I am pleased to announce Susan Kelsall, Associate Dean, the Business School has successfully defended her dissertation “Disrupting the Norms: Towards New Understandings of Persistence and Success in Postsecondary Education”, on March 6, 2015 at University of British Columbia in completion of a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy.

Using the visual, quantitative, data mining technique of sequence analysis with optimal matching and cluster analysis, and discrepancy analysis, Susan’s longitudinal research study maps individual student academic outcomes and enrollment and achievement pathways of one cohort of Humber business diploma students (N=790) and explores relationships with student academic and behavioral characteristics derived from historical institutional administrative data.

The supervisory committee was comprised of Dr. Charles Ungerleider, Professor Emeritus (supervisor), Dr. Lesley Andres, Professor and Dr. Andre Mazawi, Professor - all of the Department of Educational Studies, UBC. The external examiner was Dr. Glen A. Jones, Ontario Research Chair in Postsecondary Education Policy and Measurement and Professor of Higher Education at OISE, University of Toronto. University examiners were Dr. Kjell Rubenson, Professor Emeritus, UBC and Co-Director of Centre for Policy Studies in Higher Education and Training, UBC and Dr. Alison Taylor, Associate Professor, Political Economy in Education, UBC.

I am proud of Susan. Completing a doctorate is a tremendous accomplishment. We look forward to Susan sharing her research findings with the Humber community.


Congratulations,

Alvina Cassiani, PhD
Dean, The Business School