Advisor Profiles (OSSC)
Christos Orfanidis
Christos Orfanidis is a PhD candidate in the Higher Education program. He studies educational institutions from an organizational perspective, and he is particularly interested in examining how ethical leadership is conceived, developed and practiced at different levels of administration and by diverse stakeholder groups. At the OSSC, he enjoys facilitating various aspects of student success, extending from academic skills to career planning. Christos is equally eager to discuss with students who are working towards becoming impactful educational researchers and are looking for opportunities to enhance their learning experience, as well as more professionally-oriented students, who would like to master applicable skills for the workplace, and also students actively exploring pathways to subsequent graduate-level studies.
Diana M. Barrero
Diana is a Doctoral candidate in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching & Learning specializing in Women and Gender Studies. Her doctoral work draws from transnational feminist approaches to memorialization of violence in contexts of transitional justice. More specifically, her research examines how Colombian women use of textile-based narratives to visibilize their individual and collective demands for truth and justice.
Diana has over five years working as an educator in K-12, post-secondary and community settings. As an Associate Editor of Curriculum Inquiry, she has supported early career and established scholars to successful navigate the publication process, and published editorial articles that contribute to advancing critical, international curriculum studies scholarship. She has also worked with different faculty at OISE to collect and analyse qualitative data, write up reports, peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and present at academic conferences (e.g. AERA, CSSE, CIES), as well as facilitated professional development workshops (e.g. literature review, citation management software). She is well-suited to support professional and research-stream graduate students in their development of academic writing including course papers, comprehensive exams, research proposals, manuscripts, as well as academic presentations and lesson planning.
Elena Danilina
Elena is a PhD candidate in Language & Literacies Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) and a sessional English instructor at the Graduate Centre for Academic Communication (GCAC) at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on plurilingualism, learner autonomy, and AI-based technology in language learning. Elena’s teaching experience in higher education spans over fifteen years in the UAE, Morocco, USA, and Canada. She is happy to support students with writing course papers and resume/cover letters, completing grant applications, and preparing oral presentations.
Gabrielle Breton-Carbonneau
Gabrielle is a Doctoral candidate in the Department of Social Justice Education also affiliated with the Centre de recherches en éducation franco-ontarienne (CREFO) at OISE/UT. She is a past recipient of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Joseph Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship and the Fonds Québécois de Recherches sur la Société et la Culture du Québec (FQRSC) doctoral fellowship. Rooted in the fields of sociolinguistics and the anthropology of education, her ethnographic research focuses on francophone mobilities, and specifically looks at the making of Québécois citizens and “emergent francophones” in Quebec’s classe d’accueil program for new immigrant students to the province who do not yet speak French. With experience as an ESL and FSL elementary school teacher, she is fully bilingual and can advise students who require support in both English and French. Gabrielle also has a strong qualitative research background and can support graduate students with writing preparation, resume and cover letter editing, thesis writing, conference presentations, manuscript preparation, the French-language proficiency exam preparation, as well as with general graduate-level academic writing.
Hoda Gharib
Hoda is an interdisciplinary, mixed-methods researcher completing her doctoral studies in the Department of Social Justice Education. She has a strong passion for research, and loves to help others with writing about and conducting their own research. She has been involved in undergraduate and graduate research for over 11 years, and her current research uses a mixed-methods review and semi-structured interviews to explore the role of emotions, beliefs, and other motivational factors on activists decisions to engage in and maintain their activism.
She has been writing qualitative and quantitative research proposals and literature reviews since her early undergraduate years, and has received the OGS scholarship three times, authored three publications, competed in the finals of the Three-Minute Thesis competition, and given over 20 academic and community presentations and workshops. She is happy to advise her peers on formulating research questions, preparing research proposals, reviews, manuscripts, and scholarships, conducting qualitative analyses, and public speaking (conferences, 3-minute thesis, etc).
Jasmine Pham
Jasmine is a PhD student in the Department of Leadership, Higher & Adult Education studying Educational Leadership and Policy. She holds a BEd in Secondary Education from the University of Alberta and an MEd in Educational Leadership & Policy with a specialization in Comparative, International and Development Education from OISE. She is currently a member of OISE's Student Experience Committee and a mentor for OISE's mentorship program. She is also the Director of Public Relations for the University of Toronto's Chinese Graduate Student Association. She previously served as the Administrative Officer for the Comparative, International and Development Education Student Association.
Having presented multiple papers at academic conferences such as the AERA and CSSE, Jasmine can support graduate students in academic writing, grant proposals as well as paper submissions for academic conferences. With a book chapter published and two forthcoming articles on the way, she can also help students with research articles and the publication process. Her research interests include English language education, teacher development, native-speakerism, international education policies, culturally responsive teaching, critical race theory, anti-racist education, and gender socialization.
Prior to pursuing her graduate studies, Jasmine taught English as a Foreign language for two years at Miyang Elementary School in Seoul, South Korea. Currently, Jasmine works part-time as an Academic Coach and supports Ontario students with weak executive functioning skills while completing her doctoral studies. As such, Jasmine can offer additional support for teacher candidates with lesson and unit planning.
