The Graduate Facilitator Team has a long history at UBC, a history of innovation and creativity, as well as dedication to teaching and learning. This history is largely due to the hard work of our graduate student facilitator team, who have consistently experimented with and reimagined teaching and facilitation in their work. Because our team is made up of graduate students, who move on to new and wonderful things once they finish their degrees, we have a lot of alumni who have enriched the team greatly before handing the reins over to new facilitators, who benefit from the accumulated insight, reflection, ideas, and resources developed by facilitators before. Thank you to all of you!
This page will grow as we hear from former UBC grad team facilitators. If you are a former grad team facilitator, please contact us with your information so we can put it up on this page!
Lara Aiken
Wafa Asadian
Mali Bain
Natalie Baloy
Vilte Barakauskas
Emily Beausoleil
Tim Came
Paul Carter
Deb Chen
Matt Coles
Alex Dauth
Ozlem Deniz
Darryn DiFrancesco
Matt Dyce
Negar Elmieh
Janel Fergusson
Leigh Gabel
Erin Graham
Jocelyn Hallman
Gwen Haworth
Emma Holmes
Nora Houlahan
Isabeau Iqbal
Jennifer Jasper
Nadine Kallas
Anna Kaye
Chuck Kosman
Ying Yin Lau
Anka Lekhi
Peter Lelievre
David Lin
Jan Lüdert
Katherine Lyon
Stephen (Steve) Mattucci
John Mavin
Jason McAlister
Jennifer McQueen
Brad Millington
Desiree Mou
Jennifer Moule
Alain Musende
Lindsay Nettlefold
Catherine Paul
Ingrid Price
Rowshan Rahmanian
April Randhawa
Heidi Ravenel
Catherine Rawn
Arnab Ray
Katharina Rothe
Paloma Salas
David Semeniuck
Graham Shaw
Russell Smith
Shawna Starnes
Christine Sumner
Rebecca Taylor
Bjorn Thomson
Nora Timmerman
Serbulent (Serb) Turan
Anousha Zardin
Cole Zmurchok
When Wafa joined our team in 2015, she was a PhD candidate in the faculty of education specializing in “Human Development, Learning and Culture” and sub-specializing in “Measurement, Evaluation, and Research Methodology”. Her dissertation research is focused on the involvement of patients with chronic conditions in the education of health professionals. Wafa’s vision is that our educational institutions will become inclusive spaces in which they accommodate and incorporate the voices of the people who they are responsible to serve.
Wafa took the ISW in January 2011 and found the experience transformative. After the ISW, Wafa aspired to become a facilitator on the Graduate Student Programs team at CTLT and to assist other graduate students in this transformative journey. Wafa expressed that she was fortunate to be working along an amazing team of graduates and graduate students who each offer a unique set of skills to the program.
Mali grew up in Port McNeill on Kwakwaka’wakw territory on Vancouver Island and since then she spent time in many places – Vancouver, Thailand, Nigeria, and Kenya. Mali has degrees in international relations, secondary education, and adult education. Her masters’ research took a decolonizing approach to community-university partnership. In the few years prior to joining the Graduate Student Programs, Mali found herself teaching high school at an international school, coordinating a tutor-mentorship program in East Vancouver, leading teams of teachers to co-lead teacher professional development in Kenya. At UBC, Mali was part of building a student learning outcomes matrix for community-based experiential learning, developed communities of practice for faculty and staff, and before leaving UBC, she worked with units across campus building an institution-wide approach to UBC’s commitment to community engagement.
Mali enjoyed her time collaborating with the amazing graduate facilitators’ team, and was always particularly intrigued by the ways that different disciplines approach teaching and learning. Mali’s Website
Tim joined the Graduate Student Facilitator Team (GSFT) in January 2006, while completing graduate work in political science. He enjoyed many opportunities to facilitate Instructional Skills Workshops (ISWs), Presentation Skills Workshops (PSWs), and a range of shorter workshops and seminars for CTLT (formerly TAG) and UBC departments. Tim explained: “The facilitators and participants I’ve worked with have taught me a great deal, but there is always much more to learn, and the opportunity to do so is part of what makes this work so rewarding”.
