CAMOSUN

S H O WC AS E

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Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

T ER R ITORIA L AC K NOWLE DG E M E N T
Camosun College campuses are located on the traditional territories of
the Lkwungen and W
_ SÁNEĆ peoples. We acknowledge their welcome
and graciousness to the students who seek knowledge here.

TABL E OF C ON TEN TS
MESSAGE FROM

Sherri Bell ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 2
Sybil Harrison ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 3
APPLIED LEARNING AT CAMOSUN

Corrine Michel & Dan Reeve ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 4
CAMOSUN INNOVATES

Richard Burman ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 6
EYĒʔ SQȂ’LEWEN: THE CENTRE FOR INDIGENOUS EDUCATION
& COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS

Tommy Happynook ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 8
Todd Ormiston �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 10
SCHOOL OF ACCESS

Laura Hadwin ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 12
SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCE

John G. Boehme ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 14
Nicole Kilburn & Tara Tudor������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 16
Ken Steacy & Joan Steacy ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 18
Nancy Yakimoski ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 20
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Carl Everitt ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 22
SCHOOL OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES

Elizabeth Morch ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 24
SCHOOL OF TRADES & TECHNOLOGY

Sandra Carr ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 26
LEARNING SERVICES

Dawn Smith ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 28
STUDENT AFFAIRS

Scott Kouri ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 30
INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION

Michael Borins, Mandy Hayre, & John Lee ���������������������������������������������������������������������������� 32
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Elizabeth West ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 34
Cover art: Blue on Black by Nancy Yakimoski

Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

MES SAGE FROM

Sherri Bell
President
“We want more of what Camosun teaches!”
Recently, in three different community venues, this is what I heard loud and clear from employers. The
education our amazing faculty provide and the experiences our students are engaged in have an enormous
impact on our community and employers.
This year will bring opportunities and change with the opening of the Alex and Jo Campbell Centre for Health
and Wellness…it is not just a building; it is an opportunity to showcase interdisciplinary, applied learning.
The opening of the AJCCHW will also allow the college to create much wanted space at both campuses—
again, it is not really about the space but about the ability to collaborate.
Each year, I take the opportunity to spend some time in Camosun classrooms. It is an incredibly rewarding,
impactful experience—not only spending time with our students but having the opportunity to witness our
faculty in action. It is thanks to this dynamic, creative and engaged group of people that our students are able
to depart Camosun so well prepared for the next chapter in their lives, whether it is further education or into
the workforce.
I continue to be so very proud of the exceptional learning experiences Camosun faculty members foster every
day throughout our programs and the passion and commitment represented here in this year’s professional
development showcase.
Congratulations to all!

Sherri Bell
President

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MES SAGE FROM

Sybil Harrison
Director of Learning Services
Sharing knowledge is at the heart of an academic community; a sharing culture and mindset is what propels
us forward, towards transformation. The Faculty Showcase has evolved over the last three years to become a
permanent annual record of some of our community’s collaborations and successes. It is also a reflection of
the Camosun sharing culture.
When faculty share their stories of innovation, research and creativity, the ripple effect is enormous. Some
of the practices featured in the annual showcase might be adopted and adapted by instructors. For others
these stories will provide the inspiration to pursue something entirely new.
I encourage everyone who reads the Showcase to pay the sharing forward. Reach out to one of the
instructors featured and find out more. Take an idea featured here and consider how you might implement it
in your practice. Consider sharing your story of research or innovation next year. Take the time to recognize
innovation and creativity with your colleagues, peers and students.
In a 1996 interview Steve Jobs said “creativity is just connecting things”1. I hope this year’s Showcase will
result in new connections across the college, igniting our curiosity and imagination, and inspiring us to new
levels of teaching and research excellence.

Sybil Harrison
Director, Learning Services

1

Gary Wolf. “Steve Jobs: The Next Insanely Great Thing“ Wired (February 1996)

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APPL IED LEA RN IN G AT CAMOSUN

Corrine Michel
Applied Learning Coordinator

Dan Reeve
School of Arts & Science: Political Science Department

BIOGRAPHIES
CORRINE MICHEL

DAN REEVE

My name is Corrine Michel and I am Secwepemc
from Williams Lake, BC. I started at the college in
2005 as Indigenization Coordinator. Since Fall 2017
I’ve been the Applied Learning Coordinator. I have
a passion for transformational learning experiences
and a deep appreciation for those willing to
create them. I have enjoyed working with faculty
from across the college who engage learners in
experiences reflective of “real-world complexities”.
I know there are many more of you to meet. I invite
you to connect with me so we can learn together.

I’ve taught political science at Camosun since
2007. Prior to Camosun, I worked as the director
of the Mount Seymour Ski and Snowboard School
in Vancouver. I am fascinated by the myriad of
applied learning approaches Camosun faculty
apply in their everyday classes. My role in the
Applied Learning project has permitted me to
interview remarkable faculty. While conducting
those interviews, I am inspired by Camosun
faculties’ pedagogical creativity, compassion for
their students, and willingness to try something new.

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Applied Learning
Fig. 1: Applied Learning Model

Applied learning refers to learning experiences that get
learners thinking, collaborating, and communicating, and
ultimately have them engage with and contribute to the
world around them. These learning experiences take place
in a range of contexts, including in the classroom, the
workplace, the community, and on the land, and enable
learners to apply and integrate theoretical knowledge, as
well as personal, practical, and professional skills. Ideally,
the learning activities simulate real-world situations or are
situated in a real world context.
It has been exciting and rewarding to conduct a literature
review and to consult extensively with faculty and
administrators across the college to build the above
definition of applied learning, the Applied Learning
Framework, and the Applied Learning Model (See Fig. 1).
Our job is to showcase the applied learning that faculty
is already doing as well as create a pathway for new
approaches and possibilities—from programs that have
applied learning deeply woven into their programs like
Culinary Arts and Nursing, to in-class activities in Social
Sciences, English and Indigenous Studies, to partnerships
with local and international businesses focused on solving
their real-world challenges.
The Model brings awareness to various elements
of applied learning—it breaks down the complexity
of teaching and learning into meaningful, tangible
and achievable actions. It provides a shared language
that is flexible (works across disciplines and facilitates
interdisciplinary education) and scalable (can inspire 15
minute in-class activities or frame an entire program).

