Message from the Dean for LFS Community Connects: June 2023
In this LFS Community Connects, we welcome new alumni from spring 2023 convocation!
I send my sincere congratulations to the Class of 2023 – you are a group of students who successfully adapted to online learning during the pandemic, and managed unprecedented social and health challenges. I cannot say enough about your ability to navigate through these demands on your academic and social life in order to achieve your degrees. Kudos to you!
For those in the Class of 2023, I encourage you to connect with fellow alumni and to stay in touch through our many programs, including the new Young Alumni Council and professional development opportunities offered by LFS and alumniUBC.
This month also marks National Indigenous History Month in Canada. It’s a chance for us to take time and learn about the diverse cultures of Indigenous Peoples.
At UBC, we are working on several initiatives to hounour Indigenous Peoples and to ensure our relationship evolves in a respectful and positive way. Dana-Lyn Mackenzie, senior manager of equity, diversity, inclusion and Indigeneity (EDI.I), and a Coast Salish person from the Hwlitsum First Nation, has led the development of a course called Weaving Relations for the UBC community. Weaving Relations explores Indigenous histories, people and contexts, as well as settler colonialism in Canada, through the lens of Indigenous-Canadian relationships.
In addition, you may have heard the recent news on UBC’s collaboration with the Musqueam people and Syilx Okanagan Nation to develop a new font for Salish languages. This was a four-year collaboration to create a typeface called Whitney Salishan, which respectfully represents the languages where UBC campuses are situated – Nsyilxcən, the language of Syilx Okanagan Nation and hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, the traditional language of the Musqueam peoples. You can learn more, click here and see more resources from UBC here.
June also represents Pride Month. UBC has curated a list of community events and opportunities to support the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Visit this resource webpage.
I hope you enjoy this edition of LFS Community Connects, and I always welcome hearing from our alumni so feel free to drop me a line anytime.
Sincerely,
Rickey Yada
Dean and Professor
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