First PhD candidate from UPEI’s Faculty of Education defends her dissertation
The UPEI community congratulates Verne Helene Lorway, the first PhD student in the Faculty of Education to defend her dissertation. Lorway's dissertation is titled ‘Disrupting the 'maestro': Tuneful youth insights for engaged music education.'
'We are extremely proud of Verne,' said Dr. Ronald MacDonald, Dean of Education at UPEI. 'A tremendous effort was required by Verne, as well as the whole Faculty of Education Graduate Studies Team, including Verne's exceptional PhD Committee. Verne's total dedication to this work has led her to this esteemed academic achievement. This is indeed a landmark for the Faculty of Education.'
Besides her PhD studies, Lorway is a music educator with the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board in Nova Scotia. Her research is largely ethnographic, and examines the engagement of young people in school and the greater community through arts, particularly the development of youth agency through music in a public school setting.
'I'm using voiced research to examine the possibilities of students to employ music and the arts to construct and re-construct a more radical, fully engaged, and youth-attuned pedagogy,' said Lorway.
Lorway's dissertation explores a series of questions: How do students articulate their perceptions and experiences of engagement in music making? How do these student ideas and perceptions figure into pedagogical practices for teaching music and further engaging in music making and school? Are student ideas being heard?
'Verne Helene Lorway has approached her PhD program and dissertation with great commitment to scholarship and to the young people with whom she works. Her research project is courageous, creative and poised to make an impact on music education,' said Dr. Kate Tilleczek, Lorway's supervisor, and UPEI's Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Young Lives in Global & Local Contexts. 'Dr. Jean Mitchell (Anthropology) and Dr. June Coutryman (Music) served on this Committee and have been vital to Verne's success. I cherish working with such devoted interdisciplinary scholars in our PhD in Educational Studies.'
One of the examiners for Lorway's dissertation defense was Dr. Rubén A. Gaztambide-Fernandez, an associate professor in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Dr. Gaztambide-Fernandez is a world-respected researcher and will give a pair of presentations while he is on campus. Dr. Andrew Zinck, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Music was the Internal Examiner, because Lorway's educational research draws on her background as a music educator.
UPEI's PhD in Educational Studies program allows students to examine issues and trends in education at an advanced level and from a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives. Graduates of the PhD in Educational Studies will develop the competence and expertise needed to assume positions of leadership such as academic scholars, researchers in institutional or community contexts, teacher educators, curriculum and instructional leaders in school boards and private industry, school, school board, and governmental educational administrators. This program also promotes collaborative work with colleagues in educational endeavours and life-long professional development.
For information:
Dave Atkinson, Research Communications Officer, UPEI
(902) 620-5117, datkinson@upei.ca
