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Introduction

This site is currently under construction. In case of any question or suggestion to the site, please contact Alexandra Kim at alexandra.kim@ubc.ca

The Canadian cultural landscape has changed dramatically in the past two decades, and UBC has embraced that change enthusiastically. As a global research institution, UBC attracts the best students, faculty and staff from all social, economic and cultural realities. We have identified this fact in our institutional priorities, in our curriculum and in the way we conduct our daily business. Traditionally, Canada has been referred to as a “cultural mosaic,” meaning that our cultural fabric is constructed from the many ethnicities that make up our population. While this metaphor had resonance in the mid- to late- 20th century, it no longer expresses today’s reality. “Culture” in 2011, is a complex, fluid concept that includes not just ethnicities, but a vast array of components including political perspective, religion, sexual preference, education, place of residence (urban, rural or suburban) and even one’s favourite hockey team. “Diversity” no longer just means making room for another person’s religious or ethnic experience; rather, it means understanding how our differences – in culture, beliefs, attitudes, modes of dress, personal styles, etc. – combine to make up our world, and learning to embrace those differences. The more able one is to make sense of – and participate in – a completely diverse society, the more successful he or she will be in all aspects of life.

As a university that defines itself as a creator of new knowledge, UBC is uniquely positioned to examine culture and how it works. Where else can we investigate, together, the things that make us different? Where else can we experiment with values, question old assumptions, try out new ways of relating to each other? Imagine a world where cultural differences spark inquiry and friendship, not hostility and defensiveness. Imagine a university where the most transformative learning experience comes from the discovery of someone else’s cultural reality, where the understanding of the “different” is the greatest achievement.

We’re privileged at UBC to enjoy such cultural diversity in our students, faculty and staff. By incorporating that diversity into our institutional fabric, we become more than a simple mosaic. We become a reflection of the world.

Place and Promise Annual Reports

Intercultural Understanding Annual Report 2010-2011

GEOG 495 is an example of intercultural understanding through a CSL and Community Engagement experience. Taught by Dr. Juanita Sundberg in the Department of Geography, the course explores the notions and politics of solidarity between Canada and social justice struggles in Latin America, using CSL models. In 2011, GEOG 495 brought in and collaborated with community partners Jolom Mayaetik, an indigenous women’s weaving cooperative in Mexico, as well as la mano, a Vancouver-based social enterprise founded by UBC Alumni Jennifer Boundy. The classroom and curriculum facilitate international engagement, reflection and action with a focus on indigenous women’s autonomy and creative resistance. Students developed concrete and viable initiatives that support the goals of the Mexican cooperative—working across cultural and linguistic borders in socially responsible ways while learning about the ethics of solidarity from multiple perspectives. The course also produces a blog that extends the intercultural understanding and dialogue into the public sphere: http://blogs.ubc.ca/geog495/

Improve processes and supports to achieve a diverse and excellent student, staff, and faculty body

Improvements to processes and supports to UBC staff and faculty begin with orientation and professional development, as described in the section and in the Focus on People Framework. Student Development & Services (SD&S) units have an intercultural mandate of working with students, staff and faculty to support broader student learning outcomes related to intercultural effectiveness, diversity awareness, social justice and equity. These units include Access and Diversity; Career Services; Counselling Services; Go Global; International Learning Programs; International Student Development (ISD); Student Development; Student Health Services; Centre for Student Involvement; the Simon K.Y. Lee Global Lounge & Resource Center; Peer Program; and UBC Events. IU is a core component of at least 24 SD&S training programs that support the intercultural competencies and experiences of SD&S staff and student leaders. Key examples include Intercultural competencies for Student Health Services staff; Intercultural understanding, communication, and skills building for students participating in Go Global programs (part of all pre-departure, in-session, and return programming for students in these programs); and the Jump Start curriculum and academic coaching which provides international students with critical knowledge of UBC’s academic culture.

UBC has also implemented systemic supports to meet the changing needs of an increasingly diverse and complex student, staff and faculty body at UBC. This has included the Breastfeeding Spaces Initiatives at both Vancouver and Okanagan campuses, a collaboration between the Equity Office, HR and the Department of Health, Safety and Environment that established a network of private and semi-private spaces across both campuses that have been identified and serve as breastfeeding-friendly spaces for students, staff and faculty. While all women at UBC have the right to breastfeed anywhere on campus, this initiative acknowledges that some mothers prefer to breastfeed their children in discreet settings for personal, religious and cultural reasons.

The Equity Office also continued the implementation of the Equity Enhancement Fund (EEF),which helps academic and administrative units realize capacity for equity by providing funds to assist in the creation of new initiatives that enhance equity across the University. In the past year seven projects were funded, including $12,000 to CTLT in support for the continued implementation of the Living Lab project.

