Rita Egizii’s career began in basic science research in the field of neurophysiology. Her areas of interest include entrepreneurship, social innovation, not-for-profit governance and the scholarship of teaching and learning. She has started four successful not-for-profit and social venture organizations in the areas of art, health, women’s issues and education. She has been an international delegate on Government of Canada trade missions and trade summits and has sat on several federal task forces. Egizii is a professional keynote speaker and has been published in peer-reviewed journals in the fields of neuroscience, education and philosophy.
Experience
Egizii is a published author, entrepreneur, visionary and community builder. She is a mentor and coach, as well as a professional keynote and TEDx speaker. She is a peer reviewer for InterChange (INCH), Emerald Publishing (Education & Training), and the International Journal for Academic Development (IJAD). She is also a pitch coach for the RRU Design Thinking competition team and the UFA/Olds College Innovation Challenge, and has coached multiple UCalgary entrepreneurial and case competition teams.
Egizii serves on various boards and advisory groups for both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. She served as a certified facilitator for Alberta’s board development program. She has held senior administrative roles in alumni relations, development and community engagement and is a certified Instructional Skills Workshop facilitator. She offers her skillset to educators, innovators, start-ups and incubators through her consulting company, Insight Management for Action, Growth and Expansion.
Education
2021
Doctorate in education (leadership in the post-secondary sector)
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2015
Master of Education in Leadership
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1996
Bachelor of Commerce
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1990
Canadian Institute of Management certification
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Awards
n.d.
Woman of Vision
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n.d.
Regional Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year
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n.d.
Legacy Award (for Innovation)
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n.d.
Order of the University of Calgary
For her work in supporting the student experience
Publications
Mueller, R., Kenny, N., Norman, D., Miltenburg, J., & Egizii, R. (In Preparation). The portfolio of practice: A meaningful approach to strategic planning in educational development. User Guide, Society for Teaching & Learning in Higher Education, Educational Developers Caucus.
Egizii, R. (Under Revision). Alumni entrepreneurs can inform learner outcome-focused pedagogy and curriculum design in business education. Education & Training.
Egizii, R. (Summer, 2021) (Under Review). An entrepreneurial approach to teaching research. In: Hamilton, D., Childs, E., Dandar, D., & Kook, R. (Eds). Active Learning for Real-World Inquiry.
Egizii, R. (2021). A sequential exploratory mixed methods investigation of pedagogical value. Doctoral dissertation. (Awaiting submission to ProQuest).
Brown, B., Egizii, R., Friesen, S., Thomas, C., & Brandon, J. (2020). Research-practice partnerships: Stakeholder mapping as a tool for maximizing co-creation. The Power and Possibilities for the Public Good When Researchers and Organizational Stakeholders Collaborate. On-Line Conference Proceedings. San Francisco, April 17, 2020.
Brown, B., Friesen, S., Brandon, J., Thomas, C., & Egizii, R. (2019). Research -practice partnerships: First cohort of projects in Alberta. Leveraging Education Research in a Post-Truth Era, American Educational Research Association. On-Line Conference Proceedings. Toronto. April 6, 2019.
Egizii, R. (2018). Researcher-practitioner partnerships in Alberta. Alberta Education Intern
Showcase. Edmonton. August 29, 2018.
Egizii, R., & Friesen, S. (2019). Differentiating factors that underpin pedagogical value at the post-
secondary level. 47th Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE), 88th Congress of the
Humanities and Social Sciences. (to be presented June 4, 2019)
Brown, B., Egizii, R., Thomas, C., Friesen, S., & Brandon, J. (2019). Examining research-practice
partnerships through a complex adaptive systems lens. 47th Canadian Society for the Study of
Education (CSSE), 88th Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. (to be presented June 5,
2019)
Egizii, R. (2019). Disruptive innovation: Using lean design-thinking to explore, envision, prototype
and co-create new approaches to pedagogy for post-secondary learners. IDEAS 2019 Conference,
University of Calgary (July 3-5, 2019).
Egizii, R. (2019). Doctoral internships as a scaffolded experience: A collaborative and mutually
beneficial approach to supporting research-practice partnerships. IDEAS 2019 Conference,
University of Calgary (July 3-5, 2019).
Egizii, R. (2015). Self-directed learning, andragogy and the role of alumni as members of professional learning communities in the post-secondary environment. Procedia: Social and Behavioural Sciences. 174:1740-1749.
Egizii, R. (2011). Daoist principles as a solution for sustainable business. Journal of Daoist Studies. 4: 190-201.
Egizii also has an extensive record of papers and articles published in the field of neuroscience. Some of these are available on: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rita-Egizii