OFFICE OF THE ASSOCIATE VICE-PRESIDENT INTERNATIONAL

The Office of the Associate Vice-President International focuses on providing the staff, students, and alumni of the University with tools and advice to undertake their own internationalization initiatives. Our goal is to engage the entire university community in meeting the internationalization objectives of Trek 2010. A Strategic Plan for Internationalizing the University of British Columbia has been adopted to implement the objectives of Trek 2010. You can review the Strategic Plan for Internationalization online or download the PDF file.

Areas of Service

In order to help realize UBC's internationalization objectives, the Office of the Associate Vice-President International is responsible for:

- Providing institutional leadership and support regarding its internationalization efforts
- Developing international business development opportunities
- Negotiating and monitoring international agreements
- Promoting faculty, staff, and student mobility
- Recruiting international students, faculty members, and staff to UBC
- Coordinating international visits by UBC executives
- Welcoming international visitors to the University
- Serving as the point of contact for the diplomatic community and the federal, provincial, and local government regarding international matters
- Engaging the international communities of British Columbia
- Disseminating information about the University’s international activities
- Facilitating relations between UBC and the Vancouver Olympics

For more information, please contact the Office of the Associate Vice-President International.

Contact Information

Associate Vice-President International
Professor Craig Evan Klafter
Telephone: 604-822-5607
e-mail

Administrative Assistant
Kira Holthe
Telephone: 604-822-4480
e-mail

Director, International Community Engagement
Winnie Cheung
Telephone: 604-822-6799
e-mail

Director, International Affairs
Helen Pennant
Telephone: 604-822-0099
e-mail

Manager of Communications
Christine Evans
Telephone: 604-822-0810
e-mail

Secretary
Tangerine Twiss
Telephone: 604-822-3114
e-mail

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Applied Research and Evaluation Services – lpi - celpip

Executive Director
Professor Don Wehrung
Telephone: 604 822-6499
e-mail

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(Portfolio of Vice-President Students)

International Student Initiative

Associate Director, International Student Initiative
Karen McKellin
Telephone: 604-822-1418
e-mail

International Student Recruitment

Manager, International Recruitment - The Americas
Paola Baca
Telephone: 604-822-0502
e-mail

Manager, International Recruitment - Asia and Oceania
Håkan Björn
Telephone: 604-822-0617
e-mail

Manager, Int'l Recruitment - Europe, Middle East, Africa
Telephone: Damara Klaassen
604-822-0500
e-mail

Manager, Marketing and Strategic Communications
Lisa Fisher
Telephone: 604-822-6166
e-mail

Manager, Business Development and Strategic Operations
Carleton Ng
Telephone: 604-822-0446
e-mail

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Director, UBC Go Global
Katherine Beaumont
Telephone: 604-822-0942
e-mail

Associate Director, International Student Development
Michelle Suderman
Telephone: 604-822-1336
e-mail

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International OfficeS

The UBC Asia Pacific Regional Office Ltd.
Winty Cheung
Executive Director, APRO
Room 1207, 12th Floor
ING Tower
308 Des Voeux Road Central
Hong Kong

Telephone: 852-2111-4400
Fax: 852-2111-9532
e-mail

The UK Foundation of The University of British Columbia Ltd.
Harprit Sekhon
Company Secretary
67 Manor Avenue
Hounslow, Middlesex TW4 7JN
England

Telephone: +44 (0)7906 297 096 
e-mail

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Staff Profiles

Craig Evan Klafter was born in New York and raised there, in France, in St. Maarten, N.A., and in England. He earned a B.A. with General Honours in History and an M.A. in History from The University of Chicago, and a D.Phil. in Modern History from the University of Oxford where he studied under J.R. Pole and was the recipient of an Overseas Research Student Award and a University of Oxford Bursary.

From 1985 to 1990, he was Chief Operating Officer of Coronet Corporation (an international trading company). He has been Lecturer in American History and Institutions at the University of Manchester, and Lecturer in Modern History and Research Fellow in Legal History at the University of Southampton. From 1993 to 1994, he served as Associate Historian at the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, D.C. In 1994, he joined Boston University as Assistant to the Provost and Adjunct Professor of Law. Two years later, he was promoted to Assistant to the President. In 2002, he resigned from Boston University to found Ingenia, Inc., a consulting firm that specialized in helping institutions of higher education with strategic planning, internationalization, and advancement. Three years later, he sold the business and joined the University of British Columbia as Associate Vice-President International.  He also holds a professorship in the Faculty of Law.

