Students attending UBC Okanagan will soon be supported by a $1 million donation that will be nearly doubled thanks to a fundraising initiative.
The Stober Family made the donation to assist student scholarships, research and community health initiatives over the next five years. This donation will be matched by Aspire, a fundraising initiative, which will create a total of $1.9 million in opportunities for students.
These funds will go to create needs-based and merit-based scholarships and will immediately provide critical funding for student support. Also, a $500,000 Stober Fellows Program will be formed within the School of Health and Exercise Sciences to help recruit the next generation of health scientists. The fellowships will support students at the undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels.
Lesley Cormack, deputy vice-chancellor and principal at UBC’s Okanagan campus, said these new scholarship and fellowship opportunities in health, exercise science and mental health, will benefit more than just student it will also improve the lives of many in the Okanagan.
A program that will profit from this is that of the UBC Okanagan Social Work Mental Health Clinic—a research, training and treatment centre that provides services to children and their families experiencing mental health issues. A portion of the Stober Foundation funding will go to provide an additional 15 student practicum placements with the potential to serve up to 75 clients and their families.
Similarly, the clinical psychology training program will benefit from support for two postdoctoral students.
Some of the awards have already been given to incoming students for the 2020/21 academic year, with the bulk of the funding being spread out over the next five years.
READ MORE: Stober family makes donation to support training of Okanagan’s frontline workers
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.