Summary

Dr. Tamas is an Assistant Professor in Development Studies at St. Francis Xavier University. He has taught globalization, anthropological research methods, the history, theories and current practices of international social and economic development and international education. He is now managing the student internship program and overseeing their capstone papers. He has designed and offered courses both in the classroom and on-line using a variety of distance education strategies. Peter has a doctorate in International Education from the Center for International Education at UMass Amherst, where his studies included a broad analysis of international social and economic development and subsequently an examination of the characteristics of development professionals. His doctoral research looked at three things: how individuals become competent development professionals, how they work within the constraints of their institutions and how they make decisions in uncertain environments. Dr. Tamas has worked in development both domestically and internationally on long-term and short-term development assignments in Bolivia, Afghanistan, Thailand and the Sakhalin Islands, and with police and marginalized urban groups in the United States. His current research interests are the role of military actors in recovering states and the intersections of personal and institutional religion with development.

Education

Doctor of Education (2006)

Center for International Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Analysis of the formation and performance of effective development professionals.

Master of Philosophy (1994)

University of Guelph, Guelph Ontario

Area competencies and a comparison of Liberal and Confucian political philosophy.

Bachelor of Environmental Studies (1992)

University of Waterloo, Waterloo Ontario

Conflict studies and the environment and development.

Research Interests

The origins and impacts of development professionals' understandings of their knowledge on practice and collaboration, Religion and/of development, the role of military actors deployed in conflict areas in shaping the terrain for later development interventions.

Northern Educated Experts in Development, Military Actors in Development, Religion and Development, Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods.

Professional Experience

Human Resources, Auxiliary Services, University of Massachusetts (2002-2006)

Assisting with and directing organizational development and training for Auxiliary Services’ 1,900 staff. Assisted with contract administration. Designed and delivered in-service cross-cultural and management training for a large police department.

Partner , Tamas Consultants, Almonte, Ontario (1994-present)

International development program design and operations including web-based sojourner selection and support, capacity development and training interventions, qualitative evaluation training, design and execution, research and group process assessment.

External Evaluator, Nuestras Raíces, Holyoke, Massachusetts (2001-2005)

Serving as the local and long term evaluator for Ford and Kellogg funds granted to a community based organization.

Director, UMass-Hokkaido University Summer Exchange Program, International Program Office, University of Massachusetts Amherst (1999, 2001, 2003)

Designed and delivered study abroad programs for Japanese university students.

Impact Evaluation Trainer , Habitat for Humanity, Bangkok, Thailand (March 2002)

Co-designed and delivered impact evaluation training for Habitat's Global Training Team.

Vice President & President, Graduate Student Senate, University of Massachusetts Amherst (2001-2002)

Oversaw and managed operations, selected and directed five staff, represented the interests of 4 500 graduate students within the University administration and served on several faculty governance bodies.

President, Graduate Employee Organization/UAW, University of Massachusetts Amherst (2000-2001)

Directed an organization with nine staff representing 2,500 graduate student employees, recruited and organized volunteers, oversaw contract negotiations, designed and delivered training programs and communication strategies.

NGO Trainer/Evaluator, Centre for International Education, University of Massachusetts Amherst (1998)

Designed and carried out a participatory goal free evaluation of a program intended to increase the theoretical depth of practitioners from CARE Asia Branch.

International Development Program Consultant, UNDP/UNOCHA, Afghanistan (1998)

Participated in the development and testing of a field driven monitoring and evaluation system that checks for post term and cross impacts of development activities, supports implementing agencies’ development of monitoring and evaluation capacity, and provides feedback on agency coordination to support donor decisions in subsequent funding cycles.

Training Designer, Canadian Bureau for International Education, Ottawa (1997-1998)

Cooperated in the design and evaluation of inter-cultural competence training sessions designed to prepare North American staff for short-term assignments overseas and to help visitors adjust to North America.

IT and Organization Development Advisor, Universidad Nur, Santa Cruz, Bolivia (1996-1997)

Researched, developed and tested appropriate uses of information technologies in international development, assessed accreditation options and contributed to institutional strategy in the environmental sector.

ESL Instructor, House of Culture, Kolendo, Sakhalin Island, Russia (1992)

Developed curriculum for and taught English as a second language.

Policy Assistant, Department of National Defence, Nuclear Safety, Ottawa (1990)

Developed policy for public participation in sensitive environmental impact assessments and the management of problem sites near northern communities.

Policy Analyst, Environment Canada Corporate Policy Group, Hull, Quebec (1989)

Contributed to amendments of the Migratory Birds Convention Act in favor of indigenous subsistence hunters and drafted parts of the Arctic chapter of the federal government's four-year environmental agenda.

Evaluation Consultant, Canadian International Development Agency, Hull, Quebec (1989)

Designed and conducted a program evaluation of a human settlements sector development project from the perspective of community development and tested the consistency of CIDA's standard evaluation process with its activities in the human settlements sector.

Teaching Experience

Assistant Professor, Development Studies St. Francis Xavier University (2006-Present)

Design and deliver a full year course on globalization, a capstone course in development studies, a masters distance course in international education, a senior anthropology course in development theory, deliver a course on anthropological research methods and design and conduct a full-year equivalent student internship program.

