthony Clarke
Brittney Townrow
Master of Arts (MA) in Curriculum Studies
October | 2024
Thesis title | Indigenous allyship in the classroom: a self-study of Indigenous education within the BC curriculum
Supervisor | Dr. Shannon Leddy
Marzieh Mosavarzadeh
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies (Art Education)
October | 2024
Dissertation title | Making–place a/r/tographically: invitations to framing and threading and bridging
Supervisor | Dr. Rita Irwin
Dana Lee
Master of Arts (MA) | Curriculum Studies
August | 2024
Thesis title | ChildCareBC initiatives: a Foucauldian-inspired policy analysis
Supervisor | Dr. Anne Phelan
Meghan Allen
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies (Science Education)
August | 2024
Dissertation title | An in-depth exploration of student experiences and perspectives of learning technical writing in undergraduate computer science education
Supervisor | Dr. Anne Phelan
Ken Morimoto
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies (Art Education)
July | 2024
Dissertation title | Walking an a/r/tographic garden: propositions with art education, curriculum theory, and love
Supervisor | Dr. Rita Irwin
Shahidul Islam
Master of Arts (MA) | Science Education
July | 2024
Thesis title | British Columbian and Bangladeshi secondary science teachers’ views on the role of professional learning communities in the growth of their knowledge for teaching
Supervisor | Dr. Marina Milner Bolotin
Margaret O’Sullivan
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies (Music Education)
June | 2024
Dissertation title | Community music making and learning for the 21st century: autoethnographic stories, touchstones of quality, and positive youth development
Supervisor | Dr. Peter Gouzouasis
Suresh Ghimire
Master of Arts (MA) | Curriculum Studies
June | 2024
Thesis title | Hands-on pedagogies in science classrooms: exploring Nepali teachers’ perspectives on learning kits and inquiry-based science learning
Supervisor | Dr. Marina Milner Bolotin
Laura Werbitsky
Master of Arts (MA) | Curriculum Studies
June | 2024
Thesis title | Exploring how discourses of curriculum reform shape teachers’ subjectivities
Supervisor | Dr. Anne Phelan
Ting Zhang
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies (Mathematics Education)
April | 2024
Dissertation title | Exploring children’s mathematics learning and self-regulation in robotics
Supervisor | Dr. Ann Anderson
Angela Baldus
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies (Art Education)
March | 2024
Dissertation title | Art, address, and correspondence: variations on pedagogical presence
Supervisor | Dr. Rita Irwin
Tsubasa Saito
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies (Math Education)
March | 2024
Dissertation title | Sense-making in learning mathematics across languages and countries: cases of multilingual students in a weekend Japanese school (hoshuko)
Supervisor | Dr. Susan Gerofsky
David Strich
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies (Science Education)
January | 2024
Dissertation title | Exploring Students’ Understandings and Perspectives of Place: The Case of Place in a Skagit Valley
Supervisor | Dr. Sandra Scott and Dr. Samson Nashon
2023
Naomi Kawamura
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies (Social Studies Education)
December | 2023
Dissertation title | The intergenerational transfer of nikkei memory: museums facing the absence of “witness” founders
Supervisor | Dr. Penney Clark
Matthew Isherwood
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies (Art Education)
November | 2023
Dissertation title | Towards a pedagogy of disidentification: the promise of queer aesthetic sensibility as a cultivated disposition
Supervisor(s) | Dr. Rita Irwin and Dr. William Pinar
Travis Fuchs
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
August | 2023
Dissertation title | Engaging in Socially Responsible Science Education (SRSE): professional development of secondary science teachers through a Learning study approach
Supervisor | Dr. Yuen Sze Michelle Tan
Conan Chung Man Lee
Master of Arts (MA) | Science Education
May | 2023
Thesis title | Science learning through YouTube comments on science videos embedding movies
Supervisor | Dr. Marina Milner-Bolotin
Renee Diemert
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
May | 2023
Dissertation title | Exploring International Baccalaureate students’ experiences of community-based learning: an interpretive case study
Supervisor | Dr. Cynthia Nicol
Hannah Sanvido
Master of Arts (MA) | Health, Outdoor & Physical Education
May | 2023
Thesis title | Women and nonbinary people’s understandings of their sports-based activism
Supervisor | Dr. Shawn Forde
Kshamta Hunter
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
