BOARD PROFILE

President
Diane Kashin ECE.C, RECE
After graduating from York University with an honours degree in education and history, Diane attended Seneca College for early childhood education. She went on to work in a community based child care program in North York where she eventually became the supervisor. In 1988 she began working part time teaching early childhood education at Seneca College. In the mid-nineties, she took the position of Child Care Coordinator for the York Region District School Board and stayed there for four years. Concurrently she finished her Masters of Education degree at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto and began to work towards her doctorate. In 1998 Diane returned to Seneca as a full time faculty member in the School of ECE. Throughout this time, Diane was an active member of the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Ontario with the York Region branch. In 2006 she joined the AECEO's provincial board of directors. Diane believes in a strong association and hopes to see in her lifetime when everyone ECE in the province supports the AECEO. In 2007 Diane successfully defended her doctoral dissertation entitled: Reaching the Top of the Mountain: The Impact of Emergent Curriculum on the Practice and Self-Image of Early Childhood Educators. In 2009, her thesis was published and is available from amazon.com. Presently Diane is the coordinator of the Bachelor of Child Development degree program at Seneca College.

Past President
Kelly Massaro-Joblin ECE.C, RECE
Kelly has been in the Early Childhood Education field for almost 30 years and is a registered certified Early Childhood Educator and currently the Provincial President of the AECEO. She sits on the Provincial Project Advisory Committee Equivalency Initiative Project, Mentoring Pairs for Child Care Advisory Committee, the Best Start Network for Thunder Bay and District and the Service Integration Committee. She is the Executive Director of Schoolhouse Playcare Centre, which has three locations in Thunder Bay. All three centres are inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach to learning as she has had the opportunity to travel to Reggio Emilia, Italy twice to join their study tours and experience this philosophy first hand. Kelly believes in quality care and education for all children. She looks forward to raising the profile of our profession and recruiting and retaining Early Childhood Educators. With the knowledge she has gained being on the Board for almost six years and her personal experiences, Kelly would like to continue being involved in effecting meaningful change to our field.

Treasurer
Kim Hiscott ECE.C, RECE
Kim is being nominated for her fifth term on the Provincial Board. During this past year she has been the AECEO Treasurer and chair of the AECEO Accreditation Committee. Kim graduated from the ECE program at Algonquin College in 1984 and completed the certification process in 1994. Over the past 20+ years, Kim has held a number of positions in the field including faculty supervisor, part-time instructor as well as teacher and Director in licensed programs. Currently, Kim is Executive Director of Andrew Fleck Child Care Services in Ottawa.

Secretary
Tammy McCormick Ferguson RECE
Tammy McCormick Ferguson is one of Early Childhood Community Development Centre’s (ECCDC) founders and has been its Executive Director since its inception in April 1993. She has led its development cross-dimensionally and helped position it as a national and regional model for delivering community service-directed child care resources, referrals and support. Tammy developed ECCDC’s annual strategic plans and has overseen its twenty-fold growth. Tammy’s integrative leadership is balanced by realism and she has a corporate record of developmental excellence in infrastructure, operations, fundraising and strategic alliance networking. Indeed, Tammy has personally composed a number of landmark Early Years research proposals funded by the federal government. Her research program management skills have won her expert status with a number of provincial organizations who have called upon her for advice and counsel. Tammy has delivered 8 key note addresses and conducted over 50 professional development workshops across the country. Topics included Leadership, Mentoring, Voluntary Management, Cutting the Cost of Work/Family Conflict and Strengthening Our Child Care Workforce. Social entrepreneur, human capital analyst, humanitarian, and organization development and operations dynamo—how does one come to have so much energy? It helps to be gifted with multitasking, road-mapping and self-organization skills. But love of children and love of community are prerequisites. Ms. Tammy McCormick Ferguson received her Early Childhood Education Diploma from Niagara College in 1986 and Psychology Bachelor of Arts Degree from Brock University in 1996 and has maintained continuous professional development training and mentor relationships thereafter. Tammy has served on the AECEO board for one year and has enjoyed supporting its work a leader in promoting professional development and recognition of Early Childhood Educators and its leadership role in the establishment of a College of Early Childhood Educators as a means of increasing professional recognition, public accountability, and standards for the field of early learning and child care in Ontario.

