Schedule

Session #1: Keynote - View Recording

November 10

4:00 - 6:00 pm PT

The Impact of Mental Bandwidth Depletion on Student Mental Health and Well-Being
*Note: This session has passed. Please view the in the resources section below.

For many of our students, the cognitive resources for learning are being diminished by the negative effects of poverty, as well as discrimination and hostility against groups marginalized on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, and other aspects. Due to the pandemic and social unrest, uncertainty — which is at the core of all bandwidth depletion — is significantly affecting our students’ capacity to learn and our own capacity to do our work and maintain well-being.

Keynote Speaker

Cia Verschelden has recently retired as vice president, academic and student affairs at Malcolm X College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago. Before moving to Chicago, she was at different times the executive director of institutional assessment at the University of Central Oklahoma, where she taught first-year sociology, as well as the vice president of academic affairs at Highland Community College in rural Kansas. At Kansas State University, where she was on the faculty for 21 years, she taught social welfare and social policy, women’s studies, and nonviolence studies. Cia has a Bachelor of Science in psychology from Kansas State University, a Master of Social Work from the University of Connecticut, and a Doctor of Education from Harvard University. Her first book, Bandwidth Recovery: Helping Students Reclaim Cognitive Resources Lost to Poverty, Racism, and Social Marginalization, was published in 2017. Her newest book, Bandwidth Recovery for Schools: Helping Pre-K-12 Students Regain Cognitive Resources Lost to Poverty, Trauma, Racism, and Social Marginalization, is expected in October 2020.

Archives:

Session #2: Keynote Commentary - View Recording

November 12

4:00 - 6:00 pm PT

Cognitive Bandwidth

*Note: This session has passed. Please view the recording in the resources section below.

How do you understand cognitive bandwidth in the context of your learning environment? As a follow-up to Cia Verschelden’s November 10 keynote presentation on bandwidth scarcity and recovery, we will explore the complexities of cognitive bandwidth as it relates to well-being in learning environments. A panel of commentators will respond to the keynote presentation and share their reflections in relation to their experiences teaching and learning at two of B.C.’s post-secondary institutions.

Moderator

Patty Hambler provides leadership within the post-secondary education sector as a student affairs professional. For over 20 years, she has contributed to systemic change that supports and enhances student health and well-being in higher education. This work has included collaborating with diverse stakeholders to explore the importance of post-secondary learning environments in supporting and enhancing student mental well-being. Currently, Patty is the director of Student Affairs & Services at Douglas College. She has a Master of Education from the University of British Columbia.

Commentator Panelists

Hussein Elhagehassan is a fifth-year health sciences student at Simon Fraser University and a health promotions special project assistant with SFU’s Health and Counselling team. In his role, he supports institution-wide initiatives that include SFU’s Healthy Campus Community Initiative and the Well-being in Learning Environments Newsletters, as well as hosting workshops on stress management, resilience, and adapting to online learning. Hussein leverages his identity as a second-generation immigrant to drive work in health equity, culturally competent health services, and community-based care.

Hussein has experience in BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) Dialogue and public participation and is also a research assistant on the COVID-19 Health Literacy Study. This study is looking to better understand how post-secondary students are accessing health information during the pandemic and the perceived impact of COVID- 19 on their stress level and overall well-being.

Sheri Fabian is a lecturer in the School of Criminology and director of the Institute for the Study of Teaching and Learning in the Disciplines (ISTLD) at Simon Fraser University, where she also earned her PhD in criminology. Sheri’s teaching and research focus on minorities and justice, qualitative research methods, decolonizing curricula, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Sheri aims to empower students to create healthy classroom communities while motivating students to engage with controversial and sensitive topics and respectfully respond to reactions to difficult materials. She also works with her colleagues to develop experiential learning opportunities that promote building student resiliency to victimization and trauma.

Sheri has nearly 15 years of experience doing research to validate claims for residential school survivors, and she brings this unique perspective and understanding into her teaching practice. She is also a facilitator for ISTLD’s Exploring Well-being in Learning Environments Seminar and Grants Program in partnership with SFU’s Health Promotion Team.