As IU is core to all forms of conflict resolution, the Ombuds Office (OO) incorporates intercultural understanding into every interaction with students. UBC’s students from all over the world and from wide range of backgrounds seek the OO’s support in managing conflict resolution, often with faculty or staff who also reflect a variety of ethnic and academic cultures. The OO also functions as central resource around cultural awareness for various committees and working group discussions across the University. In being intimately connected to the acute issues of students as they relate to faculty and staff, the OO is able to provide recommendations to the highest-level decision-makers on systems-level, procedural and structural changes that would have maximum benefit to students. The OO also delivers workshops on conflict resolution, managing difficult conversations and related topics to student, faculty and staff. Excellence in the are of conflict resolution is defined in the importance of humanizing the interaction, exercising empathy and acting with compassion, keeping in mind the diversity of all the individuals involved in any given conflict or challenging situation.

UBC Continuing Studies Centre for Intercultural Communication (CIC) develops and provides substantial intercultural developmental opportunities including: • Intercultural Supervision of Graduate Students (in partnership with FOGS); • Intercultural Campus: Concepts and Strategies for Inclusion; • HRMA accredited workshops in: Engaging and Retaining a Diverse Workforce; Cross-Cultural Interviewing; and Strategies for Success with Culturally Diverse Learners; and also provides a • Certificate in Intercultural Studies, a professional development certificate program for UBC staff, faculty and off campus participants.

Enhance accessibility of the physical environment at UBC for people with disabilities.

Over the last year, Campus and Community Planning (C&CP has initiated considerable structural and environmental changes that go far beyond compliance to UBC’s building code around accessibility. With support from the Senate Academic Building Needs Committee, the Vancouver Campus Plan was updated with strengthened principles around accessibility. The Vancouver Campus Plan was adopted in June 2010 and replaced the former Main Campus Plan from 1992. This new plan brings into effect a set of policies and design guidelines to significantly enhance accessibility policy for UBC’s Vancouver campus buildings and public realm. All new buildings and public realm capital projects are being built to the new standard. In addition, an audit was completed of the existing campus and buildings to prioritize existing accessibility problems requiring retrofit.

Wherein building codes address the accessibility of buildings, the new Vancouver Campus Plan more importantly aims at making improvements to campus that address accessibility in the public realm, thinking of accessibility and mobility in terms of how people journey throughout the entirety of campus. This more sophisticated and holistic approach considers the total physical experience of the Vancouver campus. Please refer to Section 4.3 of Part 2 and Section 2.2 of Part 3 (Design Guidelines) of the Vancouver Campus Plan.

Specific examples of enhancements to accessibility include: the addition of sidewalk-to-road curb ramps at a number of locations around the campus core and by student and staff housing in East Campus; the removal of gradient barriers in the North Campus area by MOA, Mary Bollert Hall and Green College and the provision of wayfinding maps within parkades, specifically targeted to providing information on how to access visitor-centric locations and public attractions. C&CP has also taken the opportunity to create an accessible entry at the front entrance of the C&CP building, reinforcing the sense of accessibility at the heart of the unit responsible for managing the Vancouver Campus Plan.

Intercultural Understanding Annual Report 2011-2012

The University engages in reflection and action to build intercultural aptitudes, create a strong sense of inclusion and enrich our intellectual and social life.

Intercultural understanding is an inherent aspect of all commitments in Place and Promise; subsequently, there is a large amount of concurrent activity across the entire campus forwarding intercultural understanding is some aspect.

The development of the intercultural understanding mid-level strategic plan is in draft phase, undergoing final consultation. It provides a framework for forwarding the University’s commitment to intercultural understanding, with a focus on four key objectives: fostering social relationships across cultural difference, “courageous conversations” on campus, learning intercultural understanding in the classroom, and research and operational excellence.

As part of the development of this plan, numerous initiatives have been undertaken, including an informal audit of existing activity contributing to intercultural understanding on campus, a review of available literature and related research, and piloting a number of initiatives. The development of the plan included over 200 individual meetings with faculty, staff and students, and student focus groups (on-going) and was aimed at capturing the most pressing issues affecting intercultural understanding

The mid-level plan also functions to focus the existing activity towards the four key objectives. The following highlights capture only a fraction of the breadth of activity and excellence in this area.

Benefits of Intercultural Learning

Expand learning opportunities encouraging cultural diversity, dialogue, and debate.

Since the onset of the University’s commitment to IU, it has been made imperative that IU be an integrated part of the student learning experience. This is especially true for the following examples that include intercultural learning through curriculum, student-directed learning and learning through community service and studies abroad.

Curriculum

Intercultural understanding is core to the subject matter for many courses at UBC. This is especially true for UBC’s world-renown program in Cultural Psychology; the Specialization in International Forestry; the Conflict Resolution, Arts and iNtercultural Experience (CRANE); the English Language Institute (ELI); the First Nations Studies Program; and the Immigrant Vancouver Ethnographic Field School (IVEFS). Courses dealing specifically in intercultural understanding can be found at the Continuing Studies Centre for Intercultural Communication (CIC) and courses in Anthropology, Asian Studies; Educational and Counselling Psychology; Psychology; Language and Literacy Education; and Sociology.

