I had excellent mentorship from my committee, who were easy to contact and offered feedback on my dissertation on materialist approaches to reconciliation theories and politics in Canada. I received great funding to pursue my research, and I also worked as a TA and RA to supplement my internal and external scholarships. I mentored other graduate students with teaching techniques and resources, and I supported the beginnings of social media development at SFU as well as the department blog.

I completed my degree in five years, with no obstacles and the excellent academic and administrative support of my committee and grad chair. After graduation, I applied for postdocs and spent a year as a sessional. The time immediately following the completion of my PhD was difficult; I had been told the job market was bad, but it hadn’t been highlighted enough, and it was strange to be outside of the university.

A second round of post-docs brought success, and I left the subject of my dissertation to pursue new research in Indigenous new media and digital storytelling; I needed the time and space of the postdoc to return to my work again. This research lead to a book contract and my current Assistant Professor position in the Department of First Nations and Indigenous Studies at UBC.

I like UBC’s methods of community building, and I wish that Simon Fraser had had a stronger connection to the community, though I’m thankful for the positivity and warmth of the department during my time there. Being a professor has also been a learning experience; I didn’t realize how difficult the balance of teaching, research, and all the administrative and service work would be.  

I had excellent mentorship from my committee, who were easy to contact and offered feedback on my dissertation on materialist approaches to reconciliation theories and politics in Canada. I received great funding to pursue my research, and I also worked as a TA and RA to supplement my internal and external scholarships. I mentored other graduate students with teaching techniques and resources, and I supported the beginnings of social media development at SFU as well as the department blog.

I completed my degree in five years, with no obstacles and the excellent academic and administrative support of my committee and grad chair. After graduation, I applied for postdocs and spent a year as a sessional. The time immediately following the completion of my PhD was difficult; I had been told the job market was bad, but it hadn’t been highlighted enough, and it was strange to be outside of the university.

A second round of post-docs brought success, and I left the subject of my dissertation to pursue new research in Indigenous new media and digital storytelling; I needed the time and space of the postdoc to return to my work again. This research lead to a book contract and my current Assistant Professor position in the Department of First Nations and Indigenous Studies at UBC.

I like UBC’s methods of community building, and I wish that Simon Fraser had had a stronger connection to the community, though I’m thankful for the positivity and warmth of the department during my time there. Being a professor has also been a learning experience; I didn’t realize how difficult the balance of teaching, research, and all the administrative and service work would be.