With the seasons changing our team paused to reflect on the summer months. We are excited to share some updates and highlights from that time with you here in our 2024 Summer Re-cap. The team was busy with ongoing projects and preparing for the fall, but also made sure to take space to rejuvenate and re-energize. Folks spent time on the land and with Elders, family, friends and community organizers. Continue reading to hear some of our highlights, project & programming updates and plans for the future.
Highlights
Rattle Making Workshops
We were incredibly lucky to be able to participate in a two-part rattle making workshop led by Shevonne and Kymberlee from Ladybear Designs. They created a gentle atmosphere for gathering, learning and connecting. The folks at the xʷc̓ic̓əsəm Garden very generously welcomed us into one of their gathering spaces; we were surrounded by plants in full bloom and some very active pollinators. The seed for how to spend the day was planted months before when Sam and Hannah applied for the UBC Healthy Workplace Initiative Program Fund. We saw the fruits of their efforts on those gorgeous June days. There were quiet moments of concentration woven in with the sharing of stories and of course, laughter.
“It felt so good to connect with one another in such a special place! I really felt like this time ‘filled my basket’.”
-Shannon
Beach Day!
To take advantage of the beautiful weather in Vancouver this summer, Carissa, a lifelong sailor, took several colleagues out on the Burrard Inlet in August. As a team we love to learn more about our colleagues’ passions outside of work, and to see Carissa “harness the wind” was truly an experience. Thank you, Carissa, for sharing your knowledge with us!
Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education Conference
In June, Janey travelled to Montreal with Christina Hendricks to represent the UBC component of a SSHRC partnership grant at the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education Conference. The UBC section of the project is exploring the impact of the Indigenous Initiatives Design Series through a series of interviews with participants and facilitators.
“My highlight was meeting with our partners from the University of Saskatchewan and University of Windsor – especially hearing graduate student stories and their reflections on this work!”
-Janey
Project & Programming Updates
Note: you can learn more about the projects, initiatives, workshops, etc. mentioned below by clicking on the corresponding links.
- Musqueam – UBC Development Committee: Emily Bridge joined the Indigenous Initiatives team in July as an Educational Programs Coordinator: Special Projects. Her role will be focused on supporting the Musqueam – UBC Development Committee. She has been connecting with current and past committee members, in an effort to document all of the important work the group has done over the years.
- Musqueam Resource Curation Project: The project team made up of folks from CTLT, Campus & Community Planning, the iSchool and X̱wi7x̱wa Library moved into a new phase. They began hosting information sessions to help folks across UBCV connect with resources. The feedback from those sessions will help inform what the future of the project looks like.
- Indigenous Learning Pathways (ILP): With the ILP quickly approaching its launch date the project team was busy over the summer editing videos and finalizing course content. It has been so rewarding to be working on our launch plans, getting the new landing page content ready, and starting to promote the program through various presentations.
- What I Learned in Class Today (WILICT): We shared an exploration of the Renewed WILICT Facilitation Guide and Toolkit during CTLT Summer Institute. The project team also wove in components of the project to their facilitation during the šxʷta:təχʷəm Leader Training 2024 at the First Nations House of Learning.
- Anti-Racist Teaching and Learning: In June 2024, A-RTL launched its newest program: Applying Anti-Racist Pedagogies in the Classroom. This was a 4-session intensive cohort program open to faculty from all across campus to enter into community dialogue and strategize for meaningful change within their classrooms.
- Teaching Practice Survey – Blog Posts: We began publishing a series of blog posts focused on responses to the following question in the 2023 Teaching practices survey: “If you have integrated Indigenous topics, perspectives and worldviews into your course, please describe your approach to doing this work (i.e., your decision-making process, decisions around support/resources sought)”. Part 1 | Part 2
- Newsletter: With a readership of 1,000+ we had our highest engagement ever with our July Newsletter. You can find an archive of past newsletters and a subscription button on our website.
Looking to the Future…
A big theme for the team this summer was planning for the Fall and beyond. We have a number of events already published and will be adding more in the coming weeks. In addition, Sam and Paulina have begun planning for a multi-day workshop series focused on evaluation. With the Indigenous Learning Pathways project wrapping up Kyle is excited to shift his focus to creating professional development resources for Indigenous staff.
Although we all love our time away during the summer, the team is excited to see each other and our colleagues on campus again more consistently. Sam and Hannah did such a fantastic job planning our first team wellness activity, we can’t wait to see what part two looks like!
We look forward to seeing you around campus and hopefully at some of our upcoming events!