August 26, 2010
University of Saskatchewan and St. Thomas More College reach agreement on Ogle Hall
Posted August 26, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – August 26, 2010
2010-08-09-STM
The provincial government has approved an agreement between St. Thomas More College (STM) and the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) that outlines the university’s purchase of Ogle Hall.
The transfer of ownership from STM to the university will occur approximately June 30, 2011. The building, located on Seminary Crescent on the U of S campus, currently serves as a residence for about 50 students from both STM and the U of S.
“Ogle Hall has been an important part of campus life and the Catholic community for more than 40 years, as a seminary up to 1996 and subsequently as a student residence,” said STM President Fr. George Smith, CSB. “The decision to sell was not an easy one, but we are grateful for the negotiations with the U of S that have led to this mutually beneficial agreement.”
The U of S purchased the building for $950,000 as part of the 2010-11 operating budget. STM College will use the proceeds from the sale to develop its Catholic studies program. The university will evaluate the options available for the building’s use when the transfer of ownership takes place.
“Ogle Hall will continue to operate as a residence during the 2010-11 academic year, after which students will have new options for on-campus housing,” said Richard Florizone, U of S vice-president finance and resources. “The new undergraduate student residence currently under construction is scheduled for completion, opening up additional spaces for students to live on campus.”
Built in 1966 and owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon, the building originally contained facilities for 32 seminarians, including a chapel. It was later converted into a student residence operated by STM in 1996 and renamed Ogle Hall in honour of the former rector and member of Parliament, Father Bob Ogle, shortly after his death in 1998.
Visit www.stmcollege.ca/oglehall for more information.
-30-
For more information, contact:
Luke Muller, Communications
St. Thomas More College
University of Saskatchewan
Tel: (306) 966-8918 Email: lmuller@stmcollege.ca
Teri Rosenfellt
University Communications
University of Saskatchewan
Tel: (306) 966-5659 Email: teri.rosenfelt@usask.ca
Two U of S Scientists Elected to Royal Society of Canada
Posted August 26, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Aug. 26, 2010
2010-08-08-OTHER
Two renowned University of Saskatchewan scientists have been elected to the Royal Society of Canada (RSC), the senior national body of distinguished Canadian scholars, artists and scientists.
John Giesy
Prof. John Giesy, Canada Research Chair in Environmental Toxicology, and Dr. James Dosman, a senior faculty member in the department of medicine, will be inducted into the RSC during a ceremony at the society’s annual general meeting in Ottawa in November. Members of the RSC are selected by their peers for outstanding contributions in their fields.
“The U of S is very proud that two exceptionally accomplished researchers who have made tremendous contributions to their respective fields have been recognized with this prestigious honour,” said U of S President Peter MacKinnon.
Prof. Giesy is one of the world’s most renowned environmental toxicologists and is the second-most cited author internationally in the combined fields of ecology and environmental science. His team has recently developed a screening test for hormone disruptors in the environment, a test that has been approved for use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and is being adopted as a world-wide standard.
In 2009, Giesy, a professor of veterinary biomedical sciences, was named Einstein Professor by the Chinese Academy of Science and most recently was appointed Distinguished Honorary Professor at Saudi Arabia’s King Saud University.
His citation reads, in part: “John P. Giesy is among the world’s most influential environmental toxicologists whose work in ecological risk assessment, including aquatic, wildlife and avian toxicology, has had global impact. His discoveries include the cause of deformities and lethality in birds of the Great Lakes, photo-enhanced toxicity and the presence of perfluorinated chemicals in the environment, an important new class of contaminants widely used in common commercial products…”
Dosman has been a leader in agricultural medicine, dedicating his career to advancing the health of rural populations. He founded the U of S Centre for Agricultural Medicine—now known as the Canadian Centre for Health and Safety in Agriculture. A member of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit, he was named among the “One Hundred Most Influential Graduates” on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the College of Arts and Science.