In 2019, Sheri was the recipient of a 3M National Teaching Fellowship awarded by the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

Melisa M. Kimwere is a fourth-year undergraduate student at the University of British Columbia. She is pursuing a major in psychology and a minor in gender, race, sexuality, and social justice. She is a Mastercard Foundation Scholar from Kenya who is not only passionate about the conversation on mental health, but her “give back” goal also centres around the creation of autism awareness, especially in African countries. She has worked as a research assistant with the Autism Spectrum Interdisciplinary Research (ASPIRE) Program at BC Children’s Hospital, and she did an internship back home in Kenya at Kaizora Neurodevelopmental Therapies, where she worked with autistic children. Her passion for mental health has been influenced by her personal journey. She helped organize a workshop for her fellow Mastercard Scholars, where she invited a keynote mindfulness artist to guide the conversation on “how to deal with uncertainty.”

Chris Lee is an associate professor of English and director of the Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies (ACAM) program at the University of British Columbia. Since becoming director of ACAM in 2014, he has worked with a team of faculty, staff, and students to build an academic program that engages with the history, culture, and social development of Asian Canadian communities in an anti-racist context. Chris received his undergraduate degree in English from UBC and returned as a faculty member in 2006. His teaching focuses on Asian diasporic literature and culture, American studies, and critical race theory. He is the author of The Semblance of Identity: Aesthetic Mediation in Asian American Literature (2012) and currently serves as an associate editor of the journal American Quarterly. His research focuses on the writing of members of the Chinese diaspora during the Cold War and the cultural politics of Chinese Canadian fiction. In 2015, he received a Killam Research Prize.

Guest

Cia Verschelden provided our keynote session on November 10 and will return to respond to questions from our commentators and audience. Cia recently retired as vice president, academic and student affairs at Malcolm X College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago. Before moving to Chicago, she was at different times the executive director of institutional assessment at the University of Central Oklahoma, where she taught first-year sociology, as well as the vice president of academic affairs at Highland Community College in rural Kansas. At Kansas State University, where she was on the faculty for 21 years, she taught social welfare and social policy, women’s studies, and nonviolence studies. Cia has a Bachelor of Science in psychology from Kansas State University, a Master of Social Work from the University of Connecticut, and a Doctor of Education from Harvard University. Her first book, Bandwidth Recovery: Helping Students Reclaim Cognitive Resources Lost to Poverty, Racism, and Social Marginalization, was published in 2017. Her newest book, Bandwidth Recovery for Schools: Helping Pre-K-12 Students Regain Cognitive Resources Lost to Poverty, Trauma, Racism, and Social Marginalization, is expected in October 2020.

Archives:

Session #3: Roundtable Discussions - View Recording

December 3

4:00 - 6:00 pm PT

Promising Learning Environment Practices that Enhance Student Well-Being
*Note: This session has passed. Please view the recording below.

Are you a faculty member or instructor interested in exploring ways to enhance student well-being in your learning environments? Join us for these interactive roundtable sessions showcasing practical ideas for creating conditions for well-being.

Faculty and staff champions at SFU and UBC will share promising practices that enhance student well-being in their pedagogy, curriculum, and programs. Through themed virtual sessions, participants will have the opportunity to discuss and share their current approaches, as well as gain insight on how to embed practices that promote student well-being in their teaching and learning.

Participants will:
- Learn how to increase their capacity to engage in practices that enhance student well-being
- Discuss and share practices that enhance student well-being through pedagogy, curriculum, and programs
- Facilitate inter-institutional discussion and knowledge sharing
Theme 1: Enabling Connections to Enhance the Student Experience

Opportunities for social connections, acts of kindness, and demonstrating care and empathy enhance positive cultures and the sense of belonging and well-being in learning environments.

Join this themed roundtable session to participate in dialogue around the following presentations:

Kindness: An Exploratory Study of How University Students Are Kind
- Sally Willis-Stewart, associate professor of teaching, School of Health and Exercise Sciences, UBC Okanagan
- John-Tyler Binfet, associate professor, Faculty of Education, UBC Okanagan
- Adam Lauzé, research assistant, UBC Okanagan
- Zak Draper, statistician, PhD student, Department of Psychology, UBC Okanagan
Sharing Is Caring? Food Interventions in the Learning Environment
- Sarah Walshaw, senior lecturer, Department of History, SFU
Using Contemplative Practices to Create Community: Experiences from a Student, Faculty & Staff Meditation Group
- Elisabeth Bailey, assistant professor of teaching, Faculty of Applied Science/School of Nursing, UBC Vancouver
Theme 2: Embedding Well-being in Graduate and Professional Programs

Central to graduate student well-being are graduate–supervisor relationships, realistic expectations, and safe spaces for dialogue. An embedded well-being counsellor program within a faculty or department allows for specialized and responsive supports and resources for students.

