When 29-year-old Dr. Alan Cameron zoomed over the Port Mann bridge in his Porsche to begin teaching at the year-old Fraser Valley College in September 1975, he had no idea that he would go on to become its longest-serving faculty member.    Fifty years later, he’s back in the classroom after a year’s sabbatical, and looking…

A University of the Fraser Valley alumna is blazing a trail in a traditionally male-dominated field  and helping other women find their way.  Cassandra Shewchuk (BSc Honours Physical Geography, 2020) graduated from UFV just five years ago but is already viewed as a leader and role model. She was recently elected to the board of…

Operating rooms are meant to save lives, but research by Dr. Alexander Villafranca, a faculty member at UFV’s Kinesiology department, suggests they can also be toxic workplaces. Now, he’s developing tools to help stop disruptive behaviour that can put both patients and staff at risk.  Studies led by Alexander show that bad behaviour is commonly…

A two-year-long partnership between Abbotsford’s Pacific Institution and the University of the Fraser Valley is bringing higher education to inmates, preparing them for life after incarceration.   The success of an initial guest lecture series by UFV professors revealed a strong demand for further educational offerings; in response, there are now two UFV courses available for…

For the past two decades, one name has been associated more than any other with the South Asian Studies Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley. When you think of SASI, the institute’s founding director, Dr. Satwinder Bains, comes to mind pretty quickly. That changed on August 15 when Satwinder formally retired. She is…

When the world is in flux, and exams and assignments are adding up, it can be hard to keep yourself afloat. Mental health is important, but how can UFV students take care of it when the bad news never ends, and they can barely make ends meet as it is?   Robbyn Bennett, Executive Director of…

This summer, while most of us are tending gardens or soaking up the sun, UFV’s Dr. Lauren Erland will be heading to a colder climate — the Arctic.  The director of UFV’s Berry Environmental Resilience Research & Innovation (BERRI) Lab is taking a cruise with Adventure Canada. Serving as the ship’s botanist, she’ll help travelers…

Dr. Jatinder Mann has joined the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) as Director of the South Asian Studies Institute (SASI), succeeding Dr. Satwinder Bains, who retires this month. Jatinder comes to UFV from the United Kingdom (UK). He holds several degrees and credentials, including a PhD from the University of Sydney in Australia and,…

For humans, melatonin is useful for getting to sleep. For strawberry plants, it may be a tool for survival in a warming world.  UFV student researcher Emily Foster recently finished a study that found melatonin reduces heat stress in alpine strawberries, increasing the resilience of a native crop. Melatonin is a hormone produced by humans…

For kids in grades 4–7, UFV’s Science Rocks! summer day camp is more than just a week out of the house; it’s a hands-on adventure in discovery. Campers create explosive (but still safe!) reactions in real science labs, explore wildlife and rocks, and measure the world around them like true scientists.  Each week-long camp features…

The world of high-performance sports can push an athlete to the limit, both physically and mentally. But when do the costs outweigh the benefits? When does participation do more harm than good?  A research project led by UFV kinesiology student Meigan Picard examined those questions through the lens of competitive ballet culture. Her paper suggests…

In the right hands, a welding torch is just as useful as a paint brush in creating beautiful art, and proof of that now sits just inside the front door of the UFV Trades and Technology Centre on the Chilliwack campus.  A group of Grade 11-12 students from the Chilliwack School District enrolled in a…