UBC
Feburary

Safety features . News Digest . People . Calendar


Doctors' training to take real life turn

The Faculty of Medicine has won approval for the most sweeping changes to its undergraduate curriculum since the medical school opened its doors in 1950.

When members of the Class of 2001 enter UBC this August their courses will have a new emphasis on ethics, social issues, critical thinking and computer and communications skills.
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Ecologist, rock physicist, garner research prizes

A leading researcher on small mammals and a rock physicist are winners of UBC's top research prizes for 1996.

Ecologist Charles Krebs, a professor in the Dept. of Zoology, is the recipient of the Jacob Biely Research Prize and Assoc. Prof. Rosemary Knight, with the Dept. of Earth and Ocean Sciences, has won the Charles A. McDowell Award for Excellence in Research. Knight is also among 10 recipients of UBC Killam Research Prizes.
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Scholar urges schools fix on child's `greatness'

Can't balance your chequebook? You could be the next Agatha Christie.

Christie, like many creative, successful people, including Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein, had a learning disability. In the famous mystery writer's case, it was difficulty with adding numbers. Both da Vinci and Einstein were dyslexic.
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Botanist cites nitrogen in reforestation failure

Hiking through Colorado's San Juan Mountains almost 10 years ago, botanist Herbert Kronzucker was presented with a picturesque puzzle: to his left arose a mountainside of blue spruce; to the right, a slope of trembling aspen.

A ranger mentioned that the aspen side had been logged 15 years earlier and replanted with young spruce seedlings. But if the spruce thrived before, thought Kronzucker, why were they being so totally out-competed by aspen?

After nearly a decade of research, the UBC-based scientist thinks he's found an answer, one which may have dramatic implications for B.C.'s efforts at reforestation.
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Campus saddened by loss of long-time friend

Helen Belkin, a long-time friend and patron of UBC, has died at the age of 77.
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Committee invites input on Faculty Club

The Advisory Committee on the Faculty Club continues to examine the feasibility of re-opening the former Faculty Club as a financially viable university gathering place.
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Arctic stakeout yields hare-raising results

UBC zoologist Charles Krebs has just completed the most ambitious ecological stakeout ever.

The life and death cycle of snowshoe hares in Canada's North has been observed for more than 300 years but remains one of nature's enduring mysteries. In regular nine to 10-year intervals, hares from Alaska to Labrador increase and then die in startling numbers. Populations can plummet from 300 animals per square kilometre to one.
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Centre aids campus research innovations

An Innovation Centre created by the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada on the UBC campus will enhance the B.C. research community's ability to maintain strong research programs in several key areas, said Bernard Bressler, UBC's Vice-president, Research, following the centre's opening Jan. 27.
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Keeping fit while aging focus for int'l conference

North America's top authorities on fitness and aging will gather at UBC Feb. 21-23 for the Strength and Conditioning International Conference.

Entitled Changing Aging and Training the Master's Athlete, the conference will address a broad range of issues associated with physical health, fitness, training and the aging population. Conference speakers range from doctors and medical researchers to coaches and fitness trainers.
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Street food comes to CK Choi lobby

Juicy Hainan chicken rice, spicy rendang and sizzling satay. These are some of the culinary delights offered during a series of monthly festivals of Asian street foods and cultural events at the Institute of Asian Research (IAR).
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Campus tops United Way goal

Organizers of UBC's United Way campaign are all smiles following the latest report on contributions which shows a total of $301,543, surpassing the campaign goal of $290,265.
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Nursing faculty receive nat'l teaching, research honours

The School of Nursing will honour five of its faculty members for the national awards they received in 1996 at a campus reception Feb. 7.
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Annual festival spotlights the arts

ArtsFest '97, a celebration of student theatre, film, music, visual art and literary events, begins today and runs until Saturday, Feb. 8.
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