Most rewarding is the opportunity to support people working to more effectively share what they can offer others as teachers or presenters. One of the friends and mentors who first invited Tim to join the GSFT described what he does as: recognizing people; pointing out strengths, capacities, or accomplishments that they may not have noticed or considered worthy of notice; and helping them to build on these. Tim saw that much of what we are “about” on the team reflects this kind of appreciative attention, encouragement, and empowerment. This theme also runs through his work with high school and undergraduate students and continues as he enters areas like Formative Peer Review of Teaching and Open Educational Resources. Tim maintained collaboration with our team until several years after he was no longer a student at UBC and contributed to our shared endeavour.
After completing an Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) for graduate students at UBC in 1992, I was one of the first graduate students to be trained as an ISW facilitator. Signing up for the ISW was one of the best decisions I ever made. The ISW and my experience as a workshop facilitator fundamentally changed my view of teaching and learning. I graduated from UBC with a PhD in 1993 and was hired as an instructor in the Pure & Applied Sciences Division of Capilano College in North Vancouver. I joined the faculty at UBC in 2001 and am now a Professor of Teaching in the Computer Science department. I am particularly interested in the use of technology to enhance learning and in the application of the “flipped classroom” to facilitate active learning during scheduled class time. Paul’s Website
Deb has a PhD in cell biology and transfusion medicine from the Centre for Blood Research. Her thesis project aimed to understand the impact of donor variability as well as the application of pathogen inactivation technology on red cell product quality, focusing on the differences in red cell membrane proteins.As a perpetual student, she is constantly on the lookout for opportunities to grow in different, and often chaotic, directions. Teaching was one of those many exploratory undertakings that serendipitously came into focus. Her experience at the ISW anchored her decision to cultivate her teaching practice in a more intentional and reflective manner.
Deb joined the Graduate Student Facilitator Team in May 2014. She has facilitated ISWs at CTLT as well as several TA training workshops for various departments. She is also an FDW trainer, and a Graduate Student Certificate Program alumni. As a Graduate Student Facilitator, Deb aimed to inspire and to support other graduate students on their personal journeys to teach with fervor.
Deb is currently an Educational Developer at CTLT.
Matt holds a PhD from the Department of Mathematics. He studied Partial Differential Equations (specifically the Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation). When Matt joined the Graduate Student Programs, he had already been teaching and involved with ISW and TA training in his home department. Matt always looks forward to the fruitful discussions and sharing of ideas that come so easily in these workshops. He finds much joy and value in peer facilitation and strives to provide participants with the best possible environment in which to grow, reflect, and make a lasting impact on their teaching.
After 10 years as a secondary school mathematics teacher in Turkey, Ozlem completed her Master’s degree at UBC, and started doing her PhD in Curriculum Studies with her research focus on mathematics education. Ozlem investigated the place of text such as textbooks and worksheets in secondary school mathematics classrooms. Ozlem worked as a research assistant in Dr. Susan Gerofsky’s project using gesture and movement for diagnosis and intervention to help secondary students engage with features of the graphs of functions. Ozlem was a member of the Graduate Student Facilitator Team at CTLT between 2013-2014. She enjoyed her role of ISW-facilitator and found each one of the ISW’s a new opportunity to share her teaching experience from two different countries, reflect on her experience, learn from peers and take risks. Ozlem is also a yoga practitioner and her favorite thing to do is doing yoga with her young daughter.
Janel started working as a grad facilitator in 2013, and has been involved in ISWs and specialized TA training workshops. Janel also teaches as a Sessional Instructor in the Department of Psychology.
Erin graduated in the fall of 2014 with a PhD in Educational Studies, but continued to facilitate Graduate ISWs and other workshops, as well as the odd Faculty ISW. Erin was on the Graduate Student Facilitator team from 2007. Her PhD research was concerned with Vancouver’s peculiar obsession with harm reduction as a favoured response to social problems (beginning with illicit drug use and proliferating to many other things, including male violence against women), and how the ideology attached to its use here is contradictory to feminist anti-violence activism, services and organizing. Erin’s background is in transition house and rape crisis work and also mental health work. She facilitated a number of support and volunteer training groups before she started graduate school, and became more curious, interested and inspired about teaching and facilitation when she joined facilitation team. Erin also wrote stories and non-fiction, pump iron, play accordion and nurtured her friendships as I am able. She expressed that she was better at the friendships part than the accordion part. Erin likes to vacation in the Prairies, because nothing gets in the way of the view and the smell of cottonwoods by the river is intoxicating.
