We are pleased to announce that Pamela Wolf (previously Rogalski) has been hired as Assistant Professor of Teaching with the UBC Department of Civil Engineering.
Pamela joined UBC School of Applied Science as a Faculty Lecturer in 2013 and has developed and delivered numerous technical communication courses to students in Civil Engineering, Material Engineering, and Engineering Physics.
Among Pamela’s most significant contributions at UBC Civil is her steadfast dedication to cultivating communication, leadership and other soft skills in engineering students—a direct response to what she sees as a real cultural shift in the engineering industry.
“There is now an expectation of high transparency, teamwork, and leadership tributes on engineering graduates,” said Pamela, citing the rise of face-to-face meetings and an industry-wide shortage of engineering leaders as evidence of an increasing need for engineers who are more than just technically skilled.
Through her work, Pamela advocates for a shift in engineering education curriculum towards one that is better suited for collaboration, co-design, and stakeholder engagement. She emphasizes that due to automation, the work of an engineer today focuses more on the social and environmental implications of projects—rather than simply the technical.
“We’ve moved from certainty to the ambiguity of human conversation,” she said, “engineers today need to communicate and collaboration with a wide array of partners and stakeholders to find solutions.”
A leader in innovation, Pamela was instrumental in leading the development of the Audience + Purpose Organization, a first-of-its-kind student leadership group that aimed to bridge the gap between the technical and the social aspects of engineering projects.
“It is an honour to be hired as Assistant Professor of Teaching by the department,” Pamela said, “I am excited to continue to extend the excellence of the department with educational initiatives aimed at cultivating the next generation of leaders in engineering.”
Pamela graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Geophysics. She then earned her Master’s degree in Post-Secondary Education and Cultures of Curriculum from Simon Fraser University. Pamela currently teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in technical communication, consulting, and critical thinking and design. Learn more about Pamela’s work in her Faculty Profile.