Dr. Kedrick James will assume the role of Interim Director, Okanagan School of Education, for a two-year term commencing July 2, 2024
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Kedrick James has been appointed Interim Director of the Okanagan School of Education in the Faculty of Education for a two-year term commencing July 2, 2024. This appointment coincides with the ongoing search for the next Director.
Dr. James is a Professor of Teaching in the Department of Language and Literacy Education in the Faculty of Education at UBC Vancouver. His diverse background, including roles in education, language consultancy, the arts, and small business ownership, informs his interdisciplinary approach to scholarly research, teaching and service.
His leadership and multiple advisory roles within the UBC Faculty of Education underscore his dedication to academic excellence and mentorship. Dr. James was honoured with the Murray Elliott Service Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teacher Education in 2018 and has served as a University Sustainability Fellow.
Driven by a commitment to decolonize education, Dr. James’ research explores the intersections between language and various ecologies, aiming to promote ecological and social justice in educational settings. He also conducts digital arts-based research on the automation of literacy and its socio-cultural impacts.
A pioneer in educational software development, Dr. James founded PhoneMe, a social media app dedicated to user-curated place-based poetry, and Singling, a text-sonification qualitative data analysis software designed to aid individuals with visual impairments in skim reading text. Additionally, he is dedicated to environmental preservation, focusing on the wild grasslands of Boundary Country in southern British Columbia.
Thank you to Dr. Margaret Macintyre Latta, who has served as Director, Okanagan School of Education since July 1, 2018 . In her role, Dr. Macintyre Latta fostered learning environments that value inclusive educative and research approaches for all undergraduate, professional development and graduate education programs in the Okanagan School of Education (OSE). Over the course of her time as Director, OSE, Dr. Macintyre Latta engaged with numerous external groups, including Indigenous educators, school districts and community partners to strengthen the OSE’s commitment to decolonizing their curriculum and teaching practices. She was recognized as the 2022 UBC Okanagan Social Sciences and Humanities Researcher of the Year and received a 2023 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Connection Grant for her transformative research to advance curriculum as a shared participatory learning experience that inspires reconciliation.