50 Remarkable Alumni: Lisa Kelly’s long academic journey sparked by inspiration in UFV classes

Dr. Lisa Kelly teaches her law students at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario with confidence and compassion, qualities instilled in her as an undergraduate at UFV (then the University College of the Fraser Valley) in the early 2000s.

Completing a two-year Associate of Arts degree at UFV before embarking on a multi-institution academic journey, Lisa earned a BA from UBC, and a law degree from the University of Toronto. She completed her doctorate at Harvard, where her research focused on family law, education law, and law and sexuality. During her time there, she was a recipient of the prestigious Trudeau Foundation scholarship.

After law school, Lisa articled with the Department of Justice in Ottawa and clerked for a judge at the Supreme Court of Canada.

Lisa dreamed of becoming a lawyer from a young age, watching Matlock and having her dad drop her off to attend trials while still a teen, but later pursued academia instead of courtroom practice. She says that’s due, in part, to her experience at UFV.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the classroom environment at UFV and the ability to talk about difficult ideas and issues,” she recalls. “I had the opportunity to really learn in depth about history and contemporary problems.

“My teachers at all the various institutions inspired in me a continuing passion to talk about difficult issues and ideas,” she says. “I have to give a lot of credit to UFV for setting me on a really positive post-secondary path. University can be a huge and jarring jump in terms of workload, academics, and social adjustment. UFV provided me with a supportive base for developing academic and social skills and that foundation was very crucial to my larger trajectory. It was the opposite of alienating.”

Lisa’s decision to focus on teaching was validated early in her career when she won a prestigious teaching excellence award within the Faculty of Law at Queen’s in just her second year as a professor.

“I was very privileged and enormously grateful to receive that award. It proved to me that this is what I was meant to do.”

Her teaching focuses on criminal law, and her current research focuses on young people involved in the criminal justice system. She is working on a book tentatively titled Courting Danger: How the School Safety Revolution Has Transformed Student Life.

In it, she argues that over the past four decades, new thinking about students’ physical and psychological safety has become central to how elementary and secondary schools are regulated and governed. Students themselves are often identified as the primary source of danger to other students and staff.

“The effects of these changes have not been evenly distributed,” she notes. “Students with disabilities, racialized and Indigenous students, and students with less family support frequently bear the brunt of punitive approaches invoked in the name of safety.”

She credits UFV professors Chris Leach, Sylvie Murray, David Milobar, and John Carroll with inspiring her.

“Small class sizes and being able to meet directly with my professors and get feedback on my research and writing was crucial to building my confidence as a student and helping me to see that I had a place at university,” she says. “That’s why I’m a big believer in smaller university models, for undergraduates in particular.”

Her advice for current students?

“I encourage students to familiarize themselves with and become knowledgeable about new technologies. But I would also remind students that there is no substitute for face-to-face interaction engagement. If you have the opportunity to meet with professors and other students, you should make the most of that. You may not have the same opportunity later in life. To this day, I remain grateful and enthusiastic about the education I received at UFV.”