Coolie Verner Prize: Made in honour of UBC’s first Professor in the Department of Adult Education (from 1961 to 1977), and awarded annually to a graduate student in EDST for research potential and/or impact in the field of adult education.
Natalia Bussard is the successful recipient of this year’s Coolie Verner Prize. Natalia’s EdD dissertation research examined the transformative learning of adults who have learned and who use multiple languages (pluringuals). In this creative narrative analysis, which melds narrative inquiry and reflexive thematic analysis, Natalia brings together transformative learning theory and sociocultural theory in exploring the stories and experiences of plurilingual adults. Her findings reveal some of the complexities in different forms of transformative learning related to plurilingualism and the role of interculturality in transforming the ways plurilingual adults see themselves, others, and the world. Due to her own adult learning and perseverance, Natalia has completed a dissertation which is insightful and rich, and which makes a distinct contribution to the scholarship of adult learning and education.
Also see Gordon Selman Award – Jiin Yoo
We believe these award recipients honour the legacies of the adult education scholars and UBC adult ed professors after whom these endowed awards were named.
Jude (on behalf of the ALE group)