February | 2023
Dissertation title | Urban youth sustainability leaders’ leadership competencies in engaging transformative social innovative solutions for local wicked problems
Supervisor | Dr. Samson Nashon
Joann Ihuoma Anokwuru
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
January | 2023
Dissertation title | Living and Learning with Disabilities in Nigeria: An Ecological Narrative Inquiry
Supervisor(s) | Dr. Karen Meyer and Dr. Leyton Schnellert
2022
Anna Ryoo
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies | Art Education
November | 2022
Dissertation title | Art, education, Arendt : political and aesthetic gestures of amor mundi
Supervisor(s) | Dr. Rita Irwin and Dr. Samuel D. Rocha
2021
Angela Rutakomozibwa
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies | Science Education
December | 2021
Dissertation title | Effect of computer simulations on female students’ motivation for and engagement with physics learning: a case of secondary schools in Tanzania
Supervisor(s) | Dr. Samson Nashon and Dr. Sandra Scott
Anne Hales
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
December | 2021
Dissertation Title | Towards a genealogy of the mentor in early career teacher mentorship programs
Supervisor | Dr. Anne Phelan
Haideh Hashemi Nouri
Master of Arts (MA)
December | 2021
Thesis Title | Becoming anew as an educator: thinking with Arendt through narrative
Supervisor | Dr. Anne Phelan
Alexis Gonzalez Donoso
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies | Science Education
November | 2021
Dissertation Title | Exploring in-Service Science Teachers’ Assessment Literacy on Teaching with Models
Supervisor | Dr. Samia Khan
Fay Bigloo
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
October | 2021
Dissertation Title | Cosmo-Currere: To Understand Curriculum as Bio-Geospheric Justice and Terra-Didactic Text
Supervisor | Dr. William Pinar
Amanda Fritzlan
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies | Mathematics Education
September | 2021
Dissertation Title | A Narrative Inquiry Into Teachers’ Experiences with Community, Place, and Indigenous Knowledge in Mathematics Education
Supervisor | Dr. Cynthia Nicol
Keenan Way
Master of Arts (MA) | Home Economics Education
August | 2021
Thesis Title | Women’s experiences of knowledge sharing, empowerment & connecting through domestic cooking
Supervisor | Dr. Kerry Renwick
Bruce Moghtader
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
August | 2021
Dissertation Title | Human capital theory of education
Supervisor | Dr. William Pinar
Kwesi Yaro
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies | Mathematics Education
August | 2021
Dissertation Title | Understanding African immigrant families’ support for their children’s mathematics learning in Canada
Supervisor | Dr. Ann Anderson
Current Position | Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Alberta
Katie Gemmell
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
July | 2021
Dissertation Title | “No longer missionary”: The Sisters of St. Ann and Vancouver’s Catholic Schools in the Long 1960s
Supervisor | Dr. Penney Clark
Nicole Lee
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies | Art Education
July | 2021
Dissertation Title | Squares for Breathing, Becoming and Beholding: Cultivating a Relationship with the Unknown
Supervisor | Dr. Rita Irwin
Current Position | Assistant Professor, Art Education, Division of Art History and Contemporary Culture, NSCAD University.
Kimberly Baker
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies | Art Education
June | 2021
Dissertation Title | Wayfinding Peace: Museums in Conflict Zones
Supervisor | Dr. Rita Irwin
Jiyoung Kate Shim
Master of Arts (MA) | Science Education
April | 2021
Thesis Title | Secondary science teachers’ views on climate change education in British Columbia
Supervisor | Dr. Samson Nashon
Mitsy Kwang Dae Chung
Master of Arts (MA) | Art Education
April | 2021
Thesis Title | Early childhood educators’ dialogical engagement in an artmaking space
Supervisor | Dr. Sandrine Han
Mathew Yanko
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies | Art Education
March | 2021
Dissertation Title | Living Assessment: The Artful Assessment of Learning in the Arts
Supervisor | Dr. Peter Gouzousis
LJ Slovin
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies
March | 2021
Dissertation Title | “Keep it Confusing”: Gender Nonconforming Youth Resisting Structures of Legibility in High School
Supervisor | Dr. Lisa Loutzenheiser
Blake Smith
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Curriculum Studies | Art Education
March | 2021
Dissertation Title | Being Against Disappearance: A Photographic Inquiry Through an A/r/tographic Lens
Supervisor | Dr. Rita Irwin