Executive Assistant to the Associate Deans
Scarfe 2616
Tel 604 827 2174
Email shruti.asokan@ubc.ca
Shruti Asokan
Developing & Supporting Culturally Responsive School Leadership | October 11, 2022
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. Jo Lampert of La Trobe University (Australia) and Teresa Downs of Gold Trail School District (B.C.). Together they will explore common challenges that leadership may encounter when building relationships, trust and community within schools and districts, as well as opportunities that may arise. This conversation will touch on topics such as:
- – preparing culturally-sensitive, high-quality teachers,
- – attracting Indigenous and local teachers who understand the communities in which they will teach,
- – addressing challenges of teacher shortages and hard-to-staff schools,
- – contending with the challenges and opportunities brought forward by the pandemic.
Event Details
Date: October 11, 2022
Time: 4:30-6:00pm PDT
Format: Online via Zoom
Learn more about the 2022-2023 Dean’s Community Engagement Series
About Dr. Jo Lampert
Jo Lampert is Associate Dean, Partnerships and Professor of Social Inclusion and Teacher Education at La Trobe University. She leads the School’s Social Justice and Diversity Education Disciplinary Area, was co-founder of the National Exceptional Teaching for Disadvantaged Schools program and is currently Director of the Commonwealth and State funded employment-based Nexus M. Teach (Secondary) which prepares social justice teachers in Victoria for hard-to-staff schools.
Jo’s internationally recognized research has included Indigenous education, poverty and disadvantage and community-engagement. She has been Chief Investigator on two Australian Research Council grants including a current project on co-design and educational policy in Indigenous education. She has led large government and industry funded research including a study on the impact of initiatives to support teachers in hard-to-staff schools. Jo has over 85 publications, has research collaborations in Canada, the US, the UK, and Spain and is Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. She also has a background in literary studies and children’s literature.
About Teresa Downs
Teresa Downs is the Superintendent of Schools for the Gold Trail School District. Teresa completed her practicum in Gold Trail and has chosen to stay in the district since that time. As a small rural district, the opportunities afforded to her have been vast and rewarding. She currently also serves as the President of the BC School Superintendents Association.
Scarfe at Sixty: Celebrating 60 Years of the Neville Scarfe Building | October 23, 2022
PHOTO CREDIT: [unknown]. (1967, March 31). Neville Scarfe Building (Education) [P]. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0162839
Event Description
The Faculty of Education was founded in 1956, but a dedicated Education building was not opened on the UBC campus until 1962.
In honour of the sixtieth anniversary of the Neville Scarfe Building, Dr. Jan Hare, Dean pro tem of the Faculty of Education, invites you to afternoon tea with a keynote presentation and response by distinguished historians Dr. Jason Ellis and Dr. Mona Gleason. Alumni, emeriti, faculty, staff and friends of the Faculty of Education are welcome to attend.
Learn more about the history of the Faculty of Education.
Date
Sunday, October 23, 2022
Time
1:30 to 3:00 pm PT
Location
Neville Scarfe Lobby
2125 Main Mall, UBC
Host
Dr. Jan Hare, Dean pro tem, Faculty of Education, UBC
Distinguished Speakers
Keynote: Dr. Jason Ellis
Respondent: Dr. Mona Gleason
View Photos
Click here to view the Flickr Photo Album.
Dr. Verna Billy-Minnabarriet appointed Senior Advisor to the Dean on Indigenous Education
September 9, 2022
Dr. Verna Billy-Minnabarriet of the St’uxwtews (Bonaparte Indian Band) and raised in the Secwepemc and Nlaka’pamux territories has assumed the role of Senior Advisor to the Dean on Indigenous Education commencing September 1, 2022 and continuing until June 30, 2023.
Dr. Billy-Minnabarriet is the former Vice President at the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology. She chairs the Indigenous Adult and Higher Learning Association, a consortium of 40 Aboriginal post-secondary institutes in British Columbia.
For more than 40 years, she has been a passionate advocate for change through policy, structure and creating space for Indigenous education. She continues to sit on various provincial, national and international boards to influence change from policy development to Ministry-appointed positions.
As Senior Advisor to the Dean on Indigenous Education, Dr. Billy-Minnabarriet advises the Dean on matters related to Indigenous Education programs and initiatives in the Faculty of Education. She provides oversight of Indigenous Education programs and initiatives, the NITEP Indigenous Teacher Education Program, and the new Master of Education in Indigenous Education program. She supports the recruitment and retention of Indigenous students and represents Indigenous education at Faculty- and University-level committees.
Thank you to Dr. Margaret Kovach (sākohtēw pīsim iskwēw) of Nêhiyaw and Saulteaux ancestry from Treaty Four, Saskatchewan and a member of Pasqua First Nation for her leadership during the past year as the Associate Dean, Indigenous Education.
