INTRODUCTION
Catherine Takasugi is an educational specialist with interests that range from policy development, to philosophy, and power distribution in the classroom. She is also passionate about educational accessibility and how to effectively and ethically harness artificial intelligence as a pedagogical tool without sacrificing students’ knowledge development. After finishing her B. A. and M.Ed from the University of Alberta, she worked with the Aga Khan Foundation in Tanzania researching alternative funding approaches and gender imbalances in the education system. In 2025, she completed her doctorate in education from the University of Calgary and explored the topic of school refusal in Japan for mixed-roots youth. Sense of belonging at school, identity, and refusal were themes which emerged in her doctoral work. Over her extensive career she has taught paleontology, archaeology, dance, and experiential-based identity courses, as well as more foundational courses in media, and four skills language courses.
MESSAGE TO STUDENTS
Learning was never meant to be easy! If you are struggling and unsure, working through many possibilities, making mistakes, and feeling frustrated, that means you are in what Dr. Becky Kennedy calls ‘the learning zone’. Fear not young scholars: this is exactly where you are meant to be! Keep powering forward, work at your own pace, and enjoy the journey. Your teachers at AGU are here to support you as you learn and become the person you are meant to be.
