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.

Nov. 28, 2003

• Finlay receives national life sciences award
• School of Nursing grad cited for contribution to cultural harmony
• Professor emeritus receives Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun
• Lights, camera, learning -- psychiatry prof awarded for education project
• UBC researcher receives e-Learning fellowship
• New e-learning tools make it easy to create media-rich learning resources
• Students organize discussion on UBC’s promotion of global citizenship
• Liu Institute for Global Issues hosts Landmine Foundation event

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Finlay receives national life sciences award

Brett Finlay, UBC’s Peter Wall Distinguished Professor and a professor of biochemistry & molecular biology and microbiology & immunology, has received the National Merit Award from the Ottawa Life Sciences Council.

The award recognizes national leadership, international collaboration with the life sciences industry, an excellent research record and overall contribution to the development of life sciences in Canada.

Finlay is scientific director of a Canadian collaboration to find a vaccine for SARS. He has also developed the world's first cattle vaccine to combat E.coli. Marketers of the vaccine are currently applying to U.S. and Canadian authorities for regulatory approval to manufacture and sell the product.

A member of UBC's Biotechnology Laboratory, Finlay was awarded the E.W.R. Steacie Prize in 1998, Canada's top award for young scientists and engineers.

The Ottawa Life Sciences Council is a not-for-profit local and international, private and public sector partnership committed to stimulating the growth of the life sciences sector in the Ottawa area.

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School of Nursing grad cited for contribution to cultural harmony

UBC School of Nursing graduate Sukhdev Grewal, who received her master’s degree this week, was one of Vancouver's first South Asian nurses. She was recently awarded the City of Vancouver 2003 Cultural Harmony Award in the Individual Category.

Grewal has worked for more than 20 years as an advocate for women’s health issues affecting culturally diverse communities in Vancouver, especially the South Asian community. As a community nurse, she has provided health information in different languages, held workshops with other professionals on cross-cultural awareness and service delivery issues, and developed a pap-test screening clinic for South Asian women.

Grewal is also a longstanding member of the UBC-Guru Nanak Partnership Project Advisory Committee, helping the School of Nursing advance its support for the development of nursing education and primary health care in the rural Punjab.

An active volunteer with many organizations including the Vancouver Multicultural Society, the India Mahila Association, the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, and the Heart and Stroke Association, Grewal is a founding member of the South Asian Family Association (SAFA), and the more recent ‘Sawan Mela’ Festival.

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Professor emeritus receives Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun

John F. Howes, professor emeritus of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia, has been given one of Japan’s most prestigious honours, the Order of the Rising Sun. It was bestowed in recognition of service and dedication to facilitate better understanding between Japan and Canada.

From his early days in Japan after the war, Howes actively found ways to connect with local communities and academic organizations building bridges between Japan and the West. He was practical in his approach to teaching, and has influenced generations of students by his enthusiasm and positive approach. Howes’ fields of expertise include Christianity in Japan, the modernization of Japan and the study of two influential thinkers of the modern era, Uchimura Kanzo and Nitobe Inazo.

In recognition of Howes' outstanding contributions, Her Excellency Ms. Yoriko Kawaguchi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan sent a congratulatory note praising the work of Howes.

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Lights, camera, learning -- psychiatry prof awarded for education project

Dr. Harry Karlinsky has received an award for the Most Outstanding Continuing Education Activity in Psychiatry in Canada from the Canadian Psychiatric Association.

A clinical professor in the department of psychiatry, Karlinsky is director of continuing medical education and professional development for the department. His innovative continuing education program, called Frames of Mind, brings together the public, psychiatrists and community mental health professionals as well as cinema experts to view films related to mental health themes. A panel of experts makes a presentation following the film and the audience has an opportunity to discuss the issue.

Karlinsky's research interests include geriatric psychiatry as well as how information technology can improve care and education in mental health.

Frames of Mind films are screened at Pacific Cinematheque in Vancouver each month. More information may be found at http://www.psychiatry.ubc.ca/cme/film/.

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UBC researcher receives e-Learning fellowship

UBC Faculty of Science researcher Cyprien Lomas has been awarded one of two prestigious fellowships from the Educause National Learning Infrastructure Initiative (NLII).

The fellowship is a half-time appointment for one year, where Lomas will study the transformation of teaching and learning through the use of technology in higher education. The award means that Lomas will become part of an international network of experts and visionaries studying emerging issues in technology and education that may change the way we learn.

“It will give Cyprien -- and UBC -- access to some of the most thoughtful and innovative minds in higher education,” said Collean Carmean, a former NLII fellow and a member of the selection committee. “NLII, as the teaching and learning arm of Educause, is the ‘bleeding edge’ of discovery and possibility in a time of great change in higher education.”

For more information, please visit: http://www.estrategy.ubc.ca/news/update0311/031126-fellowship.html.

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New e-learning tools make it easy to create media-rich learning resources

UBC's Arts ISIT has developed two new e-Learning template tools that allow faculty and students to easily create their own multimedia learning tools, including media-rich, interactive timelines and saved discussions from WebCT courses. In turn, the tools faculty and students develop can be used again in other courses, for a variety of purposes, and shared with other faculty and students.

Warren Scott, coordinator for instructional support in Arts ISIT and Tim Wang, instructional developer, developed the tools which were released this fall.

The Timeline Tool allows you to quickly construct an interactive timeline tailored with your own text, images, as well as audio and video clips. The WebCT Discussion Extractor Tool allows you to export and save WebCT Discussions as SCORM standard-compliant learning objects that can then archived or analyzed as a dataset and base of collective student knowledge. (SCORM is the Shareable Content Object Reference Model, a set of standards for online learning).

The tools are designed so that anyone can use them without being technical experts. They also give instructors more control over developing media-rich content for their courses.

For more information, please visit: http://www.estrategy.ubc.ca/news/update0311/031126-tools.html.

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Students organize discussion on UBC’s promotion of global citizenship

Students from the School of Community and Regional Planning are hosting a discussion for members of the university community on global citizenship. The event is planned for December 4, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Liu Institute for Global Issues.

The event aims to bring together individuals and groups at UBC who are committed to global citizenship, to address questions like:

• What are the various global citizenship projects underway at UBC?
• What are the opportunities to strengthen linkages with local and global communities?
• How can UBC strengthen its contribution to global citizenship?

For information contact Lisa Hallgren at lmhallgren@telus.net.

To RSVP, contact Danyta Welch at danytaw@interchange.ubc.ca.

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Liu Institute for Global Issues hosts Landmine Foundation event

The Honourable Lloyd Axworthy, director and CEO of UBC’s Liu Institute for Global Issues, will host a reception for the Canadian Landmine Foundation on December 3 at The Rooftop in Hotel Vancouver. The event will include special presentations from the Youth Mine Action Ambassador Program and the Canadian Landmine Detection Dogs Society. Tickets are $100 for adults, $50 for seniors and students.

The Canadian Landmine Foundation, a private sector foundation, continues to exemplify Canada's commitment to a global ban on landmines. Officially introduced by The Hon. Lloyd Axworthy on June 28, 1999, the Foundation was formed as a registered charity with a mission to raise awareness & funds to end the human and economic suffering caused by anti-personnel landmines.

For information, e-mail: georgia.dahle@ubc.ca.

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