Event: UBC Vancouver Spring Congregation
Dates / Times: 8:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. on:
Wednesday, May 23
Thursday, May 24
Friday, May 25
Monday, May 28
Tuesday, May 29
Wednesday, May 30 (Note: No 4 p.m. ceremony)Place: The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, 6265 Crescent Rd.
Parking: Media may park free of charge at all parkades on campus during Congregation. (Meters and automated lots are not included.)
Conveniently located parkades include: The Rose Garden Parkade located adjacent to the Chan Centre off Northwest Marine Drive; the North Parkade (enter at Gate 2 off Wesbrook Mall); and the Fraser Parkade (enter at Gate 4 off Northwest Marine Drive).
Please note: Media authorization is required to cover Congregation ceremonies in the Chan Centre. Please contact Basil Waugh at 604.822.2048 to arrange.
More than 5,000 grads will cross the stage at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts to receive their degrees from UBC Chancellor Allan McEachern at Spring Congregation. They will join almost 250,000 UBC alumni worldwide.
Undergraduate and graduate degrees from all 12 Vancouver faculties will be conferred at 23 ceremonies, starting May 23 through May 30. Eight honorary degrees will be given.
Below are brief sketches of eight graduating students of note who are available for interviews. For full profiles, visit the May 2007 issue of UBC Reports at www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/ubcreports/2007/07may03.
For details on UBC’s honorary degree recipients, visit www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/media/releases/2007/mr-07-046.html.
A webcast and full schedule of Vancouver events can be found at www.graduation.ubc.ca. UBC Okanagan Spring Congregation occurs Friday, June 8, 2007.
Science grad helped take UBC to World Series
Pitcher and aspiring doctor Brad Ashman led UBC’s baseball team to its first World Series appearance. But the Trail, B.C., product also threw himself into UBC’s Learning Exchange community service learning programs, co-ordinating after-school programs for inner city schools and volunteering at a local hospice for people living with HIV/AIDS. Ashman receives his Bachelor of Science on May 28 at 11 a.m.
Director Adds MFA to His Credits
Friends and family were somewhat puzzled by Camyar Chai’s decision to return to school. After all, hasn’t he already made it? The 39-year-old is founder of Vancouver’s neworld theatre, and his recent film and television acting credits include Douglas Coupland’s film Everything’s Gone Green, Stargate SG1 and the new Chris Haddock series, Intelligence. Chai has completed his degree and receives his Master of Fine Arts in the Fall.
Degrees of Kindness
Arti Khanderia helped the residents of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside provide ESL classes to immigrants and refugees through the UBC Learning Exchange. The Toronto, Ont., native also researched Thai educational models for four months in Thailand, where there’s a movement among academics to merge the sacred and the secular. Khanderia receives an MA degree from UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning on May 29 at 4 p.m.
This BCom Comes With a Rolls Royce
This September, Sauder School of Business student Lesley So will combine her passion for travel and logistics as a management trainee in Rolls Royce’s leadership development program in the company’s offices in England. So, who grew up in Vancouver, B.C., previously completed four four-month work terms with companies such as LuluLemon and General Motors. So receives her Bachelor of Commerce on May 30 at 11 a.m.
Ski Racer Finds New World View
UBC geological engineer Trevor Bruce led UBC’s ski team to place consistently in the top five out of 200 schools in the United States Collegiate Ski Association national championships. Bruce, who has represented B.C. and Canada in competitions in more than 20 countries, receives his Bachelor of Applied Science on May 29 at 1 p.m.
A Banjo on Her Knee
Brooke Lunderville occasionally offers impromptu musical medicine to her pharmacy patients. “I sometimes sing a few bars — it’s a bit of an ice-breaker,” says the Pharmaceutical Sciences grad, who is also a songwriter and musician. She plays a banjola, a hybrid of banjo and mandolin. She is involved in a musical genre called Filk music, which references science fiction plots and personas in the lyrics. After graduation, the 26-year-old will start work at community pharmacy in New Westminster. Lunderville will not attend graduation, but is available for media.
Rugby Champ Trades Cleats for Classes
World-class rugby player Jim Douglas knows how to perform under pressure, handle the unexpected and keep focused until the job is done, skills he can use in orthopedic surgeon training. Douglas has played competitive rugby since he was 12 years old in his hometown of Kelowna, B.C., and took a year out of med school to represent Canada in the Rugby World Cup. After graduation he starts a five-year orthopedic residency in Lower Mainland hospitals. Douglas receives his MD on May 23 at 8:30 a.m.
Nursing at 7,000 Feet
UBC School of Nursing grads, Julia Iwama and Christine Fantuz, spent five weeks at a hospital in Western Nepal that is perched on a mountain ridge at an altitude of almost 7,000 feet. The students encountered unique scenarios, such as women being injured by falling out of trees as they gathered leaves to feed herd animals, and treating complications of local healers’ interventions such as packing an injury with dung. Both women receive their degrees on May 29 at 4 p.m.
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