The UBC News Digest is a weekly summary of news stories about UBC
people, research, learning, community, and internationalization
initiatives. News Digest past
issues are also available on-line.
Jul. 16, 2004
- UBC Appoints Associate Vice Presidents for Academic
Programs and Planning - Health Researchers Gain Ground in Recent Grants
- UBC Honours Distinguished University Scholars
- UBC Chefs Savour Gold Award
- PhD Candidate First Recipient of Pfizer Research Fellowship
in Arthritis - Graduate Student Awarded for Research in Electrical and Computer
Engineering - Dianne Newell to Lead Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies
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UBC Appoints Associate Vice Presidents for Academic
Programs and Planning
UBC’s Board of Governors has approved the appointments of
Professor Anna Kindler as Associate Vice President, Academic Programs
and Professor George Mackie, as Associate Vice President, Academic
Planning.
Kindler is a professor in the Department of Curriculum studies,
Faculty of Education. She received an MA in industrial/graphic design
from the Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, Poland, followed by an MA
and an EdD in art education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
For the past three years Kindler has been on leave from UBC in the
role of Dean of the School of Creative Arts, Sciences and Technology
at the Hong Kong Institute of Education.
Mackie was recruited to the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology, Faculty of Medicine, as head in 1994, and has served in
that capacity until very recently. He received his BSc (Honours)
in physiology and biochemistry from the University of Toronto, and
his PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from Cornell University.
Mackie has provided strong, effective and visionary leadership that
has led to outstanding success in obtaining research grants and
the numerous prestigious awards garnered by faculty members and
students.
Health Researchers Gain Ground in Recent Grants
UBC health researchers have received more than $18.5 million in
funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) in
the most recent open operating grants competition, ranking second
in success rate of projects approved among the top funded Canadian
universities, after Queen’s University.
More than 40 projects were funded, ranging from psychology researcher
Lori-Anne Brotto’s study of cervical cancer and sexuality to assoc.
prof. of orthopedics and mechanical engineering Thomas Oxland’s
investigation of better fixation methods for spines damaged by osteoporosis,
a bone-thinning disease.
CIHR is the major federal agency responsible for funding health
research in Canada. UBC health researchers attracted $57.9 million
in overall CIHR funding in 2003/2004. For a full listing of competition
results, visit
www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/193.html.
UBC Honours Distinguished University Scholars
UBC has announced its Distinguished Junior Scholars, a part of
the Distinguished University Scholars (DUS) program. The Scholars
program recognizes exceptional members of faculty who have distinguished
themselves in research, teaching and learning especially, but not
exclusively, in the humanities, social sciences, and creative and
performing arts. The designation is conferred by the President on
the recommendation of the Deans and the VP Academic and Provost.
Distinguished Junior University Scholars are:
- Joerg Bohlmann, Science / Forestry
- Thomas Chang, Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Pamela Dalziel, Arts
- Franco de Angelis, Arts
- Paticia Duff, Education
- Sian Echard, Arts
- Alaa El-Husseini, Medicine
- Sidney Fels, Applied Science
- Caroline Ford, Arts
- Patrick Francois, Arts
- Liisa Galea, Arts
- Geoff Hall, Arts
- Steve Heine, Arts
- Patrick Keeling, Science
- Dominic Lopes, Arts
- David Metzer, Arts
- Bonny Norton, Education
- Alan Richardson, Arts
- Calvin Roskelley, Medicine
- Janis Sarra, Law
- Tarek Sayed, Applied Science
- Andrew Trites, Graduate Studies
- Kishor Wasan, Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Sheila Woody, Arts
UBC Chefs Savour Gold Award
A team from UBC Food Services won gold at an international culinary
competition in Whistler last week. UBC’s food experts prevailed
over a wide range of competitors including Brigham Young University,
Chartwell’s Catering (from Simon Fraser University) and Northwest
Community College. The award-winning team was comprised of:
- Chef Steve Golob, team leader (Place Vanier)
- Chef Rob Van Raes (Sage)
- Chef Chris Singleton (Sage)
- Norman Kotze (UBC Catering)
PhD Candidate First Recipient of Pfizer Research
Fellowship in Arthritis
Allen Lehman, a PhD candidate in educational studies, has been
named by the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada (ARC) as the first
recipient of the Pfizer Research Fellowship in Arthritis. The Fellowship
was endowed in the fall of 2003 with an investment of $200,000 by
Pfizer Canada Inc., and will provide the resources to further research
examining the importance of familial support for people living with
the daily burden of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Lehman’s research will identify the types of support that
people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) feel they want and need and
assess how that support is associated with their overall health.
Family members are the primary providers of support for people with
RA, and Lehman hopes that his research will provide a model to more
effectively identify the needs of people with arthritis and other
chronic diseases and develop strategies to address them.
Graduate Student Awarded for Research in Electrical
and Computer Engineering
Electrical and computer engineering graduate student David John
has been awarded the IEEE Electron Devices Society Graduate Fellowship
for 2004 in recognition of his research in this field. He will be
honoured at the 2004 IEEE International Electron Devices meeting
to be held December 13th in San Francisco, where he will be presented
with US $5,000 for himself and a $2,000 grant for his research activities
within UBC’s department of electrical and computer engineering.
David is currently working on his PhD under the supervision of professor
David Pulfrey.
Dianne Newell to Lead Peter Wall Institute for
Advanced Studies
Professor of history and Peter Wall Institute 2002 Distinguished
Scholar in Residence Dianne Newell has accepted an eighteen-month
appointment as Director of the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced
Studies. She will be in the post from July 1, 2004, to December
31, 2005. Newell has headed up the Institute as acting director
since January 2004. With a well-known record in the area of interdisciplinary
and collaborative research, Newell will help the institute grow
new thematic programs and international outreach.
