Mina Rajabi Paak graduated with an MA in Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies at UBC Okanagan. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology at an international institution, but in her third and fourth years she was drawn to electives such as Cultural Studies, Media Studies, Critical Urban Studies, and Anthropology. “Thus my honors thesis,” she said in an interview, “ended up being an interdisciplinary project.” UBCO’s interdisciplinary graduate program offers students a unique opportunity to explore various disciplines as part of their research. In Mina’s case, her focus on Sociology eventually combined with an interest in other topics. Mina mentioned that UBC’s FCCS “was from the very start one of my top choices.Also, I was in touch with Dr. George Grinnell, who later on became my master’s supervisor, before I applied to the school and we discussed my project and found a good balance between our interests. So wanting to work with him was also an important factor in my choice.”
Once Mina arrived in Kelowna, she got comfortable with the campus and the city, in general, pretty quickly.
Mina Rajabi Paak
“I found a community of friends very soon, which helped a lot with my coping process. I got used to things a lot easier and a lot faster than I had expected.” Another unique aspect of UBCO’s FCCS is that the academic support for students is incredibly robust, particularly in regards to the size of the campus: “I had a great supervisor and a small team of brilliant scholars who helped me throughout my project. So although the department and the number of faculty members were fairly small, I received a great deal of support.”
FCCS’s scholarly support led to Mina’s academic work being developed and disseminated. In Kelowna, this included participating with her supervisor in an Alterknowledge presentation hosted by the Alternator Gallery. Additionally, “I was lucky enough to get a sizable travel grant from FCCS to go to CUNY’s international conference in New York in 2014 and present a part of my thesis project to a diverse audience. The feedback that I received at the conference influenced my final project to a great extent.” Finally, Mina also participated in and won one of the two FCCS spots for the 3 Minute Thesis Competition and noted, “I recommend taking part in it to everyone!” Mina has since continued on with her academic career, currently working on a PhD in Humanities at York University. She represents one of many success stories for students of UBC Okanagan’s FCCS.
In conclusion, Mina notes: “I would encourage people to become FCCS students if they have projects or interests in mind that they can’t quite figure out or fit into any field or if they are interested in a number of areas and feel like they can’t choose to pursue only one. The space and freedom of the IGS program gives them the opportunity to define things on their own terms and create a collage of their interests without having to worry about disciplinary limits.”
This story was written by Brandon Taylor, English major in FCCS. Brandon is a Research Assistant in FCCS, contacting alumni to find out about their experiences here at UBCO.