Emma connected to CTLT after taking the ISW to better prepare herself for her TA role she was expected to perform during her M.Sc in Soil Science. She really connected to the focus on participatory learning and was eager to continue her involvement in the CTLT and ISW communities. Emma worked with the graduate team in 2011 and 2012 facilitating graduate ISW’s and PSW’s, as well as the ISW Community of Practice. Her experience with CTLT empowered her to start a TA Training program in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems.
After completing her M.Sc. in 2012, Emma worked in the field of sustainable food systems. Emma is still really enthusiastic about facilitation and delivers peer-based participatory workshops related to sustainable soil management and compost in my community.
Leigh has a PhD in the Experimental Medicine Program. She was a member of the CTLT graduate student facilitator team between 2013-2017, facilitating ISWs and refresher series workshops. Leigh pursued graduate school because she wanted a career in teaching and found a love of research along the way. Participating in the ISW at the start of her PhD was incredibly eye opening and exposed her to a teaching philosophy that was almost entirely in contrast to her own undergraduate education experience. Leigh was captivated by the emphasis on participatory learning and how certain techniques could enhance learning and teaching. She felt fortunate to be a member of the GSFT because it gave her the opportunity to help grad students improve and reflect upon their teaching practice, while allowing her to learn from her fellow facilitators.
Since 2004, Isabeau has enjoyed facilitating workshops on a variety of topics that include teaching portfolios, feedback and communication, peer review of teaching, mentorship, and other aspects of teaching and learning. Isabeau is an Instructional Skills Workshop and Presentation Skills Workshop facilitator and most of her experience is within UBC. She brings energy, creativity and care to her facilitation and thoroughly enjoys learning from the workshop participants and her co-facilitators.
Isabeau’s disciplinary background is Education (Higher Education) and her professional experience is as an Educational Developer. Isabeau is also Sessional Instructor in the Bachelor of Education program at UBC.
Nadine holds an MA from the School of Kinesiology. Her research explores the perspectives of refugee women in relation to health, physical activity, and migration. As a graduate student, Nadine was a teaching assistant and a KIN grad student representative. She felt privileged to interact with the diversity of students on UBC campus, where she started her undergraduate degree in 2008. Nadine was also an exam invigilator at Access and Diversity where she oversaw and organized exams as part of a team that aims to remove barriers to provide more equitable learning opportunities for students with disabilities. Nadine’s passion for learning and teaching has been an ongoing part of her life as she was taught in different school systems around the world and experienced diverse learning environments in Vancouver, Brunei, and the U.A.E. Nadine was very grateful and honored to be part of the CTLT graduate team, where she took joy in promoting facilitative teaching and contributing to the learning experiences of other graduate students. As a facilitator Nadine hoped to support ISW participants develop into more learner-centered instructors and to challenge their teaching philosophies to include more inclusive, accessible, and active learning opportunities!
Ying has a PhD from the the Chemistry Department at UBC and and her research was focused on the creation of inexpensive and low toxicity metal catalysts for the production of biologically relevant molecules. Catalysts accelerate difficult chemical reactions without undergoing any permanent change. They can also be reused, which reduces chemical waste and cost.
Ying joined the graduate student team at the CTLT in 2015 and not only found it to be a wonderful chance to improve her teaching skills, but also a satisfying departure from the research focus.
Jan Lüdert is a Liu Scholar. He holds a PhD in Political Science, and a Masters of Arts in International Relations from the Australian National University. Jan specializes in International Relations, with a research and teaching focus on Global Governance. His PhD dissertation focuses on the durability and changes of state sovereignty in view of non-state actors working at the United Nations.
Jan was a member of the Graduate Facilitator Team between 2014 and 2016. He was deeply involved in flexible learning approaches and intercultural communication. Jan previously trained international graduate students at UBC’s Centre for Intercultural Communication and co-piloted the Graduate Teaching Assistant Training Program in his home department. In 2010 Jan was awarded the UBC Killiam Graduate Teaching Award. He loves Bauhaus aesthetics/pedagogy: simplicity, function and form. He enjoys learning from ISW participants and the great facilitators team at CTLT. In his free time Jan cooks, runs in Stanley Park and spins vinyl’s.
Between September 2015 and August 2016 Jan worked with the Graduate Student Programs Team at CTLT as the Graduate Certificate Program Assistant.
