Reimagining University Extension: Fostering Engaged Institutions for Better Watershed Outcomes

Addressing contemporary water and watershed challenges in British Columbia requires researchers and practitioners who are equipped to work across institutional and community boundaries. Drawing on autoethnographic reflections from community-engaged watershed research in the Okanagan region of British Columbia alongside institutional analysis of the frameworks that shape the provincial landscape of academic engagement in these processes, this discussion explores the capacities and opportunities of a reimagined model of university extension. Rheanne Kroschinsky joined the POLIS team as a visiting governance graduate student fellow in 2024. She is a water governance researcher currently pursuing her PhD at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. Her work, made possible through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, explores governance and decision-making frameworks for community (source) watersheds in British Columbia. Through partnership with Syilx communities and the District of Peachland, her research centers on the Watershed Ecosystems Project, a community-engaged research initiative in Peachland, B.C.