Dean Koper's message

Welcome to the Faculty of Environment at UNBC. Our research focuses on solving some of the most serious environmental problems facing our world today. This research complements and often links directly with our academic programs, which provide practical and theoretical tools, and personalized support, to students so we can work together towards environmental, social, and economic sustainability. We are especially proud of our dedication to field-based and experiential learning, community-based learning, and interdisciplinary approaches to solving complex environmental and social problems.

But we also recognize our own need to learn, change, and grow as a result of this learning. Academia has historically played a key role in the subjugation of Indigenous and minoritized communities, and many wrongs have been committed in the name of environmental conservation, nation-building, economic development, and resource extraction, both in Canada and internationally. Indigenous Peoples continue to experience significant hardships, due both to the legacy of the past and as a result of ongoing violation of their rights (United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples | Division for Inclusive Social Development (DISD)). The Faculty of Environment at UNBC is firmly committed to actively working with communities and with Indigenous partners in a spirit of reconciliation, co-production of knowledge, and respect; to serving and being guided by communities; and to reflecting on our own positionality and privileges with humility and willingness to change.

UNBC is a special place – a small, student-centred, research-intensive university - where we value student, staff, and faculty well-being and success while at the same time working together to make our world safer, healthier, and more inclusive and just. I welcome everyone who shares these goals to work with us to help make our world better for everyone.

—Dean Koper