The search is on to find a new director for the First Nations House of Learning .

Current director Jo-ann Archibald plans to return to research and teaching in the Faculty of Education when her five-year term ends June 30.

A president's advisory committee representing First Nations programs, student services and faculties will oversee the selection process.

Short-listed candidates will be invited to speak to faculty, staff, students and First Nations elders.

Applications and nominations will be received until Jan. 15, or until the position is filled.

The First Nations House of Learning was established in 1987 to make UBC and its resources more accessible to B.C.'s First Nations. It works with faculties to develop courses and programs, and provides a variety of student services.

For more information about the selection process, call Charlotte Passmore in the office of the vice-president, Academic and Provost, at 604-822-3624 or e-mail passmore@unixg.ubc.ca.

The Royal Netherlands Embassy and the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Netherlandic Studies is holding an essay contest. Five contestants will win a week-long tour of the Netherlands in May.

Canadian post-secondary students aged 18-25 are invited to write an essay describing their personal perception of any aspect of the history, culture, present economic and political situation of the Netherlands and the Canada-Netherlands relationship. Submissions must be received by the Royal Netherlands embassy by Jan. 15.

For more information, contact the embassy at nlgovott@ottawa.net or (613) 237-5030.

A permanent display of writer George Woodcock's personal items will be housed in the Main Library outside the Ridington Room.

The display includes Woodcock's typewriter. Books belonging to Woodcock were also donated by his wife, Ingeborg, to Special Collections.

Woodcock, who died in 1995, wrote and edited more than 120 books, many related directly to B.C., and won a Governor General's Award. In 1959 he co-founded the first periodical entirely dedicated to Canadian writing, Canadian Literature, which he edited from 1959 to 1977. In the 1950s and '60s he lectured in UBC's English Dept.

Thanks to donations from Woodcock's wife, the West Coast Book Prize Society, and other friends and admirers, a George Woodcock Canadian Literature and Intellectual Freedom Endowment Fund has been created to acquire significant manuscripts and books for the UBC Library.