His citation reads, in part: “Dr. James Dosman is considered the Father of Agricultural Medicine in Canada, pioneering this critical field. Through his scientific research and commitment to knowledge translation, he has improved the standard of care for agricultural workers and rural populations in Canada and around the world ... An outstanding physician scientist, he has been instrumental in establishing numerous community outreach organizations…”
The announcement brings to 29 the number of current and former U of S faculty who have been elected to the RSC since 1950. A complete list of RSC Fellows from the U of S is available at: www.usask.ca/research/about/nobel.php#royal
After induction into the RSC, Fellows are permitted to use the post-nominal letters FRSC (Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada).
The RSC has a current membership of nearly 2,000 Fellows—men and women who are selected by their peers for outstanding contributions to the natural and social sciences, in the arts and in the humanities. A list of Fellows elected this year will be available in early September at: www.rsc-src.ca
-30-
For more information or to obtain photos, please contact:
Kathryn Warden
Director, Research Communications
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-2506
Dr. James Dosman
Canadian Centre for Health and Safety in Agriculture
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-1475
www.cchsa-ccssma.usask.ca/people/j_dosman.php
John Giesy
Western College of Veterinary Medicine
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-2096
www.usask.ca/toxicology/jgiesy/
August 24, 2010
U of S Researchers help the Mi'kmaq recover their humanities
Posted August 24, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – August 24, 2010
2010-08-07-ED
A team of scholars at the University of Saskatchewan is embarking on a three-year project to investigate and record the teachings, spirituality, oral traditions, arts and other aspects of the humanities of the Mi'kmaq of Atlantic Canada.
Led by Marie Battiste, academic director of the U of S Aboriginal Education Research Centre in the College of Education, the interdisciplinary project has been awarded $249,858 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Professor Battiste speaks the Mi'kmaw language and maintains strong ties to her Mi'kmaw community, the Potlo’tek First Nation of Cape Breton. She says this project will allow the Mi’kmaq to share their humanities in their own words and experiences, rather than have their history told through Western and European perspectives as has been the case to date.
“The European interpretation has been the source of diminishment for indigenous peoples by virtue of the fact it creates itself as the norm and everybody else as subordinate to the norm,” says Battiste. “Around the world, indigenous people are articulating their own humanities. It’s part of a decolonizing movement known as the indigenous renaissance.”
Research will begin this summer in a series of structured dialogues with the Mi'kmaw community of elders, teachers, scholars, and leaders.
“The goal is to shift educational and public discourses about the Mi'kmaq from deficiency to accomplishment, from misunderstanding to respect, from exasperation to pride, and from division to co-operation,” says Battiste.
Battiste is one of Canada's most influential researchers in the field of indigenous and First Nations education, and a technical expert to the United Nations on issues surrounding the education of indigenous peoples. She was honored in 2004 with the U of S Distinguished Researcher Award and in 2008 with the National Aboriginal Achievement Award from the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation.
-30-
For more information, contact:
Marie Battiste
College of Education
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 222-3071
marie.battiste@usask.ca
Mark Ferguson
University Communications
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-1851
m.ferguson@usask.ca
August 18, 2010
U of S part of international collaboration to change learning experience
Posted August 18, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – August 18, 2010
2010-08-04-OTHER
The University of Saskatchewan—as part of an international team of universities—has developed Matterhorn, an open-source technology that enables classroom lectures to be recorded and made available online.
The project, led by the University of California Berkeley, the U of S, ETH Zürich and the University of Osnabrück, is a result of a two-year planning and development effort between 13 North American and European partner institutions.
“The great thing about Matterhorn is that it addresses the increasing demand for education to become more accessible,” said Christopher Brooks, computer science PhD student and U of S technical lead on this project. “Anywhere, anytime, lecture-capture technology focuses on the learner’s requirements, whether it’s a student who can’t attend class on a certain day, someone in a remote community or a life-long learner.”
Matterhorn is also accessible to any academic institution. “A number of commercial solutions are being offered to universities, many with high price tags. Matterhorn is a free open-source solution designed by academic institutions for academic institutions,” said Brooks. “The software is free and also offers specifications for low cost, low energy, high quality lecture-capturing hardware—microphones and cameras for audio and visual, and equipment to capture materials displayed by data projectors—for classroom installation.”
