Meet the Team

Dr. Laura K. Doan
Principal Investigator
ldoan@tru.ca

Dr. Laura K. Doan is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC, where she teaches in the Early Childhood Education and Master of Education programs.

Emily Mlieczko
Executive Director – ECEBC
executive.director@ecebc.ca

Emily Gawlick is the Executive Director for the Early Childhood Educators of BC (ECEBC), where Emily leads the association to support advancement of the ECE profession.

Before starting in this position Emily worked in rural BC in a variety of early years programs in both 100 Mile House and Prince Rupert.  After many rich experiences, including exposure to advocacy for the families she served, Emily decided to focus her attentions on the need to be a strong voice for the ECE sector. Her education, passion, understanding and commitment to make thing better for children, families and educators continue to guide her in work today.

Sue Irwin
Director of Programs & Operations – ECEBC
sirwin@ecebc.ca

Sue is ECEBC’s Director of Programs and Operations. Known for her relationship based and ethical practice. ECEBC’s mission of advancing sector professionalization, education and uplifting ECE voices aligns with Sue’s values and beliefs. She has worked in a variety of roles, including manager of licensed child care programs, ECE instructor at Vancouver Community college, ECEBC Ethics Guide and Regional Coordinator of BC Child Care Resource & Referral programs. She is passionate about empowering leadership and creating healthy equitable communities with the ECEBC team and board.

Tammy Dewar
ECEBC Peer Mentoring Program Manager
tdewar@ecebc.ca

Tammy Dewar is a Project Manager overseeing ECEBC’s project Leading in a Changing Environment: Promoting the Voices of the Early Learning Sector. Her 30 years of working in the early years sector include: family facilitator, educator, early years community developer, post-secondary instructor, leadership coach, and organizational consultant. She is passionate about empowerment, creative expression and well-being of child, family, educator, and community. Her coaching approach focuses on collaborative, strength and inquiry-based practices that activate and propel individual and collective growth.

Aksa Mughal
Research Lead
amughal@tru.ca

Aksa holds a Master’s in Education and a Masters in English Linguistics, Language, and Literature. Aksa has been working as Graduate Research Assistant with the Peer Mentoring Program since 2017, and took the responsibility of program management and research in June 2022.

Heather MacKay
Administrative Coordinator
hmackay@ecebc.ca

Heather joined the Peer-Mentoring Program team in 2019 and is dedicated to providing top-quality administrative support to the Peer-Mentoring community.

Greg Wilcox
ECEBC Program Assistant
gwilcox@ecebc.ca

Greg was born in Australia and has been working in the field of Early Learning since 2020. He spent his first two years as an Early Childhood Educator in the East Kootenay region before moving to Vancouver in 2022. His passion for Early Learning stems from a belief that children and families play an essential role in building healthy and happy communities and that relationships are at the heart of ethics, politics, and social justice.

Hind Namili

Started working as a Graduate student in November 2023 – Currently working on the program

Hind Namili is an international student at TRU from Morocco. She is currently in her final semester in the M.Ed. program. She has a bachelor’s degree in geography, teaching certifications. She worked as a language teacher in Morocco and China for the last five years. Her cross-cultural teaching experience has provided her with an opportunity to gain an appreciation for diversity. Hind enjoys engaging in a variety of creative pursuits such as drawing, logo design, video editing, and other creative resources. 

Sheetal Nair

Started working as a Graduate student in November 2023 – Currently working on the program

Sheetal Nair is an international student at TRU from India. She is currently in her final semester in the M.Ed. program. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Education and Master’s degree in English Literature and Business Administration. She has been an educator in India for over a decade. Her teaching experience is guided by this quote “Teachers who love teaching, teach children to love learning” by Robert John Meehan. Sheetal enjoys engaging in a variety of creative pursuits such as drawing, cooking and writing poetry. 

Dr. Elizabeth Boileau
Program Manager
eboileau@d.umn.edu

Dr. Elizabeth Boileau is now an Assistant Professor in the department of Applied Human Sciences, College of Education and Human Service Professions at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Dr. Soon Young Jang
Program Manager
sjang@cpp.edu

Dr. Soon Young Jang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Early Childhood Studies at College of Education and Integrative Studies, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Min Shi

Started working as a Graduate student in February 2022 – Currently working on the program

Min holds a master’s degree in Education from Thompson Rivers University and a Master’s in Business Administration from Northwestern Polytechnic University,  China. Min is a dedicated member of the Peer Mentoring Program with several years of experience in the field of research, specifically in qualitative data analysis, and mixed methods research.

Katya Lytza-xaya Alvarez Alcaraz

Started working as a Graduate student in February 2022 – Currently working on the program

Katya holds a Master’s degree from the Institute of Higher Education “Federico Rangel Fuentes” , Mexico and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Education at Thompson Rivers University. Katya brings with her over 15 years of experience in preschool teaching and pedagogical advising from Mexico, and is passionate about supporting the ECEs of BC through the Peer Mentoring Program.

Wei Mao

Graduate student – Worked with the project from June 2019 to April 2020

Wei Mao completed her Master of Education degree from Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC, and is now a Ph.D. student at Concordia University in Montreal, QC, where she expands her knowledge in early childhood education.

Charlie Choi

Undergraduate student – Worked with the project from June 2019 to April 2020

Charlie Choi joined the project after completing his bachelor’s degree, and is now pursuing a MS in Applied Statistics. He hopes to use this experience in complement with his academic background to advocate for positive social change using qualitative and quantitative approaches.

Anneluzelia Hernandez

Started working as a Graduate student in February 2022 – Currently working on the program

Anneluzelia holds a Master’s degree from Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops and a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Alberta in Edmonton. She joined the Peer Mentoring Program in February 2022 while completing her Master of Education degree. Prior to that, she had been an elementary school teacher for ten years in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

Harshita Dhiman

Graduate student – Worked with the project from June 2019 to April 2020

Harshita holds a Master’s degree in Education from Thompson Rivers University and a Masters in Psychology from India. She works as a Administrative Assistant with the Academy of Learning Career College, Kamloops.
When describing her experience with the project, Harshita said: “being part of this project helped me understand the power of peer-mentorship in building a strong personal and professional relationship among a team.”