The CrimSL Mentorship Circle presented "Navigating Career Paths and Professional Growth: A two-part event" on April 10 and April 17, 2024.
A total of 30 current students (mentees) and CrimSL alumni (mentors) attended over the two sessions.
The first session on April 10 featured an open discussion aimed at sharing and learning from each other's experiences. Participants identified personal strengths, values, and interests. Topics ranged from the nuances of job-hunting and networking to analyzing job postings for a match with personal skills sets and interests. Attendance was restricted to current MA students.
At the second session on April 17, mentees gathered with CrimSL alumni who are employed in professional positions. The alumni shared their personal journeys. There was much discussion about how students can chart their own course toward professional fulfillment and growth once they graduate. At this event, mentees included some 4th-year undergrads as well as MA students. All were matched to a mentor based on similar interests.
Organizers envision that the mentor/mentee relationships established at this two-part event will continue well into the future.
Feedback
- I discovered criminology-related fields of employment I didn't know existed. (Mentee)
- It was helpful to hear about specific opportunities and actionable steps for grads of criminology and sociolegal studies. (Mentee)
- Appreciated the discussion and advice about accessing the "hidden job market" of unadvertised positions. (Mentee)
- Leaning into the network I developed through my studies at CrimSL has played a part in my career success. (Mentor)
- I'm delighted to give back to current students and hope they will reach out for advice or guidance in the future. (Mentor)
About the mentors
The CrimSL Mentorship Circle wishes to thank the following alumni for volunteering as mentors:
Samantha Aeby was a former PhD student at the Centre for CrimSL until she decided to leave the program in 2019. She has served as a research assistant on multiple projects, collecting data and analyzing systemic issues related to bail and specialized courts. Along with Jihyun, she has also worked as an Advisor to the Independent Reviewer overseeing provincial corrections' compliance with the Jahn Consent Order. After her mat leave ended in 2021, she started working as a project manager. She now runs the procurement department at a semi-private airline based in LA and coordinates the contracting process for company agreements. She is a time-management champion: In addition to her full-time work, she cares for her beautiful daughter and two lovely cats.
Wendy Borrison is a Strategic Advisor to the Assistant Deputy Minister of Public Safety, where she provides strategic advice and executive support on the Public Safety Division’s portfolios for Animal Welfare Services, First Nations policing, and Ontario Major Case Management. Prior to this, she worked in various roles related to the courts, tribunals, police complaints, and public safety in the OPS. For example, she was a Case Coordinator/Enhanced Mediation Program Coordinator at the Office of Independent Police Review Director and a Case Management Officer at the Licence Appeal Tribunal. She started her career working as a Court Recording Monitor/Court and Client Representative at the Ministry of the Attorney General. She also feels that multiple years of volunteer experience at Pride Toronto as a Volunteer Training Coordinator and Team Lead have been instrumental in laying the foundation for her career and providing invaluable skills and connections.
Meaghan Costa joined the Centre of Research & Policy in 2019 and is involved in the evaluation of a variety of local office programs and provides support to current research projects. She began her involvement at John Howard as a Volunteer Research Assistant, gradually advancing to positions of increasing responsibility. She transitioned from a Research Associate to a Research and Evaluation Analyst, ultimately attaining the role of Specialist. She holds a B.A. in Sociology from McMaster University and an M.A. in Criminology & Sociolegal studies from the U of T. Meaghan recently completed a Graduate Diploma in Community-Engaged Research & Evaluation from McMaster University. She also possesses various certificates in program evaluation and analysis from different accrediting bodies.
Giancarlo Fiorella is the Director of Research & Training at Bellingcat, an independent collective of researchers who use open-source information to shed light on wrongdoing around the world. Bellingcat has recently been in the spotlight, receiving two major awards acknowledging its excellent work. Prior to his appointment as Director, he served as a Senior Investigator and Trainer. He initially joined Bellingcat in 2018 as a volunteer. In addition to his investigative journalism work, Giancarlo holds the position of Assistant Professor at Utrecht University.
Danielle Fujiwara is a Tactical Analyst with the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), working in the Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau. With nearly a decade of experience as an analyst at the OPP, she has worked on numerous important projects, including major drug and firearms trafficking investigations. She has also conducted research on criminal organizations and how they are persecuted in Canada. She has previously volunteered with Springboard Services (then Springboard Operations) to help build stronger communities by guiding at-risk and vulnerable youth and adults through critical transitions in their lives with a focus on community justice, employment, and developmental disability services. Danielle graduated from U of T with an MA in Criminology in 2014.
Alex Papatchidis works for the City of Toronto and has six years of experience in housing and homelessness. He has worked as a research analyst, a grants officer, and now as a policy consultant. Prior to this, he was the Neighbourhood Watch Program Coordinator and Staff Criminologist at Safe City Mississauga. As a dedicated staffer and in recognition of his exceptional commitment to crime prevention initiatives, contributing to the ongoing efforts to create a safer community, he received the Detective Robert Boyne Memorial Crime Prevention Award from the Peel Police Service Board. He is also a certified Project Manager!
Cayley Russell is a research manager at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s Institute for Mental Health Policy Research. She has over eight years of progressive qualitative research experience, and her interests largely focus on the intersection of addictions, mental health, and correctional populations. Topics of interest include opioid use disorder treatment and related barriers among correctional populations, correctional programming, drug policy, and harm reduction. She has also volunteered as a Pet Therapist at CAMH for a number of years and worked as a Program Administrator at Inner City Angels, a non-profit charity providing arts programs for inner-city Toronto District School Board elementary schools.
Ravita Surajbali is the Planning and Program Evaluation Specialist within the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office (SVPRO) at the University of Waterloo. In this role, Ravita develops evaluation strategies to assess the effectiveness of campus sexual violence interventions, including policy and programming. She is passionate about conducting research that can assist in strengthening campus sexual violence interventions, both for those impacted by sexual violence and for on-campus stakeholders involved in response and prevention. She is also a PhD student at the Centre for CrimSL at the U of T, where she researches the legal and institutional governance of campus sexual violence.
Organizers and facilitators
Professor Mariana Valverde and Dr. Jihyun Kwon worked closely together to organize this two-part event.
Sessions were co-facilitated by Dr. Jihyun Kwon, CrimSL postdoctoral fellow, and Jon Bray, MA, Career Educator at the University of Toronto Career Centre.