Tenure-Stream Open Rank Professor in Indigenous Land-based Physical Culture and Wellness

Position title

Tenure-Stream Open Rank Professor in Indigenous Land-based Physical Culture and Wellness.

Volunteer or Employment?
Position within the School of Kinesiology

Employer name
School of Kinesiology

Employer email address
kin.hr@ubc.ca

Organization
UBC School of Kinesiology

Job description
The School of Kinesiology in the Faculty of Education at The University of British Columbia (UBC) invite applications for a full-time tenure-stream Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Professor position (Open Rank) in the area of Indigenous Land-based Physical Culture and Wellbeing. While the position is housed in the School of Kinesiology, the successful candidate is expected to collaborate with the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy and the Faculty’s Indigenous Teacher Education Program (NITEP). The appointment is expected to begin on July 1, 2022 or as negotiated with the successful candidate.

The successful candidate must hold a doctoral degree (PhD or EdD), and demonstrate excellence or the potential for excellence in teaching, research and scholarship that will contribute to the School’s priorities of Indigenous engagement and Indigenous health and well-being. The successful candidate is expected to engage in teaching and research that is related to Indigenous land-based physical cultural wellbeing, with a focus on Indigenous advancement and community-based leadership in sport, physical activity, health and wellness in local and global contexts

How to apply
Interested applicants are invited to send:
(i) a cover letter (please indicate if you are legally entitled to work in Canada),
(ii) curriculum vitae,
(iii) a five-year research plan,
(iv) a summary of teaching interests and philosophy,
(v) evidence of teaching excellence (such as course outlines and student evaluations if available),
(vi) three papers that are the most significant and relevant to their research interests, and
(vii) a Diversity Statement that describes and documents how values of equity, diversity, inclusion, anti-racism, and anti-oppression figure into your past, present, and future experience of teaching, research/educational leadership, community engagement, and your lived experience (maximum 1 page), and
(viii) names and contact details of three academic references. Letters of reference will only be requested from short-listed candidates.
The complete application file must be submitted in the format of one bookmarked PDF file, addressed to Dr. Robert Boushel, Director, School of Kinesiology, and sent electronically to kin.hr@ubc.ca. Please indicate in subject heading: Indigenous Land-based Physical Culture and Wellness Position. Following the submission of the application, the applicant will receive an Equity Survey link via email. Completion of the Equity Survey is required as part of the application process.

For full details and application process, Click Here

Posting expiration date
01/31/2022

Fliss, Matthew

Matthew Fliss is a graduate student, working on his Master of Science (MSc) in Kinesiology. He was recently awarded the esteemed Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) 2021 Graduate Student Award for MSc Poster Presentation. The award acknowledges the outstanding graduate research that is presented at CSEP’s Graduate Student Poster Award Session. Winning the award was momentous for Matthew, as it is the first academic award he has received, and it proved to him how important his research is within the scientific community. “I had decently long conversations with two of the three judges,” remarks Matthew, “and one of them happened to be researching a similar topic to mine, so we talked about collaborating in the future.”

Before starting his MSc at UBC, he graduated from McMaster University in 2019 with an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology. When asked about his mentors and who impacted him along his journey, Matthew stated McMaster university professors Dr. Stuart Phillips and Dr. Robert Morton as his biggest inspirations. Both were pivotal in his decision to continue his research at UBC: “Dr. Morton is the primary reason I’m at UBC today as he gave me the opportunity to excel in the lab and allowed me to discover my passion for muscle physiology research.”

Matthew’s love for sports ignited his passion for kinesiology before starting his bachelor’s, but an MSc was his opportunity to “answer his own questions” and “direct his own learning” in the field. Under the supervision of Dr. Cameron Mitchell, assistant professor in UBCKin, Matthew is currently researching the effects of higher- and lower-load resistance exercise training on muscle growth, strength, and endurance in the upper and lower body. He shares that there has never been a conversation with Dr. Mitchell that did not leave him curious to learn more. “It’s fun to try and hunt down the answer,” states Matthew, “and if there isn’t an answer, Dr. Mitchell and I can be the ones to try and find one.”

In January 2022, Matthew plans to start his Ph.D. also under Dr. Mitchell’s supervision to further expand on his current thesis research. In addition to his full-time studies, he works as a strength and conditioning coach at UBC. He enjoys volleyball and beach volleyball, but a sport he would love to learn is skiing. He also loves dogs, Sunday hikes, and reading on the beach during the summertime.

Reconciliation in the Rainforest Trail Run – September 27, 2021 Recap.

