Dr. Awneet Sivia has been selected as UFV’s next Associate Vice-President, Teaching and Learning.

Dr. Sivia is currently an associate professor in the UFV Teacher Education department and program chair of the Master of Education in Educational Leadership and Mentorship degree. She has worked at UFV since 2011 and replaces Dr. Maureen Wideman in the AVP Teaching and Learning role on September 1, 2022.

Dr. James Mandigo, Provost and Vice President, Academic, is happy to welcome Dr. Sivia to her new role.

“I am thrilled that Dr. Sivia has agreed to serve as UFV’s next Associate Vice-President for Teaching and Learning. Not only does Awneet bring the experience and expertise to this position, but also the passion to lead what is needed to support excellence for life-long learning. I also want to thank Dr. Maureen Wideman for her tremendous leadership as the outgoing AVP, Teaching and Learning. UFV is so fortunate to have such strong supporters of teaching and learning.”

Dr. Sivia has won three teaching awards in the past 14 months. She was UFV’s Teaching Excellence award winner in 2021 and received the inaugural West Coast Teaching Excellence Award in April 2022. More recently, she received the prestigious 3M National Teaching Fellowship, and travelled to Ottawa to receive the award and take part in a national conference on teaching excellence.

An educator with more than 30 years’ experience who was a teacher herself before becoming a professor of education, Sivia has dedicated her career to innovation in learning.

Her teaching and educational leadership are guided by himmat, a Punjabi word encompassing attributes such as courage, heart, daring, fearlessness, commitment, strength, and resolve.

She has been a member of the UFV Race and Anti-Racism Network, the President’s task force on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, and a Teacher Education group that received innovation funding to develop social justice activities. She also worked with educators from across BC on a South Asian curriculum development project as part of the South Asian Canadian Legacy Project.

Dr. Sivia is excited about taking on this new role.

“I am honoured and excited to be the next AVP Teaching and Learning at UFV. It is a tremendous opportunity to work with the great team in the TLC towards an institutional vision of excellence in teaching and learning. I feel committed to that vision and hopeful about working together with the division members and alongside others to build on the strong record of innovation and excellence already evident at UFV.

“As a lifelong educator, having experience in both the K-12 and post-secondary systems, I am passionate about the education of the ‘whole’ student. When students come to UFV, my hope is that they experience an education that furthers their ‘life chances’ through powerful and impactful learning experiences in the courses and programs of study available to them. I look forward to the challenges and exciting work ahead of re-envisioning and re-imagining teaching and learning in this next phase of UFV’s evolution as a stellar post-secondary option for students.”