UBC Feature Web Site
Alumni Weekend 2009:
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
- May 20: UBC grads don cap and gown for week of Vancouver ceremonies
- May 20: Employers discriminate against applicants with non-English names, UBC study suggests
- May 19: Philanthropist donates $2.5M to establish UBC professorship in rural teacher education
Upcoming Event Highlights
Visit UBCevents, UBC’s new campus-wide calendar: www.events.ubc.ca
- May 22: Angels and Demons: The Science Revealed
- May 22: Town Hall Forum on Global Citizenship with Stephen Toope, followed by Wine and Cheese Reception
- May 22-24: Free Admission to the Museum of Anthropology
- May 23: Alumni and Friends Continental Breakfast
- May 23: UBC Farm Field Tour and Activities
- May 23: UBC REC 4 vs. 4 Basketball Tournament
- May 25: UBC Symphony Orchestra with Charles Lee, piano soloist
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 Renew – Chemistry Centre wins Heritage BC Award
- Focus on People Town Hall held on June 11
- UBC holds Alternative Energy X contest
- Botanical Garden partners in DOXA Film Festival
- UBC professor and maternity medicine innovator passes away
- UBC offers advanced degree in Clean Energy Engineering
- School of Nursing designs e-Portfolio system
UBC People
UBC Renew – Chemistry Centre wins Heritage BC Award
The UBC Renew – Chemistry Centre has been awarded a BC Heritage Outstanding Achievement Award – Heritage BC’s highest honour. Suzanne Poohkay, Director of Land and Building Services and Gregory Henriquez of Henriquez Partners Architects, will accep the award at the Heritage BC annual awards conference on June 5.
The Heritage BC Annual Awards Program recognizes achievement by individuals, associations, businesses, and governments in the field of heritage conservation.
For more information, visit http://www.heritagebc.ca/events/annual-conference-registration
Focus on People Town Hall held on June 11
UBC faculty and staff are invited to the Focus on People Town Hall on June 11, where they can learn how UBC is building a better workplace. Workplace Experiences Survey results will be presented and interactive break-out sessions will be held to explore initiatives that have been launched this past year.
Date: June 11
Time: 1 – 4 p.m.
Place: Arbutus Room, Ponderosa Centre, 2071 West Mall
Info: Register online by June 3
http://focusonpeople.ubc.ca/sharingconnecting/townhall/
UBC holds Alternative Energy X contest
Students, staff, faculty, researchers and residents are invited to enter the UBC Alternative Energy X contest and help UBC become the world’s first “net positive energy and water campus”. Community members can help identify technology that would reduce campus greenhouse gas emissions and overall energy demand.
A total of $10,000 in prizes will be given with first prize at $5,000.
For full contest details, visit http://climateaction.ubc.ca/2009/05/15/reduce-ubcs-carbon-footprint-and-win-5000.
Botanical Garden partners in DOXA Film Festival
The UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research will be a community partner in two films at the annual DOXA Documentary Film Festival.
Eternal Mash, directed by Catherine Van Campen, documents the mysterious disappearance of Master Dutch Horticulturist Ruurd Walrecht and the void that his colleagues feel in his absence.
The Garden, directed by Scott Hamilton and nominated for an Academy award, documents a community fighting for their community garden in South Central Los Angles.
For more information, visit www.doxafestival.ca.
UBC professor and maternity medicine innovator passes away
UBC Clinical Prof. Susan Harris, Dept. of Family Practice, a pioneering physician who worked tirelessly to improve maternity care in B.C., died May 17 at the age of 59.
In 2004, Harris and midwife Lee Saxell founded the South Community Birthing Program, where doctors, midwives, community health nurses and doulas work together to provide maternity care to women.
Harris was head of the family practice department at BC Women’s Hospital from 2002 to 2008 and was instrumental in the hospital’s development of single-room maternity care.
Harris was recently named physician of the year for B.C. and won a YWCA Women of Distinction Award for Health and Active Living. She was the first physician to be named an honorary midwife by the Midwives Association of B.C.
For more information, visit: The Vancouver Sun
UBC offers advanced degree in Clean Energy Engineering
UBC’s Faculty of Applied Science and the Clean Energy Research Centre has announced the launch of an innovative new master’s degree in Clean Energy Engineering—the first of its kind in Canada. The program is intended for those with an undergraduate degree in engineering who are interested in advanced training related to environmentally advantageous energy efficient technologies. The program is approximately 16 months and includes a co-operative work term.
The program will begin September 2009, subject to final approval. Applications are now being accepted.
For more information, visit www.cerc.ubc.ca.
School of Nursing designs e-Portfolio system
The UBC School of Nursing has designed Practice e-Portfolio (PeP), a system to be used by students and instructors to facilitate the tracking of student progress throughout their clinical program.
The PeP system will be released this September.
For more information, visit http://update.estrategy.ubc.ca/2009/05/06/eportfolios-at-the-school-of-nursing.