Katherine Anderson
Katherine is a PhD student in Language & Literacies Education in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching & Learning. She holds an MA in Teaching English for Academic Purposes from the University of Nottingham. Katherine has 20 years of experience in Canada and overseas as a communications instructor specializing in post-secondary EAL writing. She also has extensive experience in academic administration, teacher recruitment, and pre-service teacher training. Her research focuses on changes in English language use in EAL engineering students over the course of their degrees. Katherine can provide support during your writing process or feedback on your finished work. She is also happy to work with you on oral presentations, proposals, résumés, personal statements and practice interviews, and lesson plans, and to help you gain confidence in speaking and teamwork.
Michael Koslowski
Michael is a PhD candidate at OISE in the Languages & Literacies Education (LLE) program. He holds an MA in Applied Linguistics, and his research focuses on plurilingualism, the connections between languages, and the benefits of multilingual classrooms. With around 14 years of experience teaching English language learners in Canada, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, and the Czech Republic, Michael can assist international students with their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. Having also taught English for Academic Purposes (EAP) for a number of years at York University, Michael has a lot of experience helping students with researching, planning, outlining, drafting, editing, and formatting academic writing. Other areas of expertise include coaching students in oral presentations, interviews, and how to adjust to new educational cultures.
Stacy Alexandra Costa
Stacy is a Doctoral candidate in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching & Learning with a Collaboration with Engineering education. In this role, she researches advancing online Knowledge Work within Education innovation to understand students' misconceptions, idea trajectories, and students' use of Collaborative Annotation within online communities. Her Master's degree work focused on mathematics education and elementary students and can assist OISE students whose focus relates to these areas. Expertise in STEM-related questions and instructional planning. She is a past recipient of the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS).
As a professional public speaker, she has presented to various groups (Menza, Toronto Public Library, University of Toronto, Ted Talk Speaker). She has presented to a wide range of audiences - young children to senior administrative staff for a wide range of presentation experience needs. She has extensive experience producing manuscripts, has published extensively in journals and has edited for several publications and conferences. She can help assist students in various writing stages and for a wide variety of assignment expectations.
Stephanie Chartrand
Stephanie is a PhD student in the Department of Leadership, Higher & Adult Education studying Adult Education and Community Development (LHAE AECD). She holds a BA in Political Science from Lakehead University and an Honours Bachelor of Community Development from Humber College. She was previously an Infinite Reach Facilitator; a position that supports Métis students attending post-secondary while also hosting cultural workshops for the broader university community.
In a previous role, Steph was a Peer Tutor and Workshop Facilitator at Humber College. She has been trained in Peer Assisted Learning Strategies and workshop facilitation on a variety of topics such as writing cover letters and resumes, time management, and presentation skills. They welcome students looking for these types of support. They learned important skills for working with people of diverse backgrounds. Steph worked in tandem with the Indigenous Education and Engagement Office at Humber to provide student support that weaved cultural knowledge and peer advice for student life. She hopes to continue this work for Indigenous students at OISE and those looking to work with Indigenous students at OISE.
She is a previous recipient of the Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s (CGS M) Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) award and currently a recipient of the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS). Steph can support academic writing and takes a keen interest in helping others with reflective and reflexive writing methods.
Susan He
Susan is a Doctoral student in the Department of Leadership, Higher & Adult Education studying Higher Education with a collaborative specialization in Educational Policy. She previously completed her Master of Education in Higher Education and Master of Teaching at OISE. Her research and professional work experiences focus on student development and the professionalization of practitioners within post-secondary student affairs. Susan has designed many research projects at the university, contributing to the assessment and measurement of postsecondary education outcomes. She can support students with academic presentations, designing surveys, research proposals, course assignment preparation, conference proposals, and research papers. Additionally, she offers professional supports in career exploration, resume and cover letters.
Ty Walkland
Ty is a Doctoral candidate in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching & Learning (CTL) whose SSHRC-funded dissertation research explores critical and care-centred approaches to school-based drug education, as well as collaborative, participatory, and arts-shaped inquiries among youth and educators more broadly. Before pursuing full-time graduate studies, Ty taught secondary English, Social Science, and Special Education north of Toronto. He's also a writing instructor working alongside undergraduates at the New College Writing Centre. As a lead research assistant for Addressing Injustices, a critical practitioner research project that involves students and teachers co-creating social justice curriculum, Ty has presented numerous papers at international conferences, co-authored academic journal articles and book chapters, and developed curriculum for youth and teachers. He can offer feedback and guidance as folks prepare academic presentations and publications, comprehensive exams and theses, course projects, and professional portfolios for teaching and academic job markets.
Ximena Martinez Trabucco
Ximena obtained her PhD in the Department of Social Justice Education and in the Environmental Collaborative Specialization. Ximena has extensively worked in intercultural and multicultural spaces with minoritized and marginalized populations. Her research addresses the coloniality of environmentalism and the representation of indigenous peoples in the context of Latin America, being the Andes her particular site of research. Part of her work in the area of education relate to play, learning and emotions. Her scholarship is informed by anti-racism values and holds a decolonial approach. Ximena has a strong background in qualitative research methodologies with emphasis on ethnographic techniques. As an experienced classroom teacher, Ximena provides support for students who need to shape and organize ideas for assignments and research purposes. Ximena speaks English and Spanish and is also happy to respond questions related to health care, childcare, university resources, OISE graduate students administrative matters and doubts about living in Toronto.