Associate Program Director of MEd School Counselling
I am an educator, devoted dog mom, and nature lover. I have a doctorate in education from Simon Fraser University (SFU) and have had the pleasure of teaching at Douglas College, SFU, and CityU. I am passionate about teaching, creating learning communities that allow for authenticity and growth, and learning collaboratively. I am grateful to enter teaching/learning relational encounters with students and to learn together. I try to create an environment where students are able to lean into the discomfort of challenging their thinking. Ideally, I hope to disrupt and unlearn colonized and disciplinary aspects of the classroom to provide space for thinking, being, and doing in new ways. My current research explores educational leadership, humanizing education, and the role of nature in learning and leading.
Research
My research is an ongoing exploration of this metaquestion: How do we unlearn (and unlead) engrained white-Western understandings of education and educational leadership and re-imagine education to pursue social justice and equity?
I explore this in the related areas of: Imagination and educational leadership; leadership education; the complex relationship between education and the labour market and the transition from post-secondary education to work; relational practice and teaching and learning encounters; interviewing and qualitative inquiry; teaching research methods; and relational and performative ontologies and methodologies that explore more-than-human entanglements.
Publications
Judson, G., & Dougherty, M. (2026). Imaginative (un)learning in leadership education: How cognitive tools and community-based collaboration cultivate imaginations. Journal of Leadership Education. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOLE-06-2025-0067
Dougherty, M., Judson, G., & Pazur, S. (2025). Becoming scholars with data: Exploring imaginative methodological practices. Reconceptualizing Educational Research Methods, 15(3).
Dougherty, M., & Judson, G. (2025). Leading with the possible in mind: Educational leaders’ experiences engaging imagination in practice. Journal of Ethical Educational Leadership, 8(1), 103–121.
Judson, G., & Dougherty, M. (2024). Imagination as a catalyst for relational leadership: Educational leaders’ perspectives. International Journal for Leadership in Learning, 24(1), 5–35.
Judson, G., & Dougherty, M. (Eds.). (2023). Cultivating imagination in leadership:
Transforming schools and communities. Teachers College Press.
Dougherty, M. (2022). Need to get somewhere fast: A critical examination of the transition from post-secondary education to work. DIO Press.
Dougherty, M. (2022). Reconceptualising the transition from post-secondary education to work. Journal of Education and Work, 35(3), 241-255. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2022.2048251
Dougherty, M. (2021). Reflections: The relational practice of teaching and learning. Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping, 27(1), 49-63.
Cox, R.D., & Dougherty, M. (2018). (Mis)measuring developmental math success: Classroom participants’ perspectives on learning. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 43(4), 245-261. doi: 10.1080/10668926.2018.1456378
Cox, R.D., Dougherty, M., Hampton, S., Neigel, C., and Nickel, K. (2017). Does this feel empowering? Using métissage to explore the effects of critical pedagogy. International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 8(1), 33-57.
Projects:
Cultivating Imagination: Leading Toward a Just Future
· Knowledge mobilization project funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Centre for Imagination in Research, Culture, and Education (CIRCE), and VoiceEd Radio
· Sharing ideas of leaders, experts, and activists in imagination, education, leadership, and social justice through series of podcasts and blog entries www.cultivateimagination.ca
Teaching
Students are why we are all here! My approach is to engage and enact the same presence, care, and awareness with students as they are learning to do in their counselling relationships. I believe students have to experience these things before they are able to offer them to others. Together, as a learning community, we strive to create a brave space where we can interrogate our assumptions, perspectives, and experiences, and be flexible in thinking in new ways. We create a relational experience of respect and collaboration. I enter our space with humility and am grateful for all I learn from our interactions.
Courses
Introduction to Research; Research Methods in School Counselling, Individual Counselling Theories and Practice, Group Counselling, Capstone