The University of Victoria offers a robust learning environment that balances research and teaching as well as sciences and the humanities
UVIC INTEGREATED LEARNING
by Lori Bamber
At their best, universities are knowledge-centred communities in which teaching and research are equally vital elements. But while some universities aim for this dynamic balance, many end up defined by either their commitment to undergraduate education, or as research institutes where grants and publications come first.
At the University of Victoria, however, students can have the best
of both. Dr. Martin Smith, a senior instructor of Psychology and ecipient of the Alumni Teaching Excellence Award in 2005, says, “When I think about the interests and strengths of my colleagues, it is
remarkable how many of them are active, productive research scientists, as well as dedicated, innovative teachers.
“And, of course, this really benefits undergraduates… most of them
want to have instructors who are both active experts in their disciplines, and present thoughtful and engaging classes that involve and motivate students.”
Supporting this integration is UVic’s emphasis on practical, realworld
experience. In Dr. Smith’s department, for example, undergraduate
students obtain volunteer placements in organizations such as
a Centre for Children’s Health, the Juvenile Detention Centre and the
NEED Crisis Line, and participate in community-based research projects through the Centre for Youth and Society, and the Centre for
Addictions Research BC.
Dr. Sara Ellison, professor of Physics and Astronomy, is another example of UVic’s dual excellence in teaching and research. When she
joined the department as a Canada Research Chair in August of 2003,
she was already acknowledged as a world-class astronomer. In the classroom, she is passionate about inspiring students about astronomy, whether first year or advanced.
After receiving her doctorate from Cambridge, Dr. Ellison’s research on the evolution of galaxies led her to observatories in Australia, Spain, Hawaii and Chile, and included development of an innovative method of measuring galaxy evolution by combining telescope observations
with data analysis, using the light from distant quasars to study
galaxies that lie between quasars and Earth.
When Dr. Ellison was drawn to move from full-time observatory
work to the more vibrant, interactive environment of a teaching facility, she was attracted to UVic in part by the research that was already being done there.
“We have some of the strongest research departments in the country,
and we’re renowned internationally for being the Canadian city with the most active astronomers,” she says.
“We have close links to the Hertzberg Institute for Astrophysics,
which is just down the road. “There is a great diversity in
what we do here. We’ve got everything from theory to instrumentation,
with every distance scale from our solar system to the outer reaches
of the universe. We’ve got strong medical physics, with links to the BC
Cancer Agency, strong particle physics, strong oceans physics – an
amazing diversity.”
Students are involved in – and they are integral to – this diverse
research environment, explains Dr. Ellison, through a fully integrated co-op program. For example, students can interlace their academic training with placements in industry or research projects, spending three months at a time in the field in exotic locales such as Chile or Hawaii.
Amanda Jagdis, a winner of the Jubilee Medal for Science, is one of
the products of this dynamic environment. An exceptional student
throughout high school, Ms. Jagdis would have been welcome at any
university.
“I still feel I couldn’t have made a better choice,” she says today after
graduating with a cumulative A+ average. “There is a real sense of
community at UVic, and that was important to me. The office doors of
the faculty are always open, and it’s obvious they care about the students and our success. They provide challenges, but they also provide support. They’re approachable.”
Ms. Jagdis particularly appreciated the labs she participated in. “In
larger universities, you usually only see your professors at lectures, and labs are usually one TA (teaching assistant) and a bunch of students.”
She says that third- and fourth-year students get to know their professors even more, because the professors run their own labs. “And they use different teaching methods – case studies, interactive teaching, mediated discussions and very high level labs,” she says.
Ms. Jagdis, now studying medicine, was accepted into every medical
school she applied to. “I credit a lot of that to UVic,” she says. “They
really helped me prepare, not just academically, but as a person.”
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