Vantage College Committees

Service Committee Assignments 2024–2025

Listed below are committee descriptions and suggested goals. It is recommended that each committee meet at least twice per term. At the end of each academic year, the chair of each committee will be asked to write a short summary (maximum one page) of the committee’s activities that year.

In addition to these service committees, Vantage representatives also sit on UBC-wide committees:

Enrolment Executive Committee (Academic Director)
Integrated Renewal Process (Academic Director, Manager of Advising, Curriculum Manager, Operations Manager)
Academic Model and Transformation Advisory Committee AMTAC (Academic Director)
Associate Deans Academic and Students advisory group (Academic Director)

Academic Executive

Goals: interpretation of university-wide policies and practices into the context of Vantage College programs, share information about program development and student success, and collaborate on Vantage-wide initiatives.

Bagherzadeh, Alireza (Vantage One Engineering, ex officio)
Fox, Joanne (Principal, ex officio)
Gadhia, Atul (Manager of Advising)
Lavallee, Suzie (Academic Director, Chair)
Lekhi, Anka (Vantage One Science chair, ex officio)
Wilson, Brian (Curriculum Manager)
Zappa-Hollman, Sandra (Academic English Program Director, ex officio)

Program Committees

Goals: coordinate the curriculum in a Vantage program (Applied Science or Science) or in the Vantage Academic English Program, promote collaborations between instructors, advocate for teaching innovations.

In addition to these committees, adjudication of admissions and transition into degree programs is provided by program chairs and student advising for each program.

Academic English Program

Academic Director (ex officio)
Ferreira, Alfredo
Riccardi, Daniel
Shaw, Weaver
Todd, Brett
Walsh Marr, Jennifer
Wilson, Brian
Zappa-Hollman, Sandra (Chair)

Program Committee, Applied Science

Abelló, Juan
Bagherzadeh, Alireza (Vantage One Engineering, Chair)
Chan, Tina
Gadhia, Atul
Ghaemi, Roza
Goh, Ernest
Lavallee, Suzie (Academic Director, ex officio)
Motavas, Saloome
Najarian, Siamak
Prodanovic, Vladan
Walsh Marr, Jennifer
Wilson, Brian
Zappa-Hollman, Sandra (Academic English Program Director, ex officio)

Program Committee, Science

Allen, Meghan
Dennis, Beth
Donnelly, Caitlin
Ferreira, Alfredo
Gadhia, Atul
Ives, Joss
Lavallee, Suzie (Academic Director, ex officio)
Lekhi, Anka (Vantage One Science, Chair)
Leung, Fok-Shuen
Pete, Shandin
Riccardi, Daniel
Rieger, Georg
Shaw, Weaver
Thomas, Anne
Wilson, Brian
Zappa-Hollman, Sandra (Academic English Program Director, ex officio)

Vantage Committees

If you are interested on serving on any of these committees below, you can email your expression of interest to suzie.lavallee@ubc.ca

Academic Outreach [currently inactive]

Goals: communicate information about the Vantage programs and educational innovation to the academic community and the public, spread successful practices and innovations, generate a public annual report on activities at Vantage.

Hajdukovic, Daniela
Riccardi, Daniel
Rieger, Georg
Vladan Prodanovic

Access, Diversity and Equity / Intercultural Communications

Goals: advocate diversity and equity, respond to access, diversity and equity issues, promote a culture of inclusion and justice.

Gadhia, Atul
Ives, Joss
Lekhi, Anka (from ICC)
Walsh Marr, Jennifer (co-chair on ICC)

Health & Safety / Space & Facilities

Goals: ensure Orchard Commons meets the standards set out by Worksafe BC. Coordinate allocation of space and approve alterations at Orchard Commons, develop IT initiatives for Vantage programs, respond to Vantage-specific IT issues.

Schmiesing, Susanne
Todd, Brett
Tsiu, Oscar
Wilson, Brian (Chair)
Zhang, Lynn

File:Vantage - Health, Safety and Facilities 2024-2025 Activity Report.pdf

Professional Development and Awards

Goals: organize educational and professional development programs, nominate staff and faculty for awards, i.e. university-wide awards, Vantage TA award, Vantage Staff award, Vantage Educational Innovation award, and Vantage Teaching award.

Ferreira, Alfredo
Riccardo, Daniel
Schmiesing, Susanne
Vaez Ghaemi, Roza
Zappa-Hollman, Sandra

Student Awards

Goals: Propose and adjudicate student awards, including the Vantage One Excellence Award, from the applicant pool for the coming academic year.

Abelló, Juan (Chair)
Vantage One Engineering program chair (ex officio)
Vantage One Science program chair (ex officio)
Tina Chan
Caitlin Donnelly

File:Vantage College Awards Committee report 2024W.pdf

Sustainability

Goals: Foster a culture of climate optimism within our interdisciplinary unit by promoting sustainability-focused engagement among students, staff, and faculty.