UBC This Week | Mar. 12, 2009

Mar 12, 2009

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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.

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Recent UBC Media Releases

Upcoming Event Highlights

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 People

UBC Climate Action Plan

UBC is taking action on climate change by creating a Climate Action Plan for the Vancouver campus. This plan is a central element of UBC’s commitment to sustainability leadership and a critical step in fulfilling the University and College Presidents’ Climate Change Statement of Action for Canada.

The plan will be developed in three phases, beginning March 2 and ending June 30. The plan will be shaped by a range of viewpoints and expertise.

The Climate Action Plan is a project overseen by the Operations Working Group (Charlene Easton, Chair and UBC Sustainability Office Director) of the newly formed President’s Council on Sustainability. It is being developed and supported by a technical advisory committee, (Dr. James Tansey, Chair), a risk assessment task force, (Dr. Stewart Cohen, Chair) and seven emissions source reductions working groups representing on-campus expertise.

Vision Workshops:
March 17, 5 – 7 p.m., GSS Ballroom
March 20, 9 – 11 a.m., GSS Ballroom

Town Hall Meeting:
March 31, 5 – 7 p.m., GSS Ballroom

To register for a workshop or to submit your input, visit http://climateaction.ubc.ca

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UBC Student Development Award winners announced

The Office of the Vice-President, Students recognizes exceptional contributions or significant improvements to the student experience and learning environment at UBC.

The 2008/09 winners:

Margaret Fulton Award: For an individual
Prof. Jane Flick, English Dept., Faculty of Arts
David Chiu, Graduate Student Council, Faculty of Education
Dr. Margo Fryer, UBC Learning Exchange

Helen McCrae Award: For a service for students provided by AMS, GSS or UBC
International Peer Program
First (2007/08) Executive of the Environmental Science Students’ Assoc.

Alfred Scow Award: For an undergraduate program or department
Dept. of Computer Science

Peter Larkin Award: For a graduate or post baccalaureate program or department
History Dept.’s Graduate Program
Dept. of Statistics

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LifeSciences British Columbia awards UBC professors

UBC Prof. Jack Saddler, Dean of the Faculty of Forestry and Prof. Julio Montaner, BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, will be presented with the 2009 LifeSciences British Columbia Awards on April 8 in Vancouver.

LifeSciences British Columbia annually recognizes individuals and organizations that have contributed to the development of B.C.’s life sciences industry, from biopharmaceuticals and medical devices to bioproducts and bioenergy.

For more information, visit www.lifesciencesbc.ca.

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Winner of Sauder’s Pollay Prize to give lecture

Connie Pechmann, professor of marketing from the University of California Irvine, is the winner of the 2009 Pollay Prize at UBC’s Sauder School of Business. This prize honours intellectual excellence in research on marketing in the public interest.

Pechmann will present the Pollay Prize lecture Smokescreen: Making sense of youth-geared messages about tobacco in entertainment and advertising. Her research findings have helped inform and change tobacco control policy in the US and Canada.

Date: March 20
Time: 3:30 – 5 p.m.
Place: UCLL 174 (downstairs Sage Bistro), Leon & Thea Koerner University Centre, 6331 Crescent Road
Info:http://www.sauder.ubc.ca/AM/Template.cfm?Section=News&CONTENTID=28921&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm

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UBC professor wins Killam Research Fellowship

UBC Prof. Natalie Strynadka, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, is one of nine Canadian researchers chosen as the new Killam Research Fellows for 2009. Strynadka is recognized for her work in structure-based antibiotic discovery on the bacterial membrane.

For more information, visit http://www.canadacouncil.ca/news/releases/2009/hd128812650575469099.htm.

UBC student gives interviews on Prof Talk radio show

Hosted by UBC student Farha Khan, Prof Talk is a new radio talk show broadcast on UBC’s radio station CiTR (101.9 FM).

Prof Talk engages professors and doctoral candidates from a variety of disciplines to share their research and thoughts on current or past events.

March 16
Prof. Tara Lee, Dept. of English will discuss her research interest in minority Canadian Literature, specifically Asian Canadian literature and her motivation for and philosophy in teaching it. She also answers the question, what can you do with an English degree besides teach?

March 23
Dr. Michael Hayden, UBC Dept. of Medical Genetics will discuss his goals to understand how changes in specific genes result in specific diseases, usually in adult life, in particular Huntington disease and premature coronary artery disease. He also discusses his Ripples of Hope Foundation that will bring trainees from Africa to Canada to study in four areas: global health (HIV-AIDS and tuberculosis), mental health, rare diseases, an biotechnology and entrepreneurship.

March 30
Dr. Carl Weiman, Nobel laureate, discusses his beginnings and the research that led him to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001. He also discusses the goals of the Carl Weiman Science Education Initiative at UBC to achieve highly effective, evidence based science education for all post-secondary students by applying the latest advances in pedagogical and organization excellence.

For more information, visit http://ubcproftalk.blogspot.com/ or view playlist at http://playlist.citr.ca/podcasting/xml/proftalk.xml.

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UBC EWB hosts sustainable design competition

Teams from all disciplines in UBC will compete to design solutions to everyday needs of people all over the world. Each team will be provided with a case study in advance and will have five hours to build designs with only a few tools and a pile of recycled material.

Last year, creative designs included a bicycle-powered water pump for Benin, a transportable solar cooker for Zambia, and a clothes-washing/irrigation system for water conservation in China.

Date: March 19
Place: outside the Student Union Building
Info: Register your team at dsw@ubc.ewb.ca or visit www.ubc.ewb.ca/dsw

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United Way thanks the UBC community

The UBC United Way Committee has announced the final numbers for the 2008 United Way Campaign. This year’s outcome of $440,877, a growth of 5.8 per cent from the previous year, fell short of the committee’s aggressive goal to increase donations by 19 per cent to $500,000.

The United Way of the Lower Mainland’s campaign goal of $32 million fell short by $4 million.

After a comprehensive strategic planning process, United Way has determined that supporter is needed in three key community areas: 1) children aged 0 – 6; 2) children aged 6 – 12; and 3) seniors.

The UBC United Way Committee thanks the community for its generosity in this year’s campaign.