Shannon Potter

Shannon is a PhD candidate in the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources. After earning her MA in Economics at UBC’s Vancouver School of Economics, she gained hands-on experience in the labour movement both as an active rank-and-file member and in various leadership roles. This spurred her research interests in the internal structure of the Canadian labour movement, especially in the areas of internal democracy and the role of cross-union coalition building. Her dissertation research focuses on the role of inter-union competition and on the cross-union dynamics of strike activity. In a separate research agenda, Shannon is also interested in the tension women face between pursuing a career and having a family, which she explores via studies on the gender earnings gap and the drop in earnings women experience after the birth of a child (i.e. the “motherhood penalty”).

Teaching

As an instructor at Western University, Shannon taught Labour Economics - Bargaining and Health Economics. Her teaching approach focused on active learning and student engagement through diverse means of participation. For example, she introduced a bargaining simulation into a traditional labour economics course which both challenged students to apply and refine their understanding of bargaining from a theoretical perspective, and provided a non-traditional way for students to demonstrate their knowledge, actively participate, and engage in the material alongside their peers. Outside of her experience as an instructor, she created a summer refresher course on macroeconomics for incoming Master of Financial Economics students. She has also worked as a Teaching Assistant in a variety of subjects including economics, statistics, research methods, labour law and personal leadership.