Sustainability Fellows span a wide range of disciplines and areas of expertise from architecture to poetry, and civil engineering to medicine. Meet some of the current fellows, and discover how they are pushing the boundaries of sustainability curriculum by learning about their Interdisciplinary Education projects.
Project Year 1
Faride Unda
Department of Wood Science, Faculty of Forestry
Dr. Faride Unda is developing a new module for a Forest Bioeconomy Science and Technology course on the development of new biobased materials using non-conventional feedstocks. Dr. Unda is also looking to enhance the course’s sustainability focus by including a site visit to an industrial facility.
Find out more about Dr. Unda’s work.
Nolan Bett
Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, Faculty of Forestry
Dr. Nolan Bett is working with Dr. Scott Hinch (Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences) to create a new field studies course in the Natural Resources Conservation program to enable students to learn fieldwork skills from local experts that are critical to their future employment in a low-barrier, high-accessibility environment.
Find out more about Dr. Bett’s work.
Rob VanWynsberghe
Department of Educational Studies, Faculty of Education
Dr. Rob VanWynsberghe is working with Dr. Tonya Smith (Department of Forest Resources Management) to create a course with Líl̓wat First Nation, collaborating on the themes of Indigenous land-based pedagogies, food security and sovereignty, forest stewardship and restoration, Indigenous land rights, and ecology.
Find out more about Dr. VanWynsberghe’s work.
Scott Hinch
Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, Faculty of Forestry
Dr. Scott Hinch is working with Dr. Nolan Bett (Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences) to create a new field studies course in the Natural Resources Conservation program to enable students to learn fieldwork skills from local experts that are critical to their future employment in a low-barrier, high-accessibility environment.
Find out more about Dr. Hinch’s work.
TOnya Smith
Department of Forest Resources Management, Faculty of Forestry
Dr. Tonya Smith is working with Dr. Rob VanWynsberghe (Department of Educational Studies) to create a course with Líl̓wat First Nation, collaborating on the themes of Indigenous land-based pedagogies, food security and sovereignty, forest stewardship and restoration, Indigenous land rights, and ecology.
Find out more about Dr. Smith’s work.
Project Year 2
Kai Chan
Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, Faculty of Science
Dr. Chan is working with Dr. Shannon Hagerman and Dr. Gail Hochachka to co-design a graduate course on climate engagement, empowering grad students to leverage a nuanced understanding of climate and human systems into bold action to confront the climate crisis. Kai is also revamping an undergraduate course (ENVR 430) to enable undergraduate students to do the same for the climate-and-ecological crisis, while building community for science-based transformative action with over a dozen partner organizations.
Find out more about Dr. Chan’s work.
Kim Snowden
Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality & Social Justice, Faculty of Arts
Dr. Snowden is working with the Director of the Social Justice Institute, Dr. Nora Angeles, to strengthen sustainability education at UBC through the integration of intersectional Justice, Equity, Diversity, Decolonization, Inclusion, and Indigenization (JEDDI) lens. They are reviewing and revising all relevant GRSJ undergraduate and graduate courses to integrate sustainability-related learning objectives, readings, pedagogical approaches, assignments and class projects. They aim to give students the tools to become leaders in social change and sustainability, increase visibility and collaboration in sustainability education across campus, and provide transformative learning opportunities through community-based learning and partnerships.
Find out more about Dr. Snowden’s work.
Leonora Angeles
School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), Faculty of Applied Sciences
Dr. Angeles is working with GRSJ Undergraduate Program Chair Dr. Kim Snowden to strengthen sustainability education at UBC through the integration of intersectional Justice, Equity, Diversity, Decolonization, Inclusion, and Indigenization (JEDDI) lens. They are reviewing and revising all relevant GRSJ undergraduate and graduate courses to integrate sustainability-related learning objectives, readings, pedagogical approaches, assignments and class projects; develop a new GRSJ 309 course on Intersectional Approaches in Thinking Sustainability Through JEDDII; and create a JEDDII Spoke within the UBC Sustainability Hub offering guest lectures and one-on-one faculty and TA support in integrating JEDDII perspectives in Sustainability or Climate Justice oriented courses.
Find out more about Dr. Angeles’ work.
Lindsay Rogers
BioChemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine
Dr. Rogers is working in collaboration with Dr. Scott, Emerging Media Lab and UBC Studios on a project called Climate Change Education through Immersive Media: Educating for Sustainability in Multi-Modal Ways. The team aims to create an interactive map-based platform to engage students in local climate-related content. Prototyping of this platform will be supported by an existing Theatre and Film course and development will be supported by undergraduate students and staff at Emerging Media Lab. This project also aims to create media highlighting local climate research, stories and experiences. Media production will be supported by UBC Studios and parallel a climate education seminar series hosted by the Faculty of Education. This project will support curriculum within UBC courses in the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Medicine.
Find out more about Dr. Rogers’ work.
Sandra Scott
Curriculum and Pedagogy, Faculty of Education
Dr. Scott is working in collaboration with Dr. Rogers, Emerging Media Lab and UBC Studios on a project called Climate Change Education through Immersive Media: Educating for Sustainability in Multi-Modal Ways. The team aims to create an interactive map-based platform to engage students in local climate-related content. Prototyping of this platform will be supported by an existing Theatre and Film course and development will be supported by undergraduate students and staff at Emerging Media Lab. This project also aims to create media highlighting local climate research, stories and experiences. Media production will be supported by UBC Studios and parallel a climate education seminar series hosted by the Faculty of Education. This project will support curriculum within UBC courses in the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Medicine.
Find out more about Dr. Scott’s work.
Shannon Hagerman
Forest Resources Management, Faculty of Forestry
Dr. Hagerman is working with Dr. Kai Chan and Dr. Gail Hochachka to co-design and trial a new 3-credit graduate seminar course as a proof of concept for future course offerings. This transdisciplinary course will unpack some of the systemic socio-political complexities of making progress towards meaningful climate action (despite the longstanding abundance of scientific evidence), and through case studies will explore potential pathways and approaches for engaging diverse constituents (e.g. decision-makers, communities, governments, public) in ways that can support individual and collective action.