Author Biographies
In alphabetical order:
Aditi Garg helps educators create courses aligned with social, environmental, and economic sustainability. She emphasizes reflective teaching practices that are inclusive and responsive. Aditi is committed to environmental protection and addressing settler-Indigenous relations, seeking equitable changes in power structures through her work in tertiary education.
Eric Micheels is an Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and a Fellow in Agribusiness Cooperatives at the Centre for the Study of Cooperatives at the University of Saskatchewan. Eric’s research interests are in farm and agribusiness management, marketing, strategy, and innovation. He is particularly interested in how firms search for and exploit organizational and technological innovations to improve operational and financial performance. Eric teaches courses in farm management, agribusiness marketing, new business development, and agribusiness strategy. He has received several teaching awards while at the University of Saskatchewan, including the USSU Teaching Innovation Award, the Provost’s College Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award. Eric received a B.S. in Agribusiness with a minor in Agronomy from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 2001, a Master’s Degree in Agricultural and Consumer Economics from the University of Illinois in 2004 and a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Consumer Economics from the University of Illinois in 2010.
Brooke Klassen is an Assistant Professor in the Edwards School of Business at the University of Saskatchewan. Her teaching specializations include marketing strategy, business strategy, decision making, venture development and entrepreneurship. Prior to becoming a professor, she was a senior administrator in the Edwards School of Business and led a team of student services staff for eight years. Brooke is a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and has completed over 100 projects in the areas of strategy, governance, organizational change and communications. Her client list includes private, public, government and Indigenous organizations from a variety of industries. She is also an accomplished author and her work has been published in several well-respected peer reviewed journals. Her current research focuses on telling the stories of female CEO’s (in relation to SDG 5) and highlighting the gender biases faced by women in many industries. In her teaching, research and community building work, Brooke is working on authentically integrating Indigenous content into her classes, writes teaching cases that showcase the untold success stories of Indigenous Peoples and Nations, and volunteers her time to a foundation that funds early education programs so that all children in Saskatchewan can have an equal start.
Heather M. Ross has worked in the area of educational development since 2005. She advises instructors on all aspects of course design and spearheads the open educational practices (OEP) work at the University of Saskatchewan. She firmly believes that open educational resources, such as this book, and other forms of OEP can and should play a key role in making education more inclusive and accessible while integrating ways of addressing local and global problems, such as climate change, into curriculum across the disciplines.
Kate Congreves is an Associate Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences and a Sustainability Faculty Fellow at the University of Saskatchewan. She leads the Environmental Agronomy & Horticulture research program and has expertise in soil health, nutrient cycling, and greenhouse gas emissions. Together with her students and research team, her work is aimed at understanding the mechanisms that regulate nitrogen use efficiency and the implications for agroecosystem functioning. She is an award-winning researcher and teacher; and has authored ~ 50 peer-reviewed publications including invited contributions and highly cited papers. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in climate smart agriculture, sustainable horticulture, and vegetable agronomy.
Shannon Forrester holds a teaching focused faculty position and instructs numerous undergraduate courses in the College of Kinesiology. She is a passionate, award-winning instructor with eighteen years of teaching experience in higher education. Through her role as a lecturer and clinical exercise physiologist, she advocates for and promotes physical activity to enhance the full spectrum of health and wellness, whether that be physical, social, mental, or even environmental. Her goal for sustainability in teaching and learning is for students to demonstrate respectful perspective taking and to reflect on the way in which the discipline of Kinesiology can support the SDGs. More specifically, she would like students to identify the personal and professional role they will play in enhancing the health and wellness of their personal self, their communities, and the planet. Shannon’s academic interests outside of sustainability include the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning with a particular focus on student and instructor mental health. In her spare time, you will find Shannon enjoying the outdoors. She is kept busy keeping up with her active family which includes her husband, two teenage boys, and an energetic black goldendoodle.
Tate N. Cao is an Assistant Professor in the Ron and Jane Graham School of Professional Development at the University of Saskatchewan. He is the La Borde Chair in Engineering Entrepreneurship and teaches courses on engineering technology management, product design, and entrepreneurship. His research interests include 3D printing in tissue engineering and healthcare, smart farming technologies, and entrepreneurial practices. He has founded and directed the SIGMA Educational Skill Accelerator program, and serves on several boards, including the Asian American Innovation Alliance, Co. Learn, Tech Innovation and Engineering Entrepreneurship group at CEEA and the Pan Canadian Smart Farm Network. Prior to joining USask, he practiced intellectual property law and built and managed startup companies. Prof. Cao received his bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from Beijing Institute of Technology and his Master’s in Biomedical Engineering and MBA from the University of Saskatchewan. He is one of the six USask Sustainability Faculty Fellow and leads the Smart Farming Initiative at the College of Engineering.
Ulrich Teucher is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and Health Studies, at the University of Saskatchewan. Initially, Teucher had trained as a male pediatric nurse, working in a pediatric cancer ward in Hamburg, Germany. Following immigration to Canada, Teucher obtained a BA in English and Germanic literatures, before entering graduate studies in Comparative Literature, in the fields of Literature and Psychology, all at the University of British Columbia. In an interdisciplinary doctoral dissertation, entitled “Writing the unspeakable: Metaphor in cancer narratives”, Teucher established a therapeutic psychopoetics of metaphor in cancer discourse. Throughout his work and research, he has been developing interdisciplinary, culture-sensitive methodologies that often combine qualitative and quantitative analyses. Teucher has held tri-council research grants and is a member on a decolonized research team on Inflammatory Bowel Disease among Indigenous Peoples. Currently, Teucher chairs the Health Studies Program, teaching his courses with an overall focus on Sustainability, Health, and Care. Recently, Teucher was awarded a Sustainability Faculty Fellowship. Teucher, whose family lives in Germany, views himself as a visitor on the lands and waters, and under the skies, of Saskatchewan, striving to decolonize his worldviews and being a good neighbour with the Indigenous peoples of this land.
