After highschool I went to Wilfrid Laurier to
study french but the class I really enjoyed was
International Relations so I switched to a
Political Science major. My mom told me I'd end up
as a professional student. I didn't realize it
then, but she was right. So here I am still in
university, although on the other side of the
classroom. I did my MA and PhD at the University
of Guelph in International Development Studies,
got my first teaching gig at Dalhousie University
in 1999 and moved out east. I've been at Dalhousie
for eight years now and really love being in
Halifax. I met my husband, Philip, at the
University of Guelph in 1996, we had a son, Jonah,
in 2004 and spent one year in Waterloo during my
sabbatical in 2005-2006. My work and research has
allowed me to travel a great deal with over 10
years of travelling back and forth to Africa. I've
spent considerable time in Zimbabwe, Malawi and
Kenya. Malawi is my second home and I lived there
for nearly 2 years while doing my PhD research.
I've also done research in Indonesia (2 times) and
Sri Lanka. Indonesia and Sri Lanka trips in 2006
allowed me to evaluate Canada's donor support to
the tsunami affected communities. In 1995, I
backpacked through Europe with Krysta and had an
amazing time. I went back to Europe in 2006 as a
visiting prof at the University of Leipzig. I've
been to a few other countries for work, namely
Costa Rica and St. Lucia.
Recently, I decided I needed a change and applied
for a Canada Research Chair position at the Royal
Military College in Kingston, Ontario. I got the
job and will be moving there at the end of August.
It will be an exciting challenge to teach Canadian
military and civilians about development and how
to involve local communities in their projects
abroad, mostly Afghanistan and Haiti these days
for soldiers. RMC is a fascinating little
University with a mix of military and civilian
students and some exciting new graduate programs.
So, in the past few months, I've sold a house,
bought a house, started some new research, and
made plans to go back to Ontario. I hope being
back in Ontario will mean I can see my old
highschool friends more often.
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