Event Description
Join us for a fireside chat with Prof. Emerita V. J. Kirkness, LLD’94 and Dean Jan Hare, PhD’01, hosted by Marny Point, BEd’02, MET’04! Prof. Emerita Verna J. Kirkness, also fondly known as Ni-Jing-Jada, the “Longhouse Lady”, was the first Indigenous director of the First Nations House of Learning at UBC, serving from 1987 to 1993. She is also one of the founding members of the Native Indian Teacher Education Program (NITEP), the First Nations House of Learning, and the Ts”Kel graduate program. This gathering will feature meaningful discussions with the Indigenous Education Alumni Network, a Q&A session, and an opportunity to connect over bannock and tea.
Date
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Time
5:00 PM – 6:30 PM
Location
Sage
The University Centre, 6331 Crescent Rd, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 – map
Speakers
Prof. Emerita Verna .J. Kirkness, LLD’94
Verna J. Kirkness, CM OM is an associate professor emeritus at UBC. She is a lifelong advocate of Indigenous Education and has created many learning opportunities for Indigenous people at all levels. Her childhood dream to be a teacher set her on a lifelong journey in education as a teacher, counsellor, consultant, and professor. Her simple quest to teach “in a Native way” revolutionized Canadian education policy and practice. Her work in new programs, access and support services, and cultural enrichment has created the foundation on which scholars continue to build. Dr. Kirkness has written and edited nine books, one being her autobiography, entitled Creating Space, and has published numerous articles on Indigenous education in academic journals in Canada and internationally. For more than five decades she has been a major spokesperson for Indigenous education. In recognition of her work, she has received numerous awards, in 1990 she was voted Canadian Educator of the Year, in 1994 she received a National Aboriginal Achievement Award (now Indspire) for Education, she is a member of the Order of Canada (1998) and the Order of Manitoba (2007). She was awarded the Queen’s Jubilee Medal in 2003 and has six honorary doctorates.
Dean Jan Hare, PhD’01
Dean Jan Hare is an Anishinaabe scholar and educator from the M’Chigeeng First Nation, located in northern Ontario. As an Indigenous scholar and educator she has sought to transform education in ways that are more inclusive of Indigenous ways of knowing and languages. Her research is concerned with improving educational outcomes for Aboriginal/Indigenous learners by centering Indigenous knowledge systems within educational reform from early childhood education to post-secondary, recognizing the holistic and multidisciplinary nature of Indigenous education.
Registration
Questions
Please contact education.alumni@ubc.ca.
