Fraser Valley (Darren McDonald UFV Today) – A visionary leader with an unshakable commitment to equality and cultural justice, Dr. Satwinder Bains is the 2021 recipient of UFV’s Faculty Service Excellence Award.
“As a woman of colour, not only is she smashing glass ceilings of patriarchy within academia, but also in conservative cultural spaces,” says Anita Lal, co-founder and director of the Poetic Justice Foundation, and one of Bains’ many nomination references.
“With each win she brings down barriers for future generations of women.”
And as her robutst CV attests, Bains is no stranger to putting in the hard work it takes to make a difference.
An early association with Abbotsford Community Services led to connections at UFV, inspiring Bains to join the university more than a decade ago. Today, she is as an associate professor in the department of Social Cultural and Media Studies. In addition to teaching, she made an immediate impact by spearheading a $2.25M donation drive crucial to establishing the BC Regional Innovation Chair in Canada-India Partnership Development — and with it UFV’s South Asian Studies Institute, which she has guided as director since 2006. That same year saw the establishment of UFV India, powered by the efforts of DJ Sandhu, with Bains working closely alongside. She served as director of UFV India from 2013-2017 before ascending to principal through 2019, making frequent trips to the campus in Chandigarh, located down a winding drive from her picturesque hometown of Shimla.
“I never dreamt we’d have a campus in India, that we’d have international students constantly coming, and that’s been such a beautiful extension of our ideas,” says Bains, a 2015 recipient of the Order of Abbotsford.
