Faculty, staff and instructors are invited to attend the Faculty of Education’s Faculty Recognition Celebration, celebrating faculty members’ achievements in research, teaching and service and staff members’ achievements in service.
Dr. Jan Hare, Dean pro tem, will host the event, which will feature a wine-and-cheese reception as well as the award recognition ceremony. Dr. Patsy Duff, Associate Dean, Research, will recognize research award recipients; Dr. Karen Ragoonaden, Associate Dean, Teacher Education, will recognize teaching and leadership awards; and Dr. Reg D’Silva, Associate Dean, Equity and Strategic Programs, and Dr. Laura Hurd, Associate Dean, Faculty Affairs, will jointly recognize service awards for faculty members and staff.
Date
January 19, 2023
Time
3:30 to 5:30 pm PT
Location
Ponderosa Commons Ballroom, Ponderosa Commons North, 6445 University Blvd, Vancouver B.C.
Join Dr. Jan Hare, UBC’s Dean of Education, pro tem, for the second annual Dean’s Community Engagement Series, highlighting key questions and significant priorities engaging educators today.
This virtual session will feature Dr. Farzana Saleem of Stanford University and Marcel Cadogan of the Surrey School District. Together they will discuss strategies to support the wellbeing and success of racially diverse children and adolescents in the K-12 education system. They will share research and experience on managing racial stressors as well as promoting resilience among IBPoC children and adolescents to eradicate racial mental health disparities.
Dr. Surita Jhangiani from the Faculty of Education will facilitate the Q&A.
Event Details
Date: November 15, 2022 Time: 4:30-6:00pm PDT Format: Online via Zoom
Dr. Saleem is trained as a clinical-community psychologist and am a Professor in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. Her research examines the influence of racial stressors and culturally relevant practices on the psychological health, academic success, and well-being of Black adolescents and other youth of color.
Dr. Saleem uses a strengths-based and community-centered lens in her work to study the process and benefits of ethnic-racial socialization (i.e., transmission of information about race, culture, and strategies to prepare for and respond to racism) within families and schools. Dr. Saleem also explores factors in the family, school, and community contexts that can disrupt racial stress and trauma and the consequences.
Her clinical expertise focuses on culturally responsive trauma practices and identity concerns among adolescents. Dr. Saleem translates research to inform, develop, and adapt of tools and interventions that promote racial healing, eradicate mental health and academic racial disparities, and foster psychological health and identity among youth of color.
Dr. Saleem is a visiting scholar to the American Psychological Association RESilience Initiative and serves in several positions focused on inclusion, equity and social justice.
Also, Dr. Saleem is a self-proclaimed dessert connoisseur!
About Marcel Cadogan
Marcel is first generation Canadian-born with Caribbean heritage (Trinidad and Barbados). He is strongly connected to his Caribbean background and is immersed within the community.
Academically, Marcel holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Child and Youth Care with a child welfare specialization, a Bachelor’s Degree in Education and a Master’s Degree in Education, School Counselling. Professionally, Marcel has worked in BC school districts (primarily, Surrey) for over 15 years in different capacities, including Youth Care Worker, Teacher and Counsellor. Currently, Marcel works as a School Counsellor in addition to running his own private practice in the community.
Marcel has passion and understanding for the importance of racial and ethnic identity as well as the obstacles that are apparent for those of a minority racial/ethnic background. Having grown up in B.C., Marcel is aware of the challenges and the support needed for the identity development of young black students and students of color in contexts where they are the minority. It is his goal to provide strategies, awareness and understanding on how to support these students within the school system.
Marcel loves being connected to his Caribbean influence and culture through family, community, music, cricket and dominoes. Marcel enjoys movies, cooking, listening to music, playing basketball and golf during his down time. Traveling to new countries, learning about other cultures and meeting new people has been a blessing for Marcel over the years.
Marcel looks to be a voice and advocate for those in his communities and the youth he supports.