The most profoundly curricular examples are often experienced in less obvious courses. Undergraduate student Joy Richu had come to assume that her childhood would never be reflected in CRWR 203, a children’s creative writing course. She had become accustomed to unfamiliar book titles and the “blank and confused stare” she often received when she mentioned books from her own childhood. Later in the semester, her professor laid out a selection of books and asked the students to discuss the literary elements from one of the books. As Joy approached the table, she was unexpectedly surprised:

“Lying amongst the other novels and fairy tales, a book with a girl on the cover that looked like ME! I felt my heart skip a beat. Without a second thought (or glance at the other books), I quickly grabbed the book. For a while I just stood there, marvelling at the cover.”

There are also numerous curricular examples in graduate student programs. A notable example is SCARP 548B: Current Issues in Planning: Building Inclusive Communities in an Age of Uneven Development, a social learning studio for graduate students in the UBC School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP). This course continues to provide an introduction to concepts and theories about community development and social learning combined with hands-on experience with the kinds of social learning processes that form the foundation of effective community engagement and participatory planning.

Perhaps the most notable curricular advancement has been the announcement of the Asian Canadian Studies Minor in the Faculty of Arts. According to Dean Gage Averill, “The goal of the Asian Canadian Studies program is to learn from anti-Japanese and anti-Asian racism and discrimination in our history so that future generations can engage better in issues of justice, equity and inclusion.” Once the details for the proposed program are created out of community consultations, the Faculty of Arts will present them to the UBC Senate for final approval. This new minor program is one of three measures approved by the UBC Senate in November 2011 to recognize and understand what happened to Japanese Canadian UBC students in 1942. The other two measures include recognizing the students with honorary degrees, and secondly, preserving and bringing to life the historical record of that time through the digitization of a Japanese Canadian paper and the collection of oral histories from six living students.

Student-Directed Approaches

UBC students demonstrated much passion and readiness through the many student-directed efforts towards intercultural understanding. Select initiatives include:

The Tandem Language Exchange

A student-driven program supported by the Centre of Intercultural Language Students (CILS), the English Language Institute (ELI) and the Provost’s Office, that paired students in facilitated language exchange. Piloted in January 2011 and run over three semesters, the program has paired 402 students and proven to be one of the most effective ways of fostering meaningful relationships and a depth of understanding across cultures. In the most recent semester, 27 languages were offered.

Peer Programs

A network of over 300 students in 11 peer-to-peer support programs, has made intercultural understanding and social responsibility a priority for student learning.

Student clubs

Student clubs have also played a major role in fostering difficult conversations. In September 2011, Perspectives Magazine, a student-run publication whose mandate is to foster intercultural awareness on campus developed criteria and presented its list of the “Top-10 Intercultural Clubs”, profiling the students clubs whose activities and programming aim to facilitate intercultural understanding on campus.

Asian Canadian Cultural Organisation (ACCO)

The Asian Canadian Cultural Organisation (ACCO) ran a series of dialogues in November 2011 called, Huddle 2011, which explored the challenges of coordinating of initiatives around environmental issues, advocacy for LGBTQ rights, and civic engagement across cultures. Similarly, the Caribbean African Association (CAA) presented a student-directed dialogue called Uncensored Series, which challenged student clubs to consider “cultural cliquing” as a barrier to being an intercultural campus.

Dean’s Lecture Series on Equity, Diversity and Intercultural Understanding

The Dean’s Lecture Series on Equity, Diversity and Intercultural Understanding and The Interdisciplinary Roundtable on Diversity – a partnership between students and faculty, was launched this year. Sponsored by the Equity Office, the Provost’s Office, the Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Education, this series featured presentations by faculty, the Dean of Education (November 2011), and the Dean of Arts (February 2012) on related topics. The series lead up to The Futures of Change: Equity, Diversity and Intercultural Understanding Colloquium (March 2012), which showcased graduate student research in related topics.

Indigenous Studies program

The Indigenous Studies program offers interdisciplinary courses providing perspectives of Indigenous peoples from the Okanagan, Canada and world communities. The involvement of the Okanagan nation and the En’owkin Centre in its development and in ongoing partnership provides a strong foundation in the Okanagan community and ensures continuing input from Indigenous perspectives.

Experiential and Hand-On Learning

Over the last year UBC has provided expanded intercultural learning opportunities for hundreds of students through Go Global programs, which includes UBC’s exchange, international service learning, group study, research abroad and U21 Global Issues Program; and through the UBC-Community Service Initiative (UBC-CSI), which coordinates community-based experiential learning (CBEL) throughout UBC. CBEL encompasses initiatives that provide students with opportunities to apply their discipline-specific knowledge toward the resolution of complex community-based challenges. Intercultural understanding is a core aspect of pre-departure and community service preparatory training, the learning experience itself, and the guided self-reflection during and after the completion of both programs. Go Global runs an annual photo and video contest that showcases the inspiring learning experiences of students, revealing profound self-reflection and self-discovery. Samples of the videos can be found in International Engagement.

