CELebrate Learning: A podcast about community-engaged learning and teaching!

Community-Engaged Learning team at the University of Victoria

This podcast highlights diverse perspectives and experiences of CEL, aiming to provide useful insight, tools and inspiration to students, faculty and community members alike. Our episodes will cover a range of topics, such as intersectionality, reflection, the spectrum of engagement, and stories of the power of learning in community to help deepen understandings of CEL possibilities.

Episodes

  1. May 5

    Spectrum of Engagement - Episode 5: Co-Create

    For the fifth and final faculty-focused episode in the CELebrate Learning Podcast Instructor series, Host and former CEL Manager Rhianna Nagel (she/her), and current CEL Coordinator Rosa McBee (she/her) speak with UVic professor Sarah Marie Wiebe (she/her) about what doing community-engaged teaching looks like for her. Sarah shares her thoughts  relationship-building, navigating logistical surprises, and the joys of this kind of teaching.  More about our guests...  Sarah Marie is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Administration and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Hawai'i, Mānoa. Sarah Marie’s research efforts focus on community development, environmental sustainability, and governance, particularly in the aftermath of climate disasters; she is a co-founder of the FERN (Feminist Environmental Research Network). She works on collaborative research projects with communities through mixed-media storytelling, such as filmmaking and podcasting. At the intersections of environmental justice and citizen engagement, her teaching emphasizes political ecology, policy justice, and deliberative dialogue.

    Spectrum of Engagement - Episode 5: Co-Create

  2. May 5

    Spectrum of Engagement - Episode 4: Collaborate

    For the fourth faculty-focused episode in the CELebrate Learning Podcast's special instructor series, Host and former CEL Manager Rhianna Nagel (she/her) speaks with UVic faculty member Nigel Mantou Lou (he/him), PhD candidate Jess Willows (she/her) and their community partner, Jennifer Lei King (she/her) from the Intercultural Association of Greater Victoria. They discuss what community-engaged teaching looks like for their upper-level psychology course. Plus, they share tips on how to prepare and support students for their relationships with community partners, and how to create reflective activities.  More about our guests...  Nigel is a social-educational psychologist and the director of the Motivation and Intercultural Relations Lab, and a faculty member at the Department of Psychology, University of Victoria. Nigel’s teaching spans social psychology, cultural psychology, and psychology of migration. His research interests are at the intersection of social/personality psychology, educational psychology, and applied linguistics.     Jess recently completed her PhD in Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies at the University of Victoria while also working as a sessional instructor in the teacher education program. Having come from a long career as a teacher in the Gulf Islands School District of British Columbia herself, Jess has been involved with many professional development (PD) for teachers, offering workshops and serving as the PD Chair. Jess also works with the BC Teachers’ Federation as a facilitator of the Teacher Inquiry Program and as a workshop facilitator throughout the province.   Jennifer is a bilingual counsellor, who offers counselling services through the Intercultural Association of Greater Victoria (ICA). Her work focuses on multicultural perspectives and culturally sensitive counselling, helping newcomers discover practical strategies for managing stress, building resilience, and confidently navigating challenges in their new environment. Jennifer loves staying connected to psychology students at UVic through community-engaged learning.

    Spectrum of Engagement - Episode 4: Collaborate

  3. May 5

    Spectrum of Engagement - Episode 3: Involve

    Host and former CEL Manager Rhianna Nagel (she/her) and current CEL Coordinator Rosa McBee speak with UVic faculty member Erin McGuire (they/them) about what doing community-engaged teaching can look like. They chat about the motivation to teach with CEL as a pedagogy, how to navigate and adapt to changing expectations and timeframes, and share tips for instructors who want to try teaching with community for the first time!   More about our guests...  Erin is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Victoria and holds a PhD in Archaeology from the University of Glasgow. Their main research interests are in the Viking North Atlantic, funerary ritual, gender identities, material culture, migration and Medieval Archaeology, and in their teaching, they center their scholarship on universal design for learning, inclusivity, and decolonization. \ They have led many community-engaged learning courses in archaeology and started many ongoing projects with local community groups, such as the Spinners and Weavers Guild and the Congregation Emanu-El Jewish Cemetery.

    Spectrum of Engagement - Episode 3: Involve

  4. May 5

    Spectrum of Engagement - Episode 2: Consult

    For the second faculty-focused episode, Host and former CEL Office Manager Rhianna Nagel (she/her), and CEL Coordinator Rosa McBee (she/her), sit down to talk to guest Professor Daniel Hogg (he/him) about his course and how it can include community-engaged learning or not, depending on the student interest and projects.  They chat about what community-engaged teaching looks like in his class and touch on student well-being and ethical representation when working with community.  More about our guest...  Born and raised in Victoria, on the unceded traditional territory of the Lekwungen-speaking people, writer/producer Daniel Hogg is an award-winning storyteller with experience in film production, screenwriting, story editing, digital media, typography, and design. He also teaches in the Department of Writing at the University of Victoria, sharing his professional expertise with his students as a Digital Media Arts Specialist.

