Maximizing Impact 2020/21

A program for women and gender-diverse early-career faculty at UBC

We have launched a new pilot program, Maximizing Impact: Navigating Uncertainty and Complexity in the time of COVID-19, to engage women and gender-diverse early-career faculty in maximizing the impact of their academic endeavours – particularly during this challenging and uncertain time.

Led by Dr. Naznin Virji-Babul, Senior Advisor to the Provost, Women and Gender-Diverse Faculty, UBC Vancouver, and Associate Professor, Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, this program invites non-tenured women and gender-diverse faculty members, at the level of Assistant Professor, to a three-month online pilot program. The program will provide networking opportunities, lunch-and-learn sessions with thoughtful and engaging speakers, and group and/or 1:1 leadership coaching.

The program will focus on the following components:

  1. Networking opportunities for faculty who are at the start of their academic careers.
  2. Events/workshops to help early-career faculty effectively lead change (See the list of general themes and speakers below)
  3. Leadership coaching provided as groups and/or one-on-one, for a small cohort (approx. 20 junior faculty members) in collaboration with Yael Blum (Director, Organizational Development and Learning, Human Resources) and Cindy Goundrey (Program Lead, Coaching Services, Human Resources)

The focus of the coaching initiative will be on “Navigating Uncertainty and Complexity in the time of COVID”. This is in direct response to the results from a recent survey of faculty, which clearly highlighted that early-career faculty are having a much more negative impact from the effects of the pandemic in research, teaching and service. The focus of the program in subsequent years will be responsive to the specific needs of this group.

MonthMarchAprilMayJune
ThemeStarting and maintaining a vibrant research program/lab, motivating graduate students while in lockdown and post-lockdownManaging family responsibilities (parenthood and aging parents) with demands of academiaTeaching during COVID – successes, challenges, and learning from each otherWhat does “excellence” mean at UBC? What does individual success look like/Discussion of tenure process
SpeakersSophia FrangouShernaz BamjiJanice StewartMarion Pearson
Karen CheungLiisa GaleaChristina HendricksLara Boyd
Gina OgilvieRenisa MawaniJaclyn StewartJehannine Austin
   Anita Palepu
DatesMarch 10April 8May 13June 16
TimeNoon - 1:30pmNoon - 1:30pmNoon - 1:30pmNoon - 1:30pm

Learn more about our speakers

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Dr. Jehannine Austin, Professor and Canada Research Chair, UBC Departments of Psychiatry and Medical Genetics, Executive Director BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services Research Institute

Dr. Jehannine Austin, Professor and Canada Research Chair, UBC Departments of Psychiatry and Medical Genetics, Executive Director BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services Research Institute, completed her BSc (Hons, Biochemistry) at Bath University, and her PhD in Neuropsychiatric Genetics at the University of Wales College of Medicine in the UK before completing training as a Genetic Counselor at UBC in 2003. She was first appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry in 2007, and in the Department of Medical Genetics in 2008, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2012, and Professor in 2018. She holds/has held multiple external salary awards including a CIHR New Investigator Award, a Michael Smith Career Investigator Award, and a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair, and received CIHR’s 2007 Maud Menten New Investigator Award. She is co-author of the book “How to talk with families about genetics and psychiatric illness” (W.W Norton, 2011), Graduate Advisor to the UBC Genetic Counseling program, and a Board Certified Genetic Counselor.

Websites: https://medgen.med.ubc.ca/person/jehannine-austin/; https://psychiatry.ubc.ca/person/jehannine-austin/

Dr. Shernaz Bamji, Professor, Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences and Associate Director, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health

Dr. Shernaz Bamji, Professor, Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences and Associate Director, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, has a long-standing interest in understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying neural connectivity and synaptic plasticity. Her work has provided valuable information about fundamental mechanisms underlying learning and memory, as well as how these processes are perturbed in diseased states.

Website: https://www.centreforbrainhealth.ca/bamji-shernaz

Dr. Lara Boyd, Professor, Wall Scholar, Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine

Dr. Lara Boyd is the Canada Research Chair in Neurobiology of Motor Learning, a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Career Investigator, a Peter Wall Scholar, and a Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, at the University of British Columbia. She is a Neuroscientist and Physical Therapist, and directs the Brain Behaviour Lab at the University of British Columbia. Her work is centered on answering the question of what limits, and what facilitates, neuroplasticity. Dr. Boyd is also the Health Research Advisor to the Vice President for Research at UBC and the University’s delegate to the Canadians Institutes for Health Research.