ANTH 100-001

The following are examples of courses that use community and hands-on experience to facilitate intercultural learning. ANTH 100-001 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology is a tutorial that uses interactive technologies to video-conference and on-line chat with students at partner universities in Michigan, Korea, Taiwan and/or the Czech Republic (including students from across Europe). The purpose of these cross-cultural dialogues is to provide UBC students with the opportunity to learn about different cultures, not simply through textbooks and lectures, but through the lived experiences and diverse perspectives of students in other regions of the world. For three consecutive periods of approximately 2-3 weeks each, UBC students participate in telecom group interviews, on-line chatting, and faculty-guided discussions to learn about their partners’ culture while simultaneously teaching them about their own.

HKIN 489D Interculturalism, Health & Physical Activity

HKIN 489D Interculturalism, Health & Physical Activity, is a fourth-year seminar taught by Dr. Wendy Frisby in the UBC School of Kinesiology, this course aims to examine: the juxtapositions between the theoretical, the practical, and the personal in relation to promoting interculturalism, health, and physical activity; how organizational policies and practices both enhance and inhibit interculturalism, health, and inclusion in physical activity; how physical activity and health are practiced in diverse cultures and the historical racial/ethnic relations that underpin them; and the consequences of immigrant inclusion/exclusion from informal and organized forms of physical activity. This course is designed to develop skills and an inventory of ‘promising practices’ that will better equip fourth-year students for working in a variety of intercultural contexts (e.g., local community, schools, government, business, research, internationally).

Promote Effective Intercultural Professional Development for Faculty and Staff

Promote effective intercultural professional development for faculty and staff Intercultural understanding is at the core of numerous initiatives aimed at building the intercultural competencies of faculty and staff provided though Human Resources (HR [as part of the Focus on People Framework]), the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT), the Equity Office and Continuing Studies Centre for Intercultural Communication. Examples include:

Human Resources

Leave for Change Program sends six UBC staff overseas on volunteer placements annually, resulting in transformational experiences that are shared here.
UBC Community Leadership Program, a partnership with the Learning Exchange and Student Development that involved ## staff accompanying graduate students to schools in Vancouver’s downtown eastside, an area that experiences great diversity with respect to ethnicity and economic advantage
Academic Leadership Development Program (ALDP) for new academic Heads and Directors, and modules within UBC’s Managing at UBC program for new staff managers, address foundational concepts such as conflict resolution and cultural interpretation. Greater intercultural content for both programs is under development
HR Advisory Services has been building the capacity of HR Advisors in Intercultural Communication and Cross-Cultural Interviewing for the purpose of promoting barrier free recruitment and promotion.

Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT)

• Living Lab is an interactive theatre program that engages UBC teaching and learning communities in conversations about complexities and challenges that arises in diverse and multicultural classrooms. Since fall 2009, Living Lab has performed over 20 times across UBC for TA training, professional development for faculty, and teacher education courses. • Aboriginal Initiatives programming at CTLT provides expertise and support for faculty-based initiatives focused on improving classroom climate, environments conducive to student success, and strengthens local capacity to conduct effective approaches to intercultural dialogues about race, identity and socially contentious topics. This year an innovative series of professional development workshops titled Aboriginal Initiatives: Classroom Climate was created, focusing on classroom discussions of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal histories and relationships. This series pilot was well-attended by senior and junior faculty, teaching assistants, researchers, graduate students and staff from all over the University.

UBC Equity Office

• Produced and officially released Valuing Difference: A Strategy for Advancing Equity and Diversity at UBC , the mid-level strategic plan giving effect to the values of equity and diversity as expressed in Place and Promise and outlines how the University plans to embed equity and diversity goals in all aspects of its strategic planning. • Launched UBC’s new Diversity at UBC website. Administered by the Equity Offices, this website aggregates diversity and equity-related web links from across the University and helps to facilitate the ability of all students, staff and faculty to find relevant UBC resources in the areas of employment, academic programs, research, university services, campus involvement and engagement, grants, awards and other diversity and equity related resources. • Introduced equity briefings for search committees for senior academic positions across the university. Equity training was also provided to faculty search committees in 2011. Both initiatives have been received well and will continue to expand. • Newly established the Provost’s Advisory Committee on Equity and Diversity in early 2012. This committee replaces the President’s Advisory Committee on Equity, Discrimination and Harassment, which historically provided the University with advice and direction to meet the commitment to create and maintain an inclusive work and study environment for students, faculty and staff. • The Equity Matters Campaign promotes education and awareness on issues of equity and diversity on the Okanagan campus; provides learning resources on the website; connects with on and off- campus units and groups.

Office of the Ombudsperson for Students – Vancouver Campus

• Coordinates an annual “professional development opportunity for UBC frontline staff”, called Connecting Place and Promise: Building a Community of Service Excellence. Sessions included International Students: Responding to Diversity; Intercultural Understanding; Access & Diversity; and Handling Difficult Conversations.

