When Amrit Singh sets his mind on an academic goal, he usually achieves it. So, when he zeroed in on winning the Governor General’s Silver Medal for 2024, odds were good he’d win it. It took a ton of work to achieve the highest standing in an undergraduate degree program, but Singh did what he…

Dr. Vanessa Radzimski believes the best way for students to succeed is to make mistakes and learn from them. It’s a core tenet of her teaching philosophy, along with the idea that students are the best teachers for students. Whether they enter one of Radzimski’s courses with a lot or a little mathematics experience, they…

Eryn Braley is thankful to have chosen a career in Indigenous public health that allows her to connect with her Indigenous identity. “I am so appreciative of the Indigenous mentors and peers who have guided me in my career and personal journey. Through teachings, connection, and ceremonies, I am connecting with who I am as…

UFV’s new Centre for High Pressure Research (CHPR) will open this fall thanks to $530,725 in targeted funding. The only one of its kind in Canada, the centre will be led by Dr. Jacob Spooner, a UFV assistant professor in chemistry, who recently received a $208,557 John R. Evans Leaders Fund grant through the Canada…

Dr. Michael Hitch joins UFV as the Dean of the Faculty of Science, effective Sept. 1, 2023. He will also hold a faculty appointment in the Department of Geoscience.  A senior leader with more than 38 years of academic and industry experience, Dr. Hitch brings a strong history of sound management and a combined track…

A student would have to be really outstanding to be the first-ever winner of the UFV Alumni Association’s Outstanding Student Leader award.  Manjot Benning fits the bill, and then some!  She’s graduating this June with top marks in her Bachelor of Science degree program, with sights set on medical school applications in the future. She’s…

Dr. Christopher Pascoe likens life as a research scientist to that of an explorer.  “You stand on the edge of what we know and peer out into the fog of the unknown.”  Now a tenure-track assistant professor, Pascoe (BSc ’10) chose to follow his curiosity over the edge and into the field of asthma research. …

For Dr. James Bedard, the 2022 winner of the Research Excellence award at UFV, a faculty posting in the biology department turned out to be the perfect fit. His mentor during his undergraduate and graduate years studying microbiology in Manitoba had told him that he’d make a good teaching-focused professor with a minor focus on…

Dr. Sandra Gillespie’s lineage explains plenty. Growing up in the Fraser Valley in a family of biologists, she developed an affinity for the outdoors and all of the species that inhabit it.  “My interest in the natural world started naturally from being around adults that encouraged observation and curiosity,” says Gillespie, an assistant biology professor…

It’s somewhat fitting, at least this year, that the decision of who receives the Governor General’s Silver Medal comes down to numbers. This prestigious academic medal goes to the student graduating from a bachelor’s degree program at UFV with the highest grade-point average. And for 2021, that status goes to Tanner Boos, who is graduating…

UFV students help shape curriculum for a school with environmental focus Donovan Toews and Michelle Lefebvre are a part of something big. Ecosystem big. The UFV student duo stand in a forest beside a school playground on a rainy day in north Mission. On the other side of a fence separating Donovan and Michelle from…

In honour of Earth Day, Faculty of Science communications consultant Carin Bondar created a parody video about climate change, featuring singing by College of Arts student Cambree Lovesey, and cameos by many UFV faculty and students, Dean of Science Lucy Lee, and President Joanne MacLean. "The art-form of the parody meets the epic challenge of…

Dr. Lucy Lee is in demand. She’s on the phone, walking down the hall near her UFV office arranging a trip to New Zealand, having just returned from San Francisco. There’s an email from Chile in her inbox. Is she going to Japan in a few weeks? There’s also that shipment that needs to get…

You could be forgiven for having a sense of déjà vu when hearing the name of the 2019 winner of the Governor General’s silver medal at UFV, awarded to the top graduate in a bachelor’s degree program. That’s because Perrin Waldock was also the 2018 winner of the Governor General’s collegiate bronze medal, awarded to…

Andrew Alexander has only been a UFV alumnus for four years, but he’s accomplished enough in that short period to earn him the Young Distinguished Alumni Award for 2018. After finishing his Bachelor of Science (Honours) with minors in biology and chemistry in 2014, he headed into a master’s degree program in molecular biology and…