Candis Callison

Candis Callison joined the graduate School of Journalism at the University of British Columbia as an Assistant Professor in 2010.

Candis received her Ph.D. from the Doctoral Program in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2010.  She is currently finishing her book, How climate change comes to matter (forthcoming from Duke University Press) based on her doctoral research that looks at the communication of climate change to Americans through a comparative lens that brings together the work of science journalists, scientists, and three distinct social groups that are outside the environmental movement and policy frameworks.  Prior to undertaking doctoral studies, Candis received a Master of Science in the Comparative Media Studies Program at MIT.

Since coming to UBC, Candis has worked to develop courses on Media Ethics and Leadership (with Kirk LaPointe), Science and Environment Journalism (with Nicola Jones), and Investigative Environment Journalism (with David Beers).  She has also co-taught (with Alfred Hermida) and continued to evolve New Media and Society (listed as Journalism 100), the Journalism School’s only undergraduate course taught as part of UBC Coordinated Arts Program’s Culture and Media Stream.

Candis’ professional background prior includes seven years of producing, writing, and reporting for television, the Internet, and radio in Canada (CBC, CTV) and the United States (Lycos, Tech TV). Candis was the original host and co-creator of First Story, the first news and current affairs series on Aboriginal issues to be broadcast nationally in Canada on CTV; it was later syndicated to APTN.  For her early work in media convergence, Candis was profiled in the 2003 book, Technology with Curves: Women Reshaping the Digital Landscape. Her independently produced film, Traditional Renaissance was included in UBC Museum of Anthropology’s 2003-04 exhibition on Tahltan culture, “Mehodihi: Our Great Ancestors Lived that Way.”

From 2000-02, Candis was selected by National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation as the CN Aboriginal Scholar, and in 2004-05, she was a Martin Family Fellow for Sustainability. Her doctoral research (2007-2009) was supported in part by the National Science Foundation and the Center for the Study of Diversity in Science, Technology, and Medicine at MIT.

Born and raised in and around Vancouver, Candis is a member of the Tahltan Nation located in northwestern B.C. She is married with two young children.