Graduation 2025 procession
June 5th marked a special milestone for students who completed their degrees at UBC Okanagan. A number of faculty and staff in the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies attended the ceremony, proud to congratulate all of the students who completed their degrees in 2025.
This year five doctoral students, seven Interdisciplinary Studies Masters students, five Masters of Arts in English students, fourteen Masters of Fine Arts students, forty-nine Bachelor of Arts students, twenty-two Bachelor of Fine Arts students, and twenty-one Bachelor of Media Studies students are graduating with their degrees.
Dean Bryce Traister congratulated all of our graduates: “As new graduates, your voices matter. Take what you learned to question the given and create the new. It’s now time for you, our 2025 UBC Okanagan grads, to show us the way to a better world.”
Our FCCS graduates, their guests, our faculty and staff continued the celebrations of the day at a reception held in the Creative and Critical Studies building after the ceremony. Diana Carter, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies in FCCS raised a glass to toast this year’s graduating class and their families.
“Today is a very special day when we get to gather together to celebrate our students’ achievements and congratulate them on their graduation. You have worked extremely hard, overcome challenges, and persevered to reach this moment and finally graduate with your undergraduate, masters or doctoral degree. Congratulations to you and to all the important people in your life who have supported you over the years. We are proud of you all and are excited to see what you go on to accomplish in your lives after university. As you move forward, we wish you success and happiness.”
Kailee Fawcett, a member of the graduating class of 2025, was the student reader at our ceremony, and shared these words with the graduating class:
“As graduates of the arts, social sciences and creative disciplines we are especially attuned to the state of the world. We’ve spent years learning how to notice, how to question, how to care deeply. During our time here, the world has witnessed war, genocide, wildfires, systemic violence, economic uncertainty, and mass disconnection. So when people ask us, what are you going to do next, the question can feel a little hollow. How do you answer that when the present can feel so uncertain making a future impossible to predict.”
Fawcett offered an alternative question for these graduates to consider.
“What you have gained during your time here – skills, values, friendships, resilience, insights – these will carry you into this world. What will you bring forward not only into your careers but into your communities and the small moments where care and courage matter most? And maybe that is the more important question. What we carry with us will shape how we move through an uncertain world. And to celebrate today is not to ignore the grief of the world, it is to remember that joy too is a form of resistance.”
Student reader, Kailee Fawcett completed her degree in the Bachelor of Media Studies.
FCCS is also pleased to recognize the achievements of the following graduating or continuing students who received awards for their outstanding academic performance this year:
- Juan Ablan, Medal in Media Studies
- Mikah Assaly, Faculty Choice Award in Design
- Soha Aftab, Cultural Studies Scholarship; International Student Award
- Slava Bart, Campbell Family Graduate Award in Fine Arts
- Lindsay Baerg, Jessie Ravnsborg Memorial Award
- Sonja Berg, Media Studies Scholarship
- Gemma Cairney, Murray Johnson Memorial Award in Visual Arts
- Finley Cole, Doug Biden Memorial Scholarship in Visual Arts
- Ella Cottier, HSBC Bank of Canada Prize
- Mihai Covaser, French Scholarship; Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Inclusion, Democracy and Reconciliation
- Sarah de Hoog, Kelly Curtis Memorial Scholarship in English
- Rhys DeFehr, Asper Scholarship
- Carson Deis, Okanagan Visual Arts Scholarship
- Charlotte Dowell, English Scholarship
- Kailee Fawcett, Dean’s Award for Artistic Excellence in the Bachelor of Media Studies program, Frances Harris Prize in Fine Arts
- Cady Gau, Medal in Fine Arts
- Hailey Gleboff, Dean’s Award for Artistic Excellence in the Bachelor of Fine Arts program
- Tatum Grundy, Creative Studies Award in Media Studies
- Ivo Guidi, Visual Arts Scholarship
- Elly Hajdu, Faculty Choice Award in Visual Arts
- Stephen Ikesaka, Norma and Jack Aitken Prize in Visual Arts
- Layla Kutschker, Creative Studies Transfer Prize in Creative Writing
- Sierra Loewen, Asper Scholarship
- Nigel Martens, Faculty Choice Award in Sound Art
- Connor McCleary, Creative Studies Award in Fine Arts
- Maren McIntosh, Dr. Shelley Martin Memorial Scholarship
- Alec Merkt-Capriles Languages Scholarship
- Pablo Montero Cabrera, Creative Writing Scholarship
- Lauren Naidoo, Faculty Choice Award in Moving Images
- Stevie Poling, Elinor Yandel Memorial Award in Fine Arts
- John (Jack) Prendas, Craig Hall Memorial Visual Arts Scholarship in Printmaking; International Student Award
- Anna Semenoff, Faculty Choice Award in Visual Arts
- Rebecca Smith, Jack and Lorna Hambleton Memorial Award
- Fredrik Thacker, SOPA Fine Arts Emerging Artist Award
- Katherine Trussler, FCCS French Essay Prize
- Mathew Wanbon, Creative Writing Prize
- Evelyn Wu, Faculty Choice Award in Installation Art
- Kelly Yuste, Art History & Visual Culture Scholarship
The FCCS Dean’s Honour list recognizes students in all years of the BA, BMS, and BFA degrees, who are at the top of their class with a GPA of 85% or better.
BACHELOR OF ARTS STUDENTS
|
|
BACHELOR OF Fine ARTS STUDENTS
|
|
BACHELOR OF MEdia Studies STUDENTS
|
|
Below are photos from convocation and the FCCS Reception on June 5, 2025.
Digital Arts and Humanities masters graduate Barbara Emefa Kpedekpo
FCCS faculty members waiting for the procession of students
Bachelor of Arts waiting for the procession to start
Bachelor of Fine Arts waiting for the procession to start
Mckenna King (right) with fellow student from the Bachelor of Arts
Student procession
Doctoral student Jon Corbett in the procession
DAHU doctoral student Sephideh Saffari (left), with her partner (centre), and supervisor Hussein Keshani (right) at the FCCS celebration after convocation
Toasting our graduates at the FCCS reception after convocation
Left to right: FCCS faculty members Francis Langevin and Denise Kenney with MFA graduate Miriam Cummings and her partner
Graduating student Lindsay Baerg (left) with Dr. Robert Eggleston at the FCCS reception
Myron Campbell (left) with BFA graduating students Elly and Laura McCarthy
Media studies graduating students Brenna Lam Kennedy (left) and Kailee Fawcett
Bachelor of Arts graduating student Emma Unruh
