Viviana Pitton

Viviana was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She spent most of her youth in Mendoza, “the land of Malbec”. She also lived in Patagonia, where she had her first professional job working with a local government on policy initiatives around domestic violence issues. She has spent the rest of her adult life as a “globetrotter”, as she has lived in three different continents for the last eighteen years. She has been a guest in the traditional lands of the Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱SÁNEĆ people since 2017.

Viviana taught undergraduate and graduate courses related to education, globalization and organizational theory in the U.S.A. (UIUC), Australia (UNSW) and Canada (UVic). Her teaching experience at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign took place within the Global Studies in Education Online program, where she gained expertise with educational technology and facilitation of teamwork in virtual environments. She taught in a teacher program at UNSW, as well as in a Master’s business program where she focused on the development of students’ skills such as teamwork, communication, and ethical decision-making among a highly diverse student population. She incorporated a similar developmental approach when teaching a leadership course in the BCom program at UVic.

Viviana has always had a strong interest in creating inclusive educational opportunities and a burning desire for social justice. Her commitment to social justice issues in education only grew stronger during her years as an immigrant in the U.S., Australia, and Canada. Her experiences as an international graduate learner at the University of Illinois and as an international educator at the University of New South Wales (Australia) have infused her personal and professional efforts to facilitate inclusive and meaningful learning and teaching opportunities in higher education. Accordingly, Viviana is committed to support the learning experiences of all type of students by bringing particular attention to the facilitation of effective communication and interaction among students and between students and instructors in diverse classrooms. Recognizing the critical role of educators in such facilitation, her work seeks to enable all instructors to create effective teaching conditions and support mechanisms to achieve these goals.