Although the Faculty of Graduate Studies encompasses the entire university,
the person in charge says it’s one of UBC’s best-kept secrets.
“It’s understandable,” says Frieda Granot, the eighth dean of UBC’s Faculty
of Graduate Studies. “Only a handful of graduate schools across North America
share a similar structure and play a similar institutional role.”
Officially recognized by Senate in 1949 the Faculty of Graduate Studies was
given a key role and a dual mandate — to co-ordinate and promote interdisciplinary
research and education and provide administrative services for graduate students
across all faculties.
“The profound and pioneering vision which has guided us over 50 years is that
a research-driven university has an opportunity to find innovative solutions
to the challenges and problems facing society and to have an impact on the economy
as well,” says Granot.
The faculty embraces virtually all full-time faculty at the university and
more than 6,200 graduate students. It is also home to almost 50 faculty, 15
interdisciplinary research units, two colleges, six graduate programs and one
scholarly journal.
“We’ve come a long way since the establishment of the first interdisciplinary
unit, the School of Community and Regional Planning, in 1949,” she says.
“Today we hear buzzwords about the need to build bridges across traditional
disciplines, but the Faculty of Graduate Studies has always been fundamentally
grounded in interdisciplinary research,” says Granot.
“We have always provided opportunities and encouraged disciplines to work
together, to share and solve major societal and economic problems,” she adds.
“The result is that research has not only crossed boundaries, it has been elevated
and expanded beyond what is usually possible in individual disciplines.”
When it first began, the School of Community and Regional Planning tackled
the myriad problems associated with an explosion of growth in B.C.’s population.
That established a tradition.
The faculty continues to gather together the finest researchers to work on
emerging issues such as genetics, applied ethics, the need for sustainable development
and environmental policies, women’s issues and the rise of the Pacific Rim and
the global economy.
In combination with the shift to a knowledge-based society has come a set
of urgent and interconnected challenges related to jobs, housing, resource depletion,
crime and quality of life, says Granot. Increasingly, business and government
require people with advanced degrees and familiarity with the latest research.
“Failure to compete in a more integrated global marketplace has swift repercussions,”
she says. “In such an environment, it is imperative for adequate resources to
be devoted to research and for the results to be channeled into practice.”
Despite the different research agendas there are common threads weaving through
the faculty’s history.
“These are interdisciplinarity, internationalization and community outreach
— a perfect fit with Trek 2000,” says Granot.
Ensuring the academic quality and integrity of graduate programs and providing
a supportive and equitable environment for faculty and students alike will continue
to be priorities for the faculty as it enters the next millennium.
“It is no accident that Trek 2000 recognizes people as UBC’s most important
resource. We want people in every faculty to think of the Faculty of Graduate
Studies as their second home.”
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