Applied Learning podcasts highlight a range of instructors,
subjects, and specific applied learning projects.
The following quotations provide a taste of applied
learning in a variety of subject areas:
Yolina Denchev, Economics:
Economics is “quite theoretical…quite technical. So for
me it’s really important throughout the course if I build in
opportunities for students to experience the relevance
of the course material. So this was the main reason that
brought me to applied learning and incorporating applied
learning in the classroom.”
Steve Walker Duncan, Cooking and Culinary Arts:
“We tried to create an industry realistic environment for
the students so that that Applied Learning really is learning
that they are going to be familiar with when they leave and
enter industry.”
Kerry-Ann Dompierre, Nursing:
“A [Nursing] theory class is up to 41 students and I thought,
how can we take these theories they’re learning and make
them less abstract for them and really apply them to their
clinical practice which they’re out in at the same time? So,
I’ve taken an applied learning approach, using my simulation
background.
Imtehaze Heerah, Mechanical Engineering:
“The essence of it [applied learning] is, really, critical thinking.”
For more information please visit the Applied Learning Webpage:
camosun.ca/about/applied-learning/index.html
Link to interactive model: webservices.camosun.ca/applied-learningmodel/story_html5.html

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CAMO S UN I N N OVATES

Richard Burman
Applied Research

BIOGRAPHY
Richard Burman serves as the Faculty and Student
Lead for Applied Research at Camosun Innovates.
He has a background in mechanical engineering,
biomechanics, ergonomics, and health.
After earning a BSc in Physiotherapy from the
University of British Columbia, Richard practiced
as a physiotherapist for over 10 years before
attending Camosun College to complete a Diploma
in Mechanical Engineering. In 2010, he joined the
applied research team at Camosun Innovates and
began working in the area of Sport Innovation.
Since this time Richard has worked as the technical
team lead and project manager on numerous
engineering projects.
In his current role Richard works to bring learning
opportunities to the Camosun College community.
He is interested in using aspects of a design thinking
approach as a method for integrating applied
learning into the classroom. To this end Richard has
created and delivered cross curricular educational
content for students and faculty.

Para Rowing
Over the past eight years, I have worked with Camosun
Innovates, a centre for applied research that seeks to bring
opportunities to our students and create connections
to the community at large. With a background in health
and wellness I have gravitated towards projects that
focus on the enhancement of abilities. The first projects
that I undertook were in the area of sport innovation and
primarily focused on Paralympic sports. These projects
included the design and fabrication of customized braces
for wheelchair rugby, custom seating for sledge hockey,
glove design for wheelchair racing athletics, and most
recently customized seating with Paralympic rowers.

6 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

Our goal with these rowers was to deliver seating that
would increase an athlete’s capacity to train, compete, and
win medals. Work on the project was accomplished by the
Camosun Innovates team and two talented Mechanical
Engineering students. The first phase of the project
was initiated by Eric Turko (a student in the Mechanical
Engineering program) and Ben Costin (a graduate from our
Mechanical Engineering program) who completed a needs
assessment and constructed a fitment device that allowed
us to position athletes in their optimal racing position.
This work was followed up on by Andrew Birch, a second
student hired from the Mechanical Engineering program.
The team consulted with three athletes and Andrew used

the fitment device and a 3D scanner to record the athletes’
seated positions. This data was then utilized to machine
moulds from which light weight composite parts were
created. The end result is seating that has already resulted
in performance gains.
Working to enhance physical abilities is personally
rewarding. Seeing athletes accomplish their goals is
inspiring. But, what excites me is working on these
processes with students and watching them grow in their
confidence and abilities. I look forward to exploring new
projects and partnerships that will bring more applied
learning opportunities to our students.

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E Y Ēʔ S QȂ’L E W E N: T H E C E N T R E F O R I N D I G E N O U S
E D U C AT I O N & C O M M U N I T Y C O N N E C T I O N S

Tommy Happynook
Indigenous Education & Community Connections
PhD Research: Anthropology,
University of Victoria: Picking Up
My Responsibilities: Indigenous
Reconnection To Land

Photo by: Amanda Laliberte

BIOGRAPHY
cha chim heyhak kwa. My name is hii ni nah sim. My
English name is Tommy Happynook Jr. I am nuu chah
nulth from the huu ay aht First Nations and I come
from the house of cha cha tsii us. I grew up in Coast
Salish territory, WJOLELP (Brentwood Bay), and
am very thankful for the hospitality that my family
received. I currently live in Lkwungen territory with
my wife aa saa wis (Carly) and son ha wilth win is
(Mahihkan).
I began my academic journey at Camosun before
transferring to the University of Victoria where I
earned a BA and MA in Anthropology. I am currently
working on my PhD in Anthropology at the University
of Victoria. I am very happy to be teaching in the
Indigenous College Prep, Indigenous Family
Support, and Indigenous Studies programs. I am
very grateful that I can give back to a department that
supported me as a new student.
kleco, kleco, chuu

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My name is Tommy Happynook Jr. I am Nuu-chah-nulth from
the Huu-ay-aht First Nations and I come from the House of
Caa-caa-tsii-as. The last time anyone in my family occupied
the territory of Caa-caa-tsii-as was about 1860. After more
than a century of disconnection and dispossession due
to the impacts of colonization and an M.A. thesis that
looked at what it means to be a hereditary leader, I seek
to understand how contemporary Indigenous peoples
such as myself, my family, and my nation, reconnect to
ancestral lands for the purpose of upholding traditional
responsibilities, acquiring traditional knowledge and
bringing that knowledge to bear weight in a contemporary
land-based cultural context.
The objective of my PhD research is to document my
own re-connection to land, the acquisition and transfer
of traditional knowledge, and the re-emergence of
land-based cultural practices between my family and
territory. I will conduct this research by focusing on
my own experience of reconnecting, revitalizing,
and restoring my family’s knowledge, presence, and
traditional responsibilities to Caa-caa-tsii-as—not in a
theoretical understanding but in an embodied/visceral
understanding of having learned on the land and from
the land.
I will use my family’s whaling practices, including but not
limited to, ritual bathing, isolation, prayer and fasting, to
shape my methodology for revitalization and reconnection
as I invoke traditional family law, ceremony, and spirituality
in a place and way that has not been practiced by my family
in almost 100 years.

My research will benefit my family by ensuring that my son
and his generation grow up connected to Caa-caa-tsii-as,
its knowledge and teachings (tangible and intangible), and
understand where they come from through the experience
of having a deep land-based connection to Caa-caa-tsii-as.
This research can potentially reframe the epistemological,
ontological, and pedagogical relationship my family
has with Caa-caa-tsii-as by reshaping how we practice
leadership within the Huu-ay-aht systems of governance.
For example, how will I understand my family’s teaching
(Happynook, 2010) in an on-the-ground context? My work
can contribute to anthropological (and other) knowledge
systems because my work exists in both the cultural and
academic worlds. I can see my research evolving into a
land-based and experiential field school that puts into
practice what students (Indigenous and non-Indigenous)
learn in classrooms as theory.

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E Y Ēʔ S QȂ’L E W E N: T H E C E N T R E F O R I N D I G E N O U S
E D U C AT I O N & C O M M U N I T Y C O N N E C T I O N S

Todd Ormiston
Indigenous Education & Community Connections

BIOGRAPHY
I am Northern Tutchone/Tlingit, and I have been a
visitor in the territory of the Songhees/Esquimalt
peoples of the Coast Salish Nation since 1996. I also
acknowledge the W
_ SÁNEĆ peoples whose shared
territory Camosun College is situated on. It is an
honour and privilege to live and work as a visitor in
Coast Salish Territory.
My journey within academia over many years has
earned me a Masters of Public Administration
(UVIC), A Bachelor of Social Work (UVIC),a diploma
in Criminal Justice (Douglas College). I am also
honored to have graduated in November 2012
with my Doctorate in Education at the University of
BC. I wrote on Indigenous Leadership Pedagogies
in higher education and focused my dissertations
on the wonderful Indigenous teachings at Camosun
College and the University of Victoria. Over the
years, I have also worked in various community
social welfare organizations including the Boys and
Girls Club as a bail supervisor for youth corrections.
I see learning as a lifelong process and I am
constantly engaging in new learning. I also believe
that as instructors, we have an important role to play
in ensuring that learning is not just an obligation but
a form of liberation towards walking in a good way
throughout our lives. My belief is we are all teachers
and we are all learners.

