AECEO Provincial Board of Directors
2011-2012
President- Diane Kashin
President Elect - Rachel Langford
Treasurer - Kim Hiscott
Secretary- Tammy McCormick Ferguson

Members-at-large:
Gaby Chauvet
Naureen Imran
Noreen McChesney
Goranka Vukelich
Elaine Winick

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. Presently Diane is a professor with the Bachelor of Child Development degree program at Seneca College and is the co-author, with Dr. Beverlie Dietze, of a textbook published by Pearson, "Play and Learning in Early Childhood Education".

President Elect
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, 2010) 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. 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.

Treasurer
Kim Hiscott ECE.C, RECE
Kim is being nominated for her sixth term on the Provincial Board. For the past two years she has been the AECEO Treasurer. Kim graduated from the ECE program at Algonquin College in 1984 and completed the certification process in 1994. Over the past 25+ 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 early learning and child care resources, training and support. Tammy has 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, board governance, financial and staff management, fundraising and strategic alliance networking. Tammy has innovated and led a number of National, Provincial and Local projects and initiatives including Mentoring Pairs for Child Care an Ontario based initiative for child care supervisors. She has personally composed a number of landmark Early Learning and Child Care proposals funded by the federal and provincial governments and various foundations, Her leadership skills and 25 years of experience as a director of a women’s shelter, child and youth councilor for abused children, pre-school teacher, child care director, child care consultant and executive director have won her expert status with a number of provincial and local 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 in the 21st Century, Mentoring, Voluntary Management, Cutting the Cost of Work/Family Conflict; Recruiting, Orienting and Training Staff 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 two years and has enjoyed supporting its work as a leader in promoting professional development and recognition of Early Childhood Educators.

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.

Naureen Imran RECE
Has been in the early childhood education field 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 two years.

Noreen McChesney RECE
Noreen has been involved with children and families for close to 20 years. After receiving her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Windsor, she earned her Early Childhood Education Diploma from Cambrian College and began practice with young children as a frontline Educator. Noreen continued her journey, stopping at such destinations as Child Care Supervisor, Special Needs Resource Consultant, Prenatal Nutrition Program Specialist, Parent Educator and Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Program Quality Coordinator for Greater Sudbury’s Children Services Section. She has served on a Child Care Board of Directors, local system planning tables, Best Start Networks and specialized services committees. Her current destination has her working at Child Care Resources, an umbrella agency which provides services for families with children in the early years and those with special needs, having had a role as a Director for Prevention/Intervention Services, now specializing in Best Start and professional resource support. Finally, a parallel journey she has had the joy of taking has been her concurrent part-time work as faculty in the ECE program at Cambrian College; this has proven to be the perfect complement to her commitment to understanding best and promising practice in the ever-changing field of Early Learning. As such she is also committed to completing her Master of Arts in Education with a specialization in Early Childhood Education. In the early years of her journey, Noreen was integrally involved in the ELCC community development of an Educators’ Team Network, with a local mobilization of the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care (OCBCC) and other advocacy work in the early learning sector. It has been her pleasure to watch the progression of our field of practice come to the fruition of the College of Early Childhood Educators (CECE), the highly influential work of the OCBCC and importantly, the evolution of the AECEO to the highly regarded and valuable professional association that it is today. She believes that the benefits of membership to the AECEO cannot be emphasized enough to Registered Early Childhood Educators. Ideally, she believes that membership at the CECE would be paralleled with membership to AECEO – thus aligning the professional support necessary to entrench the Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics with RECEs across the province. She believes that the AECEO embodies the concept of life-long learning and professional development as the vital responsibility of each and every one of us.

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.

Elaine Winick RECE
Elaine Winick is a proud Seneca College ECE honours graduate, eventually returning to Seneca to teach a wide variety of courses in its ECE program for 23 years, and to earn a post-graduate certificate in Early Intervention. Throughout her career, Elaine has worked in many different venues within the early learning field, including child care, preschool and nursery schools, parent and child programs, employee advocacy programs, consulting firms, private schools, storytelling, family education programs, fathers’ support programs, and Early Literacy Specialist, York Region Ontario Early Years. Elaine has her undergraduate degree from York University, and her Masters of Education degree from Brock University. Currently, she is a full time PhD Candidate at OISE/UT working on her dissertation study examining ECE leadership in Ontario. She belongs to a number of professional early years groups, including the AECEO, NAEYC, Early Years Educators of Ontario, Canadian Society for the Study of Education, and a Joint Advisory Group focusing on collaborative practice symposiums. As a strong advocate for professional development, Elaine has presented at a number of local, provincial, national, and international conferences. At each opportunity she shares her expertise in such areas as child development, literacy, working with families, arts-based pedagogy, and sharing components of her current research study. Ultimately, Elaine feels that high quality professional development should be acknowledged as a required and necessary component of professional status.