UBC Continuing Studies Centre for Intercultural Communication (CIC)

• The UBC Certificate in Intercultural Studies program has been a key source for professional development for hundreds of UBC staff and faculty for well over a decade. Courses in Strategies for Effective Intercultural Communication, Building Multicultural Teams, Identity and Intergroup Relations and Internationalizing Post-Secondary Institutions, are some of the most frequently chosen courses for UBC staff and faculty. • CIC also offers customized workshops for campus groups, frequently in the area of Creating an Inclusive Classroom for TAs and last year in the area of Intercultural Supervision of Graduate Students, for faculty in partnership with FOGS. • For managers and human resource professionals, CIC has several HRMA accredited workshops in: Engaging and Retaining a Diverse Workforce; Cross-Cultural Interviewing; and Strategies for Success with Culturally Diverse Learners.

Remove Barriers to Diversity

Improve processes and supports to achieve a diverse and excellent student, staff, and faculty body

It is important to note that UBC has a rich resource of international diversity. There are 144 countries represented by international students at both campuses and nearly 4 out of 5 students can speak two or more languages. In places like St. John's College, UBC's International Graduate College, two-thirds of the students come from outside North America from over 45 different countries.

Focus on People Framework

As in the previous year, improvements to processes and supports to UBC staff and faculty begin with orientation and professional development, as described in the Focus on People Framework. As intercultural understanding has been recognized as contributing to the mental health of UBC’s staff and faculty, UBC is also looking at ways to integrate intercultural understanding into health promotion at UBC, including growing intercultural awareness and related interpersonal capacity through content in the Healthy UBC Newsletter.

UBC Jump Start

An intensive pre-session academic orientation designed originally for international students, connected this year’s first ever cohort of Aboriginal students with students across difference in authentic and meaningful ways. Partners in learning, nine first-year Aboriginal students and 300 new-to-UBC international students explored their own and each other’s ways of knowing, while creating robust social networks to support them through their time at UBC. In 2012, 900 international students are expected to participate in UBC Jump Start.

Access and Diversity Highlights

Access and Diversity works with the each of the University’s campus’ to foster an inclusive and welcoming living and learning environment at UBC and to eliminate structural and attitudinal barriers based on disability, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Highlights include: • Support for over 1,600 undergraduate and graduate students with documented disabilities, coordinating disability-related accommodations such as specialized exam arrangements, alternate format materials, note taking, interpreting, captioning, and facilitates access to funding for specialized equipment; facilitate over 5,000 exams for students requiring specialized adapted equipment, a distraction free environment and extended testing time. • The “Be More Than a Bystander” campaign, a partnership with UBC Athletic and the Ending Violence Association of BC was launched. Drawing on the power of peer and cultural influences in society to compel individuals to take on leadership roles in violence prevention in their communities, five UBC Varsity athletes received bystander awareness training with the BC Lions and will serve as role models on campus. This work will be furthered by the development of a Violence Intervention and Prevention project on the Vancouver campus in the coming year. • Training was facilitated for an initial cohort of students based on Dr. Ishu Ishiyama’s (2000) “Active Witness Model”, which encourages every individual to move from being a passive to an active witness, taking an active role in promoting positive social change. In its second year, this program engaged 30 student leaders who will support 150 student organizations and communities in building their capacity to promote a healthy and respectful environment.

Equity Offices Highlights

The Equity Offices at each campus drives many systemic improvements, including: • A project to welcome new Academic Heads of Units, and to invite them to discuss their roles and responsibilities on the handling of concerns related to harassment and discrimination and the advancement of equity and diversity at UBC was implemented. • Funding of the Equipment Accommodation Fund (EAF) and the Equity Enhancement Fund (EEF), which support the University in attaining its educational and employment equity goals. In 2011, six projects were funded on both campuses at a total of $47,000. • Educational offerings on discrimination and harassment, sexual harassment, racism, bullying and homophobia, customized sessions on human rights and diversity strategies and issues can be requested at any time for students, staff or faculty and events to mark days of national or cultural significance. These include conferences, speakers, educational and social programming for days like the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. • New facilitators have been added to the Positive Space Campaign, a popular campus-wide program that works to make UBC more welcoming and inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, trans and gender variant people and issues on campus. From the program’s inception in 2002 to present, the Equity Office has offered 153 workshops to UBC students, staff and faculty, many of whom have then chosen to become Resource Persons for the Campaign.

Office of the Ombudsperson for Students

The Office of the Ombudsperson for Students incorporates intercultural understanding into every interaction with students. • UBC’s students from all over the world and from a wide range of backgrounds seek the Ombudsperson’s support in managing conflict resolution, often with faculty or staff who also reflect a variety of ethnic and academic cultures. • The Office functions as a central resource around cultural awareness for various committees and working group discussions across the University. • Over the past year, the Office of the Ombudsperson for Students has coordinated an effort towards an “integrated conflict resolution system” at UBC (on-going).

International Graduate Students

In partnership with St. John’s College, the Faculty of Graduate Studies, Access and Diversity, the Office of the Ombudsperson for Students, VP Students Office and the Provost's Office, 200 first year international graduate students were brought together to share their stories, seek resources and ask questions in an informal environment. Representatives from a broad range of units and offices were present to mix and mingle among the students and where appropriate, answer questions and provide resources. This event aimed to foster a stronger sense of community and inclusion amongst international graduate students.