Eyēʔ Sqȃ’lewen – The Centre for
Indigenous Education & Community
Connections: Student Exchanges with
Ara Institute, New Zealand
The themes of shared values, meaningful connections,
positive relationships and applied learning are woven into
the collaboration between Camosun College and Ara
Institute of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.

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“We’ve pushed and had ongoing support for Indigenous
education in all aspects of the College, including the
President’s Office, staff and students,” says Ormiston.
“That has resulted in a change of consciousness and
a support system which ultimately promotes different
ways of knowing and being, helping Indigenous
students succeed. I often share how awareness leads
to understandings which ultimately result in building
consensus, and transformation—this is being realized at
Camosun College.”

Ormiston notes that the values of exchanges are often to
promote shared learning. “They were very impressed with
Eyēʔ Sqȃ’lewen – The Centre for Indigenous Education &
Community Connections and everything we’ve done to
promote Indigenous cultures, reconciliation, our Elders
Voices Program as well as how our Indigenous student
numbers are growing every year through student supports
and Indigenous pedagogies,” he says. “They shared with
me their desire to take these teachings back to New Zealand
and start doing some of the same things at their institution.”

The idea of an international partnership first took hold in
2005 when Ormiston travelled to New Zealand with the
idea of setting up a student exchange. “The reality is that
we have commonalities and shared existences as well as
differences with the Maori people and we can learn from
each other,” he says. “International education here at
Camosun knew about our connections and approached
me in 2017 after we hosted the S’TENISTOLW Indigenous
Education Conference and we put the plans in place.”

Future plans include trans-Pacific collaboration. “We’ve
had some fairly high level discussions around developing
a post diploma certificate program and triangulating with
Ara Institute in New Zealand and an institute in Hawaii,” he
says. “Our future goal is to develop a blended program in
Indigenous higher education that is a multiple Indigenous
centered partnership.

This resulted in two Camosun students being a part of
the first Indigenous student exchange with Ara Institute
in Christchurch, New Zealand in March 2018. Plans
developed to have their students visit Camosun for the
first time in September 2018. “We prepared an exciting
schedule of activities for each day while they were here.
They participated in our Indigenous Studies classes,
attended Orange Shirt Day and the QĆÁSET cultural camp
at Prospect Lake, took part in a sweat lodge ceremony,
visited the Saanich Adult Education Center, witnessed a
carving demonstration, and had a meal with the Elders
Voices group.”

With the success of the Maori visit, Ormiston sees a bright
future for international Indigenous exchanges. “I think the
most positive thing was the sharing of knowledge, culture,
identity, aspects of spirituality and the similarities and the
differences between our Nations. This in turn could form the
basis of how to move forward towards self-determination,”
he says. “There are many things we can share in both of our
institutes which provide opportunities to flourish. Some
of that flourishing comes through those who have walked
before us, the students we are connected to, allies and
those in communities that we are connected to. Wisdom
sits in many places!’
With contributions from Ivan Watson, Marketing & Communications
Strategist, Camosun College

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S CHO O L OF AC C ESS

Laura Hadwin
English Language Development Department

BIOGRAPHY
Laura Hadwin has lived and taught in South Korea,
Spain, the UK, Turkey and Qatar. Her post-secondary
career started as a student at Camosun, and she then
went on to teach at a secondary school and several
universities internationally before returning to teach
in the School of Access in the ELD Department at
Camosun two years ago, which has been wonderful!
She has an MA in English Language, a Post-Graduate
Certificate in Higher Education, TEFL-Q and TESL
certification, and is a Fellow of the UK Higher
Education Academy. She has provided teacher
training for pre and in-service primary and secondary
teachers, as well as university instructors, and learns
so much from other educators. Her lessons focus on
developing higher order and critical thinking skills,
and she employs a ‘principled eclecticism’ to meet
the needs of diverse learners in diverse contexts. She
believes learning is most successful when learners
are engaged in meaningful tasks that allow for
applied learning. Her areas of research interest are
creativity, motivation and teacher learning, beliefs
and identity. She believes in lifelong learning, and
is currently completing the Provincial Instructor
Diploma Program (PIDP). She is also a co-facilitator
of the Camosun Teaching and Learning Community
of Practice, where many of Camosun’s talented
instructors come together to learn and grow.

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Panamá Bilingüe Teacher
Training Programme
Offered through Camosun’s Global Consulting
Partnerships with the English Language Development
Department, the Panama Bilingue Teacher Training
Programme is a sixteen-week introductory teacher-training
course for future primary English teachers. The Summer/
Autumn 2018 cohort came from all over Panama, and had
very different backgrounds; some were already teachers,
whereas others had no teaching experience or training. The
strategic aim of the Panamanian government is for future
teachers to use SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation
Protocol), in which a subject is taught via a second or
additional language, with the aim of developing both
content and language proficiency. In order for this to be
successful, the teachers must have a strong level of English
so that instruction can be delivered primarily in English, as
well as the teaching knowledge and skills to deliver high
quality education to prepare learners for today’s complex
globalized world.

The online teaching portfolio is a project Laura is
passionate about, and she enjoys developing her own,
as well as researching and writing about its value in
teacher training. Portfolios allow teachers and instructors
to showcase their talents and accomplishments, which
increases their confidence, and this is very important and
beneficial, particularly for new educators. It also allows
for considerable creativity, as the content and layout are
determined by each individual. Online portfolios also
strengthen digital skills, and the portfolios aligned with each
of the course learning outcomes. The portfolios feature a
multi-media format and include videos of teaching, audio
files of children’s stories being read and photographs of
materials and documents such as lesson plans and reflective
writing. This assignment is very practical and transferable,
and allows teachers to demonstrate their knowledge, skills
and experience to perspective employers, as well as plan
their future professional development.
For further reading
Hadwin, L. (2018) ‘Online Teaching Portfolios’ Teacher Training
Journal 32(3).
Hadwin L. (2018) ‘Wix Websites’ English Teaching Professional.
Online Teaching Portfolio: http://auroraenglish.wixsite.com/english

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S CHO O L OF A RTS & SCIE N CE

John G. Boehme
Visual Arts Department
Making Performance Art
2013 Distinguished Alumni Visual Arts Instructor, John
G. Boehme has been creating artwork in a series of
works titled “Making Performance Art” which endeavors
to integrate performance art conventions. This work
articulates a functional vocabulary for Performance Art,
giving audiences a framework for discourse. The first
iteration of this work at The Situation Room in Los Angeles
and other venues have included, Biennale d’art performatif
L’Écart de Rouyn-Noranda, QC; ART IN THE OPEN,
Confederation Centre of the Arts, PEI, Canada; “Duration
& Dialogue 2016,” Katzman Contemporary, Toronto, ONT;
Viva Performance Biennale, Montreal, QC; NoMad House
Theatre Discounter (Finnish) Berlin, Germany; SKAMpede,
Theatre Skam, Victoria, BC.