Eva Miles

On September 27th, over 200 runners and walkers braved the rains to participate in the second annual Rainforest Trail Run at the urban rainforest of Central Park in Burnaby, BC in the name of truth, reconciliation and hope. The event, which aims to advance Indigenous culture and history, was forced to cancel in 2020 because of the Covid Pandemic. The inaugural Rainforest Trail Run was held in 2019 with great support from the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) and the Indigenous Sport, Physical Activity and Recreational Council (I-SPARC). We are delighted to say that the event proceeded in-person with great enthusiasm this year. The warmth of the participants and happiness at being able to gather in a healthy outdoor activity was palpable!

Robert Boushel, Shannon Bredin, Darren Warburton and Dr. Rosalin Miles and her daughter were but some of the many Kinesiology attendees at the event. UBC Division of Sport and Exercise Medicine Professor Emeritus Doug Clement together with Diane Clement co-organized the event, and Division of Sport and Exercise Medicine’s Ron Mattison and Professor Emeritus Jack Taunton also participated. Rosalin Miles drummed her way through the rainforest and then went on to win the 5km run!

To read more about the run and see the winners, visit: https://www.rainforesttrailrun.com/news/rain-welcomes-runners-and-walkers-at-2021-rainforest-trail-run

Tsatsu Stalqayu (Coastal Wolf Pack) brave rain at the RainForest Trail Run

Dr. Rosalin Miles

Andrea Nicholson, Ron Mattison, Jack Taunton

10k Winner

10k 2nd place winner Professor Jocelyn Stacey, Allard School of Law, UBC.

Ritika Saraswat, 4th-Year BKin Student and Canadian Management Consulting (CMC)-BC Student Award Winner.

Ritika Saraswat is a 4th-year BKin student in the interdisciplinary stream. The School of Kinesiology is happy to announce that Ritika is one of 2 students in the province to have been awarded the Canadian Management Consulting (CMC)-BC Student Award. Sponsored by KPMG Canada, the award recognizes a BC undergraduate student leader who has demonstrated a passion for, and excellence in the area of, management consulting and leadership. It is unusual for a Kinesiology student to win such a prize. But Ritika believes that it was her academic background in kinesiology as well as the extensive consulting work which made her stand out as a candidate to the award committee.

Ritika has definitely demonstrated her passion for management consulting! Over the past year, Ritika has conducted two pro-bono consulting cases, three case competitions, and worked with four start-up businesses, in addition to her full-time studies. One of these cases was with Eastside Boxing, a local non-profit sports organization, whose mission is to “empower women and people in the Downtown Eastside community.” Ritika and her team worked on strategies to diversify the organization’s digital strategy to make their services accessible to everyone. Ritika says the project enabled her to connect her studies with her consulting interests, while applying her knowledge of kinesiology in addressing social issues in business, such as EDI (equity, diversity, and inclusion) and accessibility.

How does a kinesiology student, who is not in the Dual Degree Master of Management program, win a business award, you might ask? Ritika initially pursued her studies in Kinesiology due to her love of sports. However, in second year in Kin she was offered a marketing job by an NGO which led to other such opportunities with startups in and out of Canada. As a result, she joined the Sauder Management Consulting Club in her third year of UBC Kin. She began to take free business courses through platforms like Coursera and joined the Kinesiology Mentorship program under past Student Engagement Officer, Elise Le Brun. Here, she was paired with her mentor and Kin alum, Atila Ozkaplan, who encouraged her career interests, shared his LinkedIn contacts, and recommended her to one of his contacts, which led to a job.

Ritika had started building her LinkedIn (LI) network early on, and it was a LinkedIn connection that sent her CMC-BC award application. Ritika states, “I definitely did not have any expectations when applying. A month-and-a-half later I learned that I got it and I was pretty excited!” As a result, LI contacts reached out to her with more opportunities. One of these was for a job with the globally renowned firm Deloitte. Ritika has accepted the offer and will begin work with them upon her graduation from UBC.

Ritika encourages all Kinesiology students to consider every opportunity that comes their way: “As long as you’re willing to put in that consistent effort you can actually achieve your goals. If you want to become something, write it down. Keep it on your wall. Look at it every day you wake up and say, ‘I am going to become that’. Ritika is certainly proof of her philosophy! Congratulations to Ritika for this prestigious award and for landing the job of her dreams!

Watch the CMC-BC recognition video:

Nikolaus Dean, Ph.D. Kin Student and 2020-21 Killam Graduate TA Award winner

Nikolaus Dean is a Ph.D. Kinesiology student and is the recipient of the prestigious 2020-21 Killam Graduate Teaching Assistant (TA) Award. The prize recognizes graduate students who have played a valuable role as teaching assistants. Nikolaus remarks that “this is one of the most significant awards” he has received yet. Some of the many awards he has received to date include the, SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Doctoral Scholarship, Sport Canada’s Sport Participation Research Initiative, a UBC Four-year Fellowship, and the Mitacs Accelerate Research Grant.

