Chadi Saad-Roy was a high school math whiz with no idea when he first enrolled at UVic in 2012 that he would one day be trying to unravel how a cow with cattle fever spreads the disease to the rest of the herd. What a difference five years makes.
Sarah Buydens, who graduates this month with a PhD in educational psychology specializing in counselling, has devoted many years exploring what helps and hinders the outcome of mentoring relationships. Her fascination with and inspiration for mentoring started at a young age while she was in the Girl Guides of Canada.
For his master's degree in physical education, Patrick Boudreau explored the impact of a high school rock climbing program and "self-efficacy"鈥攁n individual's belief in their own ability to organize and manage risks to achieve a goal.
Growing up in some of BC's most beautiful landscapes鈥攆rom the snow-covered peaks in Whistler to the shores of the Salish Sea in Victoria鈥攊nspired Keegan Meyers to develop a deep appreciation for the natural world.
It sounds like a riddle: what has six legs, was built for camping and can walk on its own? The answer, however, is no joke鈥攊t's actually the incredibly complex final project of visual arts BFA graduate Xiao Xue.
Honorary degrees鈥攖he university's highest academic honour鈥攚ill be presented to six exceptional individuals during spring Convocation ceremonies.
The recipients of the university's highest academic honour, the UVic honorary degrees this spring, are: acclaimed nature photographer and UVic alumnus Paul Nicklen; former UVic chancellor Murray Farmer; author Joy Kogawa; Canada-China relations builder Brian Lo; conservation research supporter Christina Munck; and Timothy Vernon, director of Pacific Opera Victoria.
The UVic Senate has approved a recommendation that students with developmental disabilities enrolled in UVic courses through a partnership with the BC Initiative for Inclusive Post-secondary Education (STEPS Forward) be recognized at the university's convocation ceremonies, starting this June.
UVic's Fall Convocation ceremonies, marking the successful completion of studies for 1,379 graduating students, will be held Wednesday and Thursday (at 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. each day) in the University Centre Farquhar Auditorium. A number of outstanding members of the graduating class are available to talk to the media.
When her job as a Youth Care Worker with the Cariboo-Chilcotin school district was cut last June, Mikara Pettman, 42, was worried. A happy, productive woman鈥攁n equal family partner, mother to two teens and active in her community鈥攕uddenl鈥�
Heather Clark, a veteran tour guide and former publications coordinator for the European Association for International Education, has spent upwards of six months a year for the past 16 years traveling the world. That's in addition to completing two degrees here at UVic: a BA in Hispanic studies and an MFA in writing. Now she's putting all that experience to work with her new company and a proposed travel-writing field school for the writing department.
When Nick Schwaiger was 13, he got his first job at a houseboat company in Sicamous, BC where his dad was a mechanic. He started helping out servicing engines and power systems in the company's fleet of 120 houseboats, plying the waters of nearby Shuswap and Mara Lakes. After a while, he was doing oil changes on engines, changing propellers and troubleshooting.
Four leaders from the fields of computing, telecommunications, public service, and athletics will accept honorary degrees鈥攖he university's highest academic honour鈥攄uring 2016 Fall Convocation ceremonies.
When Brody McDonald arrived at UVic he immediately fell in love with the beautiful campus鈥攅ven though he had initially chosen UVic for its professors and research. Not long after the start of classes he connected with a community of people who shared ideas, resources, and opportunities that would last throughout his degree.
Jordan Myslik can trace his interest in physics back to grade three, when he became enamoured with the idea of UFOs. Myslik receives his doctorate this month, and recently started work as a postdoctoral fellow in neutrino physics at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. "But my fixation on UFOs led me to an interest in astronomy, which in turn compelled me to learn more about physics."
Sabina Trimble鈥攚ho graduates this month with an MA in history鈥攚ill don a mortarboard on Nov. 9, but her fondest memory as a student was being blanketed and given a hand-woven cedar hat, in a traditional Coast Salish honouring at her defence in August 2016.
