University of Guelph-Humber

Alice-Simone Balter has been an instructor in both the Family and Community Social Services and Early Childhood Studies programs at the University of Guelph-Humber since 2012. Balter is currently a PhD student at the University of Toronto, in the Developmental Psychology and Education program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, where she is engaged in exploring emotional regulation. She has an interest in child and adolescent health and well-being, sexuality, and mental health. Balter has been leading research projects with successful grants from the University of Guelph-Humber, including: “Early Childhood Educators' perceptions of the development of sexuality and gender in childhood” (2014); “How teachers (K-12) maintain positive mental health” (2015); and, “Community collaboration to evaluate Toronto Public Health’s Raising Sexually Healthy Children for Early Child Care Providers.”

Dr. Anita Ewan started teaching at the University of Guelph-Humber in Fall 2019. Dr. Ewan, RECE, RSW, PhD, has 10 years of experience working with children and families. She has been teaching for four years in the fields of Early Childhood Studies and Social Work. Dr. Ewan is also a community researcher and recently published an article on the importance of centring the perspectives of community members who participate in community-based research. She has worked within various communities in many capacities (educator, organizer, tenant representative) and is passionate about advocating for social justice. Dr. Ewan has earned her PhD in social work from Wilfrid Laurier in 2020 with a broad research focus on race, gender and social policy. Dr. Ewan is currently conducting research on the effectiveness of her teaching pedagogy, which she defines as “critical nurturing” (Friedman & Poole, 2006) alongside her colleague, Lyndsay Macdonald, a professor at Humber College in the Early Childhood Education program. Dr. Ewan is practicing to become a doula with Doula Training Canada and an Indigenous social worker with Yellowhead Tribal College.