    Spectrum of Engagement - Episode 2: Consult

  5. May 5

    Spectrum of Engagement - Episode 1: Inform

    For the first faculty-focused episode in the CELebrate Learning podcast, host and former CEL Manager, Rhianna Nagel (she/her) leads two faculty members—former UVic professor Nathan Lachowsky (he/him), current UVic faculty member and postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Northern BC Aki Gormezano (he/him) and their community partner, Jennifer Gibson (she/her) from Island Sexual Health. They chat about what doing community-engaged teaching looks like and touch on topics such as value to students, values to faculty and community partners, the nitty gritty practicalities and practicing healthy boundaries.  More about our guests...  Nate was previously Associate Dean of Research Faculty of Human and Social Development and Associate Professor at the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria. Today, he is the Dean of the Faculty of Human and Health Sciences at the University of Northern British Columbia. As a social epidemiologist, Nate’s areas of expertise are in community-based research on sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention.  Aki completed his PhD in social-personality psychology, and as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in CHER at the University of Northern British Columbia, he is most involved with the Group Sex Project, a mixed-methods longitudinal exploration of pleasure, risk, and harm-reduction practices among group sex participants. His research focuses on how sexual contexts shape sexuality and impact sexual health. Aki is also a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UNBC.Jennifer is the Coordinator of Community Education Services at the Island Sexual Health here in Greater Victoria. She is a professional sexual health educator whose knowledge, sense of humour, enthusiasm, and comfort level give her the unique ability to make sexual health education accessible and easy to relate to.

    Spectrum of Engagement - Episode 1: Inform

  6. 11/21/2025

    Student Perspectives - “Rooted in Community: Emerging Engineers for Climate Action and Resilience” with Matilde Cervantes Navarrete

    In this episode, co-hosts Matilde Cervantes (PhD candidate and project manager contractor at the CEL Office) and April Vannini (CEL Coordinator) invite you to learn from Engineering MA student, Shukooh Goodarzi and Engineering PhD candidate Kelsey Shaw, who are conducting community-engaged research. Both students are participants in the Students in Community: Engaging Meaningfully for Climate Action and Resilience program, which is generously funded by CEWIL Canada and run through the CEL Office.    About the guests:  Shukooh Goodarzi (she/her) is a Master of Engineering student in Industrial Ecology within the Department of Civil Engineering. Her research focuses on urban sustainability, ecological connectivity, and planning. Shukooh ’s project, "Examination of Municipal Park Connectivity and Forest Species Sustainability in North Saanich – A First Approximation," in collaboration with the Diverters Foundation, examines how the fragmentation of urban forest parks affects species distribution and biodiversity. By identifying gaps and opportunities for habitat improvement, the research aims to provide practical recommendations to increase forest ecosystem resilience and to plan for long-term sustainability in the region.     Kelsey Shaw (they/them) is a PhD candidate in Civil Engineering, co-supervised at the University of Victoria in Canada (Public Health and Environmental Engineering Lab) and the Swiss Federal Institute for Aquatic Sciences and Technology (Management of Excreta, Wastewater and Sludge group) in Switzerland. Their research focuses on climate resilience, public health, and environmental engineering, with a commitment to advancing global sustainability and achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They are passionate about addressing cross-cutting challenges to improve sanitation worldwide.    Additional show notes:    This podcast was produced by the University of Victoria’s Community-Engaged Learning Office, part of Co-op and Careers. Special thanks to our guests Shukooh Goodarzi and Kelsey Shaw, and our program funders, CEWIL Canada    If you would like to learn more about community-engaged opportunities that can enrich your life-long learning, email celoffice@uvic.ca or visit our team on campus in the Career Services building beside the UVic Bookstore.    We acknowledge and respect the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) Peoples on whose territory the university stands, and the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.

  7. 09/03/2025

    Student Perspectives – “Being Truly Myself”: Queer and Trans+ Perspectives on Community-Engaged Learning with Gary-Grace Ribeiro

    For the first episode of CELebrate Learning, host Garry-Grace Ribeiro (they/them) speaks with three self-identifying queer and trans+ UVic students on topics such student’s roles as educators in community, the connection between community and self, place and belonging, and how our engagement with community leads to social change. Guests Sam Bottrill (they/them), Eliver Verdugo (they/them) and Matilde Cervantes (she/they) also share what it feels like to do community-engaged work and how it helps us address the problems that are important to us and empowers us to dream of alternatives through a queer lens. About the guests Sam (they/them) is a non-binary white settler living, working, and studying on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen Peoples (Songhees and Esquimalt Nations). They recently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Victoria and are currently working as a Youth Recovery Support Worker and Anti-Violence Worker. Sam's community work began in a seminar course, SOCI 439: Community Engaged Sociology, where Sam created a 2SLGBTQ+ clothing swap. Sam's research interests include healthy queer relationships.Eli (they/them) is a Master’s student in the Social Dimensions of Health program at the University of Victoria (UVic), BC, Canada; they are also a student of the Chair of Transgender Studies, Dr. Aaron Devor, at UVic and the International Partnership for Queer Youth Resilience (INQYR). They have a Bachelor's degree in Psychology, specializing in social psychology, from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAMX) in México City. They advocate for LGBTQ+ rights in their home country and community in La Paz, México, where they founded an LGBTQ+ non-profit: La Paz es Diversa.Matilde (she/they) has a rich background in psychology and psychotherapy with 15 years of experience in private practice in México. Maty graduated with a Master’s in the Social Dimensions of Health. She is currently a Doctoral candidate (Interdisciplinary Studies) affiliated with the Institute on Aging & Lifelong Health at the University of Victoria and the Centre for Global Studies. Their doctoral project is exploring peacebuilding and social transformations through arts-based and Indigenous worldviews within the Planetary Health framework.

  • 7 Episodes

About

This podcast highlights diverse perspectives and experiences of CEL, aiming to provide useful insight, tools and inspiration to students, faculty and community members alike. Our episodes will cover a range of topics, such as intersectionality, reflection, the spectrum of engagement, and stories of the power of learning in community to help deepen understandings of CEL possibilities.

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