Geraldine Balzer
Dr. Geraldine Balzer is an Associate Professor of Curriculum Studies in the College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan. Her experiences teaching Inuit students led to her interest in decolonizing pedagogies and transformative education. Her teaching focuses on ways of disrupting the hegemony of standard English and embracing the diversity of Englishes within our world, incorporating Aboriginal and postcolonial literature into secondary classrooms, and preparing teachers to be advocates of social justice. Her research focuses on decolonization and social justice. She works with teachers to explore the use of diverse literary texts and literary theory in order to engage students in critical thinking about societal issues. She also studies International Experiential Education/Service Learning and its impact on Canadian participants and host communities in Central America. A central focus of this research is to ensure that Indigenous host communities in the Global South have voice in the development and implementation of these programs. Reciprocity is central to developing research that is not an extractive industry but is co-owned by the researchers and the communities.
Courtney Charles
Courtney Charles is a Lecturer and pharmacist from the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition who teaches pharmacology and pharmacotherapeutics to pharmacy and nursing students. Her professional interests lie in policy change for equality and creating inclusive learning spaces.
Julita Vassileva
Dr. Julita Vassileva is a Professor in the Department Computer Science. She is a leading researcher in user modelling, personalization and social computing, as well as AI in education. She has authored over 300 research papers and given 15 keynote presentations at international conferences. In 2021 Dr. Vassileva received the U of S Distinguished Researcher Award. She has advised over 50 graduate students (15 PhD) and has received the two main U of S awards for graduate supervision: the University’s Distinguished Graduate Supervisor Award (2014), and the Advising Excellence Award by the Graduate Student Association (2013). Dr. Vassileva is a member of the editorial boards of several reputed journals, including UMUAI, IEEE TLT, ACM TSC, IJAIED, and is the founding Editor-in-Chief of Frontiers in AI Supporting Human Learning and Behaviour Change. Dr. Vassileva held the NSERC/Cameco Chair for Women in Science and Engineering for the Prairies region (2005 – 2011) and started a science outreach program for aboriginal youth in the North, called “Science Ambassadors”, which has now completed 13 years of impactful activity in over 25 communities and has engaged over 25,000 indigenous youth in science. For her leadership and mentorship, she got the Saskatoon’s YWCA “Women of Distinction Award (Science and Research)” in 2015.
Lenaic Couedel
Dr. Lénaïc Couëdel has been a faculty member at the U of S since March 2018. He is an Associate Professor in the department of Physics and Engineering Physics. He obtained his PhD from the University of Sydney, Australia in 2008. He was, from 2009 to 2011, a postdoctoral fellow at the Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in the group of Professor Gregor Morfill. Prior to joining the U of S (2011-2018), Dr. Couëdel was a CNRS research scientist in the PIIM laboratory at Aix-Marseille University. Dr. Couëdel is an experimental plasma physicist. His current research interests are complex (dusty) plasmas (especially nanoparticle growth in low temperature plasmas (magnetized and unmagnetized), and instabilities in complex plasma (crystals) and low temperature plasma diagnostics (especially sheath diagnostics). Dr. Couëdel has been a USFA Executive Committee member since July 2019. He is currently USFA Treasurer and Chair of the USFA External Relations Committee.
Doug Chivers is an accomplished behavioural and evolutionary ecologist in the Department of Biology. His research focusses on how anthropogenic disturbance alters predation dynamics and prey cognition. Doug is a University of Saskatchewan Distinguished Professor. His research has been cited more than 20,000 times. He is a Fellow of the Animal Behaviour Society and the Royal Society of Canada. Doug has served as the USFA Chair and Vice Chair several times and has been involved in Collective Bargaining for much of his career at the University of Saskatchewan.
Susan Fowler-Kerry at the equator in Uganda
Susan Fowler-Kerry is a Full Professor in the College of Nursing. During her tenure on faculty she has developed a successfully funded international program of research in the area of pediatric pain and palliative care. As a result she has served as a consultant with several International organizations including the World Health Organization, George Soros Foundation, and the Middle East Cancer Consortium. Recently, she was invited to participate with the Bill Clinton Foundation targeting pain resulting from HIV/AIDs in children in Africa. She has recently published her second book, Pediatric Palliative Care: Global Perspectives. She has served on the executive for 3 terms assuming the roles of Chair of Personnel, Committee on Women’s Issues, Constitution and 2 terms as Treasurer. Dr. Fowler-Kerry currently holds one of two Equity Officer positions on the Executive Committee.
Amin Mousavi
Dr. Amin Mousavi is an Associate Professor of Psychometrics, Classroom Assessment, and Measurement in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education, College of Education. His current area of research is the intersection of assessment, learning theories and technology.
Allison Muri
Professor Allison Muri has been a faculty member in the Department of English since 2004. Her research focuses on Digital Humanities applications to the study of Eighteenth-century literature, history, and culture. First elected a member of the USFA Executive in 2016, she has been active with the USFA since 2009 as a member of the Joint Committee for the Management of the Agreement (JCMA), JCMA Caucus, and the USFA Negotiating Committee and Caucus. She has served as USFA Chair, USFA Vice-Chair, Co-Chair of JCMA, Chair of the USFA Communications Committee and is the Association’s Chief Negotiator.
Li Xing
Dr. Li Xing is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, College of Arts & Science. Her research interests are Analysis of Big Omics Data, Bioinformatics, Machine Learning, Bayesian Methods, Longitudinal Data Problem, and Biostatistics.
Paula MacDowell
Paula MacDowell, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum Studies. She is a recognized leader in immersive learning, AR/VR/XR for good, and technologies for pro-social and environmental change. She is the co-editor of Immersive Education: Designing for Learning, which focuses on designing and being a designer of immersive education. Paula serves as Director of Practitioners on the Board of Directors for the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN). Her professional interests include working collaboratively towards greater equity and transparency and improving the overall quality of our academic lives at USask.
Scott Walsworth
Scott Walsworth is an Associate Professor of industrial relations at the Edwards School of Business. His research and classes examine how unions affect the workplace. He is currently serving as the Chair of the Saskatchewan Educational Relations Board, which oversees labour relations for the province’s approximately 13,000 teachers. Since 2020, Scott has worked as a labour arbitrator, adjudicating cases in the healthcare, public and private sectors. He has served as department head and on the URC. This is Scott’s second term on the USFA executive. He is a member of numerous USFA committees including the joint committee for managing the agreement (JCMA), and negotiations. Before joining the University in 2007, he completed a Ph.D. and a Master’s degree in Industrial Relations at the University of Toronto, and most recently, completed a Master of Law (LLM) in employment and labour law at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. He has a lovely wife, four energetic sons, and two lazy cats.
Colleen Bell
Dr. Colleen Bell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Studies, College of Arts & Science.
Professor Vandenberg is a faculty member in the College of Nursing.