Katherine joined CTLT’s Graduate Student Facilitator Team in 2014. She facilitated Instructional Skills Workshops and participated in the TA Training Communities of Practice. She also collected and analyzed qualitative data on students’ learning experiences through her appointment with the Flexible Learning Initiative, Vice-President Students Office. Katherine actively engaged with teaching and learning scholarship by collaborating on projects across campus in the areas of learner diversity, instructional design, program evaluation, and flexible learning.
As an instructor, Katherine taught introductory sociology courses with international student English Language Learners. She enjoyed developing instructional strategies to meet the needs of linguistically and culturally diverse learners. Katherine holds a PhD from the Department of Sociology at UBC, where she Co-Chaired the Peer Mentorship Program, assisted with TA Training, and served on the Sociology Teaching Repository committee.
Steve has a PhD in Biomedical Engineering He did his research on spinal cord injury. He started working with CTLT as a Facilitator in 2014, and was also developing and facilitating the Applied Science TA Training program. During his free time he likes to get into the mountains: snowboarding in the winter, and backcountry camping in the summer.
Upon arriving at UBC I expected dynamic research opportunities and lively scientific discourse, and indeed it is what I found. However, I found much more than I ever expected in the opportunities available for professional development within the spheres of teaching and learning at UBC and specifically CTLT. As a participant learning about learning objectives, active learning, and assessment, it was as if someone was reading my own teaching philosophy that I myself had not read. I was very honoured to be invited to be a facilitator on the Graduate Student Facilitator Team (GSFT) and upon completing the Facilitator Development Workshop I began on the amazing adventure of facilitating ISWs. As a facilitator I strive to provide space for participants to extract their own transformative experience from the ISW.
Additionally, I am fortunate to coordinate the GSFT, a team of graduate students facilitating providing Professional Development workshops to graduate students in departments and faculties across UBC. Our facilitator team is simply amazing, the innovation shown by our team in facilitating ISWs and other professional development services to the UBC community keeps us on the cutting edge of teaching and learning and facilitation practice.
Every time I enter CTLT I am struck by a sense of space, much of which can be attributed to the diverse backgrounds of individuals working across a wide spectrum of activities all culminating in teaching and learning. My overarching goal is to help the GSFT succeed in this space and promote the GSFT within CTLT.
I am from Hamilton, Ontario, and hold a PhD in Educational Studies with a focus on Early Childhood Education – which I studied for my Master’s degree at UBC as well. I facilitated Instructional Skills Workshops between 2011-2015 and enjoyed fostering a supportive environment for participants to take risks in teaching.
Having switched from one engineering discipline to another in his PhD, Rowshan took the ISW in 2010 hoping to increase his chances of getting a TAship in his new department. It was a failure! He didn’t get to TA that year, nor the year after. But his life became “ISW-ed”, and was never the same again.
Rowshan joined the Graduate Facilitator Team in 2012 and facilitated Instructional Skills, Presentation Skills, and TA training workshops, as frequently as he could manage without disqualifying himself as a PhD candidate in Electrical Engineering. Getting to learn about the concept of facilitation, inspired by fabulous mentors and colleagues, totally transformed not only the way he teaches and learns, but the way he is; a transformative experience which has kept happening to this day.
Rowshan is currently the CIRTL Program Coordinator at CTLT. He started in this role in March 2018.
After receiving my PhD in Psychology in 2009, I began teaching full time and am currently a Senior Instructor in the Psychology Department at UBC. I regularly teach learners a variety of topics, including introductory psychology, quantitative research methods and statistics, applied social psychology, as well as a graduate seminar on teaching. My newest course in development is Social Media Psychology. In my view, I am teaching most effectively when students are energetically collaborating to examine, use, and create knowledge. A few years ago I co-authored a quantitative research methods textbook (Canadian edition), updated it last year (in press in 2016), and regularly collaborate with colleagues and students on various Scholarship of Teaching and Learning projects. I also continue the work I began as a graduate student facilitator by maintaining the TA Training program within the Psychology Department. Recently, I have begun engaging in questions of curriculum. Since summer 2014 I have been a member of the Faculty of Arts Curriculum Committee and Chair the Psychology Department Curriculum Committee, where I am spearheading the articulation of Program Outcomes and am about to start curriculum mapping. The experience, skills, perspectives, and identity I developed as part of the grad team (2007-2009) continue to serve me well in my teaching career. See my full portfolio, including teaching statement, publications, and student evaluations, at www.psych.ubc.ca/~cdrawn.