About Dr. Surita Jhangiani
Dr. Jhangiani joined the Faculty of Education in 2017 as a lecturer in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education (ECPS).
In 2019 she was promoted to tenure–track Instructor in Human Development, Learning and Culture.
Dr. Jhangiani has taught at Capilano University and the Justice Institute of British Columbia. Dr. Jhangiani’s teaching specializations are lifespan development, diversity, and critical pedagogy.
We are delighted to share that UBC Faculty of Education’s School of Kinesiology Assistant Professor Dr. Erica Bennett has received a 2022 President’s Award from the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity.
The NASPSPA President’s Award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the development and growth of the society.
In 2022, the award was presented to the members of the NASPSPA Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Task Force.
We have learned a lot from the committee members’ perspectives and courage to speak to social justice issues that can be challenging to raise. Dr. Bennett is clearly a leader in the field in this area.
— President Jackie Goodway, Past President Meghan McDonough, & Executive Director Penny McCullagh
The task force designed ways to measure and learn about the diversity of the society’s membership, developed recommendations to improve policies and practices, and spearheaded collaborative efforts with other academic societies in the field to make NASPSPA’s conferences, journals, and other scholarly activities more equitable and inclusive.
I am honoured to receive this award alongside my peers who serve on the NASPSPA EDI Task Force. It is because of the work of those before us, of the support from the NASPSPA leadership, and of the time and energy of community members who have and continue to share with us their experiences and suggestions for change and advocacy that we are able to work together to build a more inclusive NASPSPA community.
— Dr. Erica Bennett
Dr. Bennett’s work—grounded in critical and community approaches to physical activity psychology—attends to the psychological, behavioural, and sociocultural factors shaping physical activity and health-related adaptational processes across the life course. Her work centers on the physical activity experiences of individuals living with chronic illness and disabilities, physical (in)activity and the aging body, and elite athlete stress, emotion, and coping.
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Erica Bennett on this remarkable achievement!
The Alumni Newsletter would love to feature your submissions! Use the form below to submit news articles, recent publications, upcoming events, awards, and more!
Join us for a United Way chilli lunch fundraiser! Cost includes a bowl of chilli and corn bread. There will also be baked goods and drinks for an extra cost. Vegan and gluten-free options will be available.
We hope you will drop by and grab lunch for a good cause – event will run while supplies last!
The United Way is a non-profit organization working to strengthen vital connections that support people in need in our local communities. The United Way BC works with communities in BC’s Interior, Lower Mainland and Central & Northern Vancouver Island. Learn more:unitedway.ubc.ca
As we spend more time in online and hybrid meetings, an advanced skillset in Zoom is fast becoming an essential skill. Join UBC Educational Technology Support (ETS) staff to learn professional tips for setting up and managing the technical aspects of Zoom. This is the second of two sessions offered.
Session two of this staff professional development event will cover the following:
Frequently asked questions and troubleshooting
Hands on: build your own meeting
Feedback and questions
Date
Thursday, October 27, 2022
Time
12:00 pm PT
RSVP
The Zoom link will be provided in the registration confirmation email.
The Faculty of Education stands with the people of Iran whose demonstrations in response to the tragic death of Mahsa Amini are being met with violence and repression. Peaceful protest is one of the hallmarks of a thriving society in which all human rights are valued.
We recognize that many of our students, staff and faculty have collegial and familial ties with people and communities in Iran. In many cases, because of restrictions on the flow of news and information, it may not be possible to ascertain whether loved ones living in Iran remain safe. We support the members of our community who are experiencing trauma and distress as a result.
The Faculty of Education reminds our student community that supports and assistance are available, including crisis, grief and trauma counselling.
There are also mental health resources available for staff and faculty, including UBC’s Extended Health Benefits Plan and the Employee and Family Assistance Program, which provides confidential professional and emergency counselling services and additional support via phone, video, web or mobile app. More.
As part of its recognition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the UBC Faculty of Education is pleased to announce a new award, the Reconciliation and Decolonization Alumni Award.