Website: https://physicaltherapy.med.ubc.ca/person/lara-boyd/

Dr. Karen Cheung, Professor; Director of the Graduate Program, and Associate Director of the School of Biomedical Engineering

Dr. Karen C. Cheung, Professor; Director of the Graduate Program, and Associate Director of the School of Biomedical Engineering, received her BSc  and PhD degrees in Bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1998 and 2002, respectively. From 2002–2005, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. Her research interests include lab-on-a-chip systems for cell culture and characterization, inkjet printing for tissue engineering, and implantable neural interfaces.

Website: https://www.bme.ubc.ca/person/karen-cheung/

Dr. Sophia Frangou, Professor of Psychiatry and President's Excellent Chair in Research in Brain Health, Faculty of Medicine

Dr. Sophia Frangou, MD, PhD, FRCPsych is a Professor of Psychiatry and President’s Excellent Chair in Research in Brain Health at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, where she leads the Translational Neuroimaging and Clinical Neuroscience Program in Mental Health.

Dr. Frangou’s research focuses on uncovering pathophysiological processes underlying psychosis, with emphasis on schizophrenia and bipolar disorder using clinical, genetic, cognitive, and neuroimaging techniques. She has pioneered the use of brain imaging to identify brain plasticity associated with resilience in those at risk for mood and psychotic disorders and has been instrumental defining shared brain imaging changes across mental disorders, thus paving the way towards neuroscience-informed early intervention and prevention. Dr. Frangou has received numerous awards, most recently the prestigious Colvin Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Mood Disorders Research from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation.

Website: https://psychiatry.ubc.ca/person/sophia-frangou/

Dr. Liisa Galea, University Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychology

Dr. Liisa Galea is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and a member of the Centre for Brain Health at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She is also Director of the Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Lead of the Women’s Health Research Cluster and a Scientific Advisor for the Women’s Health Research Institute. Her research investigates how sex hormones influence brain health and disease in both females and males. The main goal of her research is to improve brain health for women and men by examining the influence of sex and sex hormones on normal and diseased brain states such as depression and Alzheimer’s disease.

Website: https://psych.ubc.ca/profile/liisa-galea/

Dr. Christina Hendricks, Professor of Teaching, Philosophy, and Academic Director, Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology

Dr. Christina Hendricks is a Professor of Teaching in the Philosophy Department at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. In Philosophy she teaches courses in Introduction to Philosophy, Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy, Continental Philosophy, and Feminist Theory. She has also taught in a first-year, team-taught, interdisciplinary program at UBC Vancouver called Arts One. She was the Chair of the Arts One program in 2010-2012 and 2015-2017.

Dr. Hendricks is the Academic Director of the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology at UBC Vancouver (since July 2018).

Previous to coming to UBC (in July of 2004), Dr. Hendricks taught for four years as an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Rock County in Janesville, Wisconsin–part of the University of Wisconsin Colleges system.

Website: https://philosophy.ubc.ca/profile/christina-hendricks/

Prof. Renisa Mawani, Professor, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts

Professor Renisa Mawani has a PhD from the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto. She is currently Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of British Columbia and recurring Chair of the Law and Society Program. Other affiliations at UBC include: Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies (Wall Scholar 2015-2016); Faculty Associate Social Justice Institute, Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies Program, and Science and Technology Studies Program.

Website: https://sociology.ubc.ca/profile/renisa-mawani/

Dr. Gina Ogilvie, Canada Research Chair, Professor, Faculty of Medicine

Dr. Gina Ogilvie is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Global Control of HPV related diseases and prevention. She is also Senior Public Health Scientist at BC Centre for Disease Control and Senior Research Advisor at the BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre. Dr. Ogilvie is principal investigator on over 5 million dollars in research grants and has received funding from PHAC, CIHR, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, Canadian Foundation for Innovation and private foundations.

Her research is focused on both the public health and clinical aspects of reproductive health, sexually transmitted infections, HPV screening and the HPV vaccine, and her findings have been highly influential in setting and directing health policy both in Canada and globally. Among other research projects, she is principal investigator for the ASPIRE program.