Enhance accessibility of the physical environment at UBC for people with disabilities

Over the last two years, Campus and Community Planning (C&CP) has initiated considerable structural and environmental changes that go far beyond compliance to UBC’s building code around accessibility. Continuing with the updates to the Vancouver Campus Plan (2010), all new buildings and public realm capital projects are being built to the new standard. Please refer to Section 4.3 of Part 2 and Section 2.2 of Part 3 (Design Guidelines) of the Vancouver Campus Plan. Improvements that address the accessibility and mobility with a more holistic approach of how people journey throughout the entirety of campus continue each year.

Significant completed examples include:

Improvements to length of Agricultural Road. Paving material and gradients are now in compliance with highest standards of accessible design. Removal of all curbs and barriers from Agricultural Road walkways and lawn areas. Creating a primary east-west corridor across campus (East Mall to West Mall).
Universal integrated access provided to the front door of the Klinck Building from Agricultural Road (removal of barrier previously created by flight of steps). Interior improvements required to provide universal access inside the building from this entry point.
Universal integrated access provided to Math Annex Building.
Removal of all curbs and barriers from Main Mall walkways and lawn areas between Koerner Plaza and University Boulevard. Improvements to paving material and gradients on this segment are now in compliance with highest standards of accessible design. Renovations to the rest of the Mall (Rose Garden to Thunderbird Commons) currently underway.
Removal of two exterior sets of steps on Main Mall frontage of Chemistry Building.

There are at least ten major enhancements underway involving the removal of curbs and barriers along major pathways, improvements to paving material and gradients, the creation of a new universally accessible north-south route, the creation of barrier free large commons, and the creation of integrated universally accessible ramp entrances.

With a similar commitment to making classrooms and learning spaces more accessible, UBC has recently updated its Learning Space Design Guidelines with added provisions addressing accessibility in classrooms. Please refer to Section 5.04 of the Learning Space Design Guidelines.

Percentage of accessible General Use Classrooms

UBC has 339 General Use classrooms at its Vancouver campus. 333 or 98% are accessible. All buildings are accessible at the Okanagan campus.

General Inventory (2010 - 2012)

Student Learning

# COURSES

* Counselling Psychology

Ishu Ishuyama graduate program, Faculty of Education offers a wide range of undergraduate and graduate level courses on diversity, critical theory, and inter/multi-cultural issues in education. Please contact the Teacher Education Office (TEO) and the Dean's Office in Education about such courses. For instance, Cross-cultural Counsellingis a course about the critical analysis of cross-cultural counselling theory, research and practice.

Law Michelle LaBaron: Professor of Law and Director, UBC Program on Dispute Resolution Fundamentals of Cross-Cultural Dispute Resolution Theory and Practice. 481D.001 is a course on topics in Litigation, Dispute Resolution and the Administration of Justice. This seminar-style course provides an interdisciplinary foundation in the intercultural dynamics of conflict resolution theory and practice. We will explore diverse theoretical frameworks as they inform conflict analysis and resolution. Building on this foundation, we will examine applications of theory, particularly focusing on organizational contexts. The role of memory in protracted conflicts will be considered, as will psychological aspects of intervention in intangible, symbolic dimensions of conflict. Creativity as a core competency in intercultural conflict resolution will be experienced via expressive arts in working with symbolic aspects of conflict. Finally, fairness in conflict resolution will be examined through a range of disciplinary lenses.

Psychology, Dr. Steve Heine: PSYC 307 Cultural Psychology is a course investigates the way that cultural experiences shape our psychology, cultural influences on human thought and behaviour; interactions of culture and self; multicultural experiences; intercultural relations; methodological issues. One important point to note is that we all are, to a certain extent, products of our cultural environments. This is a point worth emphasizing as it is often quite difficult to see our own cultural influences – culture is something we only tend to notice when it’s foreign or exotic. The assignments and asynchronous chats are designed, in part, to help you to realize your own cultural influences. Psychology 307 is a course specifically designed for both students that are not psychology majors and those who are psychology majors in the Bachelor of Arts program. The course, while intellectually challenging, emphasizes fundamentals rather than details. Although the course is designed for students that have a limited knowledge of psychology, a background of experimental psychology and the biological sciences are a definite asset.[1] PSYC 507 Cultural Psychology

Geography: Juanita Sundberg: Geography 424 Feminist Geography is an introductory survey of contemporary feminist approaches to human geography. Rather than typical assignment use analytical journal Geography 395 that is an introduction to the Changing Landscapes of Latin America, Culture and environment in 1491; Spanish colonialism and biological imperialism; globalization, commodity production, and exchange; processes of environmental degradation and proposed solutions at local, national, and global scales.

