Organizing Committee Members:

Penny Kinnear (Chair) - penny.kinnear@utoronto.ca - is Assistant Professor in the Professional Writing and Communication Program at the University of Toronto Mississauga. She has studied and used narrative in writing and second language and bilingual research.

Tracey Bowen (Program Chair) - traceybowen@cogeco.ca - coming soon...

Margaret Procter (Treasurer) - procter@chass.utoronto.ca - is Coordinator of Writing Support for the University of Toronto. She studied and taught narrative in the Department of English, and now teaches a course in Writing and History as part of the Professional Writing Program at University of Toronto Mississauga. She is the treasurer for Narrative Matters 2008.

Candace Schlein (Secretary) - cschlein@oise.utoronto.ca - is Secretary on the Narrative Matters Toronto 2008 Organizing Committee. Dr. Schlein is also presently Postdoctoral Fellow at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto in a position supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Her research incorporates the investigation of a variety of aspects of diversity among educational experiences from the perspectives of teachers, students, administrators, and community members. Dr. Schlein’s doctoral dissertation, “(Un)Learning to Teach: A Narrative Inquiry into the Experiences of Canadian Teacher–Returnees from Northeast Asia,” comprised the study of the experiences of cross–cultural teaching for novice Canadian educators. Her work further provided insight into the impact and implications of intercultural curricular encounters for improving multicultural education in local classrooms. Dr. Schlein’s research interests include curriculum, multiculturalism, cross–culturalism, teacher development, narrative inquiry, comparative education, and second language education.

Allan Peterkin (Fundraising Chair) - allen.peterkin@utoronto.ca - is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at the University of Toronto and a founding editor of ARS MEDICA : A Journal of Medicine , the Arts and Humanities (www.ars-medica.ca) . He runs therapeutic writing groups for patients living with chronic illness and is interested in the interface between narrative and healing. Dr. Peterkin heads the Program for Narrative and Healthcare Humanities at Mount Sinai Hospital and is the author of six books on cultural history ( see www.Adpeterkin.com) , as well as Staying Human During Residency Training (4th edition, University of Toronto Press)

Allison Crawford (Event Chairperson) - allison.crawford@utoronto.ca - is a Psychiatrist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, and a PhD candidate in the Department of English, at the University of Toronto. She is a founding editor, and managing editor of Ars Medica: Journal of Medicine, the Arts and Humanities. She currently writes about the use of narrative and art in representations of war; and the use of visual images in literary narratives about traumatic experiences. Her clinical work involves working with women who have experienced psychological trauma and their infants.

Guy Allen - guypallen@utoronto.ca - directs the Professional Writing and Communication program at the University of Toronto as Mississauga where he has taught writing through narrative for many years.