Brooks points out that scalability is another key benefit of Matterhorn, meaning any number of instructors at a university can use the software as long as their lecture takes place in a classroom outfitted for lecture capturing.
“Starting this fall, five classrooms offering 15 courses will be piloting the Matterhorn technology at the U of S,” said Jim Greer, University Learning Centre director. Greer hopes—based on student demand and Matterhorn’s lower cost—to see that number grow to about 100 courses in three years.
“Matterhorn focuses on the learner and the student experience,” said Brooks. “More than 80 per cent of U of S students polled said they preferred to enrol in courses with lecture capture capabilities, while 76 per cent said they would use this system to review lectures before finals. Despite earlier concerns that class attendance will suffer, studies indicate that attendance is unaffected by this technology.”
Matterhorn was funded through contributions of the partner institutions and grants from the Andrew W. Mellon and William and Flora Hewlett foundations totalling more than $3 million.
-30-
For more information, contact:
Kris Foster, University Communications
University of Saskatchewan
Tel: (306) 966-1806
Email: kris.foster@usask.ca
August 05, 2010
Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School welcomes three visiting scholars
Posted August 05, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – August 5, 2010
2010-08-01-JSGS
The Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy (JSGS) welcomes three visiting scholars in the 2010-11 academic year – two Diefenbaker Policy Fellows and one Fulbright Scholar. All will be in residence at the school’s University of Saskatchewan (U of S) campus and will deliver public lectures.
Bruce Barnes, an associate professor at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, will join JSGS as the Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in North American Studies for four months beginning in January 2011. Barnes, with a Master of Law degree from Columbia University, is an expert in Eastern and Southeastern Asian and Pacific Island cultures, restorative justice and conflict resolution methods. His research project will focus broadly on assembling information and documentation of research, practice and academic program information for the field of conflict resolution, with emphasis on the universities of Western Canada and the Northwest U.S. Barnes believes that North America has been a trailblazer and prime mover in the development of conflict resolution, but thinks much work remains to be done to strengthen conflict resolution capacity at local, regional and global levels.
Jeremy de Beer joined JSGS on July 1 for a six-month term as Diefenbaker Policy Fellow. De Beer is an associate professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa. An alumnus of the U of S College of Law, he later continued his legal education at the University of Oxford. De Beer’s research is focused on intellectual property in high technology sectors, from internet communications to life sciences. During his fellowship, de Beer will continue to work on his book manuscript entitled How Courts Control Our Crops, which argues that the government’s judicial branch is making a considerable, but largely unappreciated, impact on public policy governing agricultural biotechnologies.
Jeremy Morgan comes to JSGS starting Jan. 1, 2011 after a long tenure as chief executive officer of the Saskatchewan Arts Board. Morgan also served as the CEO of Wanuskewin Heritage Park, and was previously the general manager of the Saskatchewan Council of Cultural Organizations. He holds a Master of Arts degree from Dalhousie University. During his six-month term as Diefenbaker Policy Fellow, Morgan will investigate the development of policy for indigenous arts and culture and the implications of such policy for public support. Morgan will consider the relevance and relationships of various issues to indigenous arts and culture policy, including treaty rights and jurisdictional issues, traditional ownership and copyright, and the duty to consult.
The Diefenbaker Policy Fellowship was created by JSGS in honour of The Right Honourable John G. Diefenbaker, and is awarded to scholars whose research relates broadly to the school’s mandate of furthering the study of public policy and public administration in Canada. The Fulbright Scholarship program is an international educational exchange program, funded by the U.S. government, with the intent of developing an understanding between the people of the U.S. and other countries. To date, the program has supported nearly 300,000 Fulbright Scholars.
-30-
For further information, please contact:
Joanne Paulson, Research Communications Officer
Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
University of Saskatchewan
Tel: (306) 966-8393
Email: joanne.paulson@usask.ca