BIOGRAPHY
John G. Boehme currently teaches a range of
classes and subjects such as all aspects of Ceramics,
Sculpture, Painting, Performance Art together
with Digital Multimedia, Video, Installation, and
Drawing at Camosun College. John focuses on a
cross-disciplinary approach to the visual arts. John
G. Boehme is an artist and educator with research
and exhibition records that reflect experience
in multiple aspects of visually based production
within both the national and international worlds
of Live and Visual Art. John has received numerous
awards and professional arts grants and continues
to have exhibitions, screenings, and participation
in biennials and festivals across Canada, Australia,
the Americas, United Kingdom, Europe and China.
He has produced and continues to produce a
significant body of work. John is a continuing fulltime faculty at Camosun College.

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In June 2018, John presented work at Neutral Ground
Art Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan during the 2018
Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences. John has
recently traveled to New Zealand and met with artists
and educators. He has been invited to present work as
part of his professional development in Belfast, Northern
Ireland “Environmental Performance Art Project, ‘Engaged
Citizenship’, in collaboration with Belfast International
Performance Art Festival, University of Ulster, Science
Festival NI & Ulster Museum in Belfast as well as in Helsinki,
Finland as part of The Live Art and Performance Studies
(LAPS) at the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts.
John explains his perspective on art:
Despite its material concerns, I believe that art is rendered
ultimately in a social domain. Live performance gives access
to experiences uniquely available through embodiment;
that is, through a purposeful relationship to action and
process, and to human interaction. And I remain interested
in the representation of performance, in that clear and
obvious problem of making the ephemeral available to
audiences in distinct times and spaces, using records to
document performance.

Clay Bank

Clay Bank Wind
The images are from the exhibition at Neutral Ground,
Regina, Saskatchewan.
Photographer Risa Horowitz
Clay Bank Kiln, Clay Bank, Saskatchewan

Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

15

S CHO O L OF A RTS & SCIE N CE

Nicole Kilburn & Tara Tudor
Anthropology Department
Customized and Collaborative
Professional Development
In the last couple of years, we have moved away from
attending conferences as the main way to expand our
knowledge of anthropology. The option of self-directed
PD activities has allowed us to explore topics of interest
through experiential learning. Like many instructors, we
have edited our lecture notes many times to incorporate
new information learned from reading books and
attending conference sessions. While such content is
undoubtedly beneficial, self-directed trips have allowed us
to add photos, personal stories, and detailed descriptions
to our lectures that help to bring the content alive for
students. We appreciate the trust the CCFA Professional
Development Committee has extended to us to create our
own learning experiences, the most recent one being in
Tucson, Arizona.
We teach a variety of anthropology classes, so we
developed an itinerary that included some shared
experiences, but that also allowed us to explore our own
particular areas of interest. The textbook we use in our

BIOGRAPHIES
NICOLE KILBURN

TA R A T U D O R

Nicole has been teaching a variety of classes at Camosun
since 2002. Her background in archaeology has led to the
development of Camosun’s Archaeology Field Assistant
Program, which is offered every spring. Her growing
interest in food anthropology over the past 8 years has
led to rewarding professional development in southern
Italy, where her work with food producers and a small
tourism operator developed into a book (published in
late 2018) that presents these food traditions and their
many challenges in a modern world. Increasingly Nicole
is interested in applied learning to make course content
relevant and interesting to students.

Tara has been teaching anthropology at Camosun
since 2001. Tara is a cultural anthropologist,
specializing in medical anthropology. She is
interested in the ways political and economic
structures inform cultural practices and meaning
related to health, migration, gender, and kinship.
Since completing the TTW course in 2009, Tara has
been dedicated to decolonizing course content and
her teaching practice. She is currently the FPSE SWC
representative for Camosun.

16 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

introductory course (ANTH 104) has a duel foci of food and
sustainability, so we wanted to learn how the Hohokam
were able to be successful farmers in such a challenging
environment. We visited Casa Grande National Monument,
with its archaeological site and museum, which provided
an excellent overview of the cultural history of the region.
That evening, as we hiked through Saguaro National Park
and experienced the stark beauty of the Sonoran desert,
we discussed what we had learned. Moments like this
highlight the value of travelling with a colleague. We each
have a general anthropology background, but with our
specific areas of expertise have different questions and can
explore what we learn in constructive, collaborative ways.
Tucson was named a UNESCO City of Gastronomy in
2015, which Nicole wanted to learn more about. She
customized her itinerary with visits to the Mission Garden,
the seed bank at Native Seed Search and a fascinating
one-on-one walk and talk with Ben Kilmer, director of
the University of Arizona’s Desert Labs. Ben showed
Nicole the agave garden terraces that Hohokam farmers
constructed to manage surface water and successfully
grow agaves, which otherwise would not grow in such an
arid environment and were an important component of the
desert diet. Nicole also visited with Barbara Rose of Bean
Tree Farm, an incredible wild farm that provided another
take on food security, and a reminder that wild-managed
foods are adapted to the arid conditions of the Sonoran
Desert and should be celebrated as sustainable sources
of local food. Barbara advocates rewilding urban areas like
parks to create access to these foods while encouraging
native plants that do not need extra water.
Tara wanted to visit Tucson in order to spend time with
a non-profit organization that provides water, food and
medical assistance to undocumented migrants crossing
the Sonoran desert. Having used the ethnography “Fresh
Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in The United
States” in her Cultural Anthropology course, she wanted
to better understand the effects of American border policy
on the lives of undocumented migrants. Tara accompanied
members of the Tucson Samaritans on one of their desert
trips. This involved hiking through the Sonoran Desert

replenishing water supplies, and listening to volunteers as
they talked about the militarization of the border, migrant
deaths, unlawful incarcerations, group sentencing and
workplace raids. Tara witnessed first-hand the suffering of
undocumented migrants when the group assisted a man
who had been lost in the desert alone for several days.
After our solo adventures, we visited over dinner to share
our experiences and ponder what we had learned. Even
meals turned into professional development, with a
mescal tasting seminar hosted by an anthropologist turned
entrepreneur, and a lunch at a bean-to-bar chocolate
factory and café that evolved into a long conversation with
the owner about sourcing beans and the merits of central
fermentaries, a new supply chain concept in the rapidly
evolving cacao industry.
We learned so much in less than a week in Tucson, and
returned to Victoria energized, with many new ideas to
bring into our various classes.
Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

17

S CHO O L OF A RTS & SCIE N CE

Ken Steacy & Joan Steacy
Communications Department, Comics & Graphic Novels

BIOGRAPHIES
K E N S T E ACY

J OA N S T E ACY

Ken decided at age eleven to become a professional
comic book author/illustrator, a dream he realized
in 1974. Since then, he has worked in the industry as
writer, artist, art director, editor, and publisher, and
in addition to creating his own intellectual property
he has chronicled the exploits of Astro Boy, Iron
Man, Harry Potter, and the Star Wars gang.

Joan grew up in southern Ontario, and is a graduate
of Sheridan College, The Ontario College of Art
& Design, and The University of Victoria. A visual
artist who has worked in a variety of disciplines,
including sculpture, traditional illustration, and
digital imaging, she is the author/illustrator of So,
That’s That!, a biography of her father who lived to
be 100 years old.