GEOGRAPHY 495 is an innovative fourth-year seminar in the Department of Geography at UBC taught by Dr. Juanita Sundberg. The course explores the politics of North-South solidarity in theory and practice using Community Service Learning models that join theory with experience and thought with action. The curriculum addresses solidarity on a theoretical level by exploring how solidarity is conceptualized, accomplished, and practiced in and by movements and activists in the Americas. On a practical level, GEOG 495 invites community partners directly in the classroom to share in the elaboration of collaborative political analysis and action-oriented activities. In 2011, GEOG 495 is working in collaboration with Jolom Mayaetik, an indigenous women’s weaving cooperative in Mexico as well as la mano, a Vancouver-based social enterprise founded by Jennifer Boundy, a UBC grad. Two leaders with the cooperative will accompany the class for part of the semester, thereby transforming the classroom into a space of international engagement, reflection, and action. Our central focus is indigenous women’s autonomy and creative resistance. Students will collaborate with Jolom Mayaetik on concrete and viable initiatives that support the cooperative’s goals. In so doing, students have the opportunity to work across cultural and linguistic borders in socially responsible ways while learning about the ethics of solidarity from multiple perspectives. This builds cross-cultural understanding and mutual respect.

Sociology 430 - Global Citizenship offers Sociology approaches to global citizenship, including its contested nature and intellectual lineage.

English 110 Chris Lee teaches short stories by Eileen Chang in translation for ENGL 110 class (Approaches to Literature). These were written in Shanghai during the 1940s and are very popular in modern Chinese literature. One welcome, but unintended, consequence is that some students with background in Chinese language will look up the original texts and then contribute to class discussion in ways they couldn't before due to language barriers. TAs have reported that a number of students who hadn't spoken before do so during this unit because their relationship to the text changes. While these moments dont of course overcome the institutional barriers posed by language, they do suggest ways of making literature and the humanities more accessible to a diverse undergraduate student body.

DRAM 200, taught by Dr. Siyuan “Steven” Liu, is the first of a two-course series that discuss dramatic forms and ideas, roughly divided between classical and modern eras. In this course, we will focus on two fundamental themes in world theatre—love and revenge—by reading twelve classical European and Asian plays. We will discuss how social and historical circumstances, dominant dramatic themes and structures, and performance conventions combined to shape the plays we discuss. We will also discuss the reception of these plays in their own and other cultures and how these intercultural interpretations add layers to our interpretation of these plays. In addition to reading plays, attending lectures and discussions, students will also meet in smaller groups on Fridays for group work, discussions, and presentations. Finally, students will also have a chance to discover the link between a play and its theatrical presentation by watching and discussing UBC Theatre productions.

SOCI433A 002 is a student directed seminar. In a society where various cultures exist side by side, an identity of an individual is becoming more of a fluid concept. Whether as a domestic resident, an immigrant, or a child of immigrants or as an international student, students are encouraged to participate in the discussion. This course intends to examine various dimensions of identity formation and multiculturalism in Canada, with emphasis on political and sociological implications and conduct a critical analysis of cultural integration and immigration.

CNPS 594 is a cross-cultural counselling course. Critical analysis of cross-cultural counselling theories, research and practices are taught in the course.

STUDENT LEAD INITIATIVES

Global Tea House Series - Forestry Graduate Student Society (FGSA) hosts a series of “Global Tea Houses”, at which students talk about their home countries and the forests and forestry issues there. We also have an annual International Food Fair, at which our international students (graduate and undergraduate) cook up delicacies from their home land and offer it to students and faculty members. This is an informal seminar series run by our Forestry Graduate Student Association (FGSA) at which students talk about their home countries. The content of the talks can be very diverse: some presenters focus on forestry issues, while others give an historical overview of their homeland, or talk more personally about their family's background as it relates to their country. Talks are held monthly from September to April. The tea houses have been held each year since Fall 2008.[2]

Student Leadership Conference (SLC) is UBC’s largest student-run conference, providing more than 1100 delegates with the opportunity to develop their leadership skills through engaging workshops and speakers. This year’s SLC will take place on Saturday, January 8, 2011. The SLC provides students with the opportunity for peer-to-peer learning experiences, as well as the ability to connect with other leaders, faculty, and alumni. The SLC Planning Committee hopes to create an inclusive environment, build a sense of community, and motivate delegates to self-discover their leadership potential. The Planning Committee believers it is important to utilize sustainable economic, social, and environmental principles as well as celebrating the diversity of leaders in the community.

UBC Centre for Cross Faculty Inquiry in Education and The Rogers Multicultural Film Production Project at UBC presented Abenaki filmmaker of "When All the Leaves Are Gone" Alanis Obomsawin on March 9. When All the Leaves Are Gone had its world premiere in 2010 at the Montreal World Film Festival. Inspired by the personal experiences of writer and director Alanis Obomsawin, this film combines autobiography, fiction and fable to create a deeply moving story about the power of dreams for the only First Nations student in an all-white 1940s school, as she deals with Canadian history education, bullies, and the contrast between her school and the loving reserve environment. Alanis Obomsawin is one of Canada's most distinguished filmmakers and a multiple award winner. For over four decades, she has directed documentaries at the National Film Board of Canada that chronicle the lives and concerns of First Nations people and explore issues of importance to all. Her more than 30 films include a four-part examination of the Oka crisis. In 2009, Obomsawin’s film Professor Norman Cornett - "Since when do we divorce the right answer from an honest answer?" provided a thought-provoking tribute to an exceptional educator and a reflection on the true nature of learning. Ms. Obomsawin is engaging in these lectures and appearances in her role as the UBC Film Production Program’s Phil Lind Multicultural Artist in Residence, part of the UBC Rogers Multicultural Film Production Project. For more information see http://www.film.ubc.ca/film_production

