Do you have questions about the shift to the five faculties system? The office of research wants to ensure that grad students have all of the info necessary to adapt to this change. Please find Dr. Kathy Lewis’ message to grad students below:

Reorganization of UNBC Programs into Five Faculties – Information for Graduate Students

I am writing to provide graduate students with an update on recent changes made to UNBC’s academic and administrative structures. April 1, 2021 was the date of transition of UNBC’s academic structure from two colleges (College of Science and Management, College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities) to five Faculties. This followed on several years of consultation and planning, and will enable the faculties to work more closely together, and the Deans to provide leadership for academic growth. While the internal structure and degree requirements for individual graduate programs remains unchanged, the reorganization provides an academic home for each graduate program, and a clear line of responsibility for graduate programs; something that has been missing at UNBC for years.

The academic restructuring should not affect graduate students directly. We do anticipate that more attention will be paid to graduate programs due to the new reporting structure, and that this will benefit students over time.

Another change that we recently made, was to move the administrative arm of graduate programs into the Registrar’s Office, where it has become the Office of Graduate Administration, supported by an Associate Registrar, Graduate (Jill Mitchell Nielsen). The intent of this change is to better support graduate students from pre-admission, through to graduation with all of the administrative functions under one office.

If you have any concerns or questions regarding these changes, I encourage you to bring them up with your Northern BC Graduate Student Society executive. The President and Vice-Presidents of UNBC meet monthly with the NBCGSS.

New academic homes for graduate programs:

Faculty of Human and Health Sciences, Dean Shannon Wagner

· Psychology (MSc, PhD)

· Education (MEd)

· Health Sciences (MSc, PhD)

· Nursing (MScN, MScN: FNP)

· Social Work (MSW)

· Disability Management (MA)

Faculty of Science and Engineering, Dean Deborah Roberts

· Math, Computer, Physical and Molecular Sciences (MSc)

· Integrated Wood Design (MEng)

Faculty of Indigenous Studies, Social Sciences and Humanities, Dean Kriston Rennie

· English (MA)

· First Nations Studies (MA)

· Gender Studies (MA)

· History (MA)

· International Studies (MA)

· Political Science (MA)

· Interdisciplinary Studies (MA, MSc)

Faculty of Environment, Interim Dean Peter Jackson

· Natural Resources and Environmental Studies (MA, MSc, MNRES, PhD)

Faculty of Business and Economics, Dean Ronald Camp II

· Business Administration (MBA, MSc)

· Development Economics (MA)

Sincerely,

Kathy Lewis

Acting Vice President, Research (and Graduate Programs)

By