Barri Tinkler, associate professor in the College of Education and Social Services, has been named a Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Child and Youth Mental Health at the University of Calgary, where she will examine community-based efforts by faculty to support refugee integration.
The Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary is a world leader in the preparation of educators to support refugee integration. Tinkler, whose research focuses on the impact of service-learning experiences on preservice teachers when working with marginalized populations, will conduct research there starting in January of 2018 with a goal of developing a model that informs the field of teacher education for all countries that undertake refugee resettlement.
“The goal of this research is to make explicit the processes by which teacher educators can support successful refugee integration,” says Tinkler. “The community-engaged work of the Werklund faculty could inform the work of teacher educators in the U.S. who are working to prepare preservice teachers to teach in increasingly diverse settings.”
Tinkler, who teaches in the Secondary Education program and the Education for Cultural and Linguistic Diversity minor, plans to conduct a qualitative research study that includes extensive interviews with faculty and community partners; classroom and community-based observations; and the development of collaborative work relationships with Werklund School of Education faculty to foster future partnerships between the University of Calgary and UVM.
Tinkler, whose latest research focuses on service-learning experiences with refugees with an eye toward fostering cultural humility, has a long history of social justice outreach, starting as a Peace Corp Volunteer in Papua New Guinea. She taught social studies in Stillwater, Oklahoma, while working on her master’s degree in education before earning her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction at the University of Denver. She has taught multiple service-learning courses at UVM including Citizenship and Education in the U.S. that has undergraduate students work with adult refugees from Russia, Bhutan, Uganda, Nepal, South Sudan, Vietnam and other countries prepare for the U.S. citizenship test.
A total of 38 Fulbright Canada Visiting Research Chairs are conducting research, developing partnerships, and guest lecturing at 22 Canadian universities. Since its establishment in 1946 by the late U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Fulbright Program has given more than 370,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, and scientists in 155 countries the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.