Dr. Harper Keenan

(all pronouns)

Robert Quartermain Assistant Professor of Gender & Sexuality Research in Education

Dr. Harper B. Keenan is the Robert Quartermain Assistant Professor of Gender & Sexuality Research in Education at the University of British Columbia. Before coming to UBC in 2019, Dr. Keenan was a postdoctoral fellow at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, where he also earned his PhD in Curriculum and Teacher Education in 2019. Dr. Keenan completed his undergraduate studies at The New School in New York City, and earned a Master’s Degree from the Bank Street College of Education. He is a proud former New York City elementary school teacher.

Dr. Bishop Owis

(they/them)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Bishop (they/them) is an educator, community activist and postdoctoral research fellow at the University of British Columbia in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy. They are first-generation born and raised on the unceded territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples of Tkaranto (Toronto, Ontario) by immigrant parents from Guyana (Indo-Guyanese), Egypt, China and Portugal. 

They are a graduate from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (OISE/UT) where they received their PhD researching how educators understand their own ethical commitments of care when working with queer and trans youth of colour. Their research explores the intersections of gender, sexuality, race and colonialism in education using public and art-based pedagogies that centre care to inform a sense of collective imagination; one that strives for queer futurity, world-building and thriving. Bishop is an alumni Junior Fellow at Massey College and has delivered sex education workshops with Planned Parenthood and the Sex Education Centre at the University of Toronto. Bishop earned their teaching qualifications in 2019 in the Junior-Intermediate division and is a proud genderqueer/trans, neuroqueer, dis/abled educator. 

Karla Jubaily

(she/her)

Communications & Operations Assistant

Karla was born and raised on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and Musqueam Nations by immigrant parents from Lebanon and the Philippines. She is currently a Master of Journalism student at the UBC School of Journalism, Writing and Media. Karla also completed a Bachelor of Arts at UBC where she majored in Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice. Her research focuses on reclaiming personal narratives and storytelling agency.

Daniel Gallardo

(they/them)

Graduate Research Assistant

Daniel Gallardo is a nonbinary mestizx from Mexhico. They are Nahua del Centro and P’urhépecha on their father’s side of the family and on their mother’s side, they are of settler ancestry, Andalusian-Berber and French. Daniel is a doctoral student with the Department of Educational Studies at UBC, whose research involves the ideological leverage of settler-colonialism and its impacts on race, sexuality and gender in education. They have been working with curriculum development towards social justice for the last 10 years. Since coming to UBC, Daniel is part of the Indigenous Education Office and a Professional Development Coordinator with SOGI UBC.

Lee Iskander

(they/them)

Graduate Research Assistant

Lee Iskander is a settler of mixed Irish and Egyptian ancestry and a doctoral student in the Faculty of Education at UBC. Before beginning their studies at UBC, Lee lived and worked in Toronto where they completed a BA, BEd, and MEd at York University and worked or volunteered with several community organizations serving 2SLGBTQ people. Their current research explores the experiences of trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming beginning teachers.