Duff Roberts

Duff Roberts serves as a Lecturer in the Food, Nutrition and Health department (joint appointment with Forestry) at the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Land and Food Systems. He teaches foundational writing courses including FRST 150 (soon NRES 150) and LFS 150, focusing on scholarly writing and argumentation within disciplinary contexts.

His research and teaching center on innovative writing instruction methodologies, with particular emphasis on:

• Creating inclusive classroom environments for international and Indigenous students
• Hybrid course redesign through the TLEF grant 'Flexible hybrid writing instruction throughout undergraduate curricula'
• Applying 'growth mindset' principles to writing education
• Developing context-specific writing resources for upper-year forestry and land food systems courses

Roberts holds formal education credentials from UBC (MA and BA in English Literature) and Langara College (Diploma in Arts & Sciences). His teaching philosophy integrates concepts of 'place and promise' with narrative theory, emphasizing kindness, belonging, and community-building as foundational to academic writing mastery. Current initiatives include serving as LFS Mentorship Program mentor (2022-present) and co-applicant on the $1.2M TLEF grant focused on writing instruction transformation.

Key recognitions:

• Forestry Jumpstart Faculty Fellow (2023)

His pedagogical approach draws from SoTL research by Lang (2016), Frisby and Martin (2010), and Porta and Flores (2017), with practical implementation through student-centered practices like personalized check-ins, flexible deadlines, and physical classroom environment design. Roberts specifically addresses challenges faced by international students through culturally responsive writing instruction frameworks informed by Brown and Huang (2009) and Jaret and Reitzes (2009).