Statement on the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
September 8, 2022
PHOTO: Queen Elizabeth tours the UBC Asian Centre during the 1983 Royal Visit (UBC Archives photograph #41.1/1161-2)
The Faculty of Education joins the UBC and global communities in mourning the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. We recognize and honour Her Majesty’s commitment, her dedication and the quiet devotion with which she performed the duties that pertained to her role. May the memory of her tact, diplomacy and warmth serve as an inspiration for all of us.
Read the statement of mourning issued by Dr. Santa Ono, President and Vice-Chancellor and Dr. Lesley Cormack, Principal and Deputy Vice-Chancellor.
UBC Office of the President Statement on the Passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Statement on the tragedy in Saskatchewan
September 8, 2022
The UBC Faculty of Education mourns alongside members of the James Smith Cree Nation and all those in northern Saskatchewan whose lives and families were torn apart by the horrific violence on Sunday, September 4.
We offer heartfelt condolences to those who lost loved ones, and we extend prayers and wishes for a speedy recovery for those who were injured or traumatized by these tragic events.
Dr. Verna Billy-Minnabarriet
Senior Advisor to the Dean on Indigenous Education
Tel
Email verna.minnabarriet@ubc.ca
Contact For:
- Advises the Dean on matters related to Indigenous Education programs and initiatives in the Faculty of Education
- Provides oversight of Indigenous Education programs and initiatives
- Provides oversight of NITEP
- Provides oversight of the new Master of Education program
- Supports recruitment and retention of Indigenous students
- Represents Indigenous education at Faculty- and University-level committees
Lunch and Learn: Antiracist Images | September 27, 2022
CREDIT: Ice Breakers (Sandi Rankaduwa, NFB, 2019). Image provided by the National Film Board.
Event Description
The lunch & learn workshop series—Antiracist Images: Screening and Discussing Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Decolonization (EDID) Values in Canadian Workplaces—is offered to UBC Faculty of Education CUPE and M&P staff as part of our commitment to enhance awareness on race issues.
This first lunch & learn features a screening and discussion of Sandamini Rankaduwa’s film Ice Breakers (2019), which depicts Josh Crook’s struggles as a Black hockey player in Canada. This screening invites audiences to think beyond their own racialized experiences, challenge normalized practices at the workplace, and continue these conversations with their colleagues.
To begin reflecting on the invisible history of Black civil rights in Canada, we invite you to watch another short film, Roger McTair’s film Journey to Justice (2000), prior to the event: nfb.ca/film/journey_to_justice.
Films are provided courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).
Date
Tuesday, September 27, 2022
Time
12:45 to 2:00 pm PT
Location
Multipurpose Room, Ponderosa Commons North
2012 – 6445 University Blvd, UBC
Facilitator
Karen Fayemi
Registration
Registration is open to UBC Faculty of Education staff. Seating is limited. Please register by Thursday, September 15, 2022.
Announcing the Winners of the 2022 UBC Faculty of Education Alumni Educator of the Year Award
August 31, 2022
The Dean pro tem of UBC Faculty of Education, Dr. Jan Hare announced Ashwani Kumar, PhD’11 and Janis Sawatzky, BEd’14, Dip (Ed)’17 as the winners of the 2022 UBC Faculty of Education Alumni Educator of the Year Award!
Ashwani Kumar, PhD’11
Ashwani is a highly appreciated teacher and colleague at Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU), and he is an acclaimed scholar whose pedagogical innovations and research in education have been recognized nationally and internationally. His teaching and learning experiences in Canada and India and his research in education led him to develop a pedagogical approach called teaching as meditative inquiry (TMI) that pervades all of his courses.
TMI is a holistic approach to teaching that fosters deep learning and nurtures students’ minds, bodies, and hearts. By offering students choice and flexibility, TMI centralizes their autonomy, individuality, originality, passion, and creativity and thereby makes space for their unique personal development and expression.
“His pedagogical approach, rooted in his life experience and professional values of humanism and holism, stem from a deep-rooted sincerity and commitment that is transmitted to us as inquisitive learners of his instruction and guidance. His teaching style not only helps to develop our learning and rationalizing abilities, but also nurtures the whole student, their inner personal interests, abilities, and talents.
Janis Sawatzky, BEd’14, Dip (Ed)’17
Janis is an outstanding example of excellence in every respect. Firstly, she bases her approach to her responsibilities on a solid foundation that is always underpinned by a deep and wide-ranging knowledge of current and past Foreign Language Learning research. Not only is Janis able to discuss research and principles of the ESL field, but she also translates them into practical applications within the scope of her job. This is clearly evident when she is required to interact with students. Janis has had experiences working with diverse students, including in an inner-city setting.
“The net effects of her personal efficacy and her positive impact are multiplied exponentially because of the innumerable professional development activities that Janis spearheads. Whether in after-school Professional Development workshops for teachers in Langley or other districts, or multi-day training courses, Janis inspires and effectively shares new ideas and methodologies with in-service educators with a gamut of levels of experience and training. In her sessions with teachers, she demonstrates excellent communication skills, infinite patience, and a high level of technological competence.”
