Staff spotlight: Karima Samnani

Unit:  CFOE
Position:  Associate Director, Business Policy & Analysis
Since:  November 2014
Job details:
In this newly created position, Karima provides senior level research and analysis, advice and strategic recommendations to senior members of the Enrolment Services (ES) team, faculties and other on campus partners regarding enrolment management, university governance, and performance benchmarking for ES. Karima also provides support and guidance on procedures, policies and programming to ensure that activities advance the university’s goals with respect to enrolment management and service to students.

What did you do prior to starting your new position at UBC?
I feel that I have come a full circle! My career in higher education started with UBC in 1997. I worked at Green College, Planning and Institutional Research office, and Centre for Health Services and Policy Research. I left UBC for a position at SFU in 2002 with the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. There, I worked as a Business Analyst before taking on this role at UBC.

Educational interests
Taking advantage of the fully paid tuition credit at SFU, I earned my BA in Sociology and very recently graduated from the M.Ed. in Post-Secondary Leadership and Student Affairs program. I would like to pursue a PhD in the near future.

How do you like to spend your free time?
My family thoroughly enjoys watching sports although we have yet to find a sport in which we all cheer for the same team. Therefore, watching sports becomes a very stressful event for us! My favourite teams include the Seattle Seahawks (NFL), Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS), and Vancouver Canucks (NHL). We quite often travel to Seattle to either watch the Hawks play at Century Link or just being surrounded with all of the other 12ers at the local pub.

Travel
This past summer, I spent 5 weeks in Europe with the family. We managed to visit Paris, London, Glasgow, Pisa, Rome, Venice, and Barcelona. I definitely would like to go back and visit Ireland and parts of Eastern Europe. I have also travelled to Kenya, cruised the US Virgin Islands and Western Caribbean, visited Oahu, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic.

Food
I love to cook, bake, and entertain! I have been told that I make the best samosas, and so quite often I like to host parties where I teach the “art” of samosa making. I also enjoy baking and trying new recipes this time of the year!