More than 6,500 students will graduate this week as UBC holds ceremonies at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. They will join more than 250,000 UBC alumni worldwide.
Undergraduate and graduate degrees from all 12 Vancouver campus faculties will be conferred at 23 ceremonies, from May 25 through June 1. Seven honorary degrees will be given.
Below are brief sketches of several graduating students who are available for interviews. For full profiles, visit the May 2011 issue of UBC Reports at http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/ubc-reports/ .
For details on UBC’s honorary degree recipients, visit: http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/?p=22870
A webcast and full schedule of Vancouver events can be found at www.graduation.ubc.ca Spring Congregation at UBC’s Okanagan campus occurs June 9, 2011.
Mothers celebrate law degrees
Andrea Petersen and Laura McPheeters met in their first year of law school and soon developed a close bond after realizing they shared a common story. Both are mothers, both started law school after establishing careers in other fields and both understood the struggles of balancing competing priorities of school and family. Their friendship and the support they received from friends, family and the Faculty helped make it easier for the two students to finish their law degrees.
UBC adopts grad’s energy makeover project
The UBC Aquatic Centre is getting a major clean energy makeover thanks to a class project by UBC staff member Jeff Giffin, a graduate of UBC’s new Masters of Engineering in Clean Energy program. The project will harvest waste steam condensate from neighboring buildings to heat the university’s indoor and outdoor swimming pools.
A passion for health care policy
Miranda Kelly, a member of the Sto:lo Nation’s Soowahlie Band in Chilliwack, is a graduate from the School of Population and Public Health’s Master of Public Health program. She is passionate about health care policy and governance and says it would be a mistake to assume all Aboriginal people are the same and face the same challenges.
Weighing forest conservation and need
Having grown up on a farm in Swaziland, where trees were grown to be used as fuel and for making furniture, Cornelius Motsa watched as the forest resources around him were depleted. Now as a graduate of the Faculty of Forestry, Motsa hopes to return to Africa to work as a manager of forest and logging operations. He wants to prevent the further depletion of forest resources by providing communities with information about conservation.
A role for gardens in health care
Graduate Jingjing Sun says nature offers a potent healing force. Sun, who completed a master’s degree in landscape architecture, produced a therapeutic garden design for BC Children’s and Women’s Hospital. The proposed design would transform a 1,200 square metre area into a tranquil haven using low-maintenance plants and local materials.
Event Summary: UBC’s Vancouver campus Spring Congregation
Dates / Times: 8:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. on:
Wednesday, May 25
Thursday, May 26
Friday, May 27
(Saturday, May 28: First Nations Longhouse Graduation Celebration for UBC Aboriginal graduates at 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.)
Monday, May 30
Tuesday, May 31
Wednesday, June 1 (Note: No 4 p.m. ceremony)
Location: The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, 6265 Crescent Rd.
For a map, visit: www.maps.ubc.ca/?130 .
Parking: Media may park at the Rose Garden Parkade, located adjacent to the Chan Centre off Northwest Marine Drive.
Please note: Media authorization is required to cover congregation ceremonies in the Chan Centre. Please call Heather Amos at 604.822.3213 or 604.828.3867 to arrange.
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