In addition to my career interests, I enjoy exploring the world of BC wine with my husband and friends, running around beautiful Vancouver training for half marathons, reading with book clubs filled with smart women (not by exclusion, but by connection), and travelling wherever conferences take me.
Want to find out more about life as a teaching-track faculty member? Contact me cdrawn AT psych DOT ubc DOT ca, Twitter @cdrawn. Let’s do coffee!
Arnab has a Master’s degree from the faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and worked in a lab that focuses on ion channel excitability disorders like epilepsy. His own research interest was to investigate the common pathways that neurodegenerative disease like alzheimer’s disease shares with epilepsy. Arnab did his ISW in September 2015 and found the workshop to be a memorable experience because of his fellow participants and facilitators. Arnab has always been interested in teaching and thinks ISW helped drive home the message that enabling and empowering the students by letting them generate and drive the discussions is a powerful way to facilitate learning. Arnab joined the Graduate Student Facilitators team to support the professional and personal development of graduate students, and above all else ensure that they have something to take away from the ISW.
I hold a PhD in Medical Genetics performing research in blood cancers. While I love Science, I have also recently discovered my passion for teaching. I am delighted to be part of the amazing Graduate Student Facilitator Team at CTLT where I can provide help to those who seek to explore and improve their individual strengths as instructors as well as facilitators. Everyone follows his/her own personal journey and it is my great pleasure to guide learners on their way. I am continuously learning myself and appreciate a focus on fostering and developing skills, as well as a welcoming, respectful and nurturing atmosphere where the personal journey of learning can happen.
I am studying in the School of Population and Public Health where I am working on a PhD thesis about the use of evidence to inform health policy and resource allocation. I did my training with the ISW and FDW in 2014. When I joined the team I was much older than most of my graduate-student colleagues which meant that I had a range of experience – some of it as an educator and facilitator. I lived in Australia for 30 years where I was a psychologist working in schools, communities and in prisons. I learned quite a bit about experiential learning and group work in my work as a psychologist and found ways of applying it to teaching outdoor recreation skills and management practices to managers of outdoor education and recreation facilities. I was very excited about my learning journey as a part of the Graduate ISW team.
Christine has a PhD in the Animal Welfare Program from the Faculty of Land and Food Systems. Her research focused on how dairy farmers and veterinarians perceive calf welfare issues and, on their motivation to make changes to improve conditions for the animals. Christine has worked with exotic and domestic animals in zoological, sanctuary, educational, and farm settings where experiential teaching and learning played a major role in how she views herself as an educator. In 2017, Christine earned her Certificate in Advanced Teaching and Learning and also joined the Graduate Student Team.
I am a PhD Candidate with the Department of Political Science at UBC where I specialize in Political Theory. There, I was also responsible for co-piloting his department’s TA Training program for 3 years. I joined the Grad Facilitator team mid-2013 and since then have had the remarkable luck of facilitating over a dozen Instructional Skills Workshops and a good number of other workshops and TA Training sessions at UBC. After all that time I am still slightly surprised how much this experience has added to my time at UBC and, to this day, continuously pushes me to reflect on all aspects of teaching. Besides the professional development it is fantastic to be surrounded by so many thoughtful, passionate people and so many vibrant, fresh ideas. To me, this environment is conducive to a mindset that is constantly on the lookout for new insights, practices and discussions on teaching and learning. It is this process of constant discovery and learning that I try to duplicate with my facilitation.
I was the Lead Facilitator between 2015-2017, and in that role I acted as the point person for our remarkably talented and diverse Graduate Student Facilitator Team, and assisted them with any and all needs they may have in regards to facilitation.
Cole has a PhD in Applied Mathematics using mathematics to study biology.
He has worked as an instructor, teaching assistant, and workshop facilitator in the Mathematics Department, but was first introduced to the world of teaching and learning while working as a ski instructor.
Although very little mathematics (and even less skiing) occurs during a typical workshop at CTLT, Cole found it very rewarding to guide workshop participants through their own learning, and to simultaneously learn from participants and co-facilitators. Cole was thrilled to be a part of the Graduate Student Facilitation Team, and we were thrilled to have him as part of our team!