Photo credit: Cicely Blain
Marlene and Interests
Marlene King is an International Student Recruiter/Advisor in the International Student Initiative and is responsible for awards for international undergraduate students at UBC. She is passionate about providing educational opportunities for talented students from around the world who do not otherwise have access to post-secondary education. “UBC has the largest scholarship program in Canada. Approximately $8 million Canadian is provided annually to awards, scholarships, and other forms of financial aid for international undergraduate students,” she says.
Marlene loves her job because she enjoys seeing students succeed and she knows that all staff members genuinely care about the well-being of students. Coming from South Africa where many students do not have the means to complete their education, Marlene is dedicated to providing financial help to students from similar backgrounds.
Marlene and Background
Marlene has never lived in South Africa post-Apartheid and is interested to see how things have changed every time she visits home. While growing up, Chinese South Africans were a minority and the strict Apartheid rules did not affect her as much as the black population. They shared many privileges with white people but they still faced racism – they were not allowed to attend the local white public school and went to Catholic school instead.
Marlene and International Women’s Day
As a Catholic, Marlene is very inspired by the life and work of Mother Theresa and how she so humbly and selflessly devoted her life to the underprivileged in India. She also admires Malala Yousafzai, a 16 year old Pakistani education activist as well as other women and girls who are unafraid to speak out against injustices. Marlene believes education is a right and is passionate about developing educational opportunities in countries where they don’t exist.
Marlene believes that women in politics are great role models, for example, Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan. She would like to see more women in politics in Canada. She would also like to see an eradication of female genital mutilation based and arranged marriages, two examples where women do not have rights over their own bodies.