Ken has also collaborated with other writers,
including Douglas Coupland, Harlan Ellison, and
Trina Robbins. With author Margaret Atwood he
recently created WAR BEARS, a graphic novel from
Dark Horse Comics.
The recipient of an Eisner and an Inkpot award,
in 2009 Ken was inducted into the Joe Shuster
Canadian Comic Book Hall of Fame, a lifetime
achievement award for contributions to the industry.
www.camosun.ca/comics

18 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

Her most recent work is AURORA BOREALICE - A
Graphic Memoir published by Conundrum Press
concerning her struggles with literacy, and how
meeting media theorist Marshall McLuhan and
professor Eric McLuhan while in art college changed
her life.
http://joansteacy.blogspot.com

A Visual Storytelling Couple
Joan and Ken Steacy are instructors and the cocreators of the Comics & Graphic Novels program
in the Communications Department at Camosun.
Still unique in the post-secondary public school
system in Canada, it was created to address the
needs of students who wish to learn the language
of visual storytelling. Now in its seventh year,
students graduate with a 28-page colour comic
they have created, which they present at CCAF,
the Camosun Comic Arts Festival. This experiential
learning outcome is their capstone project, at which
a dozen or so professional author-illustrators attend
to mentor the students; then the public is invited to
view their works.
Ken’s most recent project is WAR BEARS, a
collaboration with the Booker Prize-winning author
of The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood. It’s the
bittersweet story of the rise and demise of a fictional
comics company in Toronto during WWII, based
upon a story by Atwood for The Globe & Mail on
Canada’s 150th birthday, which they expanded into
a fully-painted graphic novel, published by Dark
Horse Comics.
Working with her was a remarkable creative
experience, he says. “I did an outline, and she’d
give me feedback, so we’d move the script in that
direction. As we started to expand on the principals’
backstory I remember thinking, I’m getting character
development advice from Margaret Atwood; pinch
me, I’m dreaming!”
Joan is the author/illustrator of So, That’s That! a
biography of her father, a scrap-metal dealer who
lived to be 100 years old. Most recently, she illustrated
a short story entitled “The Melamed” (elementary
school teacher) for the anthology A Minyen Yidn
by Trina Robbins. Her first graphic novel AURORA
BOREALICE - A Graphic Memoir was published this
year by Conundrum Press in Halifax.

Joan notes, “About ten years ago I had a spark of an idea,
about my encounter with communications theorist Marshal
McLuhan. But I needed a vehicle to transport this idea…and
decided that the graphic novel medium was it! So I got to
work, and this spark grew into a flame that burned bright, and
my story grew into a 260 page graphic novel.”

Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

19

S CHO O L OF A RTS & SCIE N CE

Nancy Yakimoski
Visual Arts Department

BIOGRAPHY
Nancy Yakimoski has a BA Honours (Art & Art History),
BA (English Lit.), MA (History in Art) and began her
PhD in art history with a three year Fellowship and an
Excellence Recruitment Award from UVIC.
She has been published in various art journals
(Prefix, Artichoke, BlackFlash), the Encyclopedia of
Twentieth Century Photography (Routledge), and was
commissioned to write an essay for Territories: Brenda
Francis Pelkey (Black Dog Press, UK). Nancy has
organized conferences, chaired art history sessions,
and presented papers at conferences across Canada.
Her photo-based artwork, installations, and video
work have been shown nationally and internationally,
and have been funded by provincial grants. While
her creative practice has been photographic, she has
returned to writing poetry, and was thrilled to win the
Malahat Review’s WordThaw prize for poetry in 2017.
Currently, Nancy is working on two projects: a
collection of 14 line poems that offer glimpses into the
lives of women—from the banal to life-changing events.
Her other project is a series of b&w photographic film
stills taken aboard the decommissioned aircraft carrier,
USS Midway in San Diego.

In The Steps Of Rothko, With A Camera
In my Modern art history course, one Abstract Expressionist
painter I discuss is the colour field painter, Mark Rothko
(1903-70). Pioneered in the late 1940s, colour field painters
rejected gestural abstraction and avoided figuration in
their search for a new style that was modern and mythic.
It was through large areas of flat colour that artists could
directly communicate with the audience without the
representational hindering their intentions.
The impetus behind Rothko’s art was not colour
relationships but rather, harnessing the expressive

20 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

potential of colour to evoke a strong emotional reaction.
He wanted viewers to feel what he felt while painting. He
wanted to awe them into having an experience—ideally, a
spiritual one.
As a photographer intrigued by Rothko, I wondered
if I could circumvent photographic realism and create
images that could be experienced in a similar way. To
mimic his paintings, I experimented with using thick,
clear glass in front of my camera lens. I was mesmerized
by what I saw through the view finder: surreal landscapes
of abstract colour patches swirled and morphed as I
moved the camera. I selected the most interesting colour

Blue on Black
10” x 8”, C-print, 2018

compositions, printed them on metallic paper to enhance
the colour, and kept the image size small to establish an
intimate viewing.
While I would not label my experience of creating these
images as mystical or sublime, I was immersed in a creative
process that was different from simply documenting
reality. It was akin to the childhood thrill of gazing into a

kaleidoscope and being immersed in a magical realm of
colour and form. For me, the resulting photographs are
reminders of this enchantment, and I wish my viewers could
experience what I felt when taking these photographs.
I think I may understand what kept Rothko returning to his
studio day after day.

Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

21

S CHO O L OF BUSIN ESS

Carl Everitt
Tourism, Hospitality & Golf Management

BIOGRAPHY
Carl Everitt is the Chair of the Hospitality, Tourism
and Golf Management Programs. Carl has over
twenty years of hospitality industry experience. Carl
is a fully qualified Journeyperson Chef, and attended
University College Birmingham, UK to achieve these
credentials. During the early stages of his career Carl
was employed by Hilton International Hotels in his
native country, England. Carl holds the Provincial
Instructors Diploma and also the Diploma in Adult
Education through Vancouver Community College.
Carl completed his MBA in Tourism and Hospitality at
Southern Cross University in Australia.
Carl truly believes in integrating what has been
learned in the classroom to an applied work place
setting. Carl is continuously seeking new strategies
and initiatives for supporting students to reach their
full potential. Many of Carl’s teaching strategies
have an applied learning focus, allowing students
to align with the professional demands of the
hospitality industry.

22 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

Camosun Hospitality, Tourism
and Golf Management Programs:
Global Development Partnership
with the Kenya Education for
Employment Program (KEFEP)
Sustainable Long-term Relationships
with Industry and Education
In 2017, Camosun was chosen from a shortlist of Canadian
institutions to lead an important component of a multiyear partnership between Canada and Kenya focused on
strengthening and supporting technical and vocational
education and training (TVET). Camosun’s successful bid as
a Canadian institutional partner with Kenya Coast National
Polytechnic (KCNP) is part of Colleges and Institutes
Canada’s (CICan) Kenya Education for Employment
Program (KEFEP) with funding provided by Global Affairs
Canada for a three and a half year contract. Hospitality and
Tourism Management and Electrical are the three main
disciplines of focus.

