2012 Convocation Program

Table of Contents Chancellor’s Message 2 Thursday, June 7, 2012 President’s Message 3 Welcome from Syilx 4 8:30 a.m. Arts and Sciences (Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences) Ph.D., M.Sc., B.Sc. UBC Board of Governors 4 UBC Okanagan Senate 5 Education M.A., M.Ed., B.Ed. (Elementary Program), B.Ed. (Secondary Program) UBC Traditions 6 The Procession and Programme of Ceremony UBC’s Important Historical 8 Graduating Students Moments Acknowledgements 10 Arts and Sciences (Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences) Parting Words to UBC Grads 11 11:00 a.m. Ph.D., M.A., B.A. Significant Accomplishments 12 & Contributions Creative and Critical Studies M.A., M.F.A., B.A., B.F.A. Awards 13 The Procession and Programme of Ceremony Graduating Students 1:30 p.m. School of Engineering Ph.D., M.A.Sc., B.A.Sc. All Ceremonies to take place in the The Procession and Programme of Ceremony Gymnasium of the Recreation Facility. Graduating Students Management A General Reception will follow each Ph.D., B.Mgt. ceremony in the Courtyard. Honorary Degree Recipient: Ross Fitzpatrick 4:00 p.m. Health and Social Development M.Sc., M.S.N., M.S.W., B.A.H.S., B.H.K., B.S.N., B.S.W. The Procession and Programme of Ceremony Graduating Students Message from the Chancellor Many congratulations on your achievement! Your graduation today vibrant UBC community. I invite you to maintain your relationship with from The University of British Columbia signals an important milestone the university to which you have already dedicated so much time, hard in your personal lives and the lives of those who have supported you work, and energy. With 260,000 graduates spread over 120 countries, in your educational efforts. In achieving this significant goal, you have the Alumni Association is an invaluable resource for you as you embark demonstrated the commitment, creativity, and talent you will need to on your career. I urge you to take advantage of and contribute to this succeed in your chosen career. The entire UBC community applauds extraordinary community of alumni who began their professional lives you on your accomplishments and celebrates with you the importance at UBC, and who form a network that stretches around the world and of this momentous occasion. crosses all disciplines. You are the leaders of tomorrow — you will chart the course for the Graduation day is an opportunity for you to reflect on the past and look next generation of writers, artists, business and health professionals, ahead to the future. This event may well signal a significant change engineers, lawyers, humanists, scientists and teachers. Wherever you of direction in your life. Whatever direction you choose to take, the choose to make your contribution, you will shape society’s actions and knowledge and skills that you have developed here will stand you in exert a powerful influence on the coming generations. As you prepare good stead, not only in your professional life but also as a contributing to assume these roles, I hope you will remember the critical role that member of society. Wherever you may find yourself in the years to The University of British Columbia has played in your preparation…that come, I hope you will remember your time at UBC with pleasure, and you will remember how much you have learned at your alma mater. You that you will be proud of your association with one of the world’s great will use that knowledge to find solutions to some of our most pressing universities. problems. And by so doing, you will ensure that the values we cherish as Canadians are preserved and advanced. Finally, I wish to extend warmest congratulations to the 76 Japanese Canadian honourary degree recipients who suffered through blind Higher education today is as much about collaboration as it is about injustice in the dark days of World War Two. We take inordinate individual learning, and over the course of your studies here you will have discovered the value of working collaboratively, of being part pleasure and pride in celebrating your contributions as citizens of of a “team.” Whether in sports or in a profession, teamwork directs Canada and in officially welcoming you as alumni. It is my sincere hope individual abilities towards meeting objectives successfully by pooling that your long overdue graduation day is a particularly joyous occasion everyone’s knowledge and skills. This principle will be key to your for you and your families and that, like all alumni, you will cherish the success in your chosen career; as you move from the classroom into knowledge that UBC is, and will forever be, your university. the workplace, you will take with you an understanding of the power of teamwork to overcome all obstacles and achieve any goal. Tuum est! If this seems an overly optimistic prospect, think about how far you have already come, how much you have grown, and what you are part Sarah Morgan-Silvester of. As students, and now as graduates, you are valued members of our Chancellor 2 | Convocation 2012 Message from the President In the aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbour, 22,000 Japanese- One of Western culture’s most cherished ideas is that it's never too Canadians were forcibly removed from their homes and communities late. “It's never too late to be what you might have been,” said George and interned in prison camps for the duration of World War II. Seventy- Eliot. “It is never too late to give up our prejudices,” said Henry David six of them were UBC students. Their studies were cut short and their Thoreau. “The time for action is now,” said Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: graduation day taken from them by a University that bowed to racism “It's never too late.” I hold firm to the hopefulness of this idea, even as and fear, and failed to live up to its own vision. I recognize that for some things, the time has passed. UBC’s current leadership cannot right all the wrongs committed in the past, but it is The internment irrevocably altered the course of these students’ lives, not too late to redress them. In addition to the awarding of degrees, and because of family or financial circumstances, few of them were able UBC’s Faculty of Arts will establish an Asian-Canadian Studies Program, to complete their studies, even after the end of the war. Seventy years and UBC Library will create an archive of materials relating to this later, these students and their family members stand side by side with period in the University’s history. the Class of 2012. On May 30, they receive their UBC degrees. And so to the Class of 2012, I say it’s never too late to learn. Learn this I consider it an honour to share the stage with each graduating student. history, and learn from your alma mater’s mistakes. To the 76, I say it’s Although I do it thousands of times each year, each time is unique. never too late to belong. UBC is honoured by your willingness to rejoin That moment is my opportunity to acknowledge the critical tools and the University community, and is proud to call you alumni. professional skills the student has acquired at UBC, the ability he or she has developed to communicate ideas and understanding of other To all of you, it is my pleasure to say at last, congratulations. communities and cultures, and the capacity he or she has built for leadership, for change, and for seeking solutions to the worst of the Proceed. world’s problems. This year, I will also be acknowledging 76 students’ courage in the face Stephen J. Toope of enormous hardship and loss; their willingness to give of their innate President and Vice-Chancellor intelligence and wisdom to a community and a country that denied them a formal university education; and the triumph of their essential decency over injustice—their leadership, in other words—their capacity to effect change, and their gracious responses to one of the world’s worst problems. Those qualities were exemplified in the exhortation of one Japanese-Canadian woman to her children after their UBC education was cut short and their beloved father was taken away: Shoganai,1 she said. Proceed. 1 Shoganai translates as “it can’t be helped.” It is a common Japanese phrase used to express the need for acceptance in the face of insurmountable difficulties. This detail is taken from the documentary A Degree of Justice. Convocation 2012 | 3 W’ay Syilx Welcome Elders, Chiefs, Board of Governors, dignitaries, Okanagan faculty, this opportunity to share your education with the community. Your staff, family, friends, visitors, students and graduates, on behalf of the educational attainment will serve you well, especially if you use it to Okanagan Nation Chiefs and our member communities we welcome serve your communities! The Okanagan Nation Alliance and UBC you to our beautiful territory and to UBC’s Okanagan Campus Spring have forged a new path of partnership and inclusion so that we can all Convocation 2012. We are pleased to be provided this opportunity learn to embrace, strengthen and celebrate our diversity. The pursuit to extend our congratulations to all the new Okanagan graduates of of academic excellence will continue to advance and transform our UBC. We are honoured to be part of your Convocation. Ceremony societies. Okanagan participation in today’s convocation ceremony and and recognition of achievement, and the meaning inherent in special within this University bodes well for our future and our communities.

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