Our instructors

Evelyn Encalada Grez

Evelyn Encalada Grez, Ph.D is Latinx/Global professor, community organiser, and researcher currently based in the traditional territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, Kwikwetlem, and Musqueam nations (Burnaby, BC). Her doctoral degree is in Social Justice Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. Evelyn has worked in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras with the Central American Network in Solidarity with Maquila Women and with the Workers Support Centre in Puebla, Mexico.
She is a founding member of the award-winning collective, Justice for Migrant Workers (J4MW) that has promoted the rights of migrant farm workers in Canada since 2001. As a result of her affiliation with Rural Women Making Change, a CURA-SSHRC project based at the University of Guelph, she was invited to the United Nations to speak about her community work with Mexican migrant farmworker women for International Rural Women's Day.

Additionally, Evelyn was the lead Travelling Faculty for a global university teaching US students throughout India, Senegal, Jordan, Nepal, Chile, and Brazil. For three semesters she was also the Academic Director of a social justice, cultural identity, and local development study abroad program in her city of birth, Valparaiso, Chile. Her work has been published in academic journals and she has also mobilized her research and community work through film and art projects to reach broad audiences. Evelyn is driven by her immigrant working class experiences and committed to decolonializing and transformative pedagogies.

Socorro Esther Dominguez Vidana,

Robert Farkasch

Robert Farkasch, PhD, is a lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia. He teaches courses in international political economy, international relations and understanding terrorism.

Heidi Feenstra

Sandra Fennings

Sara Fera

Andrea Fruhling

Andrea Fruhling, COC, is the founding director of Doubleknot Works, a private mentor coaching practice, and is a mentor coach and instructor for the UBC Certificate in Organizational Coaching at UBC. Andrea is also the instructional designer and a lead instructor for both the Career Coaching Masterclass course, and the Certification in Hope-Action Theory & Practice course, which is offered to career professionals globally. She is the only Hope-Action Theory expert-level trainer in the world, and a leader for the International Coaching Federation’s Career Coaching Community of Practice.

An expert in organizational coaching, career development and creativity, Andrea develops and delivers programs for career professionals and coaches, and provides leaders and organizations the tools they need to increase their impact and create a culture where people can thrive.

Andrea has delivered webinars, keynote presentations and workshops for national and international career development conferences, organizations and associations. Her work is practical and engaging, with a focus on creativity, active strengths-based learning, team engagement and hope.

Jose Ricardo García Martinez

Florian Gassner

Dr. Florian Gassner, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Teaching in the UBC Department of Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies. He’s a former Fellow of the New Europe College in Bucharest, and has represented the German Academic Exchange Service at the Donetsk National University in Ukraine. His research focuses in the cultural history of Central and Eastern Europe.

Mike Gelbart

Mike Gelbart, PhD, is an assistant professor of teaching in the UBC Department of Computer Science, and Option Co-Director of the UBC Master of Data Science (MDS) Program. He joined UBC in 2015 and was part of the team that designed the MDS curriculum. He holds an undergraduate degree in physics from Princeton University, and a PhD from the machine learning group at Harvard University. Outside of UBC, Mike is an advisor at Vanedge Capital, a Vancouver-based early-stage venture capital fund for technology startups. Learn more about Michael on his personal website.