Curriculum Vitae

PROFILE

  • 10 years in professional administration, including budgetary oversight and staff management
  • 20 years running a successful freelance editing and manuscript evaluation business (clients in diverse industries, e.g., academia, government, arts and culture, relief/development, public policy)
  • 10+ years teaching in higher education (award-winning lecturer)
  • 4 years spearheading initiatives for a mental health/creative arts foundation
  • Successful grant-writing and fundraising background (>$100,000)
  • Successful corporate sponsor management experience
  • Multiple popular and academic publications

SELECT PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Research Associate, Health Arts and Northern/Indigenous Peoples, Northern Medical Program, University of Northern British Columbia (2018-present, part-time)

  • Research and writing (esp. on Applied Humanities); copyediting; project management

In Other Words – Editing and Evaluation Services (2001-present)

Bibliotherapist, The ReLit Foundation (2017-present, part-time)

ReLit is the Foundation for the complementary treatment of stress, anxiety and other conditions through immersion in the arts.

  • Co-Convenor for online programming, including educational and creative sessions
  • Course Co-Convenor for ReLit Summer Sessions: Annual sessions planning; recruiting; overseeing tutors and students’ general activities; delivering sessions
  • Heading outreach/convening workshops, public talks and roundtables in Canada, the US, the UK and online

As the samples below demonstrate (click to expand), I have broad experience in facilitating and presenting a variety of reading for well-being events.

A resume of workshops and events
Workshops, talks and events: Supported by The ReLit Foundation
Dr. Julie Sutherland (ReLit Foundation International Ambassador and Summer School Co-Convenor)

2021 (May)
Workshop: ‘my colour’s green’: a ReLit Foundation spring poetry & music event
2020 (Aug.)
Workshop: Literature as Magic: Children’s Literature and Shakespeare’s Fairies (TheReLit Foundation Online Summer School)
2019 (Nov.)
Workshop: “Poetry by the Bedside: Bibliotherapy in Palliative Care.”
Center for Humanities Applications & Innovations, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
2019 (Nov.)
Workshop and Roundtable Talk: “Bibliotherapy: Literature and Mental Health.”
Center for Humanities Applications & Innovations, Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ
2019 (Aug.)
Lecture/workshop: “Snapshots of Repose: Shakespeare and the ‘Foster-Nurse of
Nature.’”
Oxford ReLit Summer School, Worcester College
Oxford, UK
2019 (May)
Workshop: “Help Along the Way: A Therapeutic Exercise in Memory & Haiku.”
Beth Centre, Women In Prison
Stockwell, UK
2019 (May)
Session and social: “Prosecco and Cupcakes: A Celebration of Art’s Therapeutic Value.”
Provost’s Lodgings, Worcester College
Oxford, UK
2019 (Feb.)
Lecture/workshop: “Poetry of Nature and the Senses: A Haiku Workshop.”
Arizona State University, ENG 367 (Environmental Issues in Literature & Film: Classic Texts & Contemporary Trends)
Phoenix, AZ
2018 (Nov.)
Workshop (created, but led by a colleague): “Grief, Loss and Mourning.” Sense and Sensibility Mental Wellness Project.
ReLit/Cape Breton Regional Library/Doktor Luke’s
Sydney, NS
2018 (Aug.)
Lecture/workshop: “ ‘Shakespeare Looked Inward and Found Nature There’: Understanding the Self Beyond the Walls.”
Oxford ReLit Summer School, Worcester College
Oxford, UK
2018 (May)
Keynote speech: “Bibliotherapy.”
The Art of Medicine: Using the Arts to Enhance Patient Care and Well- Being. Cape Breton Cancer Center
Sydney, NS
2018 (May)
Lecture/staff workshop: “Resilience: Maya Angelou and The Get Down.”
Mental Health Week Program, Canadian Coast Guard College.
Westmount, NS
2018 (May)
Lecture/officer cadet workshop: “Resilience: Maya Angelou and The Get Down.”
Mental Health Week Program, Canadian Coast Guard College.
Westmount, NS
2018 (Jan.)
Interactive presentation: “Bibliotherapy: Resilience.”
Compassionate Community Lecture Series, Cape Breton University, Department
of Political Science.
Sydney, NS
2018 (Jan.)
Yoga Bibliotherapy Workshop: “Awareness, Movement and Surrender.”
Paradise Found Yoga Studio
Sydney, NS
2018 (Jan.)
Workshop: “Resilience.”
Mental Health Awareness Week, organized by the Cape Breton University
Department of Psychology
Sydney, NS
2017–18
Bibliotherapy Anthology Initiative: Organized the dissemintation of approximately 150 copies of Stressed/Unstressed anthologies to hospices, rehab clinics, and mental health and wellness organizations in Cape Breton, NS.
2017 (Dec.)
Performance piece on resilience: “ ‘I want some more’: The Triumphant Working Class in the Novels of Charles Dickens.”
Figgy Pudding ReLit Fundraiser, Doktor Luke’s Coffee House
Sydney, NS
2017 (Jul.)
Lecture/workshop: “ ‘Look into thy heart and write’: Shakespeare’s Emotionally Explosive Diarising.”
Oxford ReLit Summer School, Worcester College
Oxford, UK

