The BC Flag (Main Mall and Agronomy Road) will be lowered today, Wednesday, January 11, 2012, in memory of Ximena Osegueda who tragically died in Huatulco, Mexico in December 2011, at the age of 39, while conducting research for her doctoral thesis.
Ximena joined UBC in 2009 when she enrolled in the doctoral program in Hispanic Studies. In October 2011, she was admitted to Candidacy after successfully defending an innovative project on identity and alterity in the foundational myth of Huatulco. A bright and promising scholar, Ximena was also a great Teaching Assistant, much appreciated by her First-Year Spanish students, and an accomplished yoga instructor and practitioner of capoeira, a Brazilian martial-art dance. Prior to coming to UBC, Ximena completed an M.A. in Spanish at McGill University (2005), and taught undergraduate courses on Latin American history at the Universidad del Mar in Huatulco from 2006 to 2008.
Ximena was a vibrant and collegial presence in the Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies as well as in St. John’s College, and touched many with her kindness, generosity and friendly smile. She will be deeply missed by her family and all the friends she made in Vancouver, Montreal and Mexico.
Information contact: Dr. Andre Lamontagne, Head, FHIS, UBC; andre.lamontagne@ubc.ca