Teaching Assistant, School of Education, University of Massachusetts Amherst (1998-2000, 2003-2005)

Assist in the design, delivery and evaluation of a course that draws on post-colonial and trans-national approaches to present students with an introduction to international education that links international and domestic issues.

Instructor, Cambridge College, Springfield Massachusetts (summer 2004)

Designed and delivered a Masters course on managing diversity for a small class of mid-career adult learners that drew on and responded to challenges in their workplaces.

Publications

• Spoken Moments of a Pernicious Discourse? Querying Foucauldian Representations of Development Professionals. Third World Quarterly. 27(5), 901-916, 2007.
• Misrecognitions and missed opportunities: Post-structuralism and the practice of development. Third World Quarterly. 25 (4), p. 649-660, 2004.
• Book Review: The critical pedagogy reader. International Journal of Educational Development. 24 (2), p. 224-225, 2004.
• Book Review: Schooling as Violence. International Journal of Educational Development. 26(1), p. 131-2.
• Under Review
• Losing (sight of) our religion: Exploring the foundations of secular development. Submitted to Canadian Journal of Development Studies.

Reviewing

Reviewer. Rethinking Marxism: A Journal of Economics, Culture and Society.

Book Reviewer. International Journal of Educational Development.

Reports

• I have written a number of evaluation reports on behalf of Nuestras Raíces for the Ford and Kellogg foundations.
• Independent Community-Based Monitoring and Evaluation for Common Programming in Afghanistan: Rationale, Design, Implementation Plan and Field Test Results. With Andy Tamas. Report for UNDP/UNOCHA Afghanistan (1998).
• A Summary of Material Relevant to the Evaluation of Study Tours. Report for the Canadian Bureau of International Education, Ottawa (1998).
• Universidad Nur's Conclusions on Potential Uses for the Internet in Facilitating the Exchange of Experience Between Development Practitioners. With Fernando Dick Mella. Accepted for presentation at the 1998 conference of the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education.
• Return on Investment for Briefings, Orientations and in Country Support. Report for the Canadian Bureau of International Education, Ottawa (1997).

Conferences

• The Relevance for Development Educators of Examining Their Own Formation, paper given at the 50th annual Comparative and International Education Society Conference, Waikiki, HI, March 2006.
• Going Beyond the Experts of the " Power of Development, " paper given at the 21st Annual Canadian Association for the Study of International Development Conference, London, Ontario, June 2005.
• Exploring the religion of, or is that religion and, development, paper given at the 2nd Annual INSIGHT conference, London, Ontario, June 2005.
• Development Experts and their Post-Development Critics: Exploring Grounds for collaboration, paper given at the 49th annual Comparative and International Education Society Conference, Stanford, CA, March 2005.
• Experts, Knowledge and Voice in the Conduct of Aid, paper given at the 20th Annual Canadian Association for the Study of International Development Conference, Winnipeg, Manitoba, June 2004.
• Subjects of Development: Agency and Hegemony within Development Institutions , paper given at the Rethinking Marxism ' s 5th International Gala Conference: Marxism and the World Stage, Amherst, MA, November 2003.
• The Subjects, Experts and the Exclusions of Development Education, paper given at the 47th Annual Comparative and International Education Society Conference, New Orleans, LA, March 2003.
• The Impossibility of Participation: Consequences of Sub/objectification through Development, paper given at the Rethinking Marxism s Conference: Subjects of Economy, Amherst, MA, November 2002.
• Skilled Performance and Equivocal Knowledge: The Practice(s) of Expert Knowledge Production, paper given at the 46th Annual Comparative and International Education Society Conference, Orlando, FL, March 2002.
• Co-organizer of the Comparative and International Education Society Northeast Regional Conference. Center for International Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Summer-Fall 2001.
• Are We Postmodern Yet? A study of the work of Arturo Escobar and his respondents, paper given at the 45th Comparative and International Education Society Conference, Washington DC, March 2001.
• The Education of Development: An Introduction to the Conceptual Tools Used to Study Development as Pedagogy, paper given at the Harvard Graduate School of Education Conference, Cambridge, MA, Spring 2001.
• Invited Participant of the 2nd Uppingham Seminar, Uppingham, England, February, 2000.
• Power, Practice and Participation: A Discussion of Consistency, round table discussion organized at the Participatory Development Forum, University of Ottawa, August 1999.

Service

• Webmaster, Rethinking Marxism
• Coordinator, Young Scholars Forum, Comparative & International Education Society, 2006.
• Representative, University of Massachusetts Graduate Council. 2000-2003, 2005-6.
• Volunteer, National Ski Patrol. 2001-2005.
• Graduate Representative, University of Massachusetts Graduate Council. 2000-2003, 2005.
• Graduate Representative, Provost’s Steering Committee for Academic Review. 2001.
• Graduate Representative, Graduate Council Curriculum and Program Sub-committee. 2001-2003.
• Graduate Representative, Graduate Council Ethics Sub-committee. 2001-2003.
• Graduate Representative, Centre for International Education Curriculum Committee. 2001-2002.
• Senator, Faculty Senate. 2001-2002.
• Volunteer, The After School Program, Nuestras Raíces. 1999-2001.
• Member, Program Development Committee, Centre for International Education. 1999.

Affiliations

• Comparative and International Education Society (CIES).
• American Educational Research Association (AERA).
• Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID).
• Association for Economic and Social Analysis (AESA).
• Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS).

Languages

English, functional Spanish, marginal French.