Join this themed roundtable session to participate in dialogue around the following presentations:

Improving Graduate Student Well-Being through Constructive Management of Expectations
- Clare McGovern, lecturer, Department of Political Science, SFU
Graduate Supervisory Relationships and Well-being: Using Research-based Theatre to Elicit Deep Dialogue
- Susan Cox, associate professor and director of PhD and MSc programs in the School of Population and Public Health, UBC Vancouver
- Michael Lee, senior instructor, School of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy, UBC Vancouver
Building a Well-being Community through Embedded Counselling
- Anna Kline, student well-being manager and counsellor, Counselling Services in Allard School of Law, UBC Vancouver
Theme 3: Inclusive Teaching for Student Well-being

An inclusive learning environment is linked to students’ sense of belonging and positive well-being. Real world and experiential approaches can provide opportunities for inclusion and sense of belonging. How can learning environments and post-secondary institutions support the personal well-being of those involved in demanding social change work?

Join this themed roundtable session to participate in dialogue around the following presentations:

Maintaining Well-Being in Reconciliation Work
- Janet Pivnick, educational consultant, Curriculum and Instruction Division, Centre for Educational Excellence, SFU
Engaging Difficult and Distressing Material in and beyond the Classroom: Strategies and Resources
- Evan Mauro, lecturer, Coordinated Arts Program, UBC Vancouver
- Fenn Stewart, English Department, Douglas College
- Otoniya Juliane Okot Bitek, Ellen and Warren Tallman Writer-in-Residence, SFU
Building a Sense of Belonging through Real-life Experiential Learning Opportunities During the Pandemic
- Paola Ardiles, lecturer and faculty teaching fellow, Faculty of Health Sciences, SFU
Theme 4: Enhancing Students’ Self-efficacy

Can assessments be modified to be more conducive to well-being and learning? Creative pedagogical strategies and embedded models for well-being interventions show effective instructor support can improve students’ self-efficacy.

Join this themed roundtable session to participate in dialogue around the following presentations:

Embedding Wellness and Transition to University Content in a First-year and Second-year Cohort
- Juan Abelló, assistant professor of teaching, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UBC Vancouver
Quizzing and Well-being
- Ivona Mladenovic, senior lecturer, Department of Biological Sciences, SFU
The Role of Pedagogy in Building Student Resilience
- Tiffany Muller Myrdahl, senior lecturer, Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies and Urban Studies Program, SFU
Archives:

Slides:
- Thriving Beyond Campuses Roundtable Theme 4 Breakout PPT [PDF]
- Thriving Beyond Campuses Roundtable Theme 4 Breakout Mentimeter [PDF]

Session #4: Student Town Hall

January 20

1:30 - 3:30 pm PT

Please note that this session has been cancelled.

1:30 -2:30 Students Only
2:30 -3:30 Everyone welcome

Our Thriving Beyond Campuses series has provided opportunities for faculty members, health promotion staff, and instructional support staff to gather virtually and consider how to promote mental health and well-being in learning environments.

COVID-19 has created so many challenges for students, faculty, and staff across British Columbia. Yet, in spite of these challenges, we know that members of our campus communities have positively impacted students’ mental health and well-being through their actions both in and outside of learning environments. Part three of this series, The Student Town Hall, will start with an hour reserved for post-secondary students to identify — with the assistance of student facilitators — the actions of faculty, staff, and institutions that have positively impacted their learning and living situations.

We invite faculty and staff to join us for the second hour, when the facilitators will share the lessons highlighted in the first half of the event with students.

