As Senior Instructional Developer, Svitlana Taraban-Gordon oversees all aspects of the CTE teaching development programs directed at graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.  Her primarily role involves coordinating three teaching certificate programs: Fundamentals of University Teaching (basic); Certificate in University Teaching (advanced), and the Teaching Certificate for Postdoctoral Fellows. Svitlana also works with graduate students and postdocs through individual consultations, workshops and teaching observations. Prior to joining the Centre for Teaching Excellence, Svitlana spent 6 years at York University where she completed her PhD in Education (Language, Culture and Teaching) in 2006. While at York, she worked in the area of international education and taught courses in the teacher preparation program. Svitlana speaks three languages and is the newest Board Member at the Waterloo-based non-profit agency, Focus for Ethnic Women.  In her (rare) free time, Svitlana enjoys spending time in local cafes, reading academic and food blogs and traveling the world with her husband and young son.

Selected Professional Highlights

• External examiner. Karine Rashkovsky, “Unpacking Ontario’s character development policy initiative: Character education in social context.” PhD thesis, York University.
• Currently developing a new online course, “Intercultural Skills,” for Waterloo Professional Development program (WatPD).

Publications

• Taraban-Gordon, S., Trilokekar, R. & Fynbo, T. (2009). Beyond intellectual tourism and global market competencies: Student interns reflections on learning in global spaces. In R. D. Trilokekar, G. Jones, & A. Shubert (Eds.), “Canada’s universities go global.” Toronto: Lorimer.

Grants and Awards

• Recipient, with Mark Morton, of a WatCACE Grant for a research project on challenges facing international students in UW's Co-op Program. ($13,000)
• Recipient of the ELITE scholarship for dissertation research in Germany
• Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) recipient

Other

• Visiting Professor at the International Summer University in Macedonia, 2006
• Visiting Fellow at the Academy for Migration Studies at Aalborg University, Denmark, 2003

The Centre for Teaching Excellence
Environment 1, Office 325
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1

CTE Phone: 519 888 4567, x 33353
CTE Fax: 519 888 9806
Email: cte@uwaterloo.ca