Dear members of the UBC community:
As we begin the second month of the fall semester, I’m grateful to see that UBC students, faculty and staff are all doing their part to ensure that our university remains COVID free.
To my knowledge, most students, faculty and staff have been wearing masks on campus, and people have been observing guidelines around parties and large social gatherings. Thank you everyone. Together, we are getting through this.
À ma connaissance, la plupart des étudiants, des professeurs et du personnel portaient des masques sur le campus, et les gens ont observé les directives autour des fêtes et des grands rassemblements sociaux. Merci tout le monde.
Today, I’d like to share with you some examples of how the UBC community is adapting and even thriving in these uncertain times. I’ll share more examples in the coming weeks.
First, I’m personally excited to announce that Professor Katherine Lyon, who created the course COVID-19 and Society at UBC, has opened up her very popular course to the public. I’ve contributed a lecture to the course myself – I’ll be speaking to the students about COVID and the environment later in the term. The course starts October 13 and you can enrol at www.edx.org/course/covid-19-society.
I was also pleased to see that UBC Sauder students are partnering with small business and non-profit organizations to help them adapt to the new COVID economy.
Students like Muthoni Mutung’u, who came from Kenya to pursue an MBA. She spent the summer working for the C.O.D.E. Initiative, a not-for-profit in the education space. Launched by three UBC students, the organization teaches children with learning differences computer programming skills in a supportive environment.
And the Faculty of Dentistry has made its Sweet Student Fund available by online application to support students facing unexpected hardships, including those brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, 104 students who have faced COVID-related financial problems have been supported by the fund.
There are many, many more examples, and I look forward to sharing some of them over the coming weeks.
And now for my regular Songs of Comfort selection, this week we have The Ocean Deep, an original composition by second-year School of Music composition student Leif Jack. Leif is currently studying online from his home in Kelowna.
Stay safe and best wishes.