Professor Gwen Chapman has been appointed as the next dean of CSAHS starting Feb. 1, 2016.
Professor Gwen Chapman of the University of British Columbia (UBC) has been appointed as the new dean of the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences (CSAHS). She will begin her five-year term on Feb. 1, 2016.
“I am very excited to join the University of Guelph community and be the next dean of CSAHS,” Chapman said in a University of Guelph press release. “I am impressed with the innovative, learner-centered programs and research accomplishments of the college and look forward to working with students, faculty, and staff to continue to build on its strengths and successes.”
Chapman has been a faculty member at UBC since 1991. She is a professor in the Food, Nutrition and Health (FNH) program, and is associate academic dean of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems. As associate dean, she oversees the student curriculum and is assisting in the modification of UBC’s student academic system.
Chapman has also conducted extensive research relating to how food choices are shaped by notions regarding health, bodies, and social roles. She is interested in how people’s food choices are shaped by their environments and the subjective meanings that food holds for them.
She is currently conducting an ongoing research project investigating the health differences between people from varying socioeconomic situations, and of different genders, ages, ethnicities, geographical locations, and religions.
This research study is taking place across 10 different Canadian communities, from coast to coast, and is also being conducted at other Canadian universities such as UBC, The University of Toronto, and Queen’s University.
It has $1 million in funding by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, making Chapman one of the best-funded social science nutrition researchers in Canada.
In addition to research, Chapman is actively involved in Think & Eat Green @ School, which is a program in partnership with the Vancouver School Board, Vancouver Coastal Health, Vancouver Food Policy Council, and several non-profit organizations. The program promotes school gardens, integrating local foods into school food systems, revamping school food spaces, and integrating food, health, and sustainability topics into the curriculum.
According to the most recent report, published for 2013-2014, Think & Eat Green @ School reaches 41 schools in Vancouver and involves 351 UBC students from the Faculty of Land and Food Systems and Faculty of Education. It includes hands-on activities, such as bread-making workshops, growing tea in home gardens, and teaching grade four to six students how to make their own kimchi.
Chapman has also published over 60 papers and journal articles and recently co-authored the book Acquired Tastes: Why Families Eat the Way They Do. She has spoken at several academic conferences and won the UBC Killam Teaching Award in 2003.
“Gwen is a highly regarded scholar who has years of experience in leadership positions,” Professor Serge Desmarais, vice-president (academic) said in a press release. “She already has a good appreciation of CSAHS’s challenges and opportunities, and is approaching her new position with energy and enthusiasm that bodes well for the future of the college.”