The award recognizes extraordinary alumni who have demonstrated exceptional leadership, integrity, respect, and commitment to furthering decolonization efforts or reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples or communities, or who has inspired others to continued decolonization or reconciliation efforts. The awardee may be Indigenous or non-Indigenous.
Award Criteria
Nominees must have graduated from the UBC Faculty of Education with a Bachelor of Education, master’s degree, or doctoral degree, and must currently be an educator working with Indigenous Peoples or communities toward reconciliation in schools, educational institutions, or community organizations.
Nominees must have a minimum of five years’ teaching experience. While previous award winners are not eligible, previous nominees may be re-nominated.
Nominations open in January, 2023
Nominations will be accepted beginning in January, 2023. References and letters of support (maximum of three pages per letter) from students, parents, or colleagues must be included in the nomination package. Nominators need not be UBC alumni.
September 29, 2022 Photo Credit: Tiffany Brown Cooper Photographer
Hundreds of tiny, lovingly crafted orange shirts and sweaters are on display in the Neville Scarfe Building at the University of British Columbia. Each little garment represents a child who did not return home from residential school or a survivor who was forever changed. This dynamic art installation provides a site of remembrance and reconciling of residential schools.
A public unveiling ceremony will be held Monday, October 3, 2022, 11:30 am–12:30 pm. Learn more
The Orange Shirt Installation: A visual cue to attend to the Calls to Action
The installation is an act of public pedagogy designed to help teacher candidates keep Indigenous concerns and histories at the forefront of their thinking as they learn what it means to become an educator in British Columbia.
Photo Credit: Dr. Shannon Leddy
Because the project is dynamic, with new sweaters and shirts being added regularly, the installation will serve as a visual reminder that the number of unmarked graves continues to rise, and that the often-unacknowledged history of residential schools and our shared responsibility to work toward reconciling need continuing commitment.
Dr. Shannon Leddy, Assistant Professor of Teaching, UBC Faculty of Education, hopes that the installation will inspire people to examine the notion of decolonizing in different ways and to consider these questions: What does decolonizing mean? What does it mean that we live in a colonized country? In what ways are we all colonized?
Consider these questions: What does decolonizing mean? What does it mean that we live in a colonized country? In what ways are we all colonized?
Breaking free of colonial thinking will allow us to reimagine ways of being in the world that are not tied to Eurocentrism, white normativity, class and privilege but that are instead human-centered and focused on lifting up all of our students and each other.
Origins of the art installation
The Orange Shirt Project began in response to the May 2021 announcement from the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation of 215 unmarked graves at the site of the former Kamploops Indian Residential School. In a grassroots initiative, Jennifer Kent Symons from Vancouver Island posted a call-to-action to knitters on the Tiny Orange Sweater Project Facebook Group.
Dr. Lorrie Miller, a textile artist and instructor with the UBC Faculty of Education, was in involved in the initial project and invited colleagues Dr. Shannon Leddy, Dr. Kerry Renwick and Heather Clark to expand the project into a teaching tool.
Over the past year, faculty, students, colleagues and friends contributed tiny orange shirts and sweaters to this collaborative work.
Kerry Renwick, Shannon Leddy and Chrissy Smith adhered approximately 600 tiny shirts and sweaters to the installation panels that hang in the Scarfe building. The goal is to receive one tiny orange shirt or sweater for each of the estimated 7000 residential school children who did not reunite with their families.
Photo Credit: Tiffany Brown Cooper Photographer – Dr. Lorrie Miller (right) at the Indigenous Teachers Education Program – NITEP Day, September 24, 2021.
An open invitation to contribute to the Orange Shirt Art Installation
Photo Credit: Tiffany Brown Cooper Photographer – Dr. Kerry Renwick (centre) demonstrating how to make tiny sweaters at the Indigenous Teachers Education Program – NITEP Day, September 24, 2021.
