Impact Stories
Change starts here. Learn how UBC is reshaping the world through education, research and community engagement across all disciplines.
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Impact Story
Donors Join Together for Innovation in Emergency Care
After two bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon in 2013, hundreds of injured people were transported to nearby emergency departments, including Brigham-Women’s Hospital where UBC MD alumnus Dr. Ron Walls (BSc’75, MD’79) was leading the effort to save lives. Dr. Walls joined Brigham-Women’s Hospital, a teaching hospital of Harvard University, in 1993 and expanded the emergency department more
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Impact Story
From community volunteer to medical student, with help from donor awards
Joban Bal found his passion in life through involvement in community service and volunteer work – something he was able to continue at UBC thanks to financial support from a donor-funded student award. His experiences have enabled him to bring together his passion and his future profession. more
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Impact Story
Gift to UBC Library to Transform Lillooet Room
A beloved room in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre will be transformed and upgraded thanks to a generous gift from Tony and Marissa Peña. The Lillooet Room, part of the Chapman Learning Commons, has been re-named the Antonio and Marissa Peña Learning and Events Room. The space is used for workshops by UBC faculty, staff and students. The Peñas’ gift more
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Impact Story
Ken Woods Thunderbird Award helps student athletes play at the top of their game
Both the women’s and men’s UBC golf teams had record-breaking starts to the 2018-19 season. Led by Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Coach of the Year Chris MacDonald, the teams have kept the UBC Thunderbirds winning tradition alive and well by claiming the top spots at a remarkable eight tournaments so far this year. The teams’ performances were backed up by strong more
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Impact Story
Innovation in Policy: How UBC is Influencing Global Affairs
Yves Tiberghien (Ph.D. Stanford University, 2002), a Professor with the Department of Political Science at UBC, may look a little familiar. As a leader of UBC’s policy engagement in Asia, he’s often front and centre on our television screens to give his nuanced, expert insight into Canadian-Chinese affairs. It befits his roles as Director Emeritus with the Institute of Asian more
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Impact Story
How a donor-funded scholarship helped a Land and Food Systems student make a difference
Jeff Holmes, a fourth-year student in the Food, Nutrition and Health program at UBC, hopes to use his education to help improve the nutritional health of underprivileged populations around the world, with support from the Jacob Biely and Blythe A. Eagles Prize in Nutrition. more
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Impact Story
“It meant the world to me”: How the Blue & Gold Bursary changed one student’s life
Dominica Patterson was one of the first students to receive support through the Blue & Gold Bursary. Thanks to donors, instead of spending the February reading break working and paying off bills, she was able to travel to New York for a conference, where she made some potentially life-changing connections. more
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Impact Story
New bursary endowment honours family’s legacy while supporting Okanagan’s future educators
Andrew Clunas passed away half a century ago, but his constant championing of the importance of education has reached across the generations to benefit students in the Okanagan School of Education. His family’s gift of a $100,000 endowment will create, in his name, two bursaries of $2,000 each annually for students in the Okanagan School of Education. more
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Impact Story
Djavad Mowafaghian Foundation makes first gift to Blue & Gold Campaign for Students
The Djavad Mowafaghian Foundation operates on a simple belief: ensuring children are healthy and educated today will prepare them to be the leaders of tomorrow. It’s a principle Dr. Djavad Mowafaghian, the renowned philanthropist who founded the Vancouver-based foundation in 2003, learned from his mother, who always modeled kindness and generosity during his childhood in […] more
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Impact Story
How an entrance award is helping an Indigenous student make a difference
Haley Seven Deers is hoping to use her UBC education to break stereotypes and help underrepresented groups have a voice in shaping Canadian society and politics – and a donor-funded scholarship is making her ambitions possible. more
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Impact Story
Fighting Fire with Fire
Having recently lived through the worst wildfire season on record in BC, Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz is the first to acknowledge that promoting the benefits of fire in the province’s interior forests is a hard sell. BC foresters have worked diligently – and often successfully – in the last century to suppress fire, to prevent its outbreak […] more
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Impact Story
Blue & Gold Student Ambassador Regan Oey: Student awards changed my life
Regan Oey grew up in Vancouver with his mother and two siblings. He went to Vancouver College and excelled in his studies, becoming class valedictorian and participating in both athletics—he was on the football and basketball team—and in community service, volunteering in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. That volunteer service, undertaken to fulfill a religion requirement, turned […] more
