“I’m one of those forever students,” says UFV alumna Shana Smith (BA ’16). “I just love learning.”  So much so that she didn’t want to leave — after graduating with a major in English and a minor in Media and Communication, she continued on as an employee. Shana now brings her creativity to UFV’s Information…

Content warning: This post relates to residential schools. A reminder that the Indian Residential School Survivors Society has a 24 hour Crisis Line available at 1-866-925-4419. Dr. Sarah Beaulieu, an anthropologist and assistant professor in the UFV School of Culture, Media, and Society, has been celebrated with a prestigious Governor General’s Innovation Award along with…

In one year as head of the psychology department, Dr. Andrea Hughes has made a lasting impression on her colleagues. With more than half of her department being new to UFV, she took on the role during a period of change and growth, and keeps her teammates feeling energized and cared for. While her department…

In her career to date, Candace Stewart-Smith has encouraged the students she works with to define their goals, follow their dreams, and take risks. Now she’s doing all three herself as she moves across Canada to take on the role of Director of the Centre for Experiential and Career Education at UFV. The Centre for…

When you are an academic researcher, inspiration for your next study can come from some surprising places. For UFV sociology professor Kathleen Rodgers, that “aha” moment occurred four years ago as she indulged in her favourite guilty pleasure: listening to a true crime podcast. These days, a good true crime podcast episode for Rodgers is…

UFV’s new Director of Energy and Sustainability has moved across the country to take the job because he thinks UFV is in a unique position to respond to climate change and environmental sustainability. As a university located in a living laboratory of environmental challenges, Doran Hoge believes that UFV can be a leader, both in…

Former RCMP officer and teacher Tina Kerton has joined UFV in the position of Director, Safety and Security. She started on Sept. 19, overseeing security, emergency management, environmental health and safety, and enterprise risk management. An English major with an interest in Indigenous studies, Kerton earned her Bachelor of Education degree from UBC in 2000,…

At a UFV Indigenous Studies faculty meeting in early 2022, an idea and opportunity for collaboration for an inclusive new course originated organically. Dr. Mique’l Dangeli and Dr. Keziah Wallis, both relatively new faculty members at UFV, immediately bonded over their shared passion for Indigenous cinema while simultaneously appreciating each other’s unique career backgrounds: Dangeli, the…

Dr. Judy Larsen of UFV’s Upgrading and University Preparation department has always taken the atypical route when it came to teaching mathematics and mathematics education courses.  Guided by principles of the ‘Building Thinking Classrooms’ framework, her classes are known to be a little loud, messy, and full of students out of their seats and at…

The beautiful thing about academics is that it is never too late to learn and it doesn't have to come in a perfectly straight path. Dr. Michael Gaetz, an associate professor in Kinesiology at UFV, took the long road from working in a gas station in his early adulthood to becoming one of the country's…

On Sunday night, Mike Teigen and his family were inside their Honda Pilot just outside of Hope, BC, staring ahead at a highway submerged in water, when they realized they were out of options. They couldn’t go west on Highway 7 towards their home in Mission, as they had tried to 90 minutes earlier, because…

On a near perfect early fall morning on the Abbotsford campus, signs of normalcy -- or at least the new normalcy -- were evident. Droves of students, staff and faculty -- all masked up -- roamed around the outdoor walkways and inside the halls. Some people congregated on the grass together. Some sat at tables…

Earlier in the year, as parking lots around campus remained empty and foot traffic was sparse due to the global pandemic, a small group of technicians from UFV’s audio visual (AV) team moved purposely from classroom to classroom making significant AV technology upgrades.  Decade-old projectors were replaced by digital laser ones; touch screens with smart…

Shelley Hayes is a country girl at heart. She spent a lot of time at her grandparents’ dairy farm on Fairfield Island in Chilliwack growing up, and always had horses. Hayes graduated from Office Careers (now Applied Business Technology) in 1982 and worked several jobs at Fraser Valley College (as it was known then) before…

Editor’s note: Like people all over the world, UFV employees received a sudden shock in mid-March when many of us started working from home to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Many of us had never imagined a scenario where we would be based at home for our UFV duties, working remotely from colleagues, and…