Cultural Studies student Lauren Richardson and History student Samantha Steenwyk encourage people to share their “sightings” of Ogopogo toys, sculptures, and other images they see in the Kelowna community. Their Ogopogo display was at the Okanagan Heritage Museum during the summer of 2015
The Cultural Studies program at UBC’s Okanagan campus is excited to announce a new course that focusses on community engagement. Students enrolled in the course will have the opportunity to work in collaborative teams to complete projects that support the work of community partners.
Mentored by the course Instructor, faculty mentors, and mentors from the community organization, students will complete innovative projects for community organizations. Further, the course will provide a valuable opportunity to critically reflect on the relation between theory and practice and to critically assess the relative merits of university experiential learning initiatives.
This course (CULT 499) is designed to provide students experiential learning based on the skills and knowledge of Cultural Studies scholarship. As such, students will complete a tangible research project that will be publicly disseminated, and they will acquire specific professional skills and experience suitable for inclusion in letters of application, resumes, and/or curriculum vitae.
“This kind of work and teaching is about building mutually beneficial relationships between the university and organizations in the community, and valuing the significance of humanities research and knowledge.” Says David Jefferess, Associate Professor in Cultural Studies.
This course achieves a longstanding ambition of the cultural studies program to provide its students with a standalone course that engages with community partners and thus better prepares undergraduate students with life-work experiences where their theoretical and practical communications skills are honed.
In previous years, students have taken a version of this course as a directed studies, last year, Lauren Richardson (Cultural Studies) and Samantha Steenwyk (History) researched how the creation of the Ogopogo as a mascot for the community appropriated and displaced N’ha-a-itk, the spirit of the lake. Read more about the project.
In order to enroll in CULT 499 Community Engaged Research in term two this year, students are required to submit an application that includes a resume, description of related skills and experience as well a letter of interest. For more information, please contact the course instructor, David Jefferess. david.jefferess@ubc.ca.