He has line-management responsibility for formulating and implementing a strategic plan for internationalization including student, faculty, and staff recruitment and mobility; curriculum development; educational and research collaborations; business development; fund-raising and alumni relations; provincial, federal, and foreign government relations; and community engagement. 

Craig Evan Klafter’s books include:  Reason Over Precedents: Origins of American Legal Thought (London, 1993), Essays on English Law and the American Experience (College Station, 1994), Legal Practice Management and Quality Standards (London, 1995), and The Future of National Identity (Vancouver, 2008).  He is the recipient of the Webb-Smith Essay Prize from the University of Texas for his essay, "The Americanization of Blackstone's Commentaries," and a Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst scholarship.  He has been an historical consultant for two television series: Jeeves and Wooster (Carnival Films, London Weekend Television, 1992) and The American Revolution (BBC, 1993). He serves on the Board of Directors of KVC, Incorporated (a venture capital firm), is President-emeritus of the St. Catherine’s College (Oxford) Foundation, and is Treasurer of the American Society for Legal History.

Winnie L. Cheung is Director of International Community Engagement. Ms. Cheung is responsible for developing and managing partnerships with community organizations, businesses and government agencies, and the Foreign Diplomatic Corps within Canada. She also manages the way in which UBC engages international visitors to British Columbia. Ms Cheung has been at UBC since 1990 and has made significant contributions through a variety of roles including Director of the International Student Centre, Director of International Student Services, Executive Director of International House, and as Senior Advisor Internationalization and Alumni Relations to the Vice President Students. Ms Cheung holds BA in English and Chinese from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and an MA in English from the University of Canterbury.

Winty Cheung is General Manager of the Asia Pacific Regional Office in Hong Kong. Winty graduated in 2001 from the London School of Economics with a Bachelor of Science in Management, and is currently pursuing an MBA with Royal Holloway College, London. She has extensive administrative experience in financial, trading, and manufacturing companies, as well as post-secondary educational institutions.

Helen Pennant is Director of International Affairs. In this role, she advances the University’s international profile by facilitating and sustaining relations with international partners; cultivating international relationships and linkages; and identifying and evaluating new international developments and risks of relevance to UBC. Mrs. Pennant comes to UBC from the British Foreign Service. Her last posting was as First Secretary, Labour and Education Attaché at the British Embassy in Paris. Prior to that, she held a variety of important positions within the European Commission and the British government. She holds BA and MA in French and History from Oxford University.

Donald Wehrung is Executive Director of Applied Research and Evaluation Services – Language Proficiency Index – Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program. He is Professor of Strategic Management in the Sauder School of Business at The University of British Columbia where he has taught and conducted research since 1974.  He holds a BA degree from Dartmouth College and both M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University.  He is co-author of Taking Risks:  The Management of Uncertainty, and he has published numerous articles on this topic.

Dr. Wehrung has served as Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Student Services in the Sauder School.  For the past 12 years he has served as Executive Director of the International Student Initiative at UBC that is responsible for recruiting international students to undergraduate programs across the university.  During this period enrolment of international undergraduate students has increased from 450 students to 3500.

In February 2009 Dr. Wehrung was appointed Executive Director, Applied Research and Evaluation Services.  His mandate is to help UBC further develop and promote its English proficiency tests – Language Proficiency Index (LPI) and Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program (CELPIP) – both within Canada and internationally.

Christine Evans is Manager of Communications, and promotes the University’s internationalization efforts to internal and external audiences. Ms. Evans has extensive experience with other international units at UBC, including the Office of UBC International, the Centre for Human Settlements, and the Trends in International Math and Science Study. Prior to joining UBC, she spent several years working for a Member of Parliament while earning her BA from Carleton University. Her education continues with multimedia certificates from UBC and Dalhousie University.

Kira Holthe is the Administrative Assistant to the Associate Vice President International. Kira has been with the university since 2000. She has for the last several years worked within the Associate Vice President International's portfolio. She has helped with the organization of international conferences, organized itineraries for visitors of foreign universities and takes care of most of the administrative duties within the office.

Tangerine Twiss, Executive Assistant for the Office, has provided a warm welcome to thousands of international visitors for over 20 years. Ms Twiss has been on staff since UBC first opened an International Liaison Office in the Asian Centre in the 1980s. She is a native Vancouverite, but has lived in exotic locales and continues to travel extensively.