The Orange Shirt Project team extends an open invitation to anyone around the world who wishes to contribute to this active wall of remembrance.
Beginners, experts and everyone in between who wishes to crochet, knit, sew, bead, or cut something out of felt, may find patterns, instructions and videos here.
Please send your handmade contributions to:
Orange Shirt Project
c/o Shannon Leddy
Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy
UBC Faculty of Education
2125 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
Truths of Indigenous trauma and Indigenous brilliance
This September 30 is the ninth Orange Shirt Day. It also marks the second National Day of Truth and Reconciliation in which the nation acknowledges the painful truth of Canada’s history of residential schools and cultural genocide.
Other truths that Dr. Leddy says are sometimes missing from our discussions are the truths about survivance, Indigenous successes, Indigenous humor and creativity, and Indigenous brilliance.
We tend to focus on the truths around Indigenous trauma, she says, but it’s important to keep at the center of our thinking the truths about Indigenous people living in the present as active participants in the world.
Dr. Leddy is working with Indigenous artists, authors, actors, comedians, dancers and singers to illustrate to her Indigenous and non-Indigenous students that Indigenous people are also all these wonderful things.
How conversations around decolonization changed
Dr. Leddy has noticed a change in her students since she began teaching twelve years ago. Teacher candidates are now coming in with a far better understanding of and openness to talking about Indigenous content, learning and histories. A few, though, remain somewhat resistant or are fearful of making mistakes.
But she says that this is one of the beautiful things about Indigenous thinking and pedagogies: there is room to make mistakes. As long as we understand what it means to make repairs—and not on our terms but on the terms of those we have injured—we make space for everyone to be human.
For many teacher candidates, Indigenous education is just one part of their curriculum. There is so much to learn, and this can be overwhelming. With time, as we continue to share Indigenous literature, scholars and arts with our teacher candidates, Dr. Leddy believes we will eventually achieve saturation.
Dr. Shannon Leddy
What’s next
Members of the Faculty of Education are collaborating on many Indigenous initiatives, including a mobile app that will offer an Indigenous art walking tour of the UBC campus as well as a visual storytelling project in which artists visually portray the stories of survivors of residential schools.
Mobile App: Indigenous Art Walking Tour of UBC campus
In collaboration with the Museum of Anthropology and Belkin Gallery, and with a grant from the Indigenous Strategic Initiatives Fund, UBC Faulty of Education faculty are developing a mobile app featuring a self-guided Indigenous art walking tour of the UBC campus. The app will provide information on Indigenous works of art on display in public spaces on the Vancouver campus along with interviews with artists and their families. It will also provide information linking the university’s relationship with the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) peoples and their traditional, ancestral and unceded lands.
Visual storytelling and graphic art in genocide and human rights education
The Faculty of Education is involved in the SSHRC Partnership Grant, “Visual Storytelling and Graphic Art in Genocide and Human Rights Education,” led by Charlotte Schallié, University of Victoria. The project involves Education faculty members: co-director Andrea Webb, co-applicant Shannon Leddy, and collaborators Cash Ahenakew, Vanessa Andreotti, and George Belliveau. As the Turtle Island Cluster Lead, Dr. Leddy is helping to connect residential school survivors and with artists who will create visual depictions of their stories of residential school.
A website supporting teacher candidates, in-service teachers, and faculty members as they move towards implementing Indigenous education and pedagogies into their curricula.
Two symposia were held, in October 2021 for teacher candidates and in January 2022 for teacher educators and staff, to cultivate inclusion of the perspectives and experiences of racialized and marginalized people previously absent in teacher education programming. Recordings are available below.
Teacher Educator and Staff Session (January 28, 2022): youtube.com
Indigenous curriculum bundles
In more than 20 curriculum bundles, developed by third-year Indigenous Teacher Education Program (NITEP) students, Indigenous teachers share their culture and learning with non-Indigenous teachers in ways that help Indigenous teachers understand what kinds of learning and humility they need to bring to using these curriculum bundles in their own classroom.