Dr. Moss Norman and Dr. Andrea Bundon, both assistant professors at the UBC School of Kinesiology, nominated Nikolaus for the Killam Graduating TA award due to his outstanding work and mentoring in his eleven TA-ships. Nikolaus believes that by introducing undergraduate students to socio-cultural ideas in kinesiology and facilitating discussions, he has been able to open them up to different ways of thinking about the human body. When asked what his takeaways from his work as a TA are, he reflects “I’ve gained new pedagogical skills and a compelling experience with the Kin undergraduate community, which has deepened my love for teaching.”

Throughout his time as a graduate student, Nikolaus has received great support for his research projects from faculty members and his cohort, leaving a huge, positive impact on his graduate experience. Dr. Bundon has been his supervisor for both his thesis and dissertation. According to Nikolaus, their great working relationship has given him room to explore his interests in-depth while “drawing from her expertise” in sport sociology and disability studies.

His dissertation is a sociological exploration of adaptive skateboarding and skaters with disabilities. This was inspired by a skateboarding program he saw on T.V. a couple of years ago. “The program was part of the X Games in 2019 and it was the first time that adaptive skateboarding was actually included into a mega event.” After finishing his master’s thesis on concussions among surfers, he was keen to continue his concussion-based research in his Ph.D. However, the T.V. program on adaptive skateboarding prompted him to think about the preconceived notions surrounding skateboarders and skateboarding culture. Nikolaus notes that there is a literature gap in adaptive skateboarding and action sports, so his dissertation hopes to address it and encourage a new discourse surrounding adaptive skateboarding: “I hope that more people consider skateboarding as a more diverse sporting subculture and start talking about the different ways in which people with disabilities are engaging with action sports.”

Nikolaus is currently working on his dissertation, as well as a book chapter connected to his past concussion-based research. He hopes to graduate within the next few years and anticipates staying in academia. His long-term goal is to be an instructor and continue conducting research, whether in sport and injury, disability studies, socio-cultural studies, or ocean studies. “At the end of the day,” remarks Nikolaus, “I hope I can continue pursuing my passions to whatever capacity that might be.”

Investigating Standing Balance Deficits Post-Concussion

Principle Investigator:
Calvin Qiao
Hours/Time Commitment:
We are looking for volunteers for research projects looking into balance deficits post-concussion. We will develop and use emerging new technologies such as robotic platforms and wearable sensors to monitor the balance function of patients. The estimated time commitment is around 10-12 hours per week.
Expected Duties:
Volunteers will be involved in daily research activities in a team. Specific activities include data collection, data analysis, the development and maintenance of research devices and code.
Contact Information:
Motivated students who are interested are welcomed to reach out to the coordinator (calvin.qiao@alumni.ubc.ca)
Posting expiration:
12/31/2021

Congratulations to Michael Fliss for being awarded a CSEP graduate award at last week’s CSEP conference

Congratulations to Michael Fliss, a UBCKIN MSc. student for being awarded a CSEP graduate award at last week’s CSEP conference.

Congratulations to Professor Bill Sheel for receiving the CSEP Mentorship Award

Congratulations to Professor Bill Sheel for being awarded the CSEP Mentorship Award which recognizes a Professor or Advisor in the Exercise Science field for their dedication and mentorship to their students and/or their faculty.

Dragomir, Gerry

As the head coach of Racewalk West, Gerry Dragomir (MHPCTL 2021) coaches four international-level racewalk athletes. One of those athletes is fellow KIN Alum, Evan Dunfee (BKin 2014), who won the Bronze Medal for the men’s 50km walk at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. “One day Evan showed up to practice with his teenage brother, who was working with our group at the time. It did not take long for Evan to show his true intentions about the racewalk and we have been conquering the world ever since,” remarks Gerry. His third time at the Olympics was certainly the charm for Gerry when he served as a coach at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to help Evan win his first Olympic medal.

However, the pre-event did not go as smoothly as he had hoped. “We did not actually partake in the 2020 Games in Tokyo because our event was moved to Sapporo,” notes Gerry, “[so] COVID-19 made for a rather unloving partner this time around.” Nonetheless, “Evan’s event was everything [they] had hoped for” and “it was all [in] great fun.” Despite his coaching achievements and merits, Gerry credits his role model, Joanne Fox, and his mentor, Peter Ericksson, for helping him become the coach he is today. “The responsibility for coaching racewalk athletes squarely rests on Joanne Fox, the principal of UBC Vantage College. She was my racewalk coach in 1999 as she studied for her doctorate. It was her inspiration and enthusiasm that brought me on this fascinating journey. Former head coach of Athletics Canada Peter Ericksson was one of the people who helped Evan and me, make the turn from international participants to world-class performers.”

