Authentic student experience is determined by the mutual efforts of students, fellow students, faculty members, administrators, family members, allies and practitioners of inclusive post-secondary education. This Centre was founded in 2018 to improve the practice of inclusive post-secondary education by providing a resource and information centre which promotes a better understanding on how to support an inclusive and equitable post-secondary education.
The work of the Centre is coordinated and carried out by:
Dr Charles Bingham, Professor - Faculty of Education at SFU, has been involved with equitable education for 49 years. He attended the first reverse-integrated elementary school in the USA during the Civil Rights Era. He taught against racism as a high-school teacher in Apartheid South Africa. He has published on the inequities deriving from a narrow focus on learning outcomes. He has published too on the affective injustice of merit ideology. At present, his research and thinking are focused on the social justice possibilities for Inclusion in higher education. Linked to his focus on social justice are all four of his published books: 'Schools of Recognition,' 'No Education. (webpage)
Dr. Joe Greenholtz, Adjunct Professor of Educational Studies, University of British Columbia is currently President and founding member of STEPS Forward and the BC Initiative for Inclusive Post-Secondary Education (bc-ipse.org). He is co-author of "Assessment of Inclusive Post-Secondary Education for Young Adults with Developmental Disabilities," 2009. He holds a Doctorate in Education. His extensive work in the not-for-profit sector around inclusion, as well as his personal experience as the parent of a person with developmental disability gives him a wealth of highly qualified expertise in inclusive post-secondary education.
Arden Duncan Bonokoski, (MSc-CRDS), Provincial Coordination BC-IPSE, started her career in inclusive post-secondary education at Bow Valley College in Alberta. She moved to the University of Victoria in 2009 to work with the BC Initiative for Inclusive Post-secondary Education. She has since worked as a inclusion facilitator at ECUAD and SFU. In her current position of Provincial Coordinator, she provides staff mentorship, develops learning modules for inclusion facilitators, and works with local inclusion facilitators and directly with post-secondary education institutions across the province. In 2011 she completed her Master's of Science in the Faculty of Medicine, Community Health Science Department, with a specialization in Community Rehabilitation and Disability studies. Her thesis described the comprehensive system of support that has been developed around intellectual disability and how this system works to encapsulate and marginalize people with labels. Arden was a collaborator on the SFU Teaching and Learning Development Project “Inclusive Post-secondary Education as a practice of Social Justice”.
Tamara Hurtado, is the Executive Director of STEPS-Forward, and its BC Initiative for Inclusive Post-Secondary Education. Alongside other family members, she was one of the founding members of STEPS Forward. She is a co-author of "Assessment of Inclusive Post-Secondary Education for Young Adults with Developmental Disabilities", 2009. She has also worked as a high school teacher overseas with CUSO, and in northern BC with marginalized youth, and with women in an emergency shelter. She is the mother of twins who are entering the adult stages of life; one of whom has a developmental disability. Her experience as an advocate for equitable inclusion in post-secondary education, and as a parent, has provided a wealth of grounded learning (and important unlearning) about inclusion. Learning the importance of ongoing critical reflection on how the practice of inclusion impacts students, both in the moment and in influencing future endeavours, has been a critical part of establishing, supporting, and sustaining authentic inclusive post-secondary education on campuses in BC. These two roles have also provided the experience and guidance for ensuring that both of her daughters have equal opportunities and access to resources to live dignified autonomous and independent lives; in which they are the centre of, and agents of, their own decision making.
Dr. Joe Greenholtz, Adjunct Professor of Educational Studies, University of British Columbia is currently President and founding member of STEPS Forward and the BC Initiative for Inclusive Post-Secondary Education (bc-ipse.org). He is co-author of "Assessment of Inclusive Post-Secondary Education for Young Adults with Developmental Disabilities," 2009. He holds a Doctorate in Education. His extensive work in the not-for-profit sector around inclusion, as well as his personal experience as the parent of a person with developmental disability gives him a wealth of highly qualified expertise in inclusive post-secondary education.
Arden Duncan Bonokoski, (MSc-CRDS), Provincial Coordination BC-IPSE, started her career in inclusive post-secondary education at Bow Valley College in Alberta. She moved to the University of Victoria in 2009 to work with the BC Initiative for Inclusive Post-secondary Education. She has since worked as a inclusion facilitator at ECUAD and SFU. In her current position of Provincial Coordinator, she provides staff mentorship, develops learning modules for inclusion facilitators, and works with local inclusion facilitators and directly with post-secondary education institutions across the province. In 2011 she completed her Master's of Science in the Faculty of Medicine, Community Health Science Department, with a specialization in Community Rehabilitation and Disability studies. Her thesis described the comprehensive system of support that has been developed around intellectual disability and how this system works to encapsulate and marginalize people with labels. Arden was a collaborator on the SFU Teaching and Learning Development Project “Inclusive Post-secondary Education as a practice of Social Justice”.
Tamara Hurtado, is the Executive Director of STEPS-Forward, and its BC Initiative for Inclusive Post-Secondary Education. Alongside other family members, she was one of the founding members of STEPS Forward. She is a co-author of "Assessment of Inclusive Post-Secondary Education for Young Adults with Developmental Disabilities", 2009. She has also worked as a high school teacher overseas with CUSO, and in northern BC with marginalized youth, and with women in an emergency shelter. She is the mother of twins who are entering the adult stages of life; one of whom has a developmental disability. Her experience as an advocate for equitable inclusion in post-secondary education, and as a parent, has provided a wealth of grounded learning (and important unlearning) about inclusion. Learning the importance of ongoing critical reflection on how the practice of inclusion impacts students, both in the moment and in influencing future endeavours, has been a critical part of establishing, supporting, and sustaining authentic inclusive post-secondary education on campuses in BC. These two roles have also provided the experience and guidance for ensuring that both of her daughters have equal opportunities and access to resources to live dignified autonomous and independent lives; in which they are the centre of, and agents of, their own decision making.