M.Ed.Inge Dorsey - The Coordinator Of The Bachelor Of Integrated Studies Program

M.Ed.Inge Dorsey is the Coordinator of the Bachelor of Integrated Studies program as well as an untenured lecturer at the University of Prince Edward Island. When Inge was young she had no aspirations of being a teacher and never imaged that she would end up in the teaching profession. She graduated high school with honours in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. The transition to university was not without its challenges. Inge started university with no real career path. Her first-year marks were lower than she would have liked and she spent a lot of time wondering how she was going to get out of there.

Inge then decided to do an exchange with a small college in the United States.

The time she spent away at this college made her aware of how much she missed being home and she decided to come back to do her last two years at the University of Prince Edward Island. The last two years Inge spent at the University of Prince Edward Island were much different from her first year.

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She became involved in the university working on campus and being more involved in the social aspects of university life and this helped with her marks. Treating school like work was one of the things that Inge felt helped her the most.Life as a student when Inge was in university is much the same as it is today. Some differences she notices is that there is much more pressure today to know what you want to do than there was when she first started.

As well, the cost of going to university has increased and this can create pressure to do well and get good marks.

During the time Inge attended the University of Prince Edward Island there were approximately 1,700 students compared to the approximately 5,000 students that attend today. The large increase in international students has already created a much more diverse student population than there was when Inge attended university. Inge managed the struggles of being an undergraduate student by having a sincere commitment to earning a degree. She felt there was an expectation from her family that she would be successful in obtaining her degree. She worked hard and had a lot of support from her family, friends, and peers. She and her husband also had a social group that they are still friends with today.

In 1987 Inge received a Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Political Studies degree from the University of Prince Edward Island. She later attended Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia where she obtained a Bachelor of Education degree. She then attended Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia where she was successful in receiving a Masters of Education with a Major in curriculum.During her early years, Inge worked at teaching adult education. Most of this teaching involved working with youth and high school dropouts. She worked in Halifax, Nova Scotia teaching job preparation and life skills in a community-based adult facility and for a brief period of time she on contract with the John Howard Society in New Brunswick working mostly with inmates who had been recently released from a correctional facility. The next 13 years Inge spent as a stay-at-home mom. For 11 of those years, she did part-time contract work as a Justice of the Peace under the Victims of Family Violence Act.

She also worked on contract at the Justice Knowledge Network doing editing work. Inge also spent some time in the public school system as a substitute teacher. This work was not for a long period as the unpredictability of the work did not work well with her family life. Inge had been a stay-at-home mom for 13 years and was looking to get back into the workforce but lacked confidence. In 2007 a friend and lifelong mentor encouraged Inge to start teaching at the University of Prince Edward Island. Inge now works full time at the university and her current role is an untenured lecturer teaching the UPEI 1030 course and a second-year elective course called Introduction to Leadership Studies and since January of 2018, she has been the Coordinator of the Bachelor of Integrated Studies.

Inge feels that the skills that a student should possess to be successful during their time at university are very dependent on their area of study. In general, a student needs to have discipline and be willing to be resourceful. They need to reach out to others and incorporate the feedback that they receive. She also feels that being adventurous and stepping outside their comfort zone academically, socially and intellectually will help a student be successful.At this point in time, Inge feels that she has reached the top of her teaching aspirations. In order to be a tenured lecturer at the University of Prince Edward Island, you are required to have a PhD. Inge is happy with her role as an untenured lecturer as it works well for her at this point in her life. However, the University of Prince Edward Island offers a wide variety of career opportunities in the administrative side should she wish to make a change in her career at some point in the future. (I. Dorsey, personal communication, September 26, 2018).