Building Respectful Relationships: Presenters Biographies

Last Updated on April 9th, 2008

Building Respectful Relationships: Conducting Community-Based Research
Workshop for Graduate Students Studying the Social Economy

Monday, May 28th – 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM
Location: University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Room: Arts 217

Dr. Brett Fairbairn, Head, Department of History and Centre for the Study of Co-operatives Fellow in Co-operative Thought and Ideas. He is a historian of co-operatives, co-operative thought, and democratic politics.
Dr. Michael Gertler, Department of Sociology and Centre for the Study of Co-operatives Fellow in Community and Co-operative Development. He studies the sociology of co-operation and rural development.
Lois Gray, is graduating this spring with an MBA degree from the Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba.
Dr. Ian MacPherson, Director, British Columbia Institute for Co-operative Studies, Victoria; Co-Director, Social Economy National Hub. He is a world authority on co-operatives and a historian of Canada.
Dr. Jorge Sousa, Assistant Professor in Adult Education in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Alberta. He completed his PhD at The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. His research is exploring the use of audio/visual technology for capacity building within different forms of communities.
Janel Smith, Co-ordinator, Social Economy Graduate Student Network
Len Usiskin, Manager, QUINT Development Corporation; Community Partner, Linking, Learning and Leveraging. He actively works to strengthen and build community economic development in Saskatoon’s core neighbourhoods.
Dr. Paul Wilkinson, Project Manager for Station 20 West Development Corporation – an integrated health and community economic development venture in the core area of Saskatoon; Community Partner, Linking, Learning and Leveraging. Formerly, he was Director of Community Development for Saskatchewan Social Services. Also he was the former Head of Indian Social Work for First Nations University. His doctoral thesis was titled “Against the Tide: Community Initiated Development in the Evangeline Region of Prince Edward Island” – a study of the organization of co-operatives for community economic development.