UBC Sociology wishes Professor Neil Guppy a very happy retirement



Dr. Neil Guppy

After a long and tremendous career, UBC Sociology Professor Neil Guppy, a friend and valued colleague, has retired.

For many of our students and faculty, the first thing you would notice stepping into Professor Guppy’s office is the mountains of pop cans. A devoted binner, Neil has been collecting cans and bottles with the proceeds of funding a Sociology Graduate Scholarship.

“Money for graduate students is always tight. And Vancouver is expensive.” Dr. Guppy explains, “Many are skeptical that the 5-cent-a-can refund is worth the effort. However […] the endowed fund boasts $74,500 as of 2021. It has taken us over 20 years, but the financial returns to our students are perpetual.”

Neil chose to celebrate his retirement with a gift of $50,000 to create a new scholarship focused on undergraduate students: the Guppy Undergraduate Excellence in Sociology Fund. This new fund will help promising undergraduate Sociology students to excel, by providing resources to key areas that are often under-funded.  Neil established this fund through an endowment at UBC, meaning it will provide support to deserving students for countless generations to come.

Thanks to Neil’s personal pledge, as well as from faculty members, the Department, and donors, we were able to raise over $115,000.


Dr. Guppy’s contributions made the Sociology department what it is today.

Neil’s UBC career began in 1979 and continued until his retirement in 2021. Neil contributed as a highly respected and award-winning scholar in Sociology as well as an important leader who became the first Head of the stand-alone Sociology Department at UBC in 2006. Thanks to Neil’s leadership, UBC Sociology is one of the top departments in Canada and is highly respected internationally.

“When I arrived in 1979, to the combined Anthropology and Sociology Department, the Sociology side of the house was very much the weaker unit,” Guppy recalls. “Sociology has now been able to hire extremely strong scholars, many of whom are now global leaders in their areas of expertise. We now offer an exceptional teaching program, both at the graduate and undergraduate levels.”

Guppy is most proud of the people the Sociology department was able to attract and retain. “We have hired very well since 2006. One indication [of our success] is the much better placement of our undergraduates in graduate schools and the publication and scholarship records of our graduate students. And now every faculty member in the Department makes a contribution, many as leading intellectuals in their fields.”

As a teacher, Guppy regularly taught our first-year Introduction to Sociology classes where he tackled the challenge of teaching students the basics, covering a wide range of issues and perspectives. He remembered the challenges he experienced as a first-year undergraduate student at Queen’s, and so always sought to encourage his students’ curiosity and help them to see how learning could be fun and informative.

Neil’s contributions and accomplishments go beyond the Sociology Department. He has been an Associate Dean (Arts), an Associate Vice-President (Provost’s Office), the Director of the Coordinated Arts Program (CAP), a Senior Advisor to the Provosts on Academic Freedom, an Acting Managing Director of Student Services and Development (VP Students), an Acting Principal of Vantage College, and a member of the Boards of both UBC Press and the Faculty Pension Plan. In 2016, Neil was recognized with an Outstanding Contribution Award from the Canadian Sociological Association.


Photos from our celebration of Dr. Neil Guppy


UBC Sociology students, alumni, and faculty wish Dr. Neil Guppy a happy retirement

“I always loved to drop by Neil's office! He is a fantastic supervisor and always supported and encouraged me. I easily get anxious, and the final years of the PhD program were very hard for me. But Neil always has this calming presence and really helped me push through.”
PhD Graduate
“He is truly an icon in the sociology department, and he will be missed. I am excited to hear about the next chapter.”
“He has been my model in my career. Because of how nicely and humanely he interacted and related to me, when I started my career in the BC post-secondary education system I made it my policy to be very kind and nice to my students and colleagues.”
Camosun College and University of Victoria
“I am extremely appreciative of all the mentorship and leadership you have provided me over the past two decades. And my wish is that, in your retirement, you will always be able to indulge in your love of outdoor gear.”
UBC Sociology
“He was always available when I turned to him for guidance, advice, or help.”
UBC Sociology
“Whenever the SSA wanted to promote an event, Neil was very supportive and helped us however he could to get the word out. I remember him as a jolly, funny, and down to earth individual who attended many of the SSA events”
BA' 2013
“After a year and a half of researching and teaching with Neil, I went on to pursue my PhD in Sociology at Princeton. Today, I am an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin and can honestly say that I learned how to be a professor, advisor, mentor, and scholar from Neil.”
Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Texas in Austin and Director of the Texas Prison Education Initiative
“He was such an engaging, interesting and inspiring professor who I held in high regard. His lectures were insightful and his office door was always open to questions, debate and feedback.”
BA Sociology
“I can’t think of a kinder, more supportive colleague and mentor than Neil Guppy.”
Graduate Program Chair & Associate Professor of Sociology University of Pennsylvania

UBC Sociology wishes Professor Neil Guppy a wonderful and happy retirement. Over his career, he has truly shaped the department and will be missed.