Chris Campbell
Why did you decide to pursue a graduate degree?
I embarked on a PhD because I was interested in the possibility of uniting my dual background in chemical engineering and language education in an interesting way to keep me engaged in my work life. I see this research degree as an ideal way of combining my love of culture, teaching, curriculum and learning in order to make a contribution.
Why did you decide to study at UBC?
UBC is a powerhouse with a great reputation in an internationally acclaimed city. Having grown up internationally and having a young bicultural family (Japanese and Canadian), I really wanted to be in a place replete with diversity. My extended family is here in BC and so Vancouver was naturally a great place to take a mid-career pause and chart a new direction.
What was the best surprise about UBC or life in Vancouver?
I really like the student family housing arrangements at UBC: people from all over the world are placed in close proximity to one another in a space that encourages interaction, understanding and mutual support. The original vision of student family housing at UBC is wonderful and I remember my parents talking about their life here in the late 1960s. I'm hoping that future UBC development plans continue to encourage the type of community and engagement that UBC is known for.
What advice do you have for new graduate students?
I think forming sustaining networks of people - personal and professional - is critical to success. Seek suitable mentors/guides where you can find them. Respect their time. Check and negotiate opportunities, possibilities, protocols, procedures and rules. Ask for permission and guidance. Navigating the personalities, culture, institution, and language of the academy is challenging, so seek help from more experienced people where you find them. Don't forget to enjoy yourself. When it gets too much, go to a mountaintop to get a perspective.
Learn more about Chris's research
Globalization on the scale experienced at large Canadian research universities presents a certain challenge. While enhancing access to an increasingly diverse student demographic, faculties must also address a range of knowledge, skills, and attributes beyond the transmission of traditional disciplinary knowledge. My mixed-methods study will investigate the processes through which linguistically and culturally diverse learners in an undergraduate program are enculturated into engineering knowledge, skills and identities. The sociocultural and activity theories employed in this study recognize that linguistic, cultural, historical, social, institutional, and material factors shape an engineer's 'knowing', 'doing', and 'being' and provide a way of analyzing how students constitute legitimate engineering identities by mastering and displaying language, skills, and knowledge. Examining how enculturation processes shape such 'identities of competence' of linguistically and culturally diverse students in the 'lived' curriculum will inform curricular revision efforts now challenged by the goals of inclusion and global engineering competence for all graduates.