News

A scholarship has been created in memory of Nancy Wright, a nurse practitioner and senior instructor at the University of Victoria School of Nursing, who passed away in August 2020. The scholarship will support graduate students in the Masters of Nursing Nurse Practitioner program with a demonstrated interest in nursing with marginalized populations.

UVic Law remembers Joseph J. Arvay, OC, OBC, QC, LLD with the establishment of a legacy fund

The Victoria Nikkei Cultural Society (VNCS) has created the Victoria Nikkei Cultural Society Award for undergraduate students at the University of Victoria. This endowed award will support innovative and creative research in Japanese Canadian history, art, culture and language.

Friends and colleagues of a longtime surgeon from Vancouver Island have started a scholarship in his memory. Dr. Michael Ross, an ear, nose and throat specialist, practiced medicine for 60 years, finally retiring at 85 last October. He passed away in December. Organizers have already raised more than $49,000 toward the goal of $65,000 for the new scholarship for an Island medical student who is training to be a surgeon. The award will be the first scholarship awarded solely to an Island medical student.

Over the past five years, Giving Tuesday at UVic has become a unique, fun and heartwarming tradition that increasingly inspires support. This year, it raised $148,260 for 20 different funds on campus. That money will support students, power exciting research and expand outreach programs that encourage safe and healthy communities.

Baneet Hans, a first-year student in the University of Victoria Faculty of Law, is one of the first recipients of a new Scotiabank scholarship program for Law Students, which will see the bank commit more than $500,000 over five years. Six faculties of law across Canada will award scholarships on behalf of Scotiabank to fund students interested in pursuing a career in the legal profession with a goal to support and advocate for anti-racism in law.

The threat of climate change is the most perilous of our time—especially at the beginning of this new decade, which has been frequently identified as the most crucial for preventing catastrophic consequences. Now, one concerned individual is personally addressing that threat with an inspiring gift of $1.875 million to the University of Victoria in support of the Wayne Crookes Professorship in Environmental and Climate Journalism.

In just 24 hours the worldwide community helped us raise over $138,973 (and counting) by coming together for a common goal.

On the 146th anniversary of Winston Churchill’s birthday, the Faculty of Humanities is pleased to announce the creation of the Churchill Foundation Vancouver Island Barry Gough Scholarship in English.

The family of a carpenter from a small village in Cyprus whose dreams brought him to Victoria where his ambition, determination and hard work built the successful Kasapi Construction Co. Ltd. has made a $1-million gift to the University of Victoria that will fund two new student scholarships.

In a year unlike any other, the University of Victoria Vikes still managed to pull off their most important student-athlete scholarship event of the season. The 13th Annual Vikes Championship Breakfast went virtual for 2020 with a near 40-minute capsule of the usual event went live on Nov. 5 for all student-athletes, coaches, staff, alumni and donors. With UVic matching $200,000 again this year, the 2020 event totalled more than $525,000 for student-athlete scholarships. With financial support still coming in, the 13-year breakfast events have now cleared the $6.1 million mark since the inaugural event in 2008.

Your UVic Philanthropy Week (November 9-15, 2020) is a week-long showcase of philanthropy at UVic. During Philanthropy Week, we celebrate those actions and the people behind them. Look out for daily messages on social media and digital signage highlighting students, staff, faculty, alumni and donors who are giving back through donations of time, money or expertise.

The Centre for Studies in Religion and Society (CSRS) is creating new Indigenous Arts and Research Fellowships, thanks to a generous contribution from local Indigenous scholar, artist, and activist, Michelle Brown, together with matching funds provided by the CSRS. Michelle is a long-time friend of the centre, former CSRS community sabbaticant, and co-facilitator of the Reconciliation and Relationship dialogue series hosted at the centre. Michelle currently serves on the CSRS advisory council.

Over the course of her life, mathematician Betty Kennedy contributed to the University of Victoria and the community in so many ways that to a non-mathematician they may seem countless. It is fitting with so much of the generosity that characterized her life that in her passing in 2019, Kennedy bestowed UVic with a $3.6-million gift.

Two Vancouver Island high school graduates will start classes at UVic this fall as recipients of the prestigious Schulich Leader Scholarship, awarded to outstanding students in sciences, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

A local businesswoman has established an award that aims to develop and help local talent achieve their academic and athletic dreams while being close to home. In partnership with the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame, the Vikes will give $3,000 each year to support a woman entering an undergraduate program at UVic from a secondary school in the Greater Victoria region and who competes for a Vikes varsity team.

David Goodlett joins UVic as the new Don and Eleanor Rix BC Leadership Chair in Biomedical and Environmental Proteomics, a position created with a $4.5 million endowment—split equally by the Rix Family Foundation and the BC government’s Leading Edge Endowment Fund (LEEF), which was established in 2010.

A new University of Victoria fund is set to create ways for donors to support researchers as they find solutions to make our communities stronger and speed up our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Close to 2,000 students received the COVID-19 Support Bursary between March and June, 2020. In all, donors contributed $241,000 to the bursary, including donations from the UVic Alumni Association, the UVSS and UVic Speakers Bureau and over $3,000 raised through a live stream of alumnus Charles Ross’ popular One Man Star Wars show. With additional funding from government sources and university budgets, the COVID-19 Support Bursary ultimately disbursed over $1.4 million to students.

Our team is delighted to welcome Jane Potentier as the new Associate Vice-President, Alumni and Development at the University of Victoria.

In fall of 2019, the T’łat’laḵuł Dr. Trish Rosborough Memorial Scholarship in Indigenous Language Revitalization fund was created in memory of former Associate Professor Dr. Trish Rosborough. It has now been endowed and will be awarded in September 2020.