Hosts: Diana Jung and Russell Thomson

Moderator: Felicity Blaiklock

Felicity’s career in education has spanned 30-plus years in the UK and Canada and has ranged from K–12 to post-secondary and instructional faculty to administrator. Currently, Felicity is the director, student affairs at North Island College. Prior to NIC, Felicity worked at Vancouver Island University and Selkirk College in roles that included learning specialist, assessment coordinator, TESOL and ESL instructor, and department head, student support and access services. Throughout her career, the student experience has been the focus of her role: creating opportunities to engage and connect, supporting mental health and well-being, and finding opportunities to learn both in and outside the classroom. Felicity has a Bachelor of Education in English and drama from Kingston University (UK) and a Master of Education in curriculum design and instruction from SFU. She lives in Parksville on beautiful Vancouver Island and enjoys her dogs (especially now that the kids are grown), jigsaws, and chocolate.

Session #5: System Change Panel - View Recording

February 3

1:30 - 3:30 pm PT
*Note: This session has passed. Please view the resources and recordings below.

Institutions of higher learning across Canada are working toward comprehensive whole-campus approaches to enhancing health and well-being. The Okanagan Charter [PDF] calls on universities and colleges to embed health in all aspects of campus culture, administration, operations, and academic mandates, as well as to lead health promotion more broadly.

The final session of the dialogue series will involve a panel of change agents who will discuss their observations of systemic changes that support well-being in learning environments. Concepts, factors, and initiatives related to systemic changes that enable well-being in learning environments will be discussed.

Moderator

Jonny Morris is the CEO of the B.C. Division of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). He left CMHA for two years to work within the public service for the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, where he played a key role in helping build this new ministry from the ground up, eventually leading the policy and legislation branch as senior director. In this role, Jonny was responsible for providing advice on a range of complex policy and legislative initiatives while leading several transformational mental health and addictions programs.

In his past role at CMHA, Jonny provided leadership for provincial mental health and substance use operations through the association’s provincial office and the branch network across British Columbia. His work focused on addressing systemic disparities between physical and mental health, campus mental health, the criminal justice system, systems transformation, policy, and government relations.

Jonny has a long research and practice history in suicide prevention, has trained as a counsellor, and has held teaching appointments at the University of Victoria and Douglas College in child and youth care. He earned both his Bachelor of Child and Youth Care and his Master of Arts in child and youth care from the University of Victoria.

Panelists

Alicia Hibbert is Métis through her mom’s side and was born in Treaty 1 territory. Alicia was raised and built relationships in Treaty 6 territory, where she worked in collaboration with Indigenous communities on resilience-based programs for more than nine years. Since 2019, Alicia has been a guest living and working with gratitude on the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmaɁɬ təməxʷ (Musqueam), səl̓ilwətaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsleil-Waututh), and skwxwú7mesh-ulh Temíx̱w (Squamish). She values working relationally and with reciprocity and is passionate about individual, workplace, and community well-being. Alicia believes we can best achieve these through systemic changes and focuses on the faculty and staff side of systems change in her work with UBC human resources. In her role, Alicia is an agile project manager and has an MA in anthropology and humanities computing and a CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management) accreditation.

Paola Ardiles is a practitioner scholar who has been recognized for her innovative, collaborative, and inter-sectoral approaches in health promotion research, policy, practice, and education. She is a faculty teaching fellow and lecturer in the faculty of health sciences at Simon Fraser University.

Paola is the founder of Bridge for Health, a local and global self-organized network promoting public engagement and community health. In 2016, Bridge for Health became a cooperative association with the mission to advance social innovation as it relates to health equity. Bridge for Health received SFU’s 2017 Coast Capital Savings Venture Prize for Social Impact for its efforts to advance well-being practices in the workplace.

Paola is the co-designer of the Health Change Lab at SFU Surrey in partnership with RADIUS Social Innovation Hub, based out of the Beedie School of Business. The Health Change Lab is an experiential program to help students identify community health challenges and co-design innovative and entrepreneurial solutions.

Paola holds a Master of Health Science in health promotion, a Master of Business Administration, and diplomas in global health diplomacy and investment for health: integrating health in all policies. She is currently finishing her doctoral studies investigating social innovation and equity-centred approaches to promoting community health.

Rosie Dhaliwal is part of SFU’s equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) leadership team, working to create inclusive systems, processes, and culture. In her role as EDI specialist for human resources, she develops and facilitates best practices, programs. and services in the area of equity, diversity, and inclusion and oversees compliance with applicable policies. She works collaboratively to provide comprehensive education and awareness training for members of the university community.

