The Governor-General’s Gold Medal (best Doctoral thesis) Michelle Parker — PhD, Biochemistry The Governor General’s Silver Medal (top undergraduate student) Kristy Inouye — BSc Honours in Kinesiology Lieutenant Governor’s Silver Medal (best Master’s thesis) Malcolm Bowles — MSc, Mathematics
The predicament of transnational migrants is a global issue, with heartbreaking headlines from Africa to Asia and the Americas. Lack of identity documentation and citizenship can be a multigenerational legacy that creates hardships for children and …
Ecologist and ethnobiologist Dr. Trevor Lantz (environmental studies) has been named a Fulbright Scholar by the Fulbright Arctic Initiative for his Arctic ecosystems research. Lantz studies the rate and causes of Arctic environmental change and its consequences for northern communities. Using a combination of field studies, remote sensing, and collaboration with knowledgeable hunters and trappers, he will examine the vulnerability of Arctic coastlands to storm surges. His fieldwork will be conducted in the Beaufort Delta region of the Northwest Territories while collaboration with other Fulbright Arctic Initiative scholars will be in Nunavut and Finland.
Most university lectures start with an illustrious speaker at a podium, poised to impart knowledge to students. That clich&e#180; was turned upside down by this year’s Gustavson School of Business Distinguished Entrepreneur of the Year, David Foster, when he recently spoke to Business and Fine Arts students: not only was this class far from a traditional lecture, but the students were engaged and energized right from the start. After the screening of a video about his career, Foster sat behind a keyboard (“I’ll play if you beg me … and even if you don’t.”) in a lecture theatre. “So. Business. Let’s talk. Questions?” It didn’t take long before a brisk, incisive, vibrant interchange got underway.
The BC government has announced $6 million in funding (provided through the BC Innovation Council) for students to receive job training in the technology sector.
Electrical engineering grad Sarah Allan explored her personal and professional interests at home and abroad while at UVic—thanks in large part to the co-op program. “Taking part in the co-op program allowed me to explore many of my personal interests,” she says. “It also allowed me to gain industry knowledge that wouldn’t have possible in a traditional degree program.”
When it comes to stage design, the Prague Quadrennial is as good as it gets—and this year, a pair of Department of Theatre alumni will help represent Canada. “It’s the Venice Biennalie of stage design,” says theatre professor Allan Stichbury. “It’s the top in terms of recognizing stage design in the world.”
Being the first to gain access to an archive is the kind of research opportunity most academics dream of—and it's how art history and visual studies professor Allan Antliff will be spending his summer.
This April, Director of Community Relations Dr. Joy Davis received the 2015 Distinguished Service Award Canadian Museums Association for her extraordinary work directing UVic’s Cultural Resource Management program for more than 30 years. “Joy developed the world’s first academic distance education courses in museum studies, supporting professionals from as far afield as Rankin Inlet, Haida Gwaii, Kenya and the Falkland Islands,” noted Dr. Robert Janes, of the museums association. “While Joy has consistently created widely respected—and enthusiastically evaluated—learning opportunities, the real significance of her work lies in the difference these have made across the museum sector, long after coursework is complete.”
Dr. Martha Farrell, a long-time associate of the Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives (CAPI) and the School of Public Administration, was killed May 13th in a Taliban terrorist attack on the Kabul guesthouse where she was staying. Farrell was in Afghanistan with the Aga Khan Foundation leading workshops on gender and anti-violence for Afghan locals and government officials.
UVic's leadership and participation in several national and international big science projects been given a huge shot in the arm with the injection of $14.8 million in new funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).
Brittney Sharma’s vision—an outdoor program to help children who had experienced family trauma—generated lots of buzz this year after being chosen as a showcase idea for the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU) conference. Sharma graduates this month with a bachelor’s in anthropology, and says her time at UVic was filled with academics and club activities, as well as developing her vision to help children of battered women.
Innovation at the elemental scale could help us move beyond oil-based polymers You might not see the results of his research on store shelves in the next few years, but PhD graduate Saurabh Chitnis is helping to change the very makeup of the world around us. Chitnis is a fundamental chemist working on developing new chemical compounds.
While many educational experiences are a straight road from enrollment to convocation, some routes are more circuitous. Bader Murad—who graduates this June with a Master of Global Business (MGB) from the Sardul S. Gill Graduate School at the Gustavson School of Business—took a while to find his way. Convocation isn’t the only milestone for Murad: he’s also arrived triumphantly at his first career destination.
For Emily Mailes of Melbourne, Australia, deciding what to study was a daunting process. “I was not one of those people who always knew what they wanted to do.” Six years post-high school and having relocated to Victoria, Emily decided to pick a path and move forward with her life. “UVic’s School of Health Information Sciences stood out,” she says. A relative is a grad who now has an interesting and lucrative career. The global opportunities across the tech sector held considerable appeal along with the school’s promise of guaranteed placement upon graduation.
Professional director sees MFA as stepping-stone to rest of the world Like many MFA students in the Department of Theatre, director Chari Arespacochaga came to UVic already armed with a strong resume and extensive experience in theatre. A native of the Philippines, Arespacochaga directed professionally in Manila for many years, casting big foreign stars, and touring shows across Asia. Her resume is teeming with major productions of Broadway’s best and most popular musicals including Spring Awakening, Legally Blonde, Avenue Q, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Rock of Ages.