For the past two years, I have had the privilege to work
with the Hospitality and Tourism faculty at Kenya Coast
National Polytechnic in Mombasa, Kenya. Over the twoyear period we have developed a working relationship
with a partner that has helped to build a solid foundation
of trust and mutual understanding. One component of
the three-year project included a collaborative research
report into Labour market areas in the Tourism and
Hospitality industries, followed by the development of a
new competency-based curriculum for Bartenders, Pastry
Cooks, and Safari Guides. Kenya is seeking to move to a
more applied learning approach for instructing future and
current industry professionals. The research that we found
from industry supported this paradigm shift and marks an
exciting era for the future of education of Kenyan youth.
Our partners at KCNP visited Camosun last year to embed
in some of our Tourism and Hospitality classes. During
this period the KCNP faculty attended a Tourism and
Hospitality field school in Whistler. The faculty experienced
conversations with current students, graduates, and

professionals working for hotel brands such as Fairmont,
Four Seasons and Delta. To make the experience truly
engaging the faculty participated in Ziptreking, Indigenous
Tourism presentations, professional wine tastings, and
touring the hotel properties where Camosun students are
employed for their Co-op work terms. The experience
helped to provide an insight and context into the types of
pedagogy that we use in our classrooms at Camosun to
deliver applied hospitality and tourism education.
Overall, my involvement in this project has provided
me with opportunities to challenge my assumptions by
creating a deeper understanding of the importance of
the foundation of strong relationships with our partners.
I believe that I have also been able to build a stronger
capacity in understanding cross-cultural challenges that
arise when working on development projects. From my
experiences in Kenya, my classrooms have become a
place of much deeper discussions on the challenges of
adversity and the development of sustainable tourism
based economies.

Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

23

S CHO O L OF HEA LTH & HUMAN SE RVICE S

Elizabeth Morch
Dental Department, Dental Hygiene Program

BIOGRAPHY
Elizabeth Morch has taught in the Camosun Dental
Hygiene Program for 28 years. Her teaching passion
includes developing innovative approaches to
engage students in learning. She has taught
clinical theory, pharmacology, periodontology, oral
pathology, professional practice, an introduction to
general dentistry and continuing education courses
in local anesthesia. In addition to her teaching
responsibilities, she is an item writer for the National
Dental Hygiene Board Exam, a Prior Learning
Assessor (PLAR) for the College of Dental Hygienists
of BC (CDHBC) and a CDHBC clinical examiner. This
summer she will present her most recent research
at the International Dental Hygiene Conference in
Brisbane, Australia. She is the proud mother of three
daughters (including one Camosun BAIT graduate)
and a doting grandmother to her adorable two year
old grandson. She is an avid sports enthusiast who
enjoys tennis, kayaking, paddleboarding as well as
cooking for family and friends.

A Qualitative Study On How To
Desensitize Patients With Special
Needs To The Dental Environment.
My passion for dentistry began at an early age when I
worked with my father, a dentist in our local community.
As a clinical dental hygienist and long-term dental
hygiene educator at Camosun, I am dedicated to igniting
the passion and curiosity in students, mentoring the
development of professional clinicians and improving
access to dental care for patients. My current project is
the first clinical research project at Camosun, a qualitative
study on how to desensitize patients with special needs to
the dental environment.
This journey began when a group of colleagues in Dental
Programs created a series of learning modules for Special

24 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

Olympics BC. During this project it became evident that
clinicians and caregivers struggled to meet the needs of
patients with special needs including those with intellectual
disabilities. During this time I was also approached by one
of the assistant coaches of our Chargers volleyball team
and also a recent Camosun graduate who worked with a
client with special needs requiring dental hygiene care.
The strategies developed for this client became the basis
for a qualitative research study to explore how best to
provide care to a patient on the Autism Spectrum in our
Dental Hygiene Clinic.
Clients with intellectual disabilities and those with high
levels of dental anxiety can be overwhelmed by the intense
sensory overload of the dental environment leading to poor
access to preventive services and decreased dental health.
As a result of successful desensitization, this patient is now

able to receive all preventive care without sedation. The
rewarding success lead to the desire to develop a flexible
and effective process, where the multiple exposures
needed could be provided in a cost effective manner. So
I assembled a multi-disciplinary team of Camosun faculty
who, with the help of the Creativity and Innovation Fund,
is creating a three step process to desensitize patients
into the dental environment. The team of Richard Burman
(Camosun Innovates) Katrina Ivanov (Psychology) Matt
Zeleny (Camosun Innovates) Julia Grav (Business) and
students from our respective areas are working to create a
process that will improve access to care for these patients.
The process begins with a kit that includes information for
caregivers about the most common fears associated with
dental visits. The kit includes products used within the
dentistry environment, along with a guide of activities that
can be done at home to begin to desensitize individuals
with respect to sounds, sights, touch and tastes associated
with dental care. To accommodate varying needs, we
added a picture exchange system to introduce sequences
carefully developed by Katrina using principles of applied
behaviour analysis. An important part of this kit is the 360
degree virtual representation, from a patient’s perspective,
of the sequential journey of entering the reception area,
meeting dental personnel, entering the general office

and, specifically, the dental operatory filmed and edited
by Richard and Matt through Camosun Innovates. This
is a critical piece of the desensitization procedure, as
generalization between skills learned at home and
the dental environment is often very difficult for many
individuals with special needs. This virtual dental office,
housed on a website developed by Camosun business
students, helps prepare the patient to the point that they
can begin to receive care in our onsite dental hygiene clinic
or their dentist’s office.
Our team is thrilled with the results to date and how the
project has involved dental hygiene, psychology, and
business students. I am privileged to work with this
faculty team and talented group of students who continue
to exceed expectations. The possibilities for future
endeavours to meet the needs of special needs patients in
our community is endless and the benefit to our graduates
immeasurable. The intended outcome of this project is to
improve access to dental care and to implement teaching
and learning strategies to build capacity in our future
graduates in how to provide care to clients with special
needs. It is our hope that Camosun College becomes a
resource for caregivers of individuals with special needs
and a leader in educating health care providers on best
practices for the provision of dental care.

Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

25

SCHOOL OF TRA DES & TE CHN OLOGY

Sandra Carr
Fine Furniture/Joinery Program

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Sergio Asebey Sola

BIOGRAPHY
Sandra Carr is the instructor of the Fine Furniture
Program. She began teaching it 20 years after
graduating from the program herself in 1997. For
many years, she co-owned a bespoke furniture
studio focusing on residential commissions. In
her 13 years with Camosun, Sandra has instructed
in Continuing Education, TASK (Trades and Skills
Knowledge) as well as Women in Trades.

The Cycle of Knowledge: A Fine
Furniture Table Project
In March 2018 Sandra was approached about participating
in a Creativity and Innovation project that pre-dated her
taking over as instructor and program leader of the Fine
Furniture Program. Led by Richard Burman (Camosun
Innovates) and Imtehaze Heerah (Mechanical Engineering),
the project was to design and build a group of tables for
the Interaction Lab in the new Camosun Innovates space. At
the core of the project was artwork that was commissioned
from Nuu-chah-nulth artist Bear Horne that would be
incorporated into the design.

