UFV Student Change Makers organize Changemaking Week 2025

“Breakthrough” by Sharon Strauss | UFV student & CHASI artist-in-residence | Learn about this art

UFV Student Change Makers are thrilled to announce the first ever Changemaking Week from October 6th–9th, a series of events that align with our four guiding principles of changemaking at UFV: inclusive empowerment, decolonization and Indigenization, sustainable futures, and reciprocity.

Highlighting events from various departments, services, and student organizations, Changemaking Week has something for everyone ready to engage with the mindsets and practices necessary to help create a more equitable, innovative, and sustainable world.

All of these events are free and open to everyone at UFV! We do request attendees RSVP for some events — please find details and links below.

Changemaking Week is created in collaboration with and/or highlighting events from UFV’s own:

Faculty and Staff Association

Student Experience Office

Office of Sustainability

Teaching and Learning Centre

Community Programming and Experience

Community Health and Social Innovation (CHASI) Hub

Peace and Reconcilliation Centre (PARC)

The events included in Changemaking Week are

Changemaking 101 Café

Monday Oct 6, 11:30-12:50pm, B140
Hosted by CHASI as UFV’s changemaking hub, UFV Student Change Makers (UFVSCM), and the Teaching and Learning Centre.

The Changemaker Café is a space for us to connect, celebrate, encourage, share ideas and approaches, and learn from one another. It is also a place for critical dialogue and challenging questions.

Please join Dr. Anna Griffith (Changemaker, Curriculum Developer) and Dr. Martha Dow (Senior Advising Changemaker) as we learn about Changemaking at UFV and what that means for students, before breaking into smaller groups to interrogate these questions. Refreshments courtesy of the Teaching and Learning Centre.

Learn more or RSVP

Promoting Community Change on Campus in the Face of Institutional Resistance with Sara Kishawi

Monday Oct 6, 4-5:30pm, B101
Hosted by the Faculty and Staff Association

Come hear Sara Kishawi speak about her experience as a student community organizer and how she mobilizes change on her campus and beyond, particularly related to the genocide in Gaza. This event will discuss how to mobilize for change on campus and all are welcome.

Sara Kishawi is a Palestinian community organizer and Sociology graduate from Vancouver Island University. Originally from Gaza, she has been a leading voice in campus and community organizing, and served as the spokesperson for the VIU Palestinian Solidarity Encampment. Through rallies, protests, and public talks, she works to raise awareness about the genocide in Gaza and encourages others to take meaningful action in support of Palestinian human rights.

RSVPs are not required for this event.

Pancakes with the President

Thursday, Oct 9, 10:00am-12:00pm, outside B101
Hosted by the Student Experience Office and the Community Health and Social Innovation (CHASI) Hub

Start your morning the best way possible—with a warm stack of pancakes, good company, and plenty of campus spirit!

Come prepared with questions or suggestions that excite you about the future of life at UFV to get your free pancake breakfast served by our president, Dr. James Mandigo. Gluten-free and vegan options will be available.

Beyond Blankets: A Stó:lō Lands Exercise

Tuesday Oct 7, 12:30-2:30pm, A225
Hosted by Peace and Reconciliation Centre (PARC), UFV Student Change Makers (UFVSCM) and the Student Experience Office.

Journey through key moments in Stó:lō history, including life before first contact, colonialism in the Fraser Valley, and Stó:lō resurgence. Beyond Blankets is uniquely designed to help lay a foundation upon which people can begin contributing directly to Stó:lō cultural and political resurgence and genuine Stó:lō-settler reconciliation.

Learn more or RSVP

Fall Fermentation Fiesta

Wednesday Oct 8, 1-2:20pm, S1111
Hosted by Office of Sustainability and UFV Student Change Makers (UFVSCM).

Fermentation is our oldest and most trustworthy technology for preserving, processing, and sharing food. This hands-on workshop with Dr. Alesandros Glaros will teach us how to can produce through the art of fermentation, and we can taste our successes with a personalized jar of pickled vegetables.

For those participating in this year’s Ecochallenge, you can check off a few actions and earn points by attending the event such as “Try a new way to prepare food”.

Learn more or RSVP

From Near to Far: Making Universal Human Rights Just That: Universal

Thursday Oct 9, 2:45-5pm, B101
Hosted by Community Programming and Experience.

Where do we – our community, our country, and our world – stand on the project of human rights? How can we ensure that the aspiration of a universal human rights system is realized? What can and must we as individuals, in our everyday lives, do to promote not only our human rights, but those of others – those with whom we share space but also strangers half a world away?

Join us for this 9 October for a timely conversation with 2025 CBC Massey Lecturer Alex Neve and UFV Assistant Professor Mark Kersten on these and other themes. At a time when optimism and hope is much needed but often in short supply, Alex will provide insights and lessons from his years on the front lines of human rights advocacy. The conversation will explore critical human rights questions and challenges in the region, across Canada, and the world to explore the responsibility we all have to do our part to universalize our rights and the rights others. And the difference we can make when we do so.

Learn more or RSVP