Core Area
Education
Strategic Area
Sustained focus on recruitment and services to attract and support an outstanding and diverse student population
Goal Status
In Progress
Objectives
- Update eMentoring curriculum to have a more Indigenous focus (2025–26).
Achieved Goals
- Participated in the Verna Kirkness Foundation program for Indigenous High School students to participate in pharmaceutical science experiences (2 students in May 2023; 4 students in July 2024).
- Dr. Jarvis-Selinger's e-mentoring program (Rural eMentoring BC, ReMBC) funded ongoing. The team was funded $249,350 through the UBC Indigenous Strategic Initiatives Fund, Stream 2: Transformative Projects. 2023–2026, for the project "Bridging the gap to UBC: transforming an online mentoring program to meet the needs of rural Indigenous youth" (July 2023). E-mentoring plans included more cross-Faculty activities including an early mentoring project with the Office of Student Services (OSS) with pharmacy mentors (in 2023, 120 High school students came on the program; including some E2P students as outreach ambassadors). By 2025, the program had mentored more than 1,400 rural youth from grades 7–12 with more than 600 mentors across 20 rural communities and 39 secondary schools.
- ReMBC partnered with the Office of Student Services on a Directed Studies project, where two PharmD students presented to 5 rural high schools about pathways to pharmacy careers, and prepared a report on barriers to healthcare careers faced by rural students (2024). Continued to offer ReMBC eMentoring Directed Studies project to better understand how to more effectively outreach to rural students (2025).
- Re-established the Faculty-Student mentorship program for E2P PharmD students, and extended to BPSc students (Sep 2024). Implemented the 2025W offering, with minor refinements based on feedback from the 2024W mentors and mentees. A total of 23 faculty members volunteered to serve as mentors in 2025W for the 89 E2P PharmD and 32 BPSc students who requested to participate (fall 2025).
- UPROOT and Indigenous Student Collegium worked to implement Indigenous mentorship program for E2P PharmD students. The Indigenous Peer-to-Peer Mentorship Program pairs incoming Indigenous Entry-to-Practice PharmD students with upper-year Indigenous students to assist in the transition to pharmacy school. The goal of the program is to foster a sense of community among Indigenous students, while providing a safe environment for personal growth (2024–25).
- UPROOT team held annual partner gathering event to share collective work, projects and future perspectives with community partners, partner organizations, students, faculty and artists (2024, 2025).
- Relaunched peer tutor program for both BPSc and PharmD students, with 27 students signed up as peer tutors (fall 2025).