UBC This Week | May 11, 2006

UBC This Week is a weekly summary of UBC people in the news, recent media releases and upcoming event hightlights. UBC This Week past issues are also available on-line.

Sign up for UBC This Week and other UBC Public Affairs e-mail services at www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/eservices.

Recent UBC Media Releases

• May 10: UBC students decode essence of cool
• May 9: UBC researchers query source of c-section increases

Upcoming Event Highlights

• May 11: UBC baseball v. Condordia at Nat Bailey
• May 12-13: UBC Opera Ensemble's "Florence - The Lady with the Lamp"
• May 13: Vancouver Recital Society and the Chan Centre: "Young Masters Project"
• May 17: Centre for Japanese Research presents Ikuyo Nakamichi piano recital

Find out what else is happening at UBC this week. For sports events, visit the UBC Athletics site at www.gothunderbirds.ca/schedule.asp.

UBC People

• Korea Foundation gift creates Korean Legal Studies Professorship
• Journalism ethics professor to lead science journalism project
• UBC student quintet wins top prize in Coleman Chamber Ensemble competition
• Five awards of excellence recognize UBC Nursing
• Three undergraduate scholarship winners selected for study in Germany
• UBC Chair co-authors APRU collaborative research paper award
• UBC to host 2006 learning conference

UBC People

Korea Foundation gift creates Korean Legal Studies Professorship

Korea Foundation President Kwon In-hyuk and Korean Consulate Deputy Counsel General Jae Won Jun recently presented $562,500 (US) to UBC President Martha Piper and Law Dean Mary Anne Bobinski. The gift will enable the Faculty of Law to create North America's first permanent professorship in Korean Legal Studies.

To be formally established by 2008, the professorship will focus on human rights, international trade, international dispute resolution, and intellectual property while enhancing strong cultural and educational links between UBC and Korea. As the largest single gift from the Korea Foundation, it adds to a total lifetime gift to UBC of $1.5 million (Cdn), part of which added the Korean Legal Studies Program to the UBC Centre for Asian Legal Studies in 2003.

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Journalism ethics professor to lead science journalism project

Stephen Ward, Assoc. Prof. of Journalism Ethics, has been awarded funding to improve science journalism and establish a science journalism program at the School of Journalism. The program will be the first of its kind in Canada.

An internationally recognized media ethics expert, Ward joins Elizabeth Simpson, Assoc. Prof and Canada Research Chair in Genetics and Behaviour, in a $10.2 million, four-year gene therapy program - the Pleiades Promoter Project – in order to develop more flexible and safer tools for the delivery of genes into the brain. The project is one of the largest investments in gene therapy research in Canadian history.

Genome Canada recently approved Dr. Ward's application to study the public communication of controversial science, thereby improving science journalism by exploring new models and strategies for genomic communication. The project will fund workshops on science journalism, the publication of research and will be the core of the new science journalism program. It will establish a graduate course in science communication and provide financial assistance to students who intend to become science journalists.

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UBC student quintet wins top prize in Coleman Chamber Ensemble competition

The Cascades Brass Quintet, from the UBC School of Music, is the winner of the Coleman-Saunderson Prize for Woodwinds and Brass Winds/Brass Prize of the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition held in Pasadena, CA. Awarded a $4,000 (US) prize, the group competed against 14 ensembles from Juilliard, Eastman, USC, U Houston and UCLA, placing first among 3 woodwind quintets, 2 sax quartets and another brass quintet.

The group includes Al Cannon and Malcolm Aiken, trumpets; Micajah Sturgess, French horn; François Lévesque, trombone and Daniel Pain, tuba. In March, the Cascades Brass Quintet placed second at the Vancouver Friends of Chamber Music Competition and was accepted into the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition in Indiana.

For more information: www.colemanchambermusic.org.

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Five awards of excellence recognize UBC Nursing

Five UBC School of Nursing faculty members were honoured with awards of excellence at the inaugural annual meeting and awards ceremony of the College of Registered Nurses of British Columbia.

Lynette Best, UBC adjunct professor and Chief of Nursing and Professional Practice with Providence Health Care, was recognized with an award of distinction for excellence in practice, education, administration and research. UBC Lecturer Kathy O’Flynn-Magee was honoured with an award of excellence in nursing education for mentorship and professional development of new clinical educators.

Associate Prof. Patricia Rodney was presented with an award of distinction in nursing for her national leadership related to nursing ethics. Assoc. Prof. Colleen Varcoe was given an award of excellence for international expertise and research in ethical health care practice and policy related to violence, inequity, and partner violence. Sandra Whytock, UBC adjunct professor and clinical nurse specialist in gerontology at Providence Health Care, received the award of excellence for her advocacy for elders and geriatric nursing practices.

For more information: www.crnbc.ca.

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Three undergraduate scholarship winners selected for study in Germany

The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has awarded three UBC undergraduate scholarships to Mark Chaiyakul, Kai Sheffield, and Lisa Young for study in Germany. As part of 62 undergraduate students chosen from 210 applicants across the US and Canada, the students were selected by a panel of experts to conduct either academic work, internship, or senior thesis research in Germany.

The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is a publicly funded independent organization of higher education institutions in Germany that provides support to 50,000 students and faculty for international research and study each year.

For more information: www.daad.org.

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UBC Chair co-authors APRU collaborative research paper award

The Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) announced the APRU Fellows Program collaborative research paper award winner through a peer review of experts. The winning paper is entitled "Indigi-nation: the politics of being/becoming indigenous in Malaysia, New Zealand, and Canada.” The three authors include UBC Chair in Korean Research Dr. Hyung Gu Lynn, as well as Tim Bunnell from National University of Singapore, and Ward Friesen from University of Auckland.

The cross-national and multidisciplinary collaborative efforts were based on the theme "New Directions in Asian Studies: Ethnicity and Nationalism before and after the Digital Age.” Formed in 1997, the APRU is a consortium of 36 leading research universities that foster education, research and enterprise, thereby contributing to economic, scientific and cultural advancement in the Pacific Rim.

For more information: www.apru.org.

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UBC to host 2006 learning conference

The fifth annual UBC Learning Conference is a forum for educators to interact and share ideas and approaches to teaching and learning with technology, held May 11-12, 2006 at UBC’s Forest Sciences Centre.

With the theme "Crossroads in Teaching: Reflection, Innovation, Technology, Learning," the conference will explore resources, challenges, and best practices related to e-portfolios, weblogs, curriculum theory, team-based learning techniques and web accessibility.

Keynote speakers include John Ittelson, Director of Interactive Design and Education Applications at California State University, and Richard Gale, Director for the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Higher Education Program. Registration fees are $100 ($50 for students), plus GST.

For information: kele.fleming@ubc.ca or visit www.elearning.ubc.ca.

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