Before participating in the 2020 Olympics, Gerry had begun the professional Master’s program in High Performance and Technical Leadership (MHPCTL) at the UBC School of Kinesiology. He graduated in 2021, so he has yet to see how the program has helped him hone his coaching skills: “I have not made up my mind yet about what the HPCTL program is to me. However, skill-honing was at the top of my list.” Gerry further explains how having previous coaching experience is critical to developing skills and succeeding in this program. “A lot of what you learn in HPCTL requires you to tap into that experience. The coach’s existing body of knowledge is recast into an evidence-based structure that can be measured, assessed, analysed, and improved on a continuous basis. This is the essence of Kaizen [or changing for the better] … [and] the program is built upon a coaching process that prioritizes continuous improvement.”

The School offers many exciting courses on coaching and technical leadership, but Program Director and professor Dr. Maria Gallo’s course on High Performance Sport Inquiry was the highlight of the program for Gerry. “Although I highly enjoyed other courses, 596 was the meat of the HPCTL sandwich. Taking part in a research project allowed me to exchange a massive amount of knowledge with my class, as well as gain new understandings of the coaching environment. I find that pretty special and exciting!” In addition to this course, Gerry notes KIN 517, Business of High-Performance Sport in Canada, as one of his more beneficial classes. He used to “[work] with NPO organizations as a public practicing accountant for over 35 years” and enrolling in KIN 517 ignited “a new area of interest [for him] when preparing a paper on “Sport for Development in Indigenous Communities in Canada.”

Gerry strongly encourages anyone involved in coaching to join the program, but he provides a word of advice for those interested: “Commit fully, and without reservation, to HPCTL. Half measures in this program are useless, so you will be disappointed if you do not take full advantage of what the program has to offer. It is helpful if you have a couple of Olympic cycles of hands-on coaching experience (just the 4-year cycles are important, not necessarily the actual Games).” After graduating from the MHPCTL program, Gerry hopes to “complete a doctoral degree in the near future” and eventually conduct a documentary on his “40+ year-long career as a sports coach.”

Smith, Mark

Mark Smith (HPCTL 2020) is an experienced, highly regarded fastpitch softball coach with many accolades and awards under his belt. With 25 years of experience, he decided to enroll in the School of Kinesiology’s professional coaching program in High Performance and Technical Leadership. “I had reached a point where I felt I was no longer growing and being challenged as a coach. I wanted an opportunity to be pushed and be exposed to other perspectives. In the end, it was that and more. I recognized quickly there is no downside to learning – that to be in classes with like-minded people, where everyone is eager to improve themselves and grow their knowledge helped me enhance my coaching skills,” recounts Mark. He goes on to state that he found the entire learning process to be helpful: “In some areas I brought past experience, but I learned some new skills and enhanced others. I may not have learned a great deal about coaching science before joining the program, my prior knowledge and experience were validated by my instructors and peers, encouraging me to learn and assist my fellow classmates on their learning journey.”

Mark notes Dr. Shaunna Taylor’s class in Psychology of Leadership and Group Processes as a course of particular value to him. “She did a great job of challenging participants to recognize the psychological components of performance. Also, Program Director and professor Dr. Maria Gallo challenged me in the sport science space. I had a basic understanding of performance planning, but I understood the importance of sport-specific training and the competitive advantage it could provide. And of course, the monthly reflective blogs that Dave Hill, the HPCTL Industry Director and Director of System Excellence for the CSI Pacific, oversaw were very interesting to write and to learn from written by fellow classmates.” Mark recommends the program to all coaches, explaining that “coach education is often undervalued. In high-performance sports, there is an ingrained culture of former players believing they have learned enough from their lived experiences, as athletes, to compensate for the lack of academic underpinnings of coach education. However, we do not fully appreciate the value of information until we are confronted with a situation that makes us reflect.”

Mark is a member of three Sport Halls of Fame and has led his teams to national and international championships including multiple Pan American Games and World Championship podium finishes, but it wasn’t until July 2021 that he led a team to the Olympics in Tokyo. He explains, “from 1996 to 2008, women’s softball was a core sport at the Olympic Games. Despite its removal from the Olympic program in 2008, Japan’s world-renowned women’s softball program helped influence the inclusion of the sport in the 2020 Games in Tokyo. This opportunity brought me to coach our national women’s softball team. Japan is an incredible country, and it was so unfortunate that the world could not visit Japan due to the pandemic. The people and culture there are exceptional. Despite COVID-19, the Games were safe, and a great experience for all who attended.”

Upon graduating from the HPCTL program, Mark led the Canadian Women’s National Softball Team to a bronze medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo and has since retired as an international coach. “I felt this was the right time for me to move on and try something different. I want to focus on sports administration. And I consider myself a coach in every workplace I serve in. I currently coach a staff team of 10 people as Director of Sport in Sport Nova Scotia. Likewise, I have created a mentorship program for Black and Indigenous coaches in Nova Scotia, in addition to doing some leadership and coaching consulting work.”