Corine Ferguson - Executive Director - corinef.arcqe@telus.net
Beth Arbuckle - Child Care Services Administrator - betha.arcqe@telus.net
Laura Brinker - Program Delivery Specialist - laurab.arcqe@telus.net
Cathryn Seifrit - Financial Administrator - cathryns.arcqe@telus.net
Kelly Cameron - Adminstrative Coordinator -arcqe@telus.net
Meet our Coaches
Corine Ferguson - Executive Director
Corine Ferguson has served as the Executive Director of the Alberta Resource Centre for Quality Enhancement (ARCQE) since its establishment in November of 2004. Having recently obtained a degree in Human and Social Development from the University of Victoria and an earlier diploma in Early Childhood Development from MacEwan College in Edmonton and having served as an active member of two college Advisory Committees Corine views herself as a life long learner and credits her ongoing educational journey for keeping her motivated and energized about the child care profession.
Corine is a passionate advocate for children and families with a gift for engaging colleagues, parents and the community at large about the importance of quality child care. She has had extensive involvement in areas of administrative management and the development of new initiatives in child care including work in the area of Resource & Fund Development where she rounded off experience in child care exploring long term organizational wellness and sustainability a position she held with Community Options, a society for children & families. Prior to accepting the position as Executive Director of ARCQE, Corine took on the position of Project Manager for the Head Start Child Care project in Edmonton as follow-up to research conducted in the Full Day Headstart in Centre Based Child Care project (Hewes & Brown, 2001). This work involved testing a new model of early intervention service delivery to families: providing additional supports to child care services (similar to those available in traditional Head Start programs) to determine whether an integrated model – Head Start Child Care – would be an effective way of promoting positive developmental outcomes for children and their families. As Project Manager, Corine worked with the resource teams, programs and other community agencies to facilitate and coordinate resources and services for an integrated and seamless delivery model for children and families.
One constant throughout Corine’s career has been her continued efforts to seek out new knowledge and new opportunities to improve the quality and accessibility of child care in Alberta and at the pan-Candian level. Over the years, she has worked tirelessly with local, provincial and national organizations to help achieve these goals. The opportunity to establish the Alberta Resource Centre for Quality Enhancement as a first of a kind provincial agency in Canada has truly been what Corine defines as an exciting challenge in investigating new and innovative ways to support capacity and enhance quality with programs working towards the standard of excellence known in Alberta as accreditation. Corine’s experience on the project Advisory Committee during the development of the Alberta Child Care Accreditation Program has been invaluable in providing meaningful insight with respect to defining technical assistance needs for the early learning and care community. This is evidenced daily by way of new and creative services, professional development activities and specialized resources emerging on an ongoing basis since the agency began.
Corine is optimistic about the future of child care in Alberta and takes great inspiration from the motivated community of professionals she has the privilege of working with in the field whom she notes exemplify commitment in practice on a daily basis in support of quality child care for children and families!
Beth Arbuckle - Childcare Services Administrator
Beth Arbuckle has her Early Childhood Development Diploma from Grant MacEwan College. She has over 20 years experience working with children and families. The majority of her experience comes from front line child care and coaching centres through the Accreditation process. In her previous role as a Child Care Coach, Beth assisted over 100 centres with their journey through Accreditation in Alberta. Beth lives in Beaumont with her husband and two daughters. She enjoys running, reading and spending time with her family and friends.
Laura Brinker - Program Delivery Specialist
Laura believes in professionalism and passion in her work with children, families and child care professionals. She has an eye for detail and a passion for creating environments that are inviting and practical for all those involved. Laura has diploma in Early Childhood Development with ten years experience. She currently works as a Program Delivery Specialist within our organization to support programs with planning their professional development opportunities. Laura enjoys interior design, kick boxing and spending time with her husband and daughter.
Cathryn Seifrit - Financial Administrator
Cathryn was raised in a family where her Father was employed with the Canadian Armed forces. She spent a large part of her childhood moving throughout Canada, this created a strong family bond and awareness to the importance of family. Cathryn’s family settled in British Columbia where she met her husband and shortly thereafter moved to Edmonton.
Cathryn worked in the finance industry until starting a family. At that time she made the choice to become a stay at home Mom, a decision she has never regretted. Cathryn was able to enjoy her creative side while being at home with her young family. When her children entered into the school system, Cathryn found herself in the classroom on a regular basis. She enjoyed the children so much she made the decision to become a Teacher Aid. Though she thoroughly enjoyed that position Cathryn returned to the finance industry in order to obtain full time employment. She was introduced at that time to contract maintenance and found it was an interesting challenge.
Cathryn is very excited to join the Alberta Resource Centre for Quality Enhancement team and is thrilled to be with an organization that is committed to quality child care for the families of Alberta.
Kelly Cameron - Administrative Coordinator
Kelly comes to us with a diverse customer service and administrative background and passion for interacting with people and public relations. Experiences to date have enabled her to enjoy work with large provincial organizations, boards, as well as smaller office environments and as such has learned that adaptability, flexibility as well as a good sense of humour are important traits in effectively managing work in a fast-paced environment.
As the new administrative coordinator for ARCQE, Kelly is looking forward to the opportunity to creatively apply her skills in the area of communication and office management in assisting the agency to better meet the needs of the community we serve. With skills in areas of database management, customer service, office operations, board support, ordering and inventory control, invoicing and retail, we are certain that she will be a strong addition to the team in supporting the diverse needs of the child care sector.
On a personal note, Kelly is the mom of two boys who have given her tremendous insight of the nature of children and in grounding her with a better appreciation for the very important work of those working in child care. In her spare time, Kelly also enjoys riding her bike, outdoor activities and has recently taken an interest in water colour painting…
Please join with us in welcoming her to the ARCQE team!