UBC Feature Web Site
UBC United Way Campaign:
UBC This Week is a weekly summary of UBC people in the news, recent media releases and upcoming event highlights. 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
- Oct. 1: UBC infant expert helps show children learn language skills earlier than thought
- Oct. 2: Pollution killing up to 25,000 annually, says first environmental burden of disease study in Canada
- Oct. 4: B.C. entrepreneur and UBC science students create $3.4 M high-tech campus centre
Upcoming Event Highlights
- Oct. 5: PRISM international Launch Party
- Oct. 5: UBC Symphony Orchestra
- Oct. 6: Shrum Bowl XXX
- Oct. 9: The Joy of Conflict Resolution
- Oct. 10: Toscanini: The Man and his Music
- Oct. 10: Poet Mary Dalton reads
- Oct. 10: The Unfinished Revolution: Space, Time and the Quantum
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
- UBC’s United Way Campaign kicks off
- UBC’s AGM to be held in Kelowna
- Students design and build new courtyard for UBC
- UBC professor receives endowment funding
- Visiting journalist to speak on human rights
- UBC to host Michael Ignatieff
- Promoting health and wellness among Aboriginal communities
UBC People
UBC’s United Way Campaign kicks off
UBC’s 2007 United Way (UW) Campaign kicks off a community effort this week with a target of $415,000 to be raised through pledged donations and fundraising events. For over 30 years, faculty, staff and students have donated time and money through UBC’s workplace campaign for the UW.
“UBC’s relationship with United Way really reflects our Trek 2010 commitment to global citizenship and building a sustainable and civil society,” says John Metras, Director of Plant Operations and 2007 UBC UW Campaign Chair. “Eighty-nine cents of every dollar raised goes directly to local programs.”
Last year the campaign raised $391,000, producing more donations in excess of $500 than any other workplace campaign in the Lower Mainland. In its second campaign, UBC Okanagan raised nearly $37,000 for the UW of Central and South Kelowna.
A variety of campaign volunteer opportunities give people at UBC the chance to make a positive impact while developing important skills. Tracy Chang, seconded from UBC’s International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), is available to make presentations to raise awareness of the campaign. UW donation pledge forms were mailed to all UBC employees in early October.
To book a presentation or volunteer, contact Allison Brownlee, UBC United Way Campaign Coordinator. For more information, visit www.unitedway.ubc.ca.
UBC’s AGM to be held in Kelowna
UBC’s Annual General Meeting will be held this year in Kelowna on Nov. 26 at 12 p.m., with a stand-up reception from 11:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. This event will mark the release of the 2007-07 UBC Annual Report, which highlights the past year’s accomplishments and, with the theme of Foresight, anticipates our celebration in 2008 of the centenary of the University Act of 1908.
The meeting will be held downtown at the Kelowna Rotary Centre for the Arts, with a live webcast available on all UBC campuses.
For more information, contact: public.affairs@ubc.ca.
Students design and build new courtyard for UBC
As part of their course requirements, UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture students worked over the last year to design and help build a new, public green space on campus.
Through UBC’s Sustainability Office SEEDS program, the students partnered with Plant Operations staff to create a multi-use courtyard behind the Landscape Architecture Annex on the southwest end of campus. The project demonstrates sustainable landscape development practices, including materials re-use and low-impact construction methods and materials, and the use of rainwater capture systems, rain gardens and design for sustainable maintenance.
For more information, visit www.apsc.ubc.ca.
UBC professor receives endowment funding
Assoc. Prof. Leslie Roman, Department of Educational Studies (EDST), has been awarded the Cecil and Ida Green award for her proposed speakers’ series entitled The Unruly Salon, to be hosted through 2007-2008 at Green College.
The interdisciplinary series in disability, arts and culture will feature international disability scholars presenting papers and their life stories with the performances of artists with disabilities.
Salon details will be posted as they come available. For more information, contact the Department of Educational Studies: www.edst.educ.ubc.ca.
Visiting journalist to speak on human rights
UBC’s Centre for Southeast Asian Research will host a lecture by Salvacion Inday Espina-Varona, Editor-in-chief of the Philippine Graphic and Marshall McLuhan Fellow. In her lecture, entitled Lives in Conflict: A Presentation on Acts of Human Rights Violation in the Philippines, Inday Espina-Varona will discuss issues around journalism and extrajudicial killings, child soldiers and women.
The lecture will take place on Oct. 11 from 12:30 – 2 p.m. in Conference Room #120 of the C.K. Choi Building.
For more information, visit www.iar.ubc.ca.
UBC to host Michael Ignatieff
UBC’s Liu Institute for Global Issues and the Centre of International Relations will host a lecture by Michael Ignatieff on Building Citizenship. Ignatieff is an author, academic and member of Parliament, and the former director of the Carr Centre for Human Rights and Policy at Harvard University. He has written on the challenges Canada faces in the 21st Century and the urgency of making Canada’s voice heard on the international stage.
The lecture will take place on Oct. 11 from 12:30 – 2 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room of the Liu Institute.
For more information, visit www.ligi.ubc.ca.
Promoting health and wellness among Aboriginal communities
UBC’s Aboriginal Running, Cycling and Hiking Club (ARCH) will do a 5 km group run on Oct. 9 to promote health and wellness among B.C.’s Aboriginal communities.
The run is part of the 2007/2008 Honouring Your Health Challenge, a conference for Aboriginal community leaders promoting positive role models, healthy eating, physical activity and reducing tobacco use. Funded by the B.C. Ministry of Health, the conference runs in Vancouver from Oct. 9-12.
With current membership of more than 30 UBC Aboriginal students, staff, and alumni, ARCH is an extension of the First Nations House of Learning’s participation in the Sun Run in 2006 and 2007, initiated by undergraduate student Barry Potts of the Native Indian Teacher Education Program (NITEP).
For more information, contact Rosalin Hanna, Executive Director of the Aboriginal Women’s Health And Healing Research Group, at rohanna@interchange.ubc.ca or 604.827.3349.
