AGES Coordinator: Annie Wu

I am a second-year doctoral student in the Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies (Learning, Development, and Instructional Science). I completed my master’s degree in Educational Psychology at UVic in 2021. My research focuses on supporting learners with various sociocultural backgrounds to gain self-regulated learning (SRL) competency. Built upon my previous research studies, I have grown a strong interest in understanding how to promote metacognitive awareness for learners with various learning backgrounds to navigate academic and personal challenges and take control of their learning processes. In particular, I am currently engaging in a collaborative research project across five universities in Canada to examine how emerging adults with certain risky personality traits engage in SRL practices to leverage their encountered academic challenges in terms of achieving academic success.  As the AGES Coordinator, I aim to develop a strong, inclusive, and socially connected community for our graduate students within the faculty of education.

I have lived in Canada over a decade and raised two beautiful children (one is five years old and another one is under one year old) and two adorable cats.

AGES Workshop Coordinator: Heather Hollman

I am a third year PhD candidate in the School of Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education and have been involved with AGES since 2021. I am currently on the AGES Executive Committee and enjoy helping to organize various events for our Faculty of Education graduate students, including the AGES Conference 2023, and I am one of the Workshop Coordinators. My favourite part of being involved with AGES has been meeting and collaborating with graduate students across our faculty.

AGES Workshop Coordinator: Alycia Garcia

Alycia Garcia is a doctoral candidate in the University of Victoria’s Curriculum and Instruction department. Her research is set to focus on educational policy studies as they relate to asylum-seeking children in American elementary schools. Particularly, she will investigate policy development for students who have sought refuge from Latin America and Mexico, then determine how those policies are put into practice by teachers in Yuma School District 1. She joined the AGES (Association for Graduate Education Students) executive committee as a Workshop Coordinator in 2022, planning and hosting workshops to aid graduate students through their work at UVic. In addition to her doctoral and AGES work, she is a student in the LATHE (Learning and Teaching Higher Education) program, set to complete the certification in the spring of 2023.

Alycia was born and raised in the land belonging to the Hohokam peoples, also known as Arizona, and was a public-school teacher there for five years before beginning her PhD program. She received her undergraduate and master’s degrees from Northern Arizona University in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Although Alycia intended on teaching for the remainder of her career, the inequities she witnessed in the public school system sparked a motivation to make changes. She is passionate about anti-racist pedagogy, critical race theory in curricular design, and utilizing arts-based teaching methods. Alycia plans on using her PhD to continue her work in education, whether it be through a nonprofit organization, governmental sector, or university. Her strengths in critical race pedagogy will allow her to design curricula and train teachers, administrators, and students on creating educational environments that provide space to discuss race openly and safely.