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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
Upcoming Event Highlights
- Oct. 18: Marion Woodward Lecture 2007 – Research & Nursing: A match made in heaven, hell or someplace in-between?
- Oct. 18-20: Death & Taxes
- Oct. 19: Contemporary Players
- Oct. 19: Men’s and women’s basketball at War Memorial Gym
- Oct. 21: Duo Sforzando, piano four hands and horn, piano duo
- Oct. 24: Law, Land, and Native Identity
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
- New appointments to Vice Provost and Provost
- UBC Waste Management goes the extra mile
- Human Resources seeks input on UBC workplace practices
- UBC physician is B.C.’s top doc
- Medical student and alumni centre gets a new name
- UBC MFA student wins two awards at Vancouver International Film Festival
- UBC arthritis researcher earns consumer advisory award
- Visiting professors to speak at 2007 Gairdner Symposium
- Information evening on UBC student global health projects
- Canada exhibition at the Asian Centre
- Institute of Asian Research centres offer diverse seminars
- UBC hosts symposium on poetic inquiry
UBC People
New appointments to Vice Provost and Provost
Wes Pue has been appointed as Vice Provost and Associate Vice President Academic Resources, after having served as pro tem in the position for several months. In addition, George Mackie has been appointed as Deputy Provost to assist with transitional matters in the Provost’s Office and leading the planning for a new budget model.
UBC Waste Management goes the extra mile
Geoff Atkins, AVP Land and Building Services, would like to draw attention to the commitment shown by the men and women in the Waste Management section of Plant Operations during the recent garbage strike. Normally, the garbage collected on campus is sent out daily to the Vancouver Transfer Station. With that station closed, drivers showed flexibility and teamwork to deal with long queues at alternate transfer stations. Atkins, on behalf of the University, offers thanks to the team for their dedication.
Human Resources seeks input on UBC workplace practices
The Department of Human Resources has revised the People Plan discussion paper into the planning document Focus on People: Workplace Practices at UBC. The renaming is part of the transition from a discussion paper to a course of action for the university.
Faculty and staff are encouraged to provide their feedback by Oct. 31 so the framework can be presented to the Board of Governors for approval in November 2007, with implementation beginning as early as January 2008.
To read the Focus on People framework, visit www.hr.ubc.ca/files/pdf/people_plan/Focus_on_People.pdf.
To give feedback, use the form at www.hr.ubc.ca/peopleplan/feedback.html.
UBC physician is B.C.’s top doc
Clinical Assoc. Prof. Nirvair Levitt, Department of Family Practice, is one of 10 family physicians – one from each province – to be recognized in Winnipeg this week by the College of Family Physicians at its annual awards ceremony. Levitt and the nine other doctors are being recognized for "providing exceptional care to their patients, making meaningful contributions to their communities and dedicating themselves to educating new family doctors."
Medical student and alumni centre gets a new name
UBC Faculty of Medicine students, alumni and partners, including Minister of Advanced Education Murray Coell, gathered last week to celebrate the renaming of the UBC Medical Student Alumni Centre in honour of former Dean William Webber. The William A. Webber Medical Student & Alumni Centre, open 21 hours a day, is dedicated to supporting and fostering recreational and social activities for students and alumni. The Centre also allows students distributed across the province in the MD undergraduate program to connect with each other with video-conferencing. The Centre is at W. 12 Ave. & Heather St.
Webber, MD’58 (1934 – 2006), was Dean when the idea of a social and recreational facility for medical students and alumni was first proposed in 1983. He championed and saw it through from concept through fundraising campaign to its opening in 1990.
UBC MFA student wins two awards at Vancouver International Film Festival
UBC Film MFA student Gwen Haworth’s documentary She’s a Boy I Knew received two VIFF’s awards: the Vancity People’s Choice Award for Most Popular Canadian Film, and the Women in Film and Television Vancouver Artistic Merit Award.
The film is Haworth’s MFA thesis – written, directed, produced and edited by the filmmaker. It documents Haworth’s gender transition from Stephen to Gwen through the use of archival family footage, interviews, phone messages and hand-drawn animation.
UBC Film MFA student Gwen Haworth’s documentary She’s a Boy I Knew received two VIFF’s awards: the Vancity People’s Choice Award for Most Popular Canadian Film, and the Women in Film and Television Vancouver Artistic Merit Award.
