Faculty of

HEALTH & SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Vancouver

The University of British Columbia is a global centre for research and teaching, consistently ranked among the 40 best universities in the world. UBC’s entrepreneurial perspective encourages students, staff, and faculty to challenge convention, lead discovery, and explore new ways of learning.

At UBC, bold thinking is given a place to develop into ideas that can change the world.

Kelowna

BOLD THINKING

UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

TRANSFORMATIVE DIVERSECONNECTED

UBC’s Okanagan campus is a young and distinctive learning community earning international recognition for excellence in research and teaching. Our campus is a model for new ways of thinking about interdisciplinary and innovative programs.

We provide students with a university experience that is transformative, challenging, and competitive, and we are committed to scholarship that drives economic, social, and cultural change.

213 public events hosted

328 students worked on 37 community service learning projects

1,200+ students met with employers at UBC career events

2014 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

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OUR STUDENTS

UNDERGRADUATE

7,530 GRADUATE

682

OK ANAGAN CAMPUS 5

A PORTAL FOR GLOBAL ENGAGEMENTUBC’s Okanagan campus delivers enriched educational experiences abroad through research, study exchange, and learning connections around the globe.

International experience opportunities abound: 20 per cent of UBC Okanagan graduating students reported participating in an international learning experience in 2014-15.

UBC students have access to exchange placements with more than 200 partner institutions. With a vast network of partners and collaborators worldwide, the impact of our research and learning is transformative and far-reaching.

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10,000+ STUDENTS, FACULTY AND STAFF FROM 80 COUNTRIES

OUR STUDENTS COME FROM AROUND THE WORLD AND ACROSS THE REGION

FROM BC

60%OTHER CANADIAN

23%INTERNATIONAL

17%

OK ANAGAN CAMPUS 7

A CENTRE OF RESEARCH INNOVATION

TRI COUNCIL & CFI COMBINED AMOUNTS

UBC OKANAGAN RESEARCH FUNDING

$4M

$5M

$6M

$7M

$8M

‘09–10 ‘10–11 ‘11-12 ‘12–13 ‘13–14

FUNDING

$18.5M PROJECTS FUNDED

633

A collaborative, entrepreneurial spirit underpins UBC Okanagan research and is advancing discoveries in fields of critical importance globally and locally.

The Survive and Thrive Applied Research (STAR) initiative exemplifies this spirit of innovation with cutting-edge projects, including control software for unmanned aerial vehicles. STAR brings to market technologies for human protection and performance in extreme, remote, or rural conditions.

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Faculty of Applied Science, School of Engineering

Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies

Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences

Faculty of Education

Faculty of Health and Social Development

Faculty of Management

Faculty of Medicine, Southern Medical Program

College of Graduate Studies

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PROGRAM OPTIONS

UNDERGRADUATE

63 GRADUATE

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14 RESEARCH CENTRES AND INSTITUTES

OK ANAGAN CAMPUS 9

The Faculty of Health and Social Development (FHSD) is home to collaborative programs of research and scholarship focused on some of the most challenging health and social issues facing Canada and the world.

Comprised of three collaborative schools—Health and Exercise Sciences, Nursing, and Social Work—FHSD offers certificate, undergraduate (BSc, BScN, HKM), and graduate (MSc, MSN, MSW, PhD) programs.

IMPROVING HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

UNDERGRADUATE

1,134

FULL-TIME FACULTY

58

GRADUATE

104

FHSD STUDENTS

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SCHOOL OF HEALTH AND EXERCISE SCIENCESThe School of Health and Exercise Sciences works to optimize human health, from the individual to the population, through excellence in interdisciplinary teaching, research, and community engagement.

Program options:• Certified Personal Trainer• Certified Exercise Physiologist• Bachelor of Science (BSc), Human Kinetics (HKN)*• Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies (MSc, PhD)** Students completing a degree program can choose between two

streams: Clinical Exercise Physiology or Community Health Promotion.

Students receive training in human anatomy and physiology, health promotion and health psychology, fitness appraisal and exercise prescription, and health program policy and epidemiology. This training prepares graduates for careers in allied health sciences, such as medicine and physiotherapy, as well as agencies engaged in health promotion.

FACULTY OF HEALTH & SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 11

SCHOOL OF NURSINGThe School of Nursing produces clinicians to meet future health care challenges and to provide outstanding evidence-based care and leadership within the context of health and healing.

Students experience a close-knit, interprofessional health-care environment within a School that values community engagement and global citizenship.

