UBC Reports | Vol. 47 | No. 09 | May 10, 2001

Graduates think, act locally and globally

Scholarly excellence combined with a desire to make a difference defines UBC graduates

Athlete proves high scorer on all courts

Melanie Griswold describes her LSAT result as if it were just another routine win for her top-ranked Thunderbird women's volleyball team. "I had a good test," says the modest six-foot middle blocker from Kelowna. Her score placed in the top one per cent in North America.
more

Interdisciplinary scholar weighs risks and benefits

The reach of Joe Arvai's research extends from the depths of the oceans to outer space. His mission is to grasp how to make better decisions. One of 6,500 students in the Faculty of Graduate Studies, he has completed an interdisciplinary PhD in the relatively new field of risk communication.
more

Scholar helps heal schools' heavy toll

Rosalyn Ing endured Canada's shameful residential schools and has shed light on their disturbing legacy as part of her doctoral thesis in the Faculty of Education.
more

Publican finds new career next door

Not too many people are eager to visit a dentist's office in their spare time.But Dentistry graduate Walter Payne did exactly that while he was a pub owner in Prince George. What he witnessed inspired him to change his career.
more

Social concerns transport engineering grad

Civil Engineering student Brian Lee has paid close attention to the Vancouver transit strike.That's because he will be heading to Chicago's Northwestern University, the University of Toronto or the University of California at Berkeley for graduate work in transportation planning after he graduates with a Bachelor of Applied Science this month.
more

Voyage teaches community pharmacist to seize the day

Lap Nguyen's educational journey was launched in 1988 as he lay huddled in an open boat with 30 others escaping from Vietnam to Malaysia.
more

Law worth losing sleep over, says grad

When it's 4:30 a.m., you haven't slept for 36 hours and you have a legal argument due first thing, you make tight friendships and learn to work as a team, says Monique Pongracic-Speier. It's one of the many things she has learned while earning a Bachelor of Law degree. more

Activism in the cards

Nyranne Martin is immersed in the worldwide wave of activism. An excellent student with international experience, she dove into university life while earning a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.
more

Doctor flies through school with the greatest of ease

Kristin Wingfield always wanted to be a doctor but first she had to run away and join the circus. Wingfield, who graduates with a doctor of medicine degree, is also an aerial acrobat who performed full-time with the Cirque de Soleil gymnast troupe before entering UBC's medical school.
more

UBC 'adoption' fosters forester

Jeff Arsenault's decision to enrol in the Faculty of Forestry was strangely rooted in the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary. That was the year 200 forestry students and a handful of faculty from Hungary's Sopron University fled the country. Adopted by UBC, they made an indelible imprint on both the Faculty of Forestry and the provincial forest industry.
more

All this and science too

Adam Mott is living proof that the best way to get something done is to assign it to a busy person. The Science student's dizzying array of activities would exhaust most others, yet his marks have averaged above 80 per cent and earned him a spot on the Dean's Honour List each year.
more

See also: Schedule of Spring Congregation Ceremonies 2001