CTLT Indigenous Initiatives is pleased to welcome Freda Maideen.
Freda will be joining our team at CTLT in the role of Educational Consultant, Anti-Racist Teaching and Facilitation. She will be working with members of the Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development (TLPD), the CTLT Indigenous Initiatives team, the Equity and Inclusion Office (EIO) and others to develop and deliver programming and strategic support relating to anti-racist teaching and learning.
We asked Freda to share a few fun facts about herself.
Three fun facts: 
- Coming from a background of mixed heritage, I grew up speaking Vietnamese and am fluent in it. When it comes to reading though, I’m a bit rusty, but I can definitely navigate my way through any Vietnamese menu.
- I have turned my den/home office into a solarium that’s covered in plants. Currently, I have 30+ plants and my collection continues to grow (pun intended).
- My partner and I recently got a puppy who just turned 1. His name is Milo and he may be making cameo appearances on Zoom!
What are some of the things you have started working on in your new role? And what are some of the areas you are looking forward to exploring?
As I am starting in my new role, most of my time has been spent familiarizing myself with the different initiatives, events, workshops, resources, etc. that CTLT has to offer, and most importantly, getting to know the individuals from the team who bring all of this work to life. Currently, I am starting to delve into the Anti-Racist Workshop Series curriculum and am excited to see how we can continue to deepen this critical work across campus.
I am really looking forward to exploring how we can use an intersectional approach when looking at anti-racism, decolonization, and Indigenization on the UBC Musqueam campus. It is a personal goal of mine to identify tangible actions that staff, faculty, and students can take on an individual level and as a collective in order to work towards some of the priorities identified in UBC’s Indigenous Strategic Plan and Inclusion Action Plan. I feel extremely privileged to be able to work alongside everyone in the Indigenous Initiatives team, and everyone in the extended team at CTLT in order to implement change on both an individual and institutional level at UBC.
What excited you about joining this team/working on these projects?
As someone who navigates the world as a woman of colour, anti-racism has always been something that’s been top of mind for me. I have never been in a role where anti-racism has been an explicit focus, so I’m excited to be able to invest time and resources in my professional role into furthering this work. I participated in the Anti-Racism Teaching Series last year as an attendee so it will be insightful to experience the series from “behind the scenes” as a part of the Anti-Racist Teaching team.
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