Dear members of the UBC community.
Earlier this week, Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry made it clear that BC’s Restart Plan depends on as many people as possible getting vaccinated. Vaccines are the best way to protect yourself, your loved ones and your community from COVID-19 and getting life back to normal. If you haven’t registered for your vaccination yet, please do so at getvaccinated.gov.bc.ca.
According to Dr. Henry, we can look forward to in-person celebrations and events in the coming months, providing more people get vaccinated. But until then, we must get together virtually for our celebrations, including Spring Graduation.
I hope you can join me for the graduation ceremonies next Wednesday, June 2. I know it’s not the graduation celebration we originally hoped for, but it will be memorable. It will be special. And we will come together to celebrate in person when it’s safe to do so, which we hope will be soon.
Thinking of our graduating students and their proud families always fills me with joy. This is also a special time for our faculty members, as their students successfully complete their years of study. It is a time of joy, a time of celebration and a time to come together as a community, whether in person or online.
Because the ceremonies will be virtual, everyone – not just graduates and their families – can participate and celebrate the achievements of our amazing students. The Vancouver ceremony starts at 10 a.m. and the Okanagan ceremony at 3 p.m. you can find out the details at graduation.ubc.ca.
I hope you can join me in paying tribute to the Class of 21.
My unsung hero shoutout this week goes to Dr. Barbara Oliviera. After completing her PhD in Brazil and then becoming a mother, Barbara moved to Canada with her family to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship at UBC Okanagan’s School of Health and Exercise Sciences.
As president of the UBC Okanagan Postdoctoral Association, she aims to make the postdoc experience as valuable as possible and showcasing the breadth of resources that UBC Okanagan has to offer. She urges other postdocs to make the best of their experience by taking advantage of these resources and making connections during their short time as a fellow.
Barbara, thank you for everything you do.
Stay safe and best wishes.
Santa J. Ono
President and Vice-Chancellor