Mosaic Scholarship: Mya Ballin

Mya Ballin, a graduate student in the Master of Archival Studies program at the University of British Columbia, is the 2020 recipient of the Mosaic Scholarship given by the Society of American Archivists (SAA). The $5,000 scholarship is given to a student who demonstrates potential for scholastic and personal achievement and who manifests a commitment both to the archival profession and to advancing diversity concerns within it. 

Mya is a full-time student with a strong academic record, who seeks to use her time in graduate school to immerse in initiatives that directly challenge her own biases. Ballin’s hope is to become a strong ally to all groups who have encountered oppression and erasure. Mya’s continuing encounters with racial microaggressions and awareness of the presence of laws and conventions in American society that disadvantage black and brown folks have demonstrated to her that inequities tied to societal perceptions of race still require active attention and serious intervention. She dedicates herself to researching the needs and desires of marginalized communities and determining strategies for allyship. She is very involved in student organizations at her university. She has served as a student member of the UBC School of Information’s Equity and Diversity Committee, and volunteered with Out on the Shelves, a non-profit community library serving Vancouver’s LGBTQ2IA+ people and their allies. 

In her cover letter Ballin states, “I am an aspiring archivist who will go on to apply archival theory to my practice. I want to participate in the disruption of oppression and the engagement of both archival academics and professionals…in feminist, anti-racist, and decolonizing practices.”