WORKSHOPS

Liu Institute of Global Issues: The Global and Transnational Ethnographies

Research Network presents "Boarder crossings 2011: Interdisciplinary Explorations of Transnationalism and Globalization". Border Crossings is an annual public lecture series, hosted by UBC’s Geography, Anthropology and Sociology departments, together with the Liu Institute for Global Issues. Nicole Constable, Professor of Anthropology at Center for International Studies, and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, University of Pittsburgh presented the workshop. She talks about migrant domestic workers confronting a multiplicity of difficulties and challenges. Within the 'host' context, some join religious groups that offer comfort by replicating the religion of home; others experiment with new religions or denominations that appeal to them within the modern global context; others ignore or reject religion altogether. This talk offers an ethnographic analysis of the religious stories and activist experiences of four women migrant workers in Hong Kong. These women are not typical of the spectrum of religious possibilities facing Hong Kong's migrant workers, but each woman's tales point to the ways in which migratory experiences shape lives and religious perspectives in complex and unexpected ways. The migratory context provides new imaginative resources with which to reconsider religious perspectives, familial and gender expectations, reformulate pasts, and re-envision futures.

Equity Office Workshops and Educational Programs

The Equity Office offers standard and custom workshops that cover a variety of human rights and equity-related topics such as discrimination and harassment, sexual harassment, inclusive leadership, a respectful living, learning and working environment, anti-heterosexism, accommodation under human rights law, and employment and educational equity. We work with a variety of campus stakeholders and often tailor sessions to address specific needs and audiences. For example an Inclusive Leadership session was delivered through the Faculty of Graduate Studies, Pathways to Success Program designed specifically for graduate students in various disciplines. In conjunction with Access and Diversity we also worked with the Engineers Undergraduate Student Society this past year in developing Inclusive Leadership competencies with the student executive and raising equity awareness amoung the whole student body. We were also invited to speak and dialogue with students from the School of Architecture on the significance of Universal Design Standards in relation to the built environment and we continue to work with various AMS student clubs to mentor and guide them in creating safe and welcoming spaces for student lead dialogues and events on intercultural related topics.

Most all of the Equity Offices educational programming and offerings reflect the University’s commitment to Intercultural Understanding by raising awareness and engaging in respectful dialogue on equity related issues. The text below details some of this work.

The Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT)

CTLT strives to support the UBC teaching community in creating learning environments that embrace diversity and enhance equity and intercultural understanding. “Mutual respect and equity” is one of the values addressed in the UBC Plan, which was announced in December 2009 to make the University an exceptional learning environment. See Diversity, Equity and Intercultural Understanding page on its website for more details.

Living Lab

Living Lab develops and performs short interactive theatre sketches that involve members of the UBC community in conversations about the complexities and challenges that arise in diverse and multicultural teaching and learning environments. Learn more.

Global Citizenship

Universities have a pivotal role to play in educating tomorrow’s global citizens and in contributing to the healthy functioning of societies and the world community. Increasingly, university educators recognize that their obligation to students stretches beyond the traditional scope of the academic discipline. Since 1998, the concept of ‘global citizenship’ has been part of UBC’s vision and mission, and the Vision of The UBC Plan announced in December 2009 addressed UBC’s renewed commitment to global citizenship. A variety of administrative units and departments at UBC have taken up the challenge of grappling with this vision. How does a large, decentralized institution with many stakeholders and interests operationalize a university’s civic vision? The Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT) is one of the units that have tackled the mission head on. We offer a variety of programs, workshops, consultations, and resources to assist the UBC teaching community in meeting our goals of fostering global citizenship. Learn more.

Ombuds Office

The Ombuds Office (OO) incorporates intercultural understanding into every interaction we have with students who come to us for assistance. As we have mentioned, our student visitors come from all over the world and from a variety of backgrounds and many times their concerns involve their interactions with faculty or staff who are as culturally diverse. We encourage students to step back, resist blaming and judging and encourage them to exercise empathy, even if they feel they have been “wronged”.

The OO also endeavours to inject cultural awareness where needed at various committee/working group discussions. Many times, finding myself to be the only member of a visible minority at meetings (and much more so the only female visible minority member), I try to raise issues that might not necessarily arise otherwise. In addition, our work with individual students provides us with information about the systems-level/structural changes that need to be made and those recommendations are made from my office to the appropriate University unit/decision-maker. The OO also delivers workshops on conflict resolution, managing difficult conversations etc. to student and faculty/staff groups, and in these sessions we speak of the importance of humanizing the interaction, exercising empathy and acting with compassion, keeping in mind the diversity of all the individuals involved in any given conflict or challenging situation.