26 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

The Fine Furniture Program is unique in that it blends
trades-based curriculum with a solid grounding in design
and other learning to prepare students to enter careers as
artisan designer-makers. This project offered an applied
learning opportunity similar to ones they would encounter
as makers: create work in response to design brief
requirements, communicate with clients and other design
professionals, and generate designs that would withstand
the practical requirements for accessibility and durability in
an institutional or commercial environment.
An important focus for this project was collaboration. In
April 2018 Bear Horne presented the students with the
artwork he created specifically for this project. This initial
meeting was an opportunity for open discourse, providing
context and meaning to inform the design work. The
artwork includes two salmon that represent a cycle of
continued learning where the adults complete the cycle
with the return of knowledge. Meeting with Bear about his
work made a big impact on the students. Many of the table
designs that were created directly reference the story of
the salmon.
The students were invited to inspect and measure the
main material for the project—locally sourced yellow

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
Modularity was an important factor in the initial design process as the
tables would likely be used for multiple purposes. The students also had
to consider how the tables could be designed as a way to encourage
collaboration during the manufacturing process, and - when the project
was complete - to provide a platform for open discussion and equal
participation.
It was also important to introduce locally sourced material to the design
in order to preserve the West Coast aesthetic. The natural contrast of
the Yellow Cedar and Douglas Fir compliment the beauty of Bear Horne's
artwork.
The final six tables can be adapted in various ways for a range of purposes.
For example, the triangular formation (top right) can be used for video
conferencing by positioning a screen(s) in the central opening. The long
table formation (lower right) would be ideal for presentations. The round
table (lower left) together with the satellite tables (top left) are ideal for
informal meeting and round-table discussions.
< The finished modular table in various formations (photo credit: Camosun College)

cedar slabs—before they were transported to be kiln
dried. Meanwhile, the students began preparing their
design proposals for presentation to the judging panel.
This involved brainstorming sessions, in-depth research,
and consultation with the collaborators and industry
professionals interested in the project. The students
also used CAD, illustrations and scale models to present
their designs.

By late September, the tables were ready. The team
transported them to the IDS West 2018 Interior Design
trade show in the Vancouver Convention Centre at
Canada Place, where they were exhibited alongside other
furniture pieces from the graduate class, as selected by
Sandra Carr. The response from the design community
was incredibly positive, with numerous expressions of
interest from other institutions.

The design process and requirements were deliberately left
open. Students had the option of working by themselves
or in groups, and few requirements were placed on the
format for presenting their work. They were encouraged to
use whatever means they wished to present their concepts
and ideas. The students presented their work to a selection
panel. After the presentation, the panel chose a modular
table that would incorporate selected features of two of
the other shortlisted designs.

This project evolved and grew as each step was
undertaken. The hope was to have the work of making the
tables occur during the course of the program; however,
with time constraints this was not possible. The tables
were constructed and completed in response to the
dedication and organization of the students themselves.
They approached the College (Sandra Carr, Camosun
Innovates, Imtehaze Heerah, Nancy Sly) with a plan to
complete them, and then show them at Interior Design
Show West. It was through their volunteer time after
graduating from the Program in June that this project was
seen through to completion. In addition to the core group
of students who organized the project, numerous other
students came in during the summer to help out and see
the project completed.

In June 2018 Fine Furniture graduates Jess Paffard, Jonny
Schwartz and Naomi Ridout met with Sandra Carr and
Camosun Innovates engineer Dana Lajeunesse to discuss
their intent to see the project through to production, in
time to showcase the final table at IDS 2018 (Interior Design
Show) in Vancouver.

Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

27

L EAR NING SERV I C ES

Dawn Smith
Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (CETL)

BIOGRAPHY
Dawn SII-YAA-ILTH-SUPT Smith is Nuu-chah-nulth
from Ehattesaht, but grew up in W̱SÁNEĆ (Tsawout)
with her late parents, Clyde and Norma Claxton.
As a visitor to the Lkwungen territories (Victoria, BC)
Dawn continues to be grateful for the opportunity
to live, work and play in these beautiful territories.
She has spent 26 years working with Indigenous
peoples and communities learning to be of service,
particularly as it relates to self-determination,
governance and education. Dawn’s education
includes a Bachelor’s in Political Science (2003)
and a Master’s in Indigenous Governance (2007)
from the University of Victoria (UVic). More recently,
Dawn completed her doctorate in Educational
Leadership and Policy from the University of British
Columbia (2018). Dawn’s post-secondary career
began in 2001 where she continues to work as the
Indigenization and Sustainability Strategist for the
Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at
Camosun College.

hiił kʷiiʔił siƛ (bringing something
good from way back): A Journey to
Humanize Post-Secondary Education
(Doctoral Dissertation, University of
British Columbia, 2018)
Dawn defended her doctoral dissertation in Nuu-chahnulth territory (Port Alberni, BC) with her grandmother,
grandson, sons, uncle, aunts, extended family, friends
and colleagues present. This defence was the first of its
kind for the University of British Columbia’s Department of
Educational Studies. The dissertation title is a Nuu-chahnulth (NCN) phrase Dawn’s uncle, Tim Paul (Hesquiaht),
felt was appropriate given the family’s shared cultural

28 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

teachings. The latter title refers to the self-reflective process
involved, which centers on being a good, kind and loving
human being, a NCN life aspiration. The hope is also
to restore an element of humanity for those Indigenous
peoples who were dehumanized by education.
Drawing on life experiences, both as an Indigenous
student and educator, Dawn recognized the absence of
Indigenous peoples and worldviews in post-secondary
education. She also saw how this left students and others
vulnerable to misunderstandings of Indigenous peoples.
The study also revealed the tensions that arise between
Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples causing many
to feel unsettled and unsure of how to move forward.
The truth about Canadian history and unjust treatment

Left to right is Michelle Stack, Bryden Amos (son), Qwul’sih’yah’maht (Robina Thomas), Deirdre Kelly, Dawn Smith,
Quentin Amos (grandson), Shauna Butterwick, Michelle Pidgeon and Chancellor Amos (son).

of Indigenous peoples continues to grow, and so does
the need to decolonize, indigenize and reconcile postsecondary institutions. Dawn notes that more can be
done, but it requires more action on the part of leaders in
post-secondary institutions.
Dawn acknowledges the contributions and hard work of
Indigenous peoples, old ones, leaders, and academics who
are making great strides to aid in processes of decolonization,
indigenization, and now reconciliation but suggests that
it is now time for our non-Indigenous counterparts to step
forward to help lead the way in processes that lend to
transformation education for everyone.

Together, these experiences lend to Dawn’s position,
as the Indigenization and Sustainability Strategist, for
Camosun’s Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
Dawn’s role is to facilitate learning(s) that supports faculty
development, particularly the process that integrates
Indigenous and sustainability content into their curriculum.
Dawn’s research interests and publication contributions
continue to focus on Indigenous/non-Indigenous
relationships, multidirectional education, Indigenous
women and self-determination.

Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

29

STUDENT A FFA IRS

Scott Kouri
Counselling Department
PhD Research: Counselling In An
Age of Empire
In my research and writing, I explore counselling
with youth and young adults who navigate tensions
between entitlement and meritocracy, isolation and
interconnectedness, and disillusionment and hopefulness.
I scrutinize how anxieties about identity, unfulfilled
expectations, belonging and longing, privilege, and
responsibility are all facets and products of the way society
is organized and the ways young people differentially arrive
and are positioned within contemporary life. By mapping
the contemporary world as imbricated within capitalism
and colonialism, I interrogate how a range of social and
interpersonal issues comes to be framed, coded, and
treated as mental illness. I thereby put counselling into a
politicized social context and investigate its problematics,
the subjects who populate it, as well as radical and ethical
approaches to therapy.

BIOGRAPHY
My name is Scott Kouri and I am a third generation
English-Lebanese cisgender male settler living
on the unceded territories of the Lekwungen,
SENĆOŦEN, and Hul’qumi’num speaking peoples.
I work at Camosun as a counsellor for students
and teach in Interprofessional Mental Health and
Addictions. For two years, I’ve used portions of my
scheduled development allotment to pursue a PhD
in Human and Social Development at the University
of Victoria. Specifically, I have studied critical
counselling and youth development in the School
of Child and Youth Care. My PhD work has thus far
included writing three comprehensive exam papers
which I intend on publishing in academic journals in
the coming two years.

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I focus primarily on young adults recognized as
representing identities commensurate with power within
historic structures of capitalism, colonialism, racism,
and heteronormative patriarchy. Many privileged young
people today access counselling for issues such as anxiety,
depression, substance use, and suicidality. Putting these
mental health discourses in social contexts retraces the
frustrations, disappointments, and fears of a subject
unable to arrive into a position that they, consciously or
unconsciously, believe they are entitled to. Such analyses
connect mental illness discourse to racialized and genderbased violence, political and religious conservatism,
housing crises, and desperate attempts for majoritarian
subjects to recuperate a safe and privileged place within
a dying world. I attempt, through these analyses, to outline
an ethical and socially just approach to counselling youth
and young adults as they aim to take positions of leadership,
power, and privilege within contemporary society.

I N TER DISC I PLIN A RY C O LLAB ORATION

Camosun College Employee
Field School: China

CONTRIBUTORS
Michael Borins, Centre for Accessible Learning; Mandy
Hayre, Chair, Dental Hygiene Department; and John
Lee, Chair, Chemistry and Geoscience Department

Camosun College Field School:
China, May 2018
We attended the Camosun College Field School to
China in May 2018, along with other faculty and staff from
the College. We were guests of two post-secondary
institutions—one in Xuzhou, a four- hour train ride from
Shanghai, and one in Baotou, Inner Mongolia. For this
Scheduled Development journal, we were asked to write
a short piece about our trip to China. The memories of the
people, stories, images, and sounds were so abundant
and fascinating—where to begin!

32 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

As we contemplated the task, we were drinking tea
purchased from a family that farmed in the mountains of
southern China. They dried the tea leaves on floor mats
located in the corner of their living room. We drank from
our favourite teacups and each sip brought back images
of flooded rice fields, cut out, in concentric circles down
the side of mountains shrouded in mist. We smiled, as we
remembered bartering for these cups and purses at the
Beijing Silk Market.
It’s almost impossible to capture how deeply the students
in the classes we visited touched our hearts—how they
welcomed us with such excitement and curiosity. It’s
almost impossible to describe the generosity of our
host families as we walked through the Workers’ Park
in Baotou discussing Chinese-Canadian politics and
history, while classical Chinese music played in the
background. What memories we have of the evening we
cooked with our host families as we learned how to make
dumplings from scratch!

How can we begin to explain the sights, sounds and
flavours of this beautiful land? The visually striking murals
painted in blues, reds, pink and yellow on the walls of the
Buddhist Monastery, nestled in the Mongolian mountains
capped with bright white Yurts. No words can do justice
to the first time seeing the Great Wall of China winding
through the forest covered mountains as far as the eye
could see. With eyes closed, we can still remember hearing
the sounds of opera in a park in Shanghai, with the dance
music of the outdoor aerobics class right beside them,
all of them unperturbed by the sounds of nearby traffic
and car horns. How can we convey the exquisite taste of
Beijing Duck at the restaurant in Tiananmen Square? Or the
banquet at Xuzhou University with course after course of
fish, meat and noodles, washed down with many toasts of
baijiu, the room filled with unforgettable joy and laughter?
Or the beauty in the faces of the Chinese people? Rarely
does a day go by in our work at the college that we are not
reminded of the lessons and experiences acquired from
our journey to China.

It is impossible to describe in such a short article all
the wonderful sensations and experiences we shared.
However, most of all we appreciate all the friendships
we made, as we took in all these unforgettable moments
together. We would highly recommend field schools to all!

Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

33

S CHO O L OF AC C ESS

Elizabeth West
English Language Development Department and
Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning
faculty who spend long hours designing curriculum,
collaborating with others, coordinating the projects, and
working with the students.

AC K N OW L ED G E M E N TS :
Many thanks to all the contributors to Camosun Showcase
2019!
The stories in this year’s publication celebrate the
creativity, scholarship, commitment, and breadth that
Camosun faculty bring to their subject areas and to
Camosun students.
These stories link communities, some local and others
international. The heart of Camosun College learning
and teaching takes students from the classroom to
larger communities where they apply their knowledge.
Collaborative
projects
highlighting
Mechanical
Engineering, Panama Bilingue, an Indigenous student
exchange, Dental Hygiene, and Fine Furniture students
feature the tremendous richness of applied learning.
Corrine Michel notes applied learning projects “engage
learners in real-world complexities.” These excellent
applied projects do not come to fruition without the
expertise, passion, hard work, and vision of Camosun

34 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity

Some contributions highlight academic research or faculty
members’ own creative work. Three PhD research projects
demonstrate the high value Camosun faculty place on their
own scholarship, which in each case informs their College
roles: work with youth and young adults in Counselling,
development of a “land-based and experiential field
school,” and support for faculty “that integrates
Indigenous and sustainability content into the curriculum.”
Nicole Kilburn and Tara Tudor explain that they “returned
to Victoria [from research in Tucson] energized with many
new ideas” for their classes. Stories in Showcase 2019
illustrate to students their instructors’ ongoing creative
work and show students that their instructors “walk the
walk.” An institutional partnership in Kenya provides rich
collaboration as well as in-depth discussions in classes.
Participants in the employee field school highlight the
value: “Rarely does a day go by in our work at the college
that we are not reminded of the lessons and experiences
acquired from our journey to China.”
Thank you to Nancy Yakimoski in Visual Arts for the
wonderful cover with her art, “Blue on Black.”
I have coordinated Showcase 2019 as part of my Scheduled
Development and my role in the Centre for Excellence in
Teaching and Learning. This project has given me new
insights into the inspiring breadth of professional, scholarly,
and creative activity at Camosun and an appreciation for
the College support that faculty members have for this
important work.
My great appreciation extends to Camosun Graphic
and Print Services and Information Technology Services.
A heartfelt thank you to Stephanie Morris for her high
calibre graphic design skills and the hours she put into
this project. Many thanks to Allan Shook for his excellent
photographs and willingness to make the photographs
happen with great ease. Many thanks to Kyle Reed and the
printing team for their high quality work.