The Edna Dharmaratne Award in Linguistics

An award of $1,000 is offered annually by alumni, faculty, students, and staff of the UBC Department of Linguistics in honour of Edna Dharmaratne for students in the Department of Linguistics who have achieved good academic standing and demonstrated volunteerism. Financial need may also be considered.

Edna Dharmaratne served as the Administrator of the Department of Linguistics from 1997 to 2017. She was the face and cornerstone of the Department, and is admired for her strength of character and generosity. This award was established upon Edna’s retirement in 2017 in recognition of her legacy of compassion, competence, and integrity.

Read more about Edna.

Read about some past award winners here.

The award is made on the recommendation of the Department of Linguistics, and in the case of a graduate student, in consultation with the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

The 2025 Application Deadline will be **11:59 PM on Friday, 28 March 2025.** Please fill out the form below to apply.

Award Criteria

  • Undergraduate student, diploma student, or graduate student in the UBC Department of Linguistics
  • Good academic standing (as defined by the UBC Academic Calendar)
  • Evidence of volunteerism/service to others

Note that financial need may be considered in the evaluation, and so may be discussed in the application, but is not a requirement for receiving the award. The award is treated as a grant to the recipient, who may use it for any purpose.

 

Interested in supporting the Edna Dharmaratne award? Donate here: https://give.ubc.ca/edna-dharmaratne

 

The Edna Dharmaratne Award

  • MM slash DD slash YYYY
  • Please enter the expected date of your graduation. Don't worry about the specific day of the month (e.g., if you expect to graduate in November 2027, you can just pick any day within the month of November). Standard months of graduation at UBC are May and November.
    MM slash DD slash YYYY
  • Please write a short personal statement (max. 1500 characters / ~250 words) about why you are applying for this award and how you meet the criteria. Some questions you might consider addressing include: Generally speaking, how do you think you embody Edna’s spirit of giving? What kinds of volunteerism / service to others have you been involved in, both before and during your time at UBC? Do these include commitments that are not directly related to your degree program? Are there any particular financial need considerations you’d like us to be aware of?
  • Looking at the UBC requirements for ‘good academic standing’, do you satisfy this requirement? Undergrad: https://www.arts.ubc.ca/degree-planning/academic-performance/promotion-continuation-grading/ Graduate: https://www.grad.ubc.ca/faculty-staff/policies-procedures/academic-progress-grading-practices
  • Nothing is required here -- but if there are any extenuating circumstances you need to explain, academic achievements you want to highlight, etc., you may do so (briefly) here.

 

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