Program options: • Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN)• Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)• Master of Science in Nursing – flexible delivery (MSN)• Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies (MSc, PhD)

The four-year BScN program provides access points for Licensed Practical Nurses and Registered Nurses who want to complete a baccalaureate degree in nursing.

The MSN program provides opportunities for baccalaureate nurses to develop and advance their professional knowledge, practice, and scholarship within a chosen area of nursing practice.

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORKThe School of Social Work prepares students for clinical practice by incorporating critical theory into social-work assessment and assists students in pursuing diverse research interests.

Program options:• Master of Social Work (MSW)• Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies (PhD)

The School offers two program tracks for MSW students: a one-year Advanced Track MSW for students with a BSW degree; and a two-year Foundational Track MSW for students without a BSW but who have a related undergraduate degree.

The clinically oriented program includes two new research centres—the Centre for Inclusion and Citizenship, and the Centre for the Study of Services to Children and Families—and the Interprofessional Clinic. These centres offer a variety of learning opportunities for students, ranging from clinical practice and community engagement to research collaboration.

FACULTY OF HEALTH & SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 13

Emerging areas of research excellence in the Faculty of Health and Social Development reflect some of the world’s most pressing themes in health science. Faculty-led investigative teams have received national and international attention for their research.

HEALTH AND EXERCISE SCIENCES: Students have the opportunity to participate in capstone experiences consisting of community-based placements or lab-based research. Concepts learned in the classroom can be applied to either real-world problems or cutting-edge experiments.

NURSING: Master’s students explore research and prepare for expert nursing roles in advanced practice, leadership, or education. MSN students can study with faculty researchers in areas including health promotion, community health, chronic-disease management, family systems nursing, indigenous health, palliative care, and long-term care.

SOCIAL WORK: Through clinical fieldwork, students develop a deeper understanding of the integration of individual, relational, structural, and global factors that are manifest in our lives and in the clinical process.

DIVERSE RESEARCH APPROACHES

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The Faculty’s research projects reflect the use of diverse research approaches, the opportunities for research within and across disciplines, and our commitment to excellence in research:

• Cardiovascular Health • Child Welfare Policy and Practice• Chronic Disease Management• End of Life Care• Families and Life Threatening Illness• Health Care for Seniors• Health Equity• Health Policy Research• Health Promotion & Chronic Disease

Prevention• Health Promotion & Disability• Health Systems Research• Immigrant Health• Indigenous Health • Intimate Violence • Mobility in Aging Populations• Rural & Remote Health Services

Research• Social-Psyche Theoretical Research

FACULTY OF HEALTH & SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 15

RETURN TO PLAYSTAR researcher explores ways to mitigate the risks of sport concussions

“The brain is us, it is who we are” says Professor Paul van Donkelaar. “Even though my research is focused on movement, it expands to include all aspects of our behaviour.”

Striving to better understand how the human brain is able to plan and execute body movements, van Donkelaar works with otherwise healthy participants and patients with damaged brain structure due to a variety of injuries. Part of this work examines how concussions affect blood flow to the brain, the impact on neurocognitive function, and how to determine when young athletes, post-concussion, are physically ready to return to play.

Dr. van Donkelaar is developing solutions in the form of safer equipment and better ways to intervene in the event of a concussion. Through Survive and Thrive Applied Research (STAR)—a hub for innovative research that focuses on human performance and protection by bringing together expertise from UBC, industry, and other universities—van Donkelaar is developing a helmet liner that could lessen the impact of blows to the head, specifically in contact sports.

“Sport-related concussion is becoming a major concern for athletes, parents, coaches, and sport associations,” he says. “Finding ways to improve the safety of contact sports is one key approach to mitigating the risks of concussion.”

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Paul van Donkelaar Director, School of Health and Exercise Sciences

FACULTY 17

Joan Bottorff Professor, School of Nursing

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MAKING A DIFFERENCEJoan Bottorff effects lifestyle behaviour change through collaborative research

Alongside Canada’s aging demographic comes an increasing concern over the number of people projected to have cancer: two in five Canadians are expected to develop cancer in their lifetimes.

Smoking is the single greatest avoidable risk factor, and something that Professor Joan Bottorff hopes to address. “There is an urgent need to prevent cancer with evidence we have, because we know that over 50 per cent of cancers are preventable” she says. “Our approach is to use evidence that is available now to reduce the risk of cancer by developing new approaches to support lifestyle changes.”