General Manager, Orchestra Kingston (2018–20, part-time)

  • Public relations, marketing, donor management, concert production and publicity

Owner/Operations Manager, Doktor Luke’s Coffee House, Sydney, NS (2013-18)

  • Carried out market research, strategized a brand, developed a business plan, secured financing, negotiated potential commercial spaces, applied for the proper permits and licences, worked with insurance brokers, lawyers and accountants
  • Monitored and analyzed revenues and expenses.* Co-managed human resources: hired, trained, supervised staff (2-4 at any given time)
  • Developed and executed marketing and publicity campaigns and strategies
  • Liaised with public and media regarding business operations and special events
  • Managed social media platforms
  • Sold at a profit

Academic Co-Ordinator, Shakespeare, Athabasca University (2015-17, Limited Term Appointment)

  • Delivered, maintained and developed assigned programs and courses of study in Shakespeare within the Centre for Humanities
  • Instructional Design: Completed major revisions on ENGL 324 and ENGL 325 (Shakespeare I and Shakespeare II). These revisions involved completely rewriting the course material (200,000 words) and updating all resources to reflect major changes in computer technology and Shakespeare criticism since the previous revision (1996)

Teaching/Professorial Experience (2003-17)

  • Relevant duties included: course development; teaching; academic advising; examining and marking; research; conferences; publishing (peer-reviewed).
  • Contracts at: Cape Breton University (2013-17); University of Durham (2010-11); University of British Columbia (2008-2013); Kwantlen Polytechnic (2007-12); ABU/Oxford (2004-06); Crandall (2005-06).
  • Courses included: Shakespeare and Renaissance Studies; Renaissance Poetry; Literature to the 18th Century; Introductory Literature courses; and Introductory Writing courses.
  • Sample Publications:
    • Introduction to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Determinants of Health in Canada. Contributing co-editor (with Margo Greenwood, Sarah de Leeuw, Roberta Stout, and Roseann Larstone). Canadian Scholars’ Press (forthcoming).
    • Review of Revolt/Compassion: Six Scripts for Contemporary Performance by Michael Springate and Colours to the Chameleon: Canadian Actors on Shakespeare edited by Keith Garebian. In Canadian Literature 240, 152-153 (Summer 2020).
    • Merchant of Venice: Texts and Contexts. Contributing editor. Broadview Press (2014).
    • “Never conquered nor possessed:” Female Theatre Professionals Present Post-colonial/Québécois Canadian Shakespeare. In “No other but a woman’s reason”: Women on Shakespeare. Eds. Kujawinska Courtney and Kwapisz Williams. Peter Lang (2013).
    • “What beast is this lies wallowing in his gore?”: The Indignity of Man and the Animal Nature of Love in The Sea Voyage. Modern Language Review, 107(1), 89-109 (2012).
    • Review of Stuart Women Playwrights, 1613-1713 (Ashgate, 2011). In The Seventeenth Century 27.1 (Spring 2012).
    • Review of Milton’s Ovidian Eve (Ashgate, 2009) by Mandy Green. In The Seventeenth Century 26.2 (Autumn 2011).
    • Encyclopedia of Tudor England. Eds. John A. Wagner and Susan Walters Schmid. ABC-CLIO: “Anne Hathaway” (Vol. 2. 568-69); “Drama” (Vol. 1. 366-68) (2011).
    • Theatre Review: Twelfth Night at Bard on the Beach, Vancouver BC. In Early Modern Literary Studies 14.2 (2008).
    • The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Love, Courtship, and Sexuality through History [6 vols.]. Eds. James Howell et al. Greenwood Press: “Chinese Treasure Fleets” (Vol. 3. 49-50); “Exploration and Colonization, European” (Vol. 3. 84-88) (2007).
    • Obedience to the Inward Oracle. Quaker Studies, 6(2), 133-158 (2002).

