Alumni/Careers- Applied Social

Example Careers of Program Graduates- Applied Social

Jaime Brown (PhD, 2010)

Since graduating, Jaime Brown has been employed as the Research Coordinator at the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools (NCCMT) at McMaster University. The NCCMT is one of six National Collaborating Centres for Public Health in Canada funded by the federal government. The NCCMT was created to help strengthen and support public health in Canada by providing leadership and expertise in knowledge translation and exchange - sharing what works in public health. The NCCMT helps public health practitioners and policy-makers across Canada to find and use evidence in their work and share knowledge with clients, colleagues, and community partners.  Jaime is primarily responsible for managing the Registry of Knowledge Translation Methods and Tools for Public Health - a searchable, up-to-date, online collection of quality-assessed, evidence-informed methods (processes) and tools (instruments) for knowledge translation in public health. She also manages evaluation projects associated with knowledge translation initiatives in public health.  In addition to her work at the NCCMT, Jaime has instructed psychology courses at the University of Guelph and Wilfred Laurier University, and works as a research and evaluation consultant with community health and social service agencies. Her research interests include citizen participation, health communication, social determinants of health, and social justice issues in health care.

Linda Yuval (PhD, 2009)

Since graduating, Linda has been employed as Manager of Research and Evaluation at Jewish Family and Child Service of Greater Toronto, a multi-service family agency and a designated Children's Aid Society. Through a utilization-focused and participatory approach to research and evaluation, her primary responsibility is to build the Agency's capacity for sustainable research and evaluation. This is facilitated through the development and implementation of evaluation frameworks, both Agency-wide and for specific programs and services. Her work includes grant and proposal writing, evaluability assessments (including the development of logic models), process evaluation, outcome evaluation, and knowledge dissemination activities. Evaluation results are used (a) to guide program planning and evidence-based decision-making, and (b) to effectively fulfill our accountabilities to our funders, Board of Directors, and the community.  

Elisabeth Wells (PhD, 2008)

Elisabeth is a post-doctoral researcher in the Social and Legal Responses to Violence in Canada Research Unit at the University of Guelph. Her research examines domestic violence victims' involvement in the criminal justice system and their experiences with the Victim Impact Statement. It is funded by the Canadian Observatory on the Justice System's Response to Intimate Partner Violence, a multidisciplinary network of researchers across Canada studying domestic violence. Through the Observatory she has participated in various projects, including the development of standardized national data sets and examinations of specialized domestic violence courts.

Andrea Brown (PhD, 2007)

Since graduating, Andrea has been employed as a consultant at HumanSystems Inc. in Guelph. While at HumanSystems she has taken an active role in designing and implementing research in a number of applied research areas. One area involves understanding trust development in small military teams, for which she has conducted data collection with local military personnel. She has also been involved in research looking at moral and ethical decision making in the military, the psychological effects of non-lethal weapons, and factors impacting one's ability to influence others.

Jason Newberry (PhD, 2004)

As co-founder of Taylor Newberry Consulting (2010-present) and as a Research Director at the Centre for Community Based Research (2003 to 2010), Jason has worked on over 40 applied research and evaluation projects, in addition to a variety of organizational consultations and educational initiatives. His interests are in the field of program evaluation broadly, with specific interest in system-level evaluations, complex interventions, theory of change, community-based research methods, knowledge mobilization, and community development. Jason's content interests include community mental health, disability rights and supports, family support and early childhood development and intervention, primary prevention, and citizen participation. Jason is also a sessional instructor of the Program Evaluation graduate course in the Psychology Department at the University of Guelph.

Jennifer Rooney (PhD, 2004)

Since graduating, Jennifer has been employed as a Senior Project Officer at the Canada Public Service Agency. Her work has included researching HR initiatives and trends, designing and analyzing survey data, identifying HR metrics for the Public Service, developing strategies and HR planning tools, and promoting best practices in HR across the Public Service through presentations and workshops. She recently led the development of a succession planning guide to assist in the implementation of effective succession strategies across government departments and agencies. The guide is based upon extensive research, consultations and focus groups with various stakeholders, and the participation of over 40 departments and agencies.

Chris Alksnis (PhD 2000)

After graduation, Chris began work as a senior research associate at the Nursing Effectiveness, Utilization and Outcomes Research Unit at the University of Toronto. During her three years there, she took an active role in grant proposal development and was responsible for planning and conducting data analyses on research projects aimed at providing a reliable evidence base for informing governmental policy on nursing issues. Currently she is an associate professor at the Brantford campus of Wilfrid Laurier University, with an affiliation as graduate faculty in the Psychology department at WLU. She pursues two lines of research. The first is a direct outgrowth of her dissertation work, involving investigation of how stereotyping at work can influence hiring and promotion opportunities and income, with special emphasis on the impact that family responsibilities have on workplace outcomes for gay, lesbian and heterosexual parents. She also conducts research that examines how courtroom procedures and policies could be changed in order to reduce bias against survivors of sexual assault.

John Sylvestre (PhD, 2000)

John is currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Psychology, and a Senior Researcher for the Centre for Research on Educational and Community Services at the University of Ottawa. He teaches courses in Individual and Community Practices of Health, Health Psychology, and Community Psychology, as well as contributing to an interdisciplinary undergraduate program "Social Sciences of Health." His research focuses on researching, planning and evaluating community mental health programs. Recent work has included studies of housing programs and housing systems for vulnerable people, an evaluation of a community crisis bed program for people experiencing mental health crises, and a study of the experiences of families of youth with a first episode of psychosis.