As a nursing professor and director of the interdisciplinary and collaborative Institute for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention, Bottorff works alongside diverse research teams that include clinicians, not-for-profit organizations, researchers, and students.

Her recent research has investigated tobacco use in a variety of groups including expectant and new fathers, youth, and young women in First Nations communities. Bottorff and colleagues are using this research to develop novel, gender-sensitive interventions to support smoking cessation. “We are combining research and creativity with innovative technology to inspire and engage different groups of women and men in behaviour change to improve their health. That is where we see opportunity.”

FACULTY 19

NO MORE BLAME GAMEResearcher Ed Taylor says it’s time to stop blaming families for mental illness

Dr. Ed Taylor is a registered clinical social worker and prolific author who has devoted his career to studying and treating mental illnesses, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorders in children.

After a career in the US military, he pursued higher education—his studies and research took him from coast to coast. Taylor began post-graduate work at the National Institute of Mental Health’s Intramural Research Program, where he treated and researched schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. Eleven years later, he became Chief of Social Work for the University of North Carolina’s Neuropsychiatric Hospital and conducted research in the Child Development Lab.

“I have seen how people with mental disorders and their families suffer,” he says. “Some of this suffering stems from inadequate treatments, clinical theories that are based more on philosophy than science, and social stigma. The treatment of mental disorders for too long has blamed the family or the client, rather than understanding the illness from a neurobiological perspective that interacts with the environment.”

At UBC’s Okanagan campus, Taylor brings passion and expertise about childhood biological, cognitive, emotional, and behavioural problems to bear on the Interprofessional Clinic. He helped establish the bustling multi-faculty teaching and research clinic for individual and family mental health and well-being, which focuses on treatment, not blame.

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Ed Taylor Associate Dean, Faculty of Health and Social Development

FACULTY 21

BALANCING ACTOlympian Kelsey Serwa learns how to balance in a university environment

As a World Cup ski-cross champion and Olympic silver medalist, Kelsey Serwa knows a lot about balance. She also knows how to balance training, competition, personal life, and her other aspiration—a UBC degree.

Recouping from a knee injury, Serwa made time in 2014-15 to focus on full-time studies in human kinetics. It’s the first time she’s been off the slopes to devote to her future: life after skiing.

“The hardest part of going back to school full time was relearning how to learn efficiently,” she says. Serwa is used to being coached by the world’s best, by professionals who want her to be at the top of her game. She says the atmosphere at UBC’s Okanagan campus is similar.

“Every professor I’ve had has gone out of their way to help me. It’s as if they take the students under their wings, providing us students with the best opportunity to succeed,” says Serwa. “The professors are putting the students in the right environment to be successful.”

While her knee mends and she balances schoolwork—plus dryland training, personal appearances, and managing the KSer Scholarship Fund (initiated to help Grade 12 students in their pursuit of excellence in athletics and academics)—Serwa looks toward another goal: becoming a physiotherapist and helping others recover from injuries.

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Kelsey Serwa BSc student, School of Health and Exercise SciencesPhoto: Mike Ridewood, Courtesy Canadian Olympic Committee

STUDENTS 23

Matthew Rigby BScN student, Nursing

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LIFELONG LEARNINGMatthew Rigby discovers new horizons and a bright future in caregiving

It wasn’t the outcome Matthew Rigby predicted. But the nursing program at UBC’s Okanagan campus gave the graduating student a new sense of purpose, belonging, and an exciting future. “There are more opportunities in nursing than I first realized,” says Rigby, 35, a father of three. “You’re never done learning. In my career, I will get to train for different units, upgrade, and develop specific skill sets.”

While juggling family life, Rigby knew he needed to prepare for his future. He worked at a group home for adults with disabilities, but “I was out of my element for discussions with doctors about people’s health needs.”

Rigby says the nursing program pushed him to his limits and broadened his horizons, teaching him to investigate knowledge of how the body’s systems interact. “It’s learning to care with all of your faculties, notice things, communicate well, and sometimes teach patients who aren’t literate about their health.”

“One of the interesting things about nursing is that through caring about patients’ health you develop a tenderness for people,” he says. “What a wonderful career, where you can be taking someone’s pulse while holding their hand. That’s what I love most about my career in nursing—that it’s good for the soul.”

