Sandra Mathison was born in Calgary, Canada. Growing up in Alberta she completed a BA in sociology at the University of Alberta and completed an MA and PhD in education at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Previously she worked at the University of Chicago, SUNY-Albany and the University of Louisville, and is currently a Professor of Education at the University of British Columbia. She specializes in educational evaluation and qualitative research methods. When not making evaluative judgements, she is in her garden or off travelling the world.