PWIAS Academic Advisory Board Members

The Peter Wall Institute is pleased to announce the reappointment of a reconstituted Academic Advisory Board, including a broad spectrum of voices. The members of the Academic Advisory Board were co-appointed by the UBC President and the PWIAS Interim Director with the explicit mandate to provide advice and make recommendations on various matters relating to the Institute, including its academic governance and mandate. The 2020-21 Academic Advisory Board members are:

Carole P. Christensen, School of Social Work, Faculty of Arts

Dr. Carole P. Christensen, was appointed Professor and Director of The University of British Columbia School of Social Work and Family Studies in 1991. She was the second female, and the first woman of colour appointed Director in the School’s 75-year history. Her prior position was Professor, McGill University School of Social Work where, for 21 years, she initiated courses, taught, published widely, and conducted research and workshops focusing on cross cultural, anti-racism, and family therapy.

Wade Davis, Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Arts

Professor Wade Davis is a writer, photographer, and filmmaker whose work has taken him from the Amazon to Tibet, Africa to Australia, Polynesia to the Arctic. Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society from 1999 to 2013, he is currently Professor of Anthropology and the BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia.

Michelle LeBaron, Allard School of Law

Professor Michelle LeBaron is an internationally renowned conflict transformation scholar/practitioner at the Allard School of Law, UBC who has done seminal work in many types of conflict including intercultural, international, family, organizational and commercial.

Renisa Mawani, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts

Renisa Mawani is a Professor of Sociology, Faculty Associate at the Liu Institute for Global Issues, Faculty Associate at the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice, and the inaugural Chair of the Law and Society Program. Dr. Mawani works in the fields of critical theory and colonial legal history and has published widely on law, colonialism, race, and legal geography.

Sebastian Prange, Department of History, Faculty of Arts

Sebastian Prange is Associate Professor of South Asian history at the Department of History. He studies the trading world of the medieval and early-modern Indian Ocean, with a special focus on the commercial networks, political alliances, and religious connections that linked India to Arabia and Southeast Asia.

Olav Slaymaker, Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts

Professor Emeritus, Olav Slaymaker is an international expert in physical geomorphology and the environment of the cryosphere (landscapes of ice and snow). His research interests focus on sustainability of mountain environments, alpine hydrology and geomorphology, lacustrine sedimentation and the human impact on geomorphic and hydrological processes.

Michelle Stack, Department of Educational Studies, Faculty of Education

Associate Professor and 2020 Wall Scholar, Michelle Stack’s research is focused on educational equity, interdisciplinary knowledge translation and university rankings. She is the author of Global University Ranking and the Mediatization of Higher Education, and co-editor of a book with Dr. André Mazawi, Course Syllabi in Faculties of Education Bodies of Knowledge and their Discontents, International and Comparative Perspectives.

Ali Tatum, Colour Wave Consulting

Ali Tatum is the founding director of Colour Wave Consulting, which provides reproductive justice and equity training, culturally appropriate engagement strategies and knowledge translation for research groups and community organizations. Ali works to facilitate change management to build more inclusive and equitable teams.

Saraswathi Vedam, Department of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine

Saraswathi Vedam is an Associate Professor of Midwifery and Lead Investigator of the Birth Place Lab. She is a past director of the UBC Midwifery program and during her tenure developed a curriculum renewal that led to an expansion of the program. She has been a clinician and a health professional educator for over 30 years.