Spring Convocation Week At UVic

The University of Victoria will confer more than 2,800 degrees, diplomas and certificates at eight convocation ceremonies this week, from Tuesday through Friday at 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. in the University Centre Farquhar Auditorium.

As of this week, the total number of UVic alumni will exceed 100,000. The university first convocation ceremony was held in 1964.

Here are some of the members of the Class of 2010, all of whom are available for interviews:

Val Napoleon – PhD (Law and Society), Governor General’s Gold Medal (outstanding graduate grade point average and thesis or dissertation)

Val Napoleon receives the Governor General’s Gold Medal for her dissertation on Gitksan First Nation’s law. An adopted member of the Gitksan people, she has been a community activist and consultant in northern BC for more than 25 years, specializing in health, education and justice issues.

Her research explored Gitksan legal order, laws and legal theory (as reflected by the groundbreaking Aboriginal land title case: Delgamuukw) and the ways Indigenous legal traditions can shape political and legal relationships between Canada and Indigenous societies.

Melanie Siebert – Master of Fine Arts (Writing), Lieutenant Governor’s Silver Medal (top graduate thesis)

Before writing student Melanie Siebert defended her poetry thesis for her MFA – which earned her the Lieutenant Governor’s Silver Medal – it was accepted for publication by McClelland and Stewart. Published in April, Deepwater Vee is already making waves in the Canadian poetry scene and was featured in a segment of the CBC Radio’s The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers, who called the book “ravishing.”

“At UVic I’ve had a chance to work closely with writers like Tim Lilburn, Lorna Crozier, and Patrick Lane,” she says. “They’re some of Canada’s finest writers who are thinking about the way we dwell here…and they’re doing this thinking with agile, spirited language.”

Navraj Chima – Bachelor of Science (Microbiology), Governor General’s Silver Medal (top undergraduate grade point average)

Navraj Chima’s interest in microbiology began as a hands-on research intern with the BC Cancer Agency when he was a Grade 11 student at St. Michaels University School. “I’ve been interested in diseases since a young age, and so microbiology was the natural progression,” he says. “Medicine is the next step.”

Chima is completing his first year of medicine at UBC and says it is still too early to see where medicine might take him. “I am seeing all the different opportunities available as a clinician, teacher, researcher, and hope somehow to combine all three of my interests.”

Deanna Singh – BSc (Psychology), Jubilee Medal in Social Sciences

A passion for helping those suffering from mental illnesses drove honours psychology grad Deanna Singh to the top of her class, earning her the 2010 Jubilee Medal in Social Sciences.

“My dream is to change the stigma of mental illness in our society,” says Singh. “Too many people suffer in silence with depression and other mental illnesses.”

In September she will begin a four-year UBC medical degree at UVic’s Island Medical Program. “I’m so pleased that I can study medicine on the UVic campus.”

Brandon Graham-Knight – IEEE Victoria Section Gold Medal in Electrical Engineering

Having worked at various co-op work term placements while at UVic (his most recent was with the BC Transmission Corporation), Brandon Graham-Knight is setting his sights on the renewable energy sector.

Options he’s considering include working for BC Hydro or taking a renewable energy studies in Germany. “We can’t survive for the amount of oil that we burn. They talk about peak oil – who knows how much is actually left? – but there’s just no way we can continue like this.”

Alissa Greer – Bachelor of Science (Psychology)

In 18 months with UVic’s Centre for Addiction Research of BC, Alissa Greer has interviewed high-risk injection drug users and street youth about their drug use patterns. She worked midnight shifts in hospital emergency wards speaking to patients about their alcohol and drug use. Currently, she is developing a project on the effects of privatized liquor outlets.

“I would like people to be more actively, or critically, thinking about these issues,” she says. Her work is leading to master’s studies in public health at the University of Toronto this fall.

Mark Lipsett – Island Medical Program/UBC MD

As part of his IMP training, Mark Lipsett completed an aerospace medicine clerkship at the Johnson Space Center and was introduced to the clinical, operational and research aspects of space medicine.

“As a kid growing up in Port Alberni, I had telescopes, and I was interested in space movies and the shuttle program,” says Lipsett. “The NASA experience was similar to coming to (IMP). Everyone was helpful and welcoming. Both are facilities where people love their jobs, and you can feel the passion and the energy.”

Philippe Lucas – Master of Arts in Studies in Policy and Practice

A Victoria city councilor and Vancouver Island Compassion Society founder, Philippe Lucas says his studies have provided an opportunity to “deepen the theoretical underpinnings that form the base of progressive reform efforts, particularly in the area of drug policy.”

His degree program, offered through an interdisciplinary graduate program in the Faculty of Human and Social Development, is aimed at those involved in social activism, human services and community work.

Ryan Tonkin – Bachelor of Arts (Philosophy)

After leaving home at 14 and dropping out of Grade 10, Ryan Tonkin worked a series of odd jobs around Victoria before starting to put his goals into action in his early 20s.

“I came back to school because I didn’t really have another option,” says Tonkin. “I saw a lot of things in the world I wanted to do, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get there without creating a new opportunity.”

Tonkin is squeezing a master’s degree in philosophy into just 16 months before he heads to Harvard in 2011 to begin his law degree.

Four honorary degree recipients were announced earlier: http://communications.uvic.ca/releases/release.php?display=release&id=1141

Each ceremony will be webcast live at uvic.ca/convocation.
 

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