Opportunities
Sharron Simpson Family Community Engagement Endowment Fund
Are you interested in local history, public humanities, Indigenous studies, regional identity, community engagement, or museum and library studies?
Do you love exploring photographs and archives at your local museum? Are you interested in cultural history and how regional identities are developed? Is there a historical topic, place, or person that you’ve always wanted to learn more about? This fund is for you!
Follow your interests while you work with community partners and university mentors and gain experience with community research, project management, and knowledge dissemination!
About
The Sharron Simpson Family Community Engagement Endowment Fund will support student experiential learning opportunities at UBC Okanagan Library that establish and enhance impactful university-community relationships with an emphasis on raising awareness of public history and regional identity. Students will work with community partners and university mentors to gain valuable skills in collaboration, secondary research, project management, and knowledge dissemination.
Funding through this award will support student work hours through an internship model to allow the recipient to carry out the proposed project work. Award funding can also be applied to other direct expenses related to the proposed project.
Depending on the nature of the project and internal capacity in the Library the recipient of this award may receive mentorship, project management support, in-kind contributions (including space and supplies), internal coordination with other UBC units as needed, and support with project communication and dissemination.
Value: For 2025, there will be one prize awarded of up to $4,000
Application opens: February 17, 2025
Application closes: Deadline extended to 4 pm on April 15, 2025
Project Duration: Proposed projects of up to two months in duration should be completed during Spring/Summer 2025 (May – August period). In some circumstances, depending on the nature of the project, the duration may be longer.
Eligibility
To be eligible students must:
- be an Undergraduate or Graduate student registered in a minimum of 18 credits at UBC Okanagan in the previous winter season (September-April)
- be residing in Canada for the duration of the proposed project work period
- complete the application requirements by the application deadline (March 31, 2025) Deadline extended: 4 pm on April 15.
Successful proposals will:
- focus on a topic related to public history and/or regional identity of the Okanagan
- clearly identify how the project will establish new or enhance existing community relationships with the university
- identify specific collaboration partners (For example, organization(s) or target audience(s) in the community, UBC staff or faculty, Library initiatives, collections, or services)
- identify project outcomes and anticipated project impact (For example: How will this program impact the university and the community partners? How will the outcomes be shared and communicated?)
- identify how the project will contribute to academic, career or personal goals
- be creative!
View the evaluation rubric, which will be used in the adjudication process. The adjudication committee will be composed of a Librarian or Archivist, student, and a faculty member.
We are interested in new and innovative ways that establish and/or enhance impactful university-community relationships with an emphasis on raising awareness of public history and regional identity. A few ideas to give you a range of possible projects include a speaker event or a digital or physical display or exhibit.
Application Materials
Materials must be emailed by 4pm on March 31, to:
Robert Janke
Deputy University Librarian Okanagan Campus
robert.janke@ubc.ca
Proposal Development Support
If you are interested in applying to this fund, please email robert.janke@ubc.ca. You may be invited to a special writing workshop geared to improving your application.
For assistance with gaining a better understanding of potential topic areas and developing your project idea, please review the following resources:
- UBC Okanagan Library Special Collections and Archives
- British Columbia Regional Digitized History
- Sncewips Heritage Museum
- UBC Okanagan Public Humanities Hub
- UBC Okanagan Subject Librarians
For questions about the application process or for further information please contact:
Robert Janke
Deputy University Librarian
robert.janke@ubc.ca
Past Projects
Cultivating Perspectives through Okanagan Literature: The Okanagan Reads Project
– Sarah Craven
The Okanagan Reads Project was conducted in partnership with the Okanagan Regional Library (ORL) to purchase six book club kits featuring books written by Okanagan authors. The books featured in the Okanagan Reads collection include Spíləx̣m: A Weaving of Recovery, Resilience and Resurgence by Nicola Campbell, White Space: Race, Privilege, and Cultural Economies of the Okanagan Valley edited by Daniel Keyes and Luis Aguiar, and Skid Dogs by Emelia Symington-Fedy. These book club kits are available through the ORL at zero-cost so community book clubs can access Okanagan literature. In addition to the book club kits, the funds supported hosting authors who were interested in providing an author talk. Along with the book club opportunities for each book, these author talks provided an opportunity for the community to gather and learn how regional history and identity influence the author’s writing.
Story-Based Learning and Indigenous Public History at the University Children’s Learning Centre
– Daniella Harrison
Funding through the award supported building foundational knowledge of Syilx history, story, and identity for educators and young learners at the University Children’s Learning Centre. The project focused on story-based learning opportunities to improve awareness of Indigenous worldviews and pedagogy at a younger age. Efforts in this project emphasized the role of story for understanding Indigenous public history.
The Importance of Oral Histories and Audio Recordings in the Okanagan – Rachel Pickard
Funding through the award allowed for research to be conducted on The Pocket Desert fonds at Okanagan Special Collections and Archives. The research focused on the importance of oral histories in the Okanagan while highlighting the land’s significance to the Syilx Okanagan People. The findings from this project will be published as part of three blog posts. The blog posts will support discussions about audio archives pertaining to the Okanagan.
North End Urban Canopy Project – Robin Metcalfe
This project supported community engagement surrounding canopy preservation at the development site for Pleasantvale 2. Funding through the award contributed to a neighbourhood event, educational workshop, photography of significant trees in the area, and the development of alternative site plans. The project has enabled continued conversations with Kelowna Tree Protectors and the installation of tree identification signs in the North End of Kelowna.
UBC Undergraduate Prize in Library Research
The UBC Undergraduate Prize in Library Research is a way to showcase students’ effective and innovative use of library services, information experts and resources provided by the UBC Library. Applications for these prizes also provide students with an opportunity to reflect on their information-seeking experience, showcase their research beyond the classroom, and promote scholarship excellence at the undergraduate level at the University of British Columbia.
The Prize was established by UBC Library to encourage more and deeper use of its resources and collections, to advance information literacy at UBC, and to promote academic excellence at UBC.
The Undergraduate Prize in Library Research recognizes excellence in course-based research papers or projects that show evidence of:
- Significant inquiry using the UBC library, its resources, and collections
- Significant learning about the research and information-gathering process itself
Prizes will be awarded at the discretion of the Undergraduate Prize in Library Research adjudication committee. One prize of $3,000, two prizes of $2,000 and two prizes of $1,500 are available. All prizes may not be awarded annually.
Applications closed on February 28, 2025.