Rosie holds a Master of Education in curriculum and instruction with a lens on cultural competency. Rosie has authored and co-authored a number of publications and is pursuing a doctoral degree within SFU’s faculty of education.

She made significant contributions to the award-winning SFU Healthy Campus Community Initiative and is also currently a sessional instructor in the faculty of arts and social sciences. Rosie is a strong advocate for inclusion and is passionate about creating a vibrant learning community for students.

Dr. Susan Porter is the dean and vice-provost of graduate and postdoctoral studies at the University of British Columbia, as well as a clinical professor in pathology and laboratory medicine. She is also the former president of the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies and a member of the Council of Graduate Studies / Jed Foundation Advisory Committee on Graduate Student Mental Health and Wellbeing. Using the Okanagan Charter as a roadmap and recognizing the distinctive issues faced by graduate students, Dean Porter and her team work collaboratively to implement the graduate student–specific well-being strategy that was developed in 2017. UBC’s graduate school also recognizes that culture, practices, pedagogies, and support structures in the graduate enterprise are critical to well-being and consistently works to improve these.

Dr. Maureen Wideman is associate vice-president of teaching and learning at the University of the Fraser Valley. She is considered an expert in the field of curriculum design, accessible learning, and academic integrity. She has decades of experience assisting faculty in their growth as teaching professionals. Her depth of experience in digital pedagogy has been put to the test over the last year, as she has led and supported the university in its pivot to online learning.

Archives:
- Mentimeter: Systems Change Panel

Thriving Beyond Campuses

Thriving Beyond Campuses Co-Hosts

Diana Jung is an experienced health promotion specialist with Health Promotion and Education at the University of British Columbia Vancouver campus. Diana engages and partners with staff, faculty, and student leaders to build the capacity of the campus community and embed health as a priority in all areas of campus. Over the last eight years, she has provided leadership in a series of research projects on student mental health and well-being in learning environments. As a student affairs professional, Diana is experienced in facilitating learning opportunities for students through guidance and program development. She takes a strength-based approach to fostering student mental health and is passionate about diversity and inclusion in higher education. Diana holds a Master of Arts in community psychology and a Master of Arts in counselling psychology.

Russell Thomson is a health promotion strategist at Simon Fraser University. Having recently joined the Health & Counselling department, he is contributing to the SFU Well-being in Learning Environments initiative, working with the Student Health Advisory Committee and leading the graduate student well-being project. He is passionate about contributing to student well-being, with over five years’ experience in the post-secondary sector. While working at the University of Calgary, Russell contributed to the Campus Mental Health Strategy for students, faculty, and staff. Russell’s interests include mental health literacy, physical literacy, and stigma reduction. He is an experienced facilitator and a certified Inquiring Mind and Working Mind Trainer from the Mental Health Commission of Canada.

Graphic Recorder

Jason Toal (he/him) is a designer, educator, and educational media producer working at Simon Fraser University located on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and Kwikwetlem Nations. He brings 25 years’ experience to his role supporting instructors to design engaging learning experiences. From a sketchbook to a webpage, Jason works with educators to find creative ways to share knowledge. Jason is currently an Interaction Specialist with SFU’s Centre for Educational Excellence. He will be observing in the sessions to creatively record and summarize the dialogue series.

Acknowledging Our Funders

UBC Health Promotion and Education gratefully acknowledges the financial support for this project provided by UBC Vancouver students via the UBC Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund.

SFU Health Promotion gratefully acknowledges the financial support for this project provided by SFU’s Student Experience Initiative.

Are you a faculty member or instructor interested in exploring ways to enhance student well-being in your learning environments? Join us for these interactive roundtable sessions showcasing practical ideas for creating conditions for well-being.

Faculty and staff champions at SFU and UBC will share promising practices that enhance student well-being in their pedagogy, curriculum, and programs. Through themed virtual sessions, participants will have the opportunity to discuss and share their current approaches, as well as gain insight on how to embed practices that promote student well-being in their teaching and learning.

Participants will:

Learn how to increase their capacity to engage in practices that enhance student well-being
Discuss and share practices that enhance student well-being through pedagogy, curriculum, and programs
Facilitate inter-institutional discussion and knowledge sharing