Shad SMU
Program Director
Laura Stiles-Clarke, Ph.D.
Part Time Faculty, Saint Mary’s University Department of Astronomy & Physics
Laura (she/her) is a career educator specializing in STEM and the high school to university transition. She is excited to bring Shad to Saint Mary’s campus for the first time in 2025.
Laura grew up in Toronto before email and the internet existed. She earned her Honours B.Sc. in Physics and her B.Ed. through the Concurrent Education program at Queen’s University. Laura then moved to Halifax and has lived there ever since, except for a one-year stint in Calgary in 2007-2008.
The first eleven years of her career were spent as a high school teacher, mostly teaching physics, science, and math, with some French Immersion and co-op education sprinkled in. Laura earned her M.Ed. in 2006. Her career later took her to Saint Mary’s, where she has taught physics since 2012. Laura decided to pursue a Ph.D. in education, specifically about undergraduate physics and how the culture of a department contributes to student experiences and student persistence. She defended her doctoral thesis in 2022 and has continued to teach and contribute to a supportive culture in STEM and across campus.
In her personal life, Laura has the world’s greatest husband and two wonderful teenaged children: one studying Math at the University of Waterloo, and one in grade 12. Laura’s daughter attended Shad Laurier in 2023 and has shared a lot about this amazing program. Laura’s hobbies include walking her dog, playing Wordle and Connections, doing the New York Times crossword, and doing yoga. After a long history of volunteering, she has paused most of her volunteer work while getting Shad SMU up and running.
Laura is most excited to meet the SMU Shads, to learn about them and introduce them to the Saint Mary’s community, to Halifax, and to the Maritimes.
Alvina Mardhani-Bayne, Ph.D.
External Relations Manager, Shad Canada
Alvina (she/her) began her Shad journey as the Recruitment Manager in 2022, and is now Shad’s External Relations Manager. She has had the opportunity to support soon-to-be Shads as they tackle the Shad application, current Shads during the month of July, and Shad alumni through the Shad Ambassadors program. Throughout all of these settings, Alvina has been constantly in awe of the curiosity and openness of Canada’s youth to learning and experiencing new things.
Alvina holds three degrees from the University of Alberta (in Anthropology, Linguistics, and the History of Art, Design, and Visual Culture), and completed her PhD in Education at Syracuse University in 2020, where she was awarded the All-University Doctoral Prize for excellence in research. Prior to joining the Shad team, she was an Assistant Professor at MacEwan University in Edmonton.
Outside of work, Alvina is a University of Alberta Senator and a volunteer member of the Edmonton Community Foundation’s Hilltop Awards and Bursaries Committee. She spends her free time with her family of three doting dogs, two snuggly cats, and one awesome person.