Members-at-Large

Gaby Chauvet ECE.C, RECE
Gaby graduated from the Humber College ECE program with honours in 1983. She has been involved with the AECEO in many capacities for several years. Gaby received her certification in 1998 and held the Provincial Board Presidency for two terms. Past experiences include: working with children in various child care settings, speaking to various groups and media about children’s issues, planning and organizing training sessions for parents, home child care providers and early childhood educators. She is currently working as the Executive Director for Heritage Child Care Services and is a part-time instructor and field placement supervisor in the ECE department at Humber College.

Laurie Landy
Laurie graduated from Guelph with a B.A.Sc. in Child Studies after having worked in community development in schools and agencies in several cities. He found work in child care and worked for both municipal and for profit centres as well a hospital program for children with learning disabilities. More recently Laurie spent the last 20 years as a college professor at Seneca and the six years previous to that working in what was then called Private Home Daycare as a home visitor. Professionally he has been involved in setting up an integrated school age program in Trinity Bellwoods Park, as program chair for the last School age Conference in 2000 as well as the first in 1990 & 1991 and helping to get started the now defunct School Age Care Association of Ontario (SACAO). Laurie has worked as part of the design team that created the High Five Training Curriculum as well the research on quality school age care in Ontario done in the late 80’s by Norpark. He has served on the board of a community based non profit child care and sat on several provincial committees dealing with school age child care. He is often asked to speak and lead workshops on different aspects of school age care and has been an outspoken advocate of providing innovative and high quality programs for children and for families. Laurie is at present in the middle of a masters program in Environmental Studies at York as well as the second year coordinator of the ECE program at the King campus.

Rachel Langford
Dr. Rachel Langford is the director of the School of the Early Childhood Education, Ryerson University. Prior to this, Rachel taught a variety of Continuing Education ECE courses at Mohawk College and Seneca College and was a full time professor and program coordinator in the Centre of Early Childhood Development at George Brown College. She has taught courses on critical thinking, sociology, infant and child development, curriculum theory and practice, creative expression, early childhood policy and children with special needs. She has extensive experience in supporting students in their field practice. Rachel has many years of experience working with different ages in a variety of early childhood settings including parent cooperative, preschool, and child care. She worked for several years for the Vancouver School Board teaching Kindergarten and Grades 1 and 2 in a multi-age setting and mentoring teachers as a Primary Program Development Associate. She has extensive experience supporting children with special needs in both integrated and specialized settings. Rachel is a co-author of the textbook, Inclusion in Early Childhood Programs: Children with Exceptionalities (Thomson: Nelson, 2006) and the editor of the Checklist for Quality Inclusive Education: A Self-Assessment Tool and Manual as well as associate editor and board member of the journal, Child & Youth Care Forum. She is the recipient of the 2005 George L. Geis Dissertation Award for the most outstanding Canadian doctoral dissertation focusing on higher education. Her research interests include teachers’ work, history and professional training as well as the provision of services for children with special needs. She believes that major issues for the AECEO in the coming years are opening up and increasing membership, partnering with other organizations to enhance research and professional development, enhancing the public profile of Early Childhood Educators as professionals, and supporting the development of a College of Early Childhood Educators once the College receives legislative recognition. In addition, she believes that the AECEO can take a lead in advocating for a comprehensive system of high quality early childhood development and care services in Ontario.

Naureen Imran RECE
Has been a child care provider for more than eight years and is currently completing courses at George Brown College to upgrade her credentials. Building on her international training and work experience, Naureen successfully completed the Access to the Early Childhood Education Field in Ontario Bridging Program and received the AECEO Letter of Equivalency Certificate in 2007. She holds a Bachelor degree focusing on family studies from University of Punjab, Pakistan and a “Home Based Childcare Training Program” Diploma from Mothercraft. She is a regular participant in AECEO professional development sessions. Naureen believes in the importance of a strong professional association and has contributed her knowledge and experience to the AECEO as a board member for the past year.

Goranka Vukelich RECE
Goranka has been in the field for over 25 years and is a registered Early Childhood Educator. After graduating from Ryerson with a BAA Early Childhood Education, she pursued her passion for learning at the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation in Michigan and Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena where she completed a Masters in Child Growth and Development. She is currently a PhD candidate at Concordia University in Montreal. Throughout her career Goranka has worked as educator, college professor, consultant and provincial government administrator. While her life path has taken her many places in Canada and the US, including Ontario, Nova Scotia and Quebec, Goranka has always been involved in work opportunities that have supported children, families and advanced the early childhood profession. Currently, Goranka is Chair of Child, Youth & Community Development at Conestoga College in Kitchener. She is excited to be back in Ontario during this exciting time for our profession and firmly believes that the AECEO can play a leadership role as we work together to create a comprehensive system of high quality early learning and care services.