Website: https://www.spph.ubc.ca/person/gina-ogilvie/

Dr. Anita Palepu, Professor and Eric W. Hamber Chair, Head, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine

Dr. Anita Palepu is Head of the Department of Medicine and Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at UBC. She is the Physician Program Director for the St. Paul’s Hospital Medicine Program and works as a General Internist.

Dr. Palepu conducts her research at the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences and has a research program that falls under the broad umbrella of urban health research, with particular interest in vulnerable populations such as homeless persons and drug users. She is an Associate Editor for the Annals of Internal Medicine. Dr. Palepu completed the THNK School of Creative Leadership program in 2015 and is exploring how to use tools from design thinking in exploring societal challenges pertaining to health and health care.

Website: https://medicine.med.ubc.ca/profiles/anita-palepu/

Dr. Marion Pearson, Chair of SAC and Professor of Teaching, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Dr. Marion Pearson is professor of teaching in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC. She graduated from UBC with a BSc(Pharm) in 1982 and completed a residency in community pharmacy practice in 1983. She joined the Faculty that year as coordinator of the Year 1 pharmacy skills lab. In this role, she has been an innovator in the use of portfolio assessment, peer teaching, and narrative pedagogy. Dr. Pearson has also received several teaching awards, including the Killam Teaching Prize.

In 1998/99, Dr. Pearson was part of the first cohort to undertake the UBC Certificate on Teaching in Higher Education, now the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Leadership program. She subsequently completed an MA in higher education in 2008 and a PhD in curriculum studies in 2014 at UBC. She remains involved with the SoTL Leadership program as a guest speaker, external peer reviewer, and member of the advisory board. Dr. Pearson is currently the director of the BSc(Pharm) program and director of the Office of Educational Support and Development in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences. One of her aims in the latter position is to support the SoTL efforts of her colleagues.

Website: https://pharmsci.ubc.ca/directory/marion-l-pearson

Dr. Jaclyn Stewart, Associate Professor of Teaching, Chemistry, and Deputy Academic Director, Institute for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Dr. Jaclyn (Jackie) Stewart is an Associate Professor of Teaching in the Department of Chemistry and the Deputy Academic Director of the CTLT. She specializes in teaching general chemistry, organic chemistry, and science communication. As an educational psychologist, her research interests span the areas of self-regulated learning and emotions, assessment, and inclusion. She is passionate about helping students learn to use research-tested study strategies and supporting faculty to adopt evidence–based instructional methods. Dr. Stewart’s work has been generously supported by the SoTL seed program, TLEF, the Equity and Inclusion Scholars Program, Skylight (development grants), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Website: https://isotl.ctlt.ubc.ca/person/jaclyn-stewart/

Dr. Janice Stewart, Associate Dean, Equity, Strategy and Innovation, Professor of Teaching Social Justice Institute (GRSJ), Faculty of Arts

Dr. Janice Stewart is the Associate Dean, Equity, Strategy and Innovation, Professor of Teaching Social Justice Institute (GRSJ), Faculty of Arts. In addition to her roles as Co-Chair of Critical Studies in Sexuality and Undergraduate Chair, Janice teaches in English Department and in the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice. Her major fields of research are British Modernism and Critical Theory. She is currently working on a series of articles dealing with issues of sexuality, including Contagion theory, Censorship and Homosexual Panic in the trial of Radclyffe Hall; Locked in a Room of One’s Own; Querying the Quest for keys to Woolf’s Madness; Shadows in a Cracked Mirror The Spectre in The Well of Loneliness; and Totemic Subjects:Cultural Appropriations and Identificatory Practices in Emily Carr’s “Indian Stories.“

Website: https://grsj.arts.ubc.ca/person/janice-stewart/

We would also like to thank the women/gender-diverse faculty of the Scholarly Committee of the Emeritus College, who will be supporting the program as facilitators.

Thank you to the committee members advising on this project:

  • Prof. Moura Quayle, Professor, Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President, Academic Affairs
  • Dr. Minelle Mahtani, Associate Professor and Senior Advisor to the Provost on Racialized Faculty
  • Dee Dee Sung, ALDP Program Director and Leadership Coach
  • Dr. Ian Scott, Associate Professor, ALDP Academic Co-Director
  • Dr. Beth Haverkamp, Associate Professor, ALDP Academic Co-Director
  • Dr. Linc Kesler, Associate Professor, Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and English
  • Dr. Sheryl Staub-French, Professor, Civil Engineering

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