Ann Gagné

Please describe yourself and your areas of interest.

I work at the University of Toronto-Mississauga where I am responsible for supporting faculty with their pedagogy and reinforcing Universal Design for Learning as an inclusive strategy. I have always been passionate about education and the many means through which we learn. I am an advocate of interdisciplinary studies as demonstrated by my own formal education which spans from the study of chemistry to English literature. I came to Ruskin during my Master’s work and The Ethics of the Dust later inspired my doctoral dissertation which focused on the ethics of tactility in Victorian literature. My current research is centred on the connection of tactility to education and ethical pedagogical models where Ruskin is an important influence and source. I am also interested in architecture, specifically accessibility and the need for inclusive spaces. I continue to find much to contemplate in Ruskin’s work about how we negotiate and navigate spaces through the senses.

Why did you become a Companion of the Guild?

I strongly feel education is the key to a more ethical society and that pedagogically the experiential does much to instill learning. These are some of the aims that Ruskin reinforced when he established the Guild and they are definitely still applicable and necessary today. I am inspired by this educational aspect of Ruskin’s thought which is why I became a Companion.