After Sanjeev Singh Parmar (LLB '07) tragically passed away on September 20, 2019 at the age of 39, a memorial scholarship fund was started by his family and friends to ensure his memory lives on in the UVic community.

On May 5, 2020, UVic invites you to participate in #GivingTuesdayNow, a global day of giving and unity responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a day to celebrate the power of human connection and strength of community. Anyone and everyone can join in. Just do something that demonstrates kindness and generosity. Help spread the message further by sharing what you’re doing on social media, using #GivingTuesdayNow.

Dr. Vijay Bhargava, a faculty member at the University of Victoria until 2003, has made a generous gift to establish the Andreas Antoniou Lectureship. This Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering annual lecture will bring eminent academics and professionals in the fields of Electrical and Computer Engineering to the University of Victoria, adding to the educational experience and inspiring the next generation of ECE graduates. Dr. Bhargava established this lectureship in honour of Dr. Andreas Antoniou, the founding chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

A new gift from the estate of Wilson Lai, through the Victoria Foundation, will create the Wilson S. C. Lai Scholarship Fund. The fund will provide five scholarships for undergraduate students each year, and will be renewable for up to three years. Wilson Lai was a business man and property owner in Victoria, who sadly passed away in 2018.

The Pacific Blue Cross Health Benefits Society through the Pacific Blue Cross Health Foundation provides support for organizations that help improve outcomes in the areas of chronic disease and mental illness. UVic is grateful for a new donation from the foundation to establish the PBC Health Benefits Society Fellowship in Lifelong Health. The fellowship will support graduate students in the Faculty of Social Sciences whose research is looking at innovations in digital health, wellbeing and/or cognitive health, and who are working with the Institute on Aging and Lifelong Health.

Coast Capital Savings has donated $10,000 to support a UVic initiative to meet the increasing demand for face shields for front line workers. In addition, numerous organizations and individuals have donated their time, equipment and materials.

The university has created a COVID-19 Emergency Bursary available to all students—domestic or international, undergraduate or graduate—who are experiencing emergency financial need as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new Paulette Lacroix Nursing Informatics Scholarship will support academically outstanding graduate students in Health Information Science (HINF) or the double degree HINF/Nursing program who are registered licensed nurses. Up until March 15, 2020, all donations to the scholarship will be matched up to $25,000, giving donors a chance to double their impact and further support this award.

Schulich Leader Scholarships are now doubling from 50 to 100 annual awards across Canada.

The University of Victoria is establishing the Iranian Student Memorial Scholarship to honour those who perished aboard Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 in Tehran on January 8, 2020.

A digital humanities open house gave guests an inside view and hands-on experience of research projects in this broad and fascinating multi-disciplinary area.

On National Philanthropy Day, UVic acknowledges all of those members of our UVic community who live the culture of philanthropy and strive to make the world a better place.

The Victoria Hand Project can extend its reach and initiate new trials for spinal braces thanks to a $1-million award from the TD Ready Challenge.

Thank you for supporting UVic on Giving Tuesday! Together, our UVic community gave more than $150,000 to support the clubs, field schools, awards, and initiatives that enrich the UVic student experience. Thanks to more than 2,500 people participating in Giving Tuesday, $20,000 from our generous matching donors was unlocked - helping double the impact!

Over the last three years, Giving Tuesday has raised over $83,000 for student clubs and student led initiatives. Our generous donors have helped students launch rockets, host conferences, put on case competitions and travel overseas to do volunteer work.

The late Roger J. Bishop, the first head of the University of Victoria’s Department of English who was also known as the "father of UVic Special Collections," has left a lasting legacy as both an educator and philanthropist.

Two Schulich Leader Scholars will attend UVic in 2019

Ev and Audrey Van Eerden donated a 12-harness Counermarche loom to the Department of Visual Arts in hopes of installing a love of weaving in students.

Thousands of UVic students and their families and friends will gather on campus this June to celebrate the achievement of an academic milestone. The moment is extra special for Dominique Rochefort, a citizen of the Métis Nation, who will be accepting her BEd from UVic.

Elizabeth Buckley School has established an annual student award at UVic to support students with physical or learning disabilities.

In appreciation of David Black's long-time support of the business school, Gustavson has named its primary instruction space for its Bachelor of Commerce students the Black Ink Classroom.

A monumental art installation by Kwagiulth and Coast Salish artist Carey Newman, who is currently teaching at the University of Victoria, was today the centrepiece of an announcement by Winnipeg’s Canadian Museum of Human Rights (CMHR) of a historically unique collaboration that unites Western legal principles with Indigenous ways of knowing and being.

Two new scholarships with distinct—and distinctly important—aims were awarded to our PhD students for the first time in 2018.

The Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame and the University of Victoria are proud to announce that first-year Vikes men's rugby player Lachlan "Lockie" Kratz is the 2019 recipient of the Bate Family Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame Award.

Kira Chong is a fifth-year education student at UVic with a love for art and giving back to the community. She recently brought these two passions together with her "Faces of the Community" mural. Chong received funding from the Student Activity Grant and the Victoria Visual Arts Legacy Society. She hopes that other students will apply for those grants and use the money to continue community-based art projects.

Powered by Ten Thousand Coffees, UVic Connect is an exclusive networking platform that introduces you to alumni and students based on specific career interests and goals. You can schedule and set up a coffee chat to take place in-person or online.

For hundreds of UVic students walking across the stage at convocation is the achievement of an academic milestone earned through hard work and perseverance. During Fall Convocation on November 13th and 14th, 1,493 degrees, certificates and diplomas were conferred to students.

As thousands of UVic students celebrate during Spring Convocation, we celebrate your role as donors supporting their academic journey.