Teaching

Pamela Charron (Executive Director, Worker Solidarity Network) with Chloe Gierling, SOCI 321 student and community service-learning volunteer at a Trans Dev strike. Photo: Harland Bird.

My teaching philosophy is grounded in helping students evaluate their tacit assumptions against empirical evidence and develop imaginative solutions for emancipatory social change.

I’m a big fan of learning-by-doing. For that reason, I prioritize experiential learning opportunities (e.g., original self-directed research, community service-learning, and field trips) that allow students to make plenty of productive mistakes and figure out what they’re intrinsically curious about. Humans are social creatures, so I emphasize community-building both inside and outside the classroom. My goal is to help students cultivate skills, networks, and forms of personal growth that can serve them in a range of flexible career futures (i.e., academic and non-academic jobs), and more broadly as citizens who are well-equipped to meet the challenges we face today.

Awards

  • Above and Beyond Award, UVic Faculty of Social Sciences (2024)

  • Keith Roberts Teaching Innovations Award, SAGE Publishing (2019)

Graduate Students, Honours Students, & Postdoctoral Fellows

Field trip to Home for Hooves (farm sanctuary) coordinated by Tayler Zavitz, PhD candidate.

I supervise students who work on projects related to labour, the environment, food & agriculture, and immigration. Some of the people with whom I’m working include:

  • Susanna Klassen (SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow)

  • Jen Kostuchuk (PhD)

  • Tayler Zavitz (PhD)

  • Mariia Kozlova (MA)

  • Jasmine Padam (Graduate Research Assistant)

  • Nia Rocca (B.A. Honours Thesis)

  • Shannon Sherk (B.A. Honours Thesis)

Graduate Student Alumni

Graduate Courses

  • Qualitative Research (SOCI 515)

Undergraduate Courses

  • Ecology, Society and Global Change (UVic SOCI 207)

  • Qualitative Research Methods (SOCI 374)

  • Work, Globalization and Labour Movements (SOCI 321)

Undergraduate Research Supervision

I supervise original undergraduate student research through both the UVic Sociology Honours Program and my Qualitative Research Methods class. Several students I’ve mentored have successfully published their research: