From the Director’s Desk

 

Esteemed KIN Alumni,

Summer is drawing to a close, and a new academic year begins. It has been a busy summer. Although many left campus for the summer, the School had a full house with international students who attended the month-long Vancouver Summer Program (VSP) in Kinesiology.

I’m proud to say that the KIN spirit thrives amongst our alumni, as almost half the classes of the Summer Program were taught by members of our alumni and half were PhD students. So many thanks to our alumni, our students and the School’s International Affairs Coordinator, Carlos Cantu, for ensuring a successful collaboration amongst those who share a passion for the study of human movement!

The School of Kinesiology kicked off the summer with a successful panel discussion on the High Performance Coaching program titled, Creating Champions (listen to a podcast of the event when you click on the link) in June, where the Canadian Institute for Sport, Pacific announced their intention to donate $25,000.00 to start a much-needed endowment towards scholarships for students in the professional Masters in High Performance Coaching. We are very appreciative for this support!

In August, the School’s Origins of Balance Deficits and Falls research cluster supported by the VP-Research held its first Summer Course on ‘wearable sensors’ attracting ~40 students from across Canada and internationally. We congratulate them on their successful program!

In a continued effort to better get to know our alumni community, I will host an after-work ‘meet and greet’ in Toronto on December 11th, 2019, where I look forward to meeting you at an informal gathering. If you are interested in attending please send an email to kin.alumni@ubc.ca to reserve your spot at the table.

Finally, congratulations go out to faculty emeritus Dr. Doug Clement, co-founder of UBC Sports Medicine and faculty member in the School for many years, for winning a 2019 Alumni Achievement Award for his contributions to the community. Most recently, Doug has established the Rainforest Trail Run, a celebration of the health and vibrancy of the Indigenous cultures on whose territory we live, work, and play. The inaugural 5k run takes place on September 29th at Swangard Stadium, in Burnaby. I’m pleased to say that the School of Kinesiology is a supporting partner of the run. We encourage all our alumni to get out and participate!

Dr. Rob Boushel

Professor and Director
UBC School of Kinesiology