Below please find a list of some of our M.A./Ph.D. graduates in anthropology, and information on what they are doing at present. The Ph.D. program in anthropology admitted its first students in the 2009-10 academic year, and proudly graduated its first two Ph.D.’s in 2014. M.A. graduates from our anthropology program go on to a variety of Ph.D. programs as well as employment in the government, non-profit, and private sectors.
Alvaro Vargas (MA, 2021) has been working for the government of Canada as a user experience (UX) researcher and designer. In this role he works with stakeholders and partners to build better experiences with products and services through iterative research and iterative activities, using methodologies from anthropology amongst other disciplines. His best take-away is that great tools are most useful when used in the right context.
Grant MacNeil (MA, 2015) is an organiser for the Canadian Federation of Students and supports student unions in the Maritimes and advocates for high quality, accessible education for all. He is currently on a leave to serve as Organizer for the Public Service Alliance of Canada. His research examined the relationship between food and Identity among Inuit men in Ottawa.
Daniel Tubb (PhD, 2014) is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton. His work explores resource extraction in Canada and Colombia. Click here for his faculty webpage.
Marieka Sax (PhD, 2014) was our first Ph.D. student to defend her thesis (August 2014), which was nominated for a medal. She is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher with the Geography Program at the University of Northern British Columbia.
Sarah O’Sullivan (MA, 2014) is a Ph.D. student in Anthropology at the University of Toronto, where her research focuses on humanitarianism, NGOs, and HIV services in Northern Uganda.
Katie MacLeod (MA, 2013) is a Ph.D. student in Anthropology at Dalhousie University. Her research investigates the historical, political, and social relations between the Mi’kmaq and Acadians of the Maritime Provinces, with particular attention to how historic relations and alliances resurface in the present though sustained attachments to the land.
Cassandra McCabe (Verardi) (MA, 2013) teaches high school students with the York Region District School Board. She is interested in experiential learning, voluntourism, cross-cultural teaching styles, and promoting diversity in the classroom. In her Social Science courses, she encourages students to explore research methods and conduct their own primary research.
Matthew Sanderson (MA, 2013) is a Ph.D. student in Anthropology at Carleton University, where his research focuses on the experience of post traumatic stress disorder among police offers who have served overseas in politically unstable environments.
Miranda Mason (MA, 2012) is an Executive Director for Health Workforce Planning and Implementation in the BC Public Service.
Graham Fox (MA, 2012) is a Junior Research Analyst with Canadian Heritage.
Nicole Robinson (MA, 2012) is Director, Northern and Indigenous Health.
Alana Conway (MA, 2011) is a Research Assistant at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where she works on researching international human rights stories for inclusion in museum exhibits.
Kim Chi Tran (MA, 2011) is a Ph.D. student in Development Studies at the International Institute of Social Studies – Erasmus University Rotterdam, in the Netherlands. Her research explores how children from Mongolian nomadic pastoralist families experience and perceive the influences of Information Communication Technologies in their lives as they encounter these technologies through formal and informal forms of learning.
Anita Agrawal (MA, 2010) is a not-for-profit Consultant who has worked in many capacities in the arts sector, working with over fifty organizations to promote diversity and inclusion in the arts. She is also a well-known Canadian jewellery designer, small business owner and a former federal and provincial political candidate.
Ana Fonseca (MA, 2010) is a PhD student in History at Carleton University, where her research focuses on the Maroon population in 18th century Pacific Colombia and the threat it posed to the Spanish colonial order.
Jennifer Slawich (MA, 2009) works as a Consultant for Plan Canada as their Senior Policy Advisor, where she works on issues ranging from maternal and child health to girl’s education and gender-based violence. She has also worked as the Child Health and Education Campaigns Officer at RESULTS Canada, and the HIV/AIDS Campaign Officer at the International Department of the Canadian Labour Congress.
Caryl Patrick (MA, 2009) is a Ph.D. student in Anthropology at Carleton University.
Bryan Myles (MA, 2008) is the interim director of the Bill Reid Centre for Northwest Coast Studies at Simon Fraser University (SFU), and an SFU PhD student. His work and research explore the use of new media technologies in the documentation, archiving, and circulation of Northwest Coast First Nations' cultural heritage.
Hodan Mohammed (MA, 2007) is a Ph.D. student in Population Health at the University of Ottawa, while also working as a policy analyst with the Public Health Agency of Canada. She has conducted community based research and training in Ottawa on a range of topics related to settlement and counselling supports for newcomers and youth. Her research interests include health equity and immigrant health, in particular the experiences of Somali Canadian male youth.
David Loewen (MA, 2005) is currently the Executive Director of Strategic Management Branch with the Ministry of Social Services at Government of Saskatchewan.
Kathryn Friesen (MA, 2004) is the Director of Immigration and Settlement Service with Catholic Social Services in Edmonton, Alberta. Her work involves supporting the resettlement of all Government Assisted Refugees (GARs) who arrive in Edmonton through the federal government’s Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP). In her role, she has participated on the National GAR-RAP Working Group with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Also, she has been selected to participate in the Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as a member of the Canadian NGO delegation.
Colleen McKay (MA, 2004) is a Manager, Grants and Special Projects, at Durham College.
Manon Turcotte (MA, 2004) is a Policy Analyst for the Office of Emergency Response in the Center for Emergency Preparedness and Response, a division of the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Mandy McCarthy (MA, 2002) is the Director General in the Settlement Agreements and Childhood Claims branch of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. She is responsible for working with Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners to support the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action regarding Missing Children and Burial Information. Over the years, as a civil servant, she has been responsible for negotiating culture and heritage provisions in modern treaty agreements, managing programming to support Indigenous languages and cultures, running heritage designations for historic sites, lighthouses and railway stations and was the Executive Secretary to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board.