STUDENTS 25

COMMUNITY EFFORTVanessa Bergeron’s quest for a MSW in the Okanagan revealed adventure and opportunity

Vanessa Bergeron developed a greater passion for social work during her year of learning and adventure in the Okanagan Valley, while on leave from a job back home in Regina. “It has been challenging to move and build new roots,” she says. “However, I have found lots of opportunities to become involved at UBC’s Okanagan campus. It has been a community effort.”

Bergeron volunteered in the Faculty of Medicine’s Walk ‘N’ Talk for Life community health research study, helped to pioneer the Social Work Student’s Union, co-organized Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction on campus, and mixed in plenty of mountain biking, hiking, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing in and around Kelowna.

While working in Saskatchewan health regions, Bergeron was drawn to UBC’s Master of Social Work through the university’s reputation, the location, and Associate Professor Daniel Salhani’s policy work in Canada. “I have since met some amazing teachers and students that have inspired me in my professional and personal life,” she says. “I have been able to learn more about new perspectives and the struggles and resilience of people, and been challenged by the clinical emphasis of the courses.”

For her summer practicum at the School’s Interprofessional Clinic, Bergeron “found opportunities to learn and practice skills that I wouldn’t have had the chance to do in other settings.”

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Vanessa Bergeron MSW student, School of Social Work

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CLOSE-KNIT CAMPUSAt UBC’s Okanagan campus, students join a close-knit learning community where open dialogue reaches across disciplines and departments, cultivating bold new ways of thinking.

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CAMPUS CULTURE

STUDENT-FACULTY RATIO

20:1 UNDERGRADUATE CLASSES WITH

FEWER THAN 30 STUDENTS

46%

STUDENTS IN ABORIGINAL ACCESS STUDIES PROGRAM SINCE 2007

223

STUDENTS LIVING ON CAMPUS

1,676

OK ANAGAN CAMPUS EXPERIENCE 29

A PLACEFOR EVERYONE

From nature trails and coffee spots to comfortable student collegia, UBC’s Okanagan campus continues to add spaces that support well-being.The workout and studio space in the new Hangar Fitness Centre complement athletic courts, fitness stations, and the Nonis artificial turf sports field.Such vibrant environments in our UBC community are places to learn, work, and play.

ATHLETICS AND RECREATION

GYMNASIUM SQ.M.

1,561 VARSITY ATHLETICS

TEAMS

12STEPS TO NATURE TRAILS

100

30

LIBRARY

SEATS

674 STUDY ROOMS

14COMPUTER

WORKSTATIONS

114

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Zuwena Haji MachanaBHK student, School of Health and Exercise Sciences

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PEER TO PEER MENTORZuwena Haji Machana adjusts to university life half a world away from home

Whirlwinds of change carried human kinetics student Zuwena Haji Machana to Kelowna, BC. Born on the island of Zanzibar in East Africa, she crossed the continent for high school in Ghana. Then, still a teenager, she arrived to another new life at UBC’s Okanagan campus.

A family tragedy in Zanzibar due to inadequate medical care motivated Haji Machana’s UBC journey, in which she’s found faculty guidance, the support of International Programs and Services, and fellowship in student groups such as the Human Kinetics Student Union, African Caribbean Student Club, and the Rejoice Cultural Fashion Show. Peer mentor and third-year BHK student Claire Lindsey became her rock, inspiring Haji Machana to become a peer mentor, too.

The roots of home are important. Haji Machana helped build a school, taught junior-high students, and raised funds for a community clinic in Ghana, providing children and elders with clean drinking water. “Early mornings, hard work,” she says, recalling the volunteerism that clinched a UBC international student scholarship.

Haji Machana has grown and evolved along with her post-degree ambitions. “At UBC, I changed the way I think,” she says. “People here have more medical services and physiotherapists. I can do more to help at home in Africa.”

GLOBAL COMMUNITY

ANNUAL SCHOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS FOR

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

$1.1M

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UBC’s Okanagan campus is situated between Kelowna’s lively city centre and stunning mountains, lakes, and trails of the Okanagan Valley. Embark on a trail adventure, savour the freshest produce at farm-to-table restaurants, take part in the thriving arts scene, and enjoy year-round access to the great outdoors.

OASIS IN THE VALLEY

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SUMMER WARM AND DRY

25C

WINTER COOL AND CLEAR

-1C

2,000 hours of sunshine annually4 seasons of outdoor recreation: skiing, golfing, hiking, and water sports5 of Canada’s largest ski resorts within 3 hours135 km length of Okanagan Lake30 beaches, 200 freshwater lakes

OK ANAGAN VALLEY 35

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