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Installation of Prof. Stephen J. Toope:
www.president.ubc.ca/installation
UBC This Week is a weekly summary of UBC people in the news, recent media releases and upcoming event hightlights. UBC This Week past issues are also available on-line.
Sign up for UBC This Week and other UBC Public Affairs e-mail services at www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/eservices.
Recent UBC Media Releases
- Sep. 15: UBC research major contributor to world’s first tree genome
- Sep. 15: UBC opens $4.8-million dairy and avian facilities at Agassiz research centre
- Sep. 21: UBC research garners high scores in latest international surveys
Upcoming Event Highlights
- Sep. 27: Is Quality Safety? Is Safety Quality?
- Sep. 22: Music and Mind: Cognition, Composition, and Performance
Find out what else is happening at UBC
this week. For sports events, visit the UBC Athletics site
at www.gothunderbirds.ca/schedule.asp.
UBC People
- Shell Canada Grooms Top Talent by Supporting UBC
- UBC scholar attends White House Global Literacy Conference
- Disney honours UBC-established fisher alliance
- Mongolian resource development focus of new graduate seminar
- UBC program assists internationally-trained pharmacists
- UBC forgoes chemical pesticide for “Acquacide”
UBC People
Shell Canada Grooms Top Talent by Supporting UBC
Students at UBC Faculty of Applied Science will be seeing more special equipment, guest lectures, mentoring and field trips courtesy of Shell Canada.
Shell Canada announced a new initiative at UBC to encourage the development of Canada’s future workforce. Shell’s Campus Ambassador Program (CAP), along with the company’s strategic funding, will provide $400,000 to support UBC student learning and activities.
Shell Canada is supporting post-secondary institutions across the country with the aim of developing and attracting the best and brightest recruits in years to come. The initiative will roll out over the next six years with $12 million to be awarded to universities, colleges and trade and technical institutions across Canada.
UBC scholar attends White House Global Literacy Conference
UBC Education Prof. Linda Siegel and Laureen Harper, the wife of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, were the only two Canadians invited to the White House Conference on Global Literacy, hosted by Laura Bush. Within Education and Counselling Psychology and Special Education, Siegel researches learning disabilities and bilingual and multilingual education.
Held in tandem with the opening of the U.N. General Assembly, the September 18 literacy conference drew more than 60 first ladies and spouses of leaders and education ministers. The conference took place at the New York Public Library and underscored the need for sustained global and national leadership in promoting literacy and will encourage greater international and private-sector involvement in literacy programs.
According to UNESCO, 780 million adults, two-thirds of whom are women, are unable to read. Another 100 million children worldwide are not in school. Eighty-five percent of the world’s illiterate live in just 35 countries that are concentrated in regions of high poverty.
Disney honours UBC-established fisher alliance
An alliance of subsistence fishers in the Philippines established by UBC’s Project Seahorse has won the 2006 Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund (DWCF) Conservation Heroes award.
KAMADA, which stands for Alliance of Fishers in Danajon, was honoured for its efforts to help conserve the marine environment – and local seahorse populations in particular – on Danajon Bank in Central Philippines. This is one of only six double barrier coral reefs in the world, located between the islands of Bohol, Cebu and Leyte.
The alliance of 800 fisher-families was established in 2002 with the help of Project Seahorse as part of its initiative to promote sustainable fishing practices in communities around the world. Most of the families are desperately poor and the victims of illegal fishing practices, yet together they have found a voice.
The DWCF Conservation Heroes program rewards the dedication of individuals and groups, who work tirelessly to save animals, protect habitat and educate the people in surrounding communities.
Mongolian resource development focus of new graduate seminar
UBC Institute of Asian Research (IAR) professors have designed a new seminar to simulate resource development policy-making in Mongolia where Canadian companies dominate the copper and gold mining industry. These investments make the Canada-Mongolia relationship a significant one.
The IAR seminar will enable students in the Master of Asia Pacific Policy Studies to outline a framework for a long-term investment agreement between Canadian mining companies and the Mongolian government. Over the fall and winter, the students will be engaging with mining industry representatives, mining academics, Canadian and Mongolian government officials, as well as Mongolian civil society.
The Asia Pacific Policy Project will give students insights into the interplay between economic development, resource exploration and Canadian foreign policy. The results of the project will be shared with relevant stakeholders at the end of the year.
For more information, visit: www.iar.ubc.ca/programs/InnerAsia/ and http://mapps.iar.ubc.ca/.
UBC program assists internationally-trained pharmacists
Pharmacists who are trained abroad will be able to achieve the competencies they require to practice in Canada through UBC’s fourth iteration of the Canadian Pharmacy Practice Programme.
Starting November and continuing through February 2007, the 12-week program will be offered by the Department of Continuing Pharmacy Professional Development, UBC Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
The Canadian Pharmacy Practice Programme is also designed to help Canadian-trained pharmacists re-enter practice after an extended absence and practising pharmacists acquire core competencies.
For further information, contact coordinator Catherine Ekeland at 604.827.5781 or cekeland@interchange.ubc.ca.
For full program information: www.pharmacy.ubc.ca/cppd/programs/CP3_Program.html.
UBC forgoes chemical pesticide for “Acquacide”
Since this spring, UBC Plant Operations landscape crews have been keeping the campus beautiful with new approach called “Aquacide.” This technology gets rid of weeds through super-heated water delivered via a wand and hose. “Acquacide” has proved effective in keeping weed growth down when combined with other sustainable methods such as manual weeding or applications of concentrated vinegar solution and organic fatty acids. This move aligns UBC with a new City of Vancouver bylaw that bans the use of the chemical pesticide Roundup™.
