As Manager, Katie brings a thoughtful approach to supporting the CE team and fulfilling UBC’s commitment to community-university engagement. With a background in social research and planning, as well as rural and remote community development, Katie enjoys working with people and numbers alike to translate information and conversation into tools for action. Her commitment to outcome-driven planning processes and collaborative community development brings energy and focus to her work.

Katie received a Master of Arts degree in Human Geography from the University of British Columbia and has since been an avid learner in the fields of ethical community-based research and methodologies, community-centric funding, program development and evaluation, learning and visual analytics, and strategic planning. She is honoured to have worked with many different communities, community-based organizations and academic collaborators across BC and Canada in areas including immigration and settlement, homelessness and housing, Indigenous community planning, rural and Northern community development, food security, climate action and the opioid overdose crisis.

Kat focuses on building respectful, reciprocal relationships between local communities and UBC as part of the university’s mission to support excellence in engaged scholarship, research, and public engagement. After seven years working in the not-for-profit sector, Kat joined UBC in 2014 as a sessional instructor, teaching a community-engaged learning course in the School of Kinesiology. She joined the Community Engagement office in 2016.

As the Operations and Program coordinator, Holly manages the day-to-day functioning of the Community Engagement unit. Holly is the behind the scenes person who makes sure all of the programs, projects and events run smoothly and efficiently. With a background in business and management, Holly is involved in many areas of the operations including finance and budgeting, project management and human resources. In 2019, Holly took on the additional role of managing the Community University Engagement Support Fund.

Holly is passionate about working with the community and especially enjoys supporting leadership development for visible minorities and women. In her previous career in banking, Holly had many years leading community engagement with the Korean community, participating in women in leadership initiatives and mentoring the next generation of banking professionals. Holly recently completed her master’s thesis in counselling psychology on the topic of Asian Canadian women in leadership where she interviewed Asian Canadian women leaders and their attainment of leadership.

When Holly is not working at UBC, she can be found sipping coffee at local cafes, sampling new restaurants or working with clients in her private counselling practice.

Ryan works with the Community Engagement team and on- and off-campus stakeholders to foster innovative and progressive community-university engagement policy, strategic planning and implementation. With a background in social policy research and analysis, Ryan prioritizes a focus on mutual benefit for university and community partners, a balanced approach to qualitative and quantitative understanding, and a commitment to collaboration as a key support for ethical decision-making and change.

Ryan holds a Master of Arts degree in Sociology and Anthropology and a Post-Baccalaureate in Social Policy Analysis from Simon Fraser University, where he researched the effects of neonatal care and biomedical approaches to childbirth in Canadian hospitals. After completing graduate studies, Ryan worked with the Government of Ontario to support the co-development and implementation of the Ontario Indigenous Children and Youth Strategy. His work on the Strategy included the co-creation of a performance measurement framework in partnership with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities and urban Indigenous organizations.

Zsuzsi Fodor’s role as an Engagement Strategist focuses on working in her favourite space—facilitating relationships among community partners and the university. She’s worked with non-profit, community, and government organizations over the last 10 years as a Social Planner around food policy & justice, community development, racial equity, as well as network & community of practice facilitation. She’s had the pleasure of being on all sides of the community engagement experience at UBC as a Master’s student at the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), a community organization partner, and as a former adjunct professor with SCARP. She is passionate about some of her current work with the Liberating Structures facilitation methodology, and convening conversations and co-learning opportunities to unpack white privilege.