ABSTRACT
I have, perhaps, an unusual trajectory to landing a job in academia at a research-intensive university where I am a researcher in the fields of human-animal interactions (HAI) and child development. At the ripe age of 48, I began a tenure-track position at the University of British Columbia (UBC), having completed a Ph.D. as a young person but having had my career take a backseat to that of my spouse. As a former public school teacher and counsellor, I was well versed in all things education and having a Ph.D. in educational and counselling psychology and special education helped me in landing a fast-paced job at an age when many folks are beginning to wind down their careers. Trained in adolescent moral development, little did I know the freedom I had to carve out new and innovative research topics as a new faculty member. Now, as a tenured, associate professor I maintain two research streams: 1) exploring the effects of canine-assisted interventions (CAIs) on undergraduate student well-being; and 2) exploring children and adolescents’ conceptualizations of kindness at school. I publish almost equally on both topics and run an alternate cycle whereby one year I submit a grant on one topic and conduct a study on the other topic and then switch the following year.
