UBC News Digest

The UBC News Digest is a weekly summary of news stories about UBC people, research, learning, community, and internationalization initiatives. News Digest past issues are also available on-line.

Apr. 18, 2002

• Celebrate Research lecture series: Archaeology in Arcadia -- Excavating Ancient Stymphalos
• Marchak brings human rights, terrorism expertise to Liu Centre
• Student development awards announced
• University mourns loss of agricultural science leader
• Militzer named new Dofasco chair holder
• UBC on-line Masters program gives teachers worldwide high-tech opportunities

Celebrate Research lecture series: Archaeology in Arcadia -- Excavating Ancient Stymphalos

Since 1994 teams from the University of British Columbia students and local labourers have been carrying out archaeological excavations at the site of ancient Stymphalos in the mountains of Arcadia in southern Greece. Their work and findings will be the subject of Archaeology in Arcadia: Excavating Ancient Stymphalos, the latest in the university's Celebrate Research lecture series.

Prof. Hector Williams will discuss the innovative geophysical search techniques that enabled the team to identify what lay below the surface over much of the site -- without digging. Their excavations have revealed a cross section of life in a small Greek city from about 350-140 BC as well as revealing later resettlement in early Roman times. Temples, sanctuaries, a theatre, a gymnasium, fountain houses, city walls and gates and a variety of houses have all come to light as well as a variety of burials, human and animal, that inform us about the local inhabitants.

All members of the community are invited to the lecture, Thursday, April 25 at 4 p.m., in the Dodson Room of the Main Library. A reception will follow.

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Marchak brings human rights, terrorism expertise to Liu Centre

Former Dean of Arts and Professor Emerita of Sociology Patricia Marchak has joined the Liu Centre for the Study of Global Issues as a Fellow.

Drawing on her expertise in human rights issues and terrorism, Marchak will focus on bringing leading scholars to UBC to discuss their work on these and other global issues.

She is organizing two conferences for the Centre. The first, entitled State Terrorism and Other Crimes Against Humanity: Moving Toward Explanations, takes place May 3-4, 2002 at the Liu Centre, and will focus on the root causes of terrorism. Topics slated for discussion range from genocide prevention initiatives in Rwanda to the break-up of the USSR and its impact on Chechnya and other states. For more information, visit the Liu Centre website at www.liucentre.ubc.ca.

Another conference, scheduled for November 2002, will address evolving international norms and law on human rights.

Marchak is the author of numerous books including God's Assassins: State Terrorism in Argentina in the 1970. She is currently writing a book on strategies for coping with crimes against humanity perpetuated by former regimes.

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Student development awards announced

Coordinator of the Native Indian Teacher Education Program Sheila TeHennepe, senior UBC administrator Byron Hender and Graduate Student Society administrator Joydeep Sengupta are among the winners of this year's student development awards.

TeHennepe, Hender and Sengupta were named recipients of the Margaret Fulton Individual Award recognizing individuals on campus who have made a significant contribution to students' lives.

The English Dept. received the Peter Larkin Award for its graduate program in English. The revised program is designed to balance high standards for academic excellence while effectively preparing students for the academic marketplace.

The Alfred Scow Award went to the Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept.'s Electro-Mechanical Engineering Program (EMEC). Since its inception in 1994, the multidisciplinary program's combination of coursework, project work, and co-op work terms has resulted in a near 100 per cent placement rate for graduating students finding jobs.

Established in 1998 by the Campus Advisory Board on Student Development (CABSD), the awards recognize contributions to the student experience and learning environment at UBC. The board comprises representatives from across campus.

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University mourns loss of agricultural science leader

The Agricultural Sciences Faculty and the larger UBC community are mourning the passing of Prof. Jim Shelford (March 4, 1944 - April 6, 2002). He joined the faculty in July 1972.

Throughout his life Shelford expended enormous effort and time helping young people. At UBC, he was the Animal Science professor students most often sought for academic advice. He also dedicated a great deal of time helping students obtain financial aid and for years served on, or chaired, scholarship committees both within the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and at the University-wide level.

In his final years, Shelford gave much time and energy to the establishment of the UBC Dairy Education and Research Centre in Agassiz, B.C. This facility, a unique partnership of UBC and Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, was developed to serve both the dairy industry and UBC students. The centre is fast becoming a leading international dairy research facility for animal behaviour, nutrition and reproduction.

In consultation with Shelford and his family, the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences has arranged to establish an endowed scholarship that will provide financial assistance to undergraduate and graduate students studying topics related to dairy production. For more information, contact Michael Anhorn, 604-822-5924 or Prof. Jim Thompson, 604-822-2794.

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Militzer named new Dofasco chair holder

Metals and Materials Engineering Assoc. Prof. Matthias Militizer has been named the new holder of the Dofasco Chair in Advanced Steel Processing.

The Chair is currently valued at $1.7 million over five years and was established to further research on advanced high-strength steels. One of the most exciting applications of this research is the eventual replacement of conventional steel in automobiles, which would reduce vehicle weight, increase safety, lower emissions and improve fuel efficiency.

The Dofasco Chair is part of UBC's Centre for Metallurgical Processing. It was first held by UBC's VP Research, Indira Samarasekera, and was created by an initial gift from Dofasco Inc. and matching funds from UBC.

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UBC on-line Masters program gives teachers worldwide high-tech opportunities

With the launch of a new on-line graduate degree program today, UBC is set to help educators around the globe harness the teaching potential of the Internet and other new technologies.

UBC's Master of Educational Technology (MET) is Canada's first distance education degree in educational technology to be offered fully on-line, and the first on-line distance education degree in the world to be offered in Spanish and English.

UBC has teamed up with Mexican university Tec de Monterrey, a world leader in distance education, to offer the joint degree. It is aimed at educators, teachers and support staff in schools, colleges, universities and informal and adult education work sites -- especially those in remote locations -- who want to increase their knowledge of new technologies and learn how to effectively incorporate them into lessons, classrooms and other work contexts.

The program will prepare them to use technology in their teaching, with a special focus on on-line learning and the use of new technologies.

"Issues related to the use of technology in teaching and learning are at the forefront of many education discussions. UBC and Tec de Monterrey have worked together to produce a program that will help people to explore productive ways of thinking about and using these new technologies in the classroom," says Prof. Jim Gaskell, MET Coordinator in UBC's Faculty of Education.

Students can take the program in either English or Spanish or a combination. They will also have access to the on-line library resources of both UBC and Tec de Monterrey, and there will be opportunities for them to share their ideas and experiences with others in different countries. The program begins in September 2002.