Director of Public Relations, Pacific Theatre, Vancouver (2006-09)

  • Liaised with federal, provincial and municipal governments
  • Liaised with media and members of the theatre industry
  • Wrote media releases and grant applications for government funding and funding from the private sector
  • Facilitated fundraising events and liaised with donors
  • Managed human resources: hiring, apprentice supervision, staff co-management, management of external contractors
  • Managed and generated in-house marketing/advertising
  • Attended regional (GVPTA) and national (PACT) conferences

COMMUNITY SERVICE

  • Women’s Self-Defence Training, Assistant Coach, Kingston, ON (2019-pres.)
  • Voice over work for short film, Norwich, UK (2020)
  • Theatre Critic for the Highland Arts Theatre, Sydney, NS (2013-18)
  • Benefit Show Producer/Campaign Fundraiser (Pathways to Employment, Crossroads Clubhouse, United Way Cape Breton, Cape Breton Transition House, Lifeline Syria Cape Breton, Pacific Theatre, Genus Theatre), Sydney, NS, Vancouver, BC (2008-18)
  • Shakespeare Language Coach, Hamlet. Boardmore Theatre, Sydney, NS (2015)
  • Safehouse/Survival Sex Worker Resources Volunteer, Vancouver, BC (1994–2000; 2006–10)

BOARDS

EDventure Society, Board Member (2017)
The object of the Society is the founding and governance of a not-for-profit to develop and provide educational activities for children and youth such as summer school, outdoor field trips, in-class activities and curriculum development.

Bandshell Players, Treasurer (2014-2017)
The Bandshell Players is committed to producing professional quality theatre in accessible public spaces of Cape Breton. The Bandshell Players is particularly interested in supporting groups that destigmatize mental illness, and its fundraising efforts are dedicated to that pursuit.

HONOURS & AWARDS

  • Vital Employer Award, Cape Breton Partnership (2015)
  • Ian Fairclough Teaching Prize (University of British Columbia, Dept. of Engl.) (2011-12)
  • Honourable Mention 1/1: “Exemplary Tutor” (Durham University, Dept. of Engl.) (2011)
  • Overseas Research Studentship, Higher Education Funding Council, UK ($50,000 CAD) (2001-04)
  • Ctr. for 17th Century Studies Studentship, Durham University ($30,000 CAD) (2001-04)

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Durham University, UK (2004), English Studies and Seventeenth-Century Studies
M.A., Durham University (2001), Seventeenth-Century Studies
B.A., Honours, Trinity Western University, Canada (1999), English (Major); Drama (Minor)

  • Visiting studentships at: Oxford University (1998); Queen’s University (1996-97)

SKILLS

Languages: English; French (intermediate)

Computers: Windows 10; MS Office 2016 (Word, Excel, PPT)

INTERESTS

Reading; theatre and film; mixed martial arts; cooking and baking; blogging