Elizabeth Gatbonton is Professor Emeritus in Applied Linguistics in the Department of Education, Concordia University. She has conducted research on issues in teacher development, teacher cognition, second language pedagogy, curriculum and materials development, the social aspects of language learning, and language revitalization. She is currently helping the Newfoundland and Labrador Inuit to develop a curriculum and teaching materials to revitalize their endangered language, Inuttitut.
Melissa Proietti was born and raised in the city of Montreal. Since a young age she has been involved in different community organizations working with youth in sports and leisure programs. Working closely with many local artists, she has developed a curriculum for her masters thesis which can be used by teachers as a guideline for incorporating urban arts culture into their classrooms. With the experience and drive to bring this culture to the classroom, Proietti has started her PhD at McGill in the department of integrated studies in education. Her research is based around bringing the visual urban arts into the curriculum of an inner-city school in Montreal. Recently Proietti also developed the first Montreal event, The Queens Creation festival, which focus entirely on women in the urban arts. Currently Proietti works at a YMCA in Montreal as teen programs coordinator and continues to run Under Pressure as it heads into its 19th year of existence.
Lisa Trimble is a Faculty Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at McGill University, and an educational consultant who has been working with Kativik School Board as part of a team helping to develop the first blended learning courses for Inuit teachers in Nunavik. Her research interests include emotionality in learning, digital story-telling, adult learners, and ways schools can partner with communities to advance collectively defined goals around justice, equity and student needs.
Kamran Shaikh is a lecturer and researcher in Educational Technology at Concordia University. His mixed-methods research explores issues in science and technology education, instructional systems and user experience as well as ontological and epistemological analyses. His ongoing research and development is with the "Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance", "Learning for Life" and "Topic Map" laboratories. He also has a particular interest in 'ecological' explorations, including but not limited to novel analyses of environments (e.g. usability and user experience, content and context) as well as the development and promotion of sustainable education.
Jean-Paul Remillieux has been teaching in the field of computer networking for the past 15 years. As Director of Educational Technologies at the McGill School of Continuing Studies, he supervises the design, development and delivery of online and blended courses and programs. He completed a Diploma in Educational Technologies at Concordia in 2009.
Michael Canuel is an educator/entrepreneur with over 40 years of experience in education and business. Currently he serves as the CEO of LEARN, the Chairman (and co-Founder of the Canadian e-Learning Network), and Senior Educational Advisor to Thailand's One Tablet Per Child Initiative. His doctoral studies are in the field of e-learning and the preparation of teachers transitioning from the face to face environment to the virtual classroom setting. In addition, he is involved and partnering with a Silicon Valley company and Stanford University in the development of a fully-curated learning object repository which will integrate intelligent analytics used for predictive and diagnostics applications.
Micheal Finck is an undergraduate student in Concordia's School of Community and Public Affairs, the External Relations Coordinator for Sustainable Concordia, and a Community Organizer with Climate Justice Montreal. He is currently working on "Organizing Sustainability: Justice and Empowerment in Environmental Advocacy," an 8 week popular education series blending community organizing skills and sustainability issues.
Cveta Voicheva is close to completing her MA in Educational Studies at Concordia University. Her project explores volunteers in the Concordia Greenhouse learning about herbs.
Isabelle Mailhot-Leduc has an MA in Sociology from UQAM and she is Concordia University's new Sustainable Food System Coordinator. She is working within the Environmental Health & Safety Department to develop and implement sustainable food purchasing standards and initiatives on campus. Isabelle has experience in farmers' markets and community supported agriculture (CSA) management.
The alumni panel will feature: Paula Kielstra, Philippa Bell, Dan Parker, Candace Jacobs, Alex Megelas, and Nadia Naffi.