UBC Reports | Vol. 48 | No. 13 | Nov. 7, 2002

In the News

Highlights of UBC Media Coverage in October 2002

Compiled By Brian Lin

Barber donation

B.C. businessman and entrepreneur Irving K. (Ike) Barber has given $20 million to UBC to build a high-tech library that will be the first of its kind in Canada.

“I have created some disposable income and I wanted to find a responsible way to inject this income back into the roots of British Columbia,” Barber told the National Post. Barber’s donation was the largest capital gift UBC has ever received.

“This kind of takes my breath away,” UBC President Martha Piper said. “I can think of no adequate way to say thank you, Ike.”

Value of International Students

In a letter to the editor, director of UBC’s International Student Initiative Don Wehrung emphasizes the value and contribution of international students.

“It is not true that [international] students are a ‘cash cow,’” Wehrung told the Vancouver Sun. “We believe that UBC, its students, faculty and the province all benefit from having additional international students on our campus, but mostly from their presence and participation in campus life rather than economically.”

High tech trash

UBC toxicologist Chris Van Netten is worried about the health risks posed when developed countries send their e-waste to third world countries.

It is estimated that 100,000 people in the Guiu region in southeastern China toil to recover valuable materials from computers like copper and gold.

“If these people stay in that environment and they will be exposed, the incidence of cancer will be very high among that type and number of people,” Van Netten told CBC Television.

C.H.I.L.D. Chair

The Children with Intestinal and Liver Disorders Foundation has named UBC researcher Bruce Vallance as its first endowed chair.

Vallance has been focused on the role of bacteria and parasitic infections in causing inflammatory bowel disorder, which affects about one out of every 5,000 individuals.

“It’s an interesting research area because it hasn’t been heavily studied,” Vallance told the Vancouver Sun. “So basically whatever finding or observation you make is new.”

Nobel Prize winner worked at UBC

Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman left UBC 16 years ago because of provincial funding cuts to post-secondary education, UBC’s Psychology Dept. head Richard Tees told the National Post.

“Canadian universities will be raided over the next while,” Tees said. “U.S. universities have lots of retirements coming up and this is a natural place to hunt for good people. If the universities don’t have enough money, they will lose their best people.”

Tees, who is a friend of Kahneman, played a role in luring the psychology professor and his future wife, also a professor, to UBC in 1978.