UBC This Week

Sexual assault and safety on Canadian university campuses are the themes of initiatives organized by students, with the support of UBC’s Faculty of Arts during January, which has been designated as Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM).

SAAM will provide the campus community an opportunity to hear speakers, engage in forums, and watch film and theatre performances focused on the topic of sexual assault – exploring its troubling roots and devastating consequences.   Hoping to make this an annual event, the organizers have secured funding and university approval of the awareness campaign.  Long-term plans include a safety audit and programs for promoting greater respect and safety.

Events planned for the three-week event are:
• Jan. 21: Meghan Gardiner will perform a one-woman theatrical performance of the film Dissolve, Dissolve: A Film about Drug-Facilitated Sexual Assault followed by a Q & A. 
• Jan. 26: A community-wide rally and march.
• Jan. 28: A lecture on gender violence by international educator Jackson Katz, entitled Tough Guys: Sexual Violence, Media, and the Crisis in Masculinity
• Jan. 29: Katz will conduct a workshop on why gender violence is an issue for men.

All events are open to the public.  SAAM is the result of the combined efforts of the Faculty of Arts – Deans Office, UBC Women’s and Gender Studies Program, Critical Studies in Sexuality, Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies, UBC V-Day, Access and Diversity, Arts Undergraduate Society, Alma Mater Society Womyn’s Centre and Sexual Assault Support Centre (SASC) and Office of the VP Students.

For more information, visit http://www.arts.ubc.ca/about-arts/single-page-news/article/613/2404.html.

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UBC is collaborating with BC Hydro Power Smart to deliver a new Master’s of Engineering in Clean Energy Engineering program within the Faculty of Applied Science. BC Hydro will support the Power Smart® Instructor for the program and the co-operative education portion of the graduate program.

The new graduate degree, developed in partnership between the Clean Energy Research Centre (CERC) within Applied Science and the Sustainability Office at UBC, is the first of its kind in Canada. It will focus on the supply and demand side of energy, including energy efficiency and conservation, social change concepts, efficient use of electricity and methods for comparing and evaluating alternative energy scenarios. The program includes studies in renewable energy sources, such as biomass, solar, wind and small-scale hydro. Currently in its inaugural year, the program has 25 students enrolled.

For more information, visit www.engineering.ubc.ca/news/2010/jan11.html

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The UBC Library will be inaugurating the UBC Library Innovative Dissemination of Research Award, which will honour students, faculty and staff whose creative use of new tools and technologies are expanding the boundaries of research and enhancing the impact of research findings.

Faculty, staff and students are eligible to apply to win the certificate of recognition and a $2,000 cash prize. The first winner will be selected by the University Librarian and members of the Library’s Scholarly Communications Committee, and announced during Celebrate Research Week in early March.

Deadline for applications is Feb. 1, 2010. For information on submission criteria and procedures, visit http://scholcomm.ubc.ca/award or contact Joy Kirchner at 604-827-3644 or joy.kirchner@ubc.ca.

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