The film is Haworth’s MFA thesis – written, directed, produced and edited by the filmmaker. It documents Haworth’s gender transition from Stephen to Gwen through the use of archival family footage, interviews, phone messages, and hand-drawn animation.
UBC arthritis researcher earns consumer advisory award
Assist. Prof. Linda Li, Department of Physical Therapy, has received an award from the Consumer Advisory Board of the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada in recognition of her involvement of consumers as partners in her work.
Visiting professors to speak at 2007 Gairdner Symposium
The 2007 Gairdner Symposium will feature two Gairdner Award recipients: Prof. C. David Allis, Head of the Laboratory of Chromotin Biology at The Rockefeller University, New York, and Prof. Harry F. Noller, Director of the Centre for Molecular Biology of RNA at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Allis, recognized for his research in chromatin structure and gene transcription, will lecture on Beyond the Double Helix: Reading and Writing the “Histone” Code. Noller, known for his ribosome research, will lecture on Ribosome Structure and Dynamics: Translation in Four Dimensions.
This annual public symposium is hosted by the BC Cancer Agency, Genome BC, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, Simon Fraser University and UBC. It will take place in Lecture Theatre 1 of the Life Sciences Centre on Oct. 22 from 4 – 6 p.m. Seating is on a first come, first served basis.
For more information, visit www.lifesciencesbc.ca/Events/Other_Events/event10050701.asp.
Information evening on UBC student global health projects
On Oct. 24, UBC’s Students’ Global Health Initiative will host an information evening entitled From Passion To Skill: Experiences in Uganda, India & Honduras. The evening will begin with a reception at 6 p.m., followed by an address at 6:30 p.m. by Faculty of Medicine Dean Gavin Stuart and presentations on the faculty’s three global health projects.
For more information, visit www.med.ubc.ca/news/Calendar_of_Events.htm.
Canada exhibition at the Asian Centre
An exhibition of paintings by SFU’s Adj. Prof. Yukman Lai, entitled Canada through the eyes of Yukman Lai, will be shown at UBC’s Asian Centre from Oct. 20 – 28 with an opening ceremony on Oct. 20 at 2 p.m. This exhibition toured in China and Hong Kong before returning to Canada.
For more information, visit www.yukmanlai.com.
Institute of Asian Research centres offer diverse seminars
- Oct. 19, 4:30 – 6 p.m.: UBC’s Centre for Japanese Research will host a lecture by Assist. Prof. Yves Tiberghien, Department of Political Science, on Civil Society and Political Agenda Capture: The Battle over Genetically-Engineered Food in Japan.
- Oct. 22, 12 – 1 p.m.: Prof. Chung-in Moon will lecture on The Korean Summit: 2000 and 2007 Compared. Moon is a political science professor at Yonsei University, Korea, and the Ambassador for International Security Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Republic of Korea.
- Oct. 23, 12:30 – 2 p.m.: UBC’s Centre for Chinese Research will host a lecture by Assist. Prof. Duanduan Li, Director of the Chinese Language Program, on Learning Chinese as a Heritage Language: An Identity Issue.
- Oct. 24, 5:30 – 7 p.m.: UBC’s Centre for Chinese Research, in conjunction with the University of Washington Press and UBC Press, will host a book launch and talk by Bamo Ayi, Stevan Harrell and Ma Lunzy. The trio will launch their book Fieldwork Connections: The Fabric of Ethnographic Collaboration in China and America.
- Oct. 25, 12:30 – 2 p.m.: UBC’s Centre for Southeast Asia Research and Centre for India and South Asia Research will host a talk by Assoc. Prof. Philippe Le Billon, Department of Geography and the Liu Institute for Global Studies, on Peace in the Wake of Disaster? Secessionist Conflicts and the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.
All seminars will take place in Room 120 of the C.K. Choi Building, 1855 West Mall. For more information, visit www.iar.ubc.ca/bulletin/seminarsOCT2007.htm.
UBC hosts symposium on poetic inquiry
Dr. Monica Prendergast, Research Fellow at the Centre for Cross-Faculty Inquiry (CCFI), and Prof. Carl Leggo, CCFI and Language and Literacy Education, will co-host the first International Symposium on Poetic Inquiry from Oct. 26 – 28 at St. John’s College. This invitational symposium brings together more than 30 social scientists who have incorporated poetic approaches to inquiry.
For more information, contact poetic.inquiry@yahoo.ca or see the full event listing.
