Lawrence (Larry) White, MDE

Member, Advisory Board

Lawrence White is an Educational Development Consultant operating his own business in Canada, OOKPIK Services Inc., providing services and supports to academia as well as to the public and not-for-profit sectors. In addition, he is an online instructor/facilitator with the Centre for Continuing and Online Learning at Algonquin College in Ottawa, Canada. Lawrence holds a Master of Distance Education from Athabasca University (2006), a Post-Graduate Certificate in Environmental Assessment from Lakehead University (1998), and Bachelor of Environmental Studies from the University of Waterloo (1996). He is currently a doctoral student at Unicaf University where he is pursuing a Doctor of Education. His research interests lie at the intersection of instructional design and students’ mental health. Specifically, he hopes to identify promising new practices at the stage of curriculum design and development that might help mitigate some of the academic stressors that adversely affect students’ mental health and, by association, their academic success. The working title for his dissertation is ‘Minding Their Minds: Adapting Universal Design for Learning to Foster Student Mental Wellness, Resilience and Hope for the Future.’ During his academic journey, he won four scholarships, including the prestigious Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Graduate Scholarship. During his two-decade career in post-secondary education, Lawrence has often described his work as “helping others achieve their dreams.” His career path brought him to several colleges and universities over the years, where he has held increasingly senior roles including an 8-month interim posting as Vice President, Education and Students. He has attended eight conferences where he presented on such diverse topics as environmental literacy, mental health and education. Most recently, he attended the World Conference on Online Learning in Dublin, Ireland, at which he spoke about a globally unique university program he established that includes a multi-tiered approach to supporting students’ mental health. Lawrence published a number of articles, including two in academic, peer-reviewed journals, and co-authored a chapter for a peer-reviewed book. He participated as a reviewer for three drafts of the United Nations Environment Program’s Global Environment Outlook (GEO-4) Report. Recent memberships include the Canadian Network for Innovation in Education (CNIE), the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA), and the Canadian Association for University Continuing Education (CAUCE) where he chaired the Professional Development Committee. Lawrence was part of a team that planned and hosted Currents of Change, the CAUCE 2017 annual conference, in Vancouver. Prior to post-secondary education, Lawrence held a variety of management roles in retail, recreation and client contact centres. His circuitous career path offered opportunities in four Canadian provinces as well as the Western and Central Arctic. He has lived and worked in both Inuit and First Nations communities. Lawrence has travelled extensively in Canada from coast to coast to coast. He has also travelled internationally to almost 50 countries as diverse as Denmark, Germany, United Kingdom, Portugal, Morocco, South Africa, Ghana, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. He has also visited the territories of French Polynesia, the Canary Islands and the Azores. Lawrence’s non-academic interests include travel, hiking, nature photography, and square dancing. He has recently started piloting a drone. It requires much more practice. Lawrence shares his world with his partner and his white German shepherd, named Kumiq. He lives in Burnaby, British Columbia, a suburb of Vancouver, on the unceded traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples: xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, səl̓ilwətaɁɬ, kʷikʷəƛ̓əm & Sḵwx̱wú7mesh.