Members of Common Room

As a university venue for interdisciplinary conversation, Green College is open to faculty and staff members of UBC and other local universities. We also welcome members of the non-university local community to our public events, which are widely advertised on social media.

UBC faculty and staff, and others, are invited to attend publicly advertised events at the college, to join the college residential community for dinner (with a reservation), and to bring guests—colleagues, graduate students, friends, academic visitors, etc.—with them. They are also invited to propose future academic events and programming for the college, by contacting the principal in the first instance.

UBC faculty and staff who wish to learn more about the college or to explore opportunities for partnership between the college and their unit or research program are warmly encouraged to contact the principal, as are members of local organizations outside UBC who see comparable opportunities.

Within the much larger population of regular or occasional visitors to the college, about 100 persons at a time have the status of members of common room in the following categories:

Members of common room at large

UBC faculty and staff members of common room

UBC faculty who are current leading scholars

Why become a member of common room at Green College?

Unlike some other kinds of college fellowship, membership of the common room at Green College is a purely voluntary commitment, made by individuals who wish to participate in and advance the intellectual conviviality of the college, both as a partly residential university community and as a public cultural venue (heraldic motto: “Ideas and Friendship”).

As a member of common room at Green College, you will

Be notified of all upcoming events at the college, by weekly e-mail listings or other means
Be kept up-to-date with important college news and receive a copy of the Green College Annual Report & Society Magazine, published each year (for the previous academic year)
Be invited to select annual galas, and other special events
Have access to college financial and other support for interdisciplinary, extra- or co-curricular, research and/or community outreach projects/lecture and discussion series/performance series/workshops / conferences / academic hospitality, etc. subject to routine processes of college academic and administrative review
Be eligible to have complimentary use of meeting rooms and standard AV facilities (with catering by the Green College Dining Society, if required, at standard rates) for suitable non-college academic and/or social events that you wish to host at the college, subject to availability of space and approval by the principal. (This entitlement includes the option of holding your own wedding ceremony and/or reception at the college!)

Expectations

Members of common room are expected to involve themselves directly in the academic and social life of the college by:

Regularly attending lectures and other public events at the college
Attending and, as the opportunity arises, presenting their own work and/or co-hosting other presenters in the Tuesday 5 pm (or other) public series at the college
Occasionally coming to dinner between September and April, not counting invitational gala events
Being accessible to resident members and other members of the college community, past and present, who may wish to consult them on matters in which they have expertise
Being available to serve on college committees, at the invitation of the principal, president of the Green College Dining Society or chair of the Green College advisory board
Advising the principal and Green College Staff, upon request

It is also expected that they will assist in:

Bringing college events and programs to the attention of students, colleagues and others likely to be interested in them
Advertising the college to potential resident members (graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, visiting scholars) and guests
Introducing other members of the university and wider local community to the college and, where appropriate, recommending them as possible members of common room
Promoting the college by word of mouth as a venue for university-sponsored conferences, meetings, catered events, etc.
Sustaining the Green College society as a network for those with continuing attachments to the college

Eligibility

A member of common room at Green College will normally both

be a faculty or staff member of UBC or of another local university, or (in the case of non-university members of common room) a resident of the Lower Mainland of BC or neighbouring island

and

have established some voluntary connection with the college before being invited to become a member of common room (e.g. by organizing an event or lecture series, by nominating a Cecil H and Ida Green Visiting Professor, by participating in college programs at the invitation of another member of the college.)

The invitation to become a member of common room is made by the principal.

Membership of common room is usually for a four-year period. Past members of common room continue to be associated with the college as friends of Green College.

Interested in becoming a member of common room at Green College?

Contact one of the current faculty members or the principal to find out how you can become involved in the life of the college