A search committee is being struck to select the next Associate Vice-President of Research and Innovation of the University. According to Policy AP12 (formerly Policy 18), there are four elected positions on this committee; one remains open for a faculty member from the Okanagan Campus
Polls closed at 4pm on Monday, February 10th, 2020.
Candidate Information
Greg Garrard, Professor, English and Cultural Studies
I’m grateful to have been nominated to serve on the hiring committee for the next Associate Vice-President of Research and Innovation. I am presently Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, where I have been instrumental in developing and launching the revised Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies degree. Offering support to colleagues from the creative arts and humanities as they develop research projects and grant applications is a particular pleasure of the position I occupy, along with working to ensure the resulting research is disseminated, rewarded and celebrated. As a steering committee member of the Biodiversity, Resilience and Ecosystems Services research institute, as well as a collaborator on interdisciplinary Eminence and New Frontiers in Research projects, I maintain excellent relations with colleagues from across the campus. As a hiring committee member, I would seek to ensure the next AVRPI has a strong grasp of the institutional conditions for continued growth of outstanding research at UBC across a range of disciplines on both campuses.
Kyle Larson, Associate Professor, Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences
Research is one of the main driving forces behind initiatives at comprehensive universities such as UBC. The policies developed around research broadly affect many facets of the university mechanism. The selection of those guiding research and innovation initiatives at UBC is, therefore, critically important in directing how the institution evolves.
As a faculty member at UBCO for nearly 8 years, I have watched firsthand, how the development of the Office of Research Service, and the opening of the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation (OVPRI) on this campus has helped transform it. As with anything, there have been various growing pains that we, as faculty, have had to overcome and policies and procedures we have had to (re)learn. This is, perhaps, even more true for those of us directly involved in the office (I am currently the Director of the Fipke Laboratory for Trace Element Research, which is part of the OVPRI). The net effect, however, of having a strong champion for research and innovation at UBCO, even if we may not always agree with how it manifests, has been enormously beneficial in providing a platform to grow from.
Whenever a change in leadership is made, it is an opportunity for both reassessment and advancement. If selected, I look forward to providing my perspective as a research active member of the UBCO faculty and a member of the OVPRI to the selection process for the next Associate Vice-President of Research and Innovation.
Stephen O'Leary, Professor, Engineering
I am with the School of Engineering on the Okanagan campus of The University of British Columbia. I am interested in serving as a representative on the 2020 President’s Advisory Committee for the next Associate Vice-President of Research and Innovation. I have extensive experience with universities within Canada (I have been a faculty member at three of them now) and bring this experience to the committee. I am quite familiar with the way that this particular campus operates and on its distinctiveness from its Point Grey counterpart. I also have seen how the two campuses can harmoniously work together in order to achieve a greater good. I have extensive experience with executive searches while at The University of British Columbia. I believe that the committee will benefit from this. I have a passion about UBC’s Okanagan campus, have witnessed its tremendous growth over the past decade, and believe that its considerable promise has yet to be fully realized; excellence, of course, has a latency period. I will work tirelessly with the other members of this committee in order to ensure that we secure the best candidate to realize our collective Okanagan dream. A priority for me will be seeking an Associate Vice-President of Research and Innovation that will improve conditions for the staff, faculty, and students of our university. I consider myself a constructive and cooperative problem solver. I aim to use these skills in order to make our campus even better.
Katrina Plamondon, Assistant Professor, Nursing
Katrina Plamondon is an Assistant Professor at the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. She a Canadian woman of mixed ancestry (Cree, Irish, Jewish, Quebecois) whose heartstrings are tied to the Kootenay and Okanagan regions of British Columbia. Her program of research focuses on questions of how to align knowledge, intention, and action for health equity. Dr. Plamondon’s clinical nursing foundations are in critical care/emergency and street outreach. She completed a Master of Science in Community Health & Epidemiology in 2006 (University of Saskatchewan) and doctoral studies at the University of British Columbia under a Banting & Best Canada Graduate Scholarship, extending a decade of research and practice in knowledge translation with a focus on advancing health equity. She has been a member of the Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research since 2004, and currently co-chairs the University Advisory Council which represents 29 institutional members from across Canada. She was the Principal Investigator for the multi-year Gathering Perspectives Studies that led to the creation of the equity-centred CCGHR Principles for Global Health Research and the lead on a series of publications contributing to national dialogue about Canada’s role in global health research. This mix of perspectives and experiences, both in the Academy and in health systems, positions Dr. Plamondon well for this committee. As a new faculty member at UBC Okagagan, serving on this committee would provide meaningful opportunities to learn more about academic administration and to connect with colleagues across both campuses.
Questions
Please contact elections.information@ubc.ca if you have any questions or difficulty voting.