We are pleased to announce that Damara Klaassen has been appointed the new Executive Director of the International Student Initiative (ISI), effective April 15, 2019.
Ms. Klaassen is currently Senior Director of the ISI, a role she has held since 2010, and has also been serving as the Interim Executive Director for the past five and a half months.
Ms. Klaassen received her Bachelor of Education from Trinity Western University/Simon Fraser University in 1998 and her Master of Education in Adult Learning and Global Change from UBC in 2008. She has taught English internationally and in Canada to immigrants of diverse nationalities, and she joined the ISI in 2000. During her tenure at ISI, Ms. Klaassen has been instrumental in developing marketing and recruitment strategies that have helped the University meet its annual international undergraduate enrolment goals. She led the set-up of overseas basecamps, which provide in-country full-time recruitment for UBC in various regions around the world, helping to create a diverse international student population. With a strong student-centred focus, Ms. Klaassen led the development of the ISI Student Financial Assistance and Awards program that, in this academic year, supported approximately 2000 international students across both campuses.
The advisory committee conducted an international search for this position, and we would like to thank all those who served on the committee for their time and effort.
We look forward to working with Ms. Klaassen in her new role, as she brings her student-centred approach and keen desire for cross-cultural understanding to aid the University in its vision of “inspiring, people, ideas and actions for a better world” through building a diverse and inclusive student body.