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UBC Student Development Award winners announced

The Office of the Vice-President of Students recognizes exceptional contributions or significant improvements to the student experience and learning environment at UBC through the annual Student Development Awards.

The 2009/10 winners are:
Margaret Fulton Award (for an individual)
Nancy Gallini, Dean of Arts
Janet Sinclair Walker, Student Development Officer, Faculty of Science
Robert Winson, Sauder B. Comm

Helen McCrae Award: (for an AMS, GSS or UBC Student Services)
UBC Arts Co-op Students’ Association

Alfred Scow Award (for an undergraduate program or department)
Dept. of Psychology

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UBC researcher shortlisted for top conservation award

Assoc. Prof. Amanda Vincent of UBC’s Fisheries Centre and co-founder of Project Seahorse, is a finalist for the $100,000 Indianapolis Prize — a top international animal conservation award – for her pioneering international work in the conservation of sea horses.

Vincent was the first person to study seahorses underwater, document their extensive commercial trade, and initiate a seahorse conservation project.

“Amanda is a real pioneer and an innovator. Her dedication has helped ensure that marine fishes are now considered wildlife as well as important resources, and seahorses have become a notable flagship for marine conservation,” said Heather Koldewey, curator of aquarium projects at the Zoological Society of London.

Vincent holds the Canada Research Chair in Marine Conservation at UBC.  She mobilized a wide array of partners and with them made active gains in seahorse and marine conservation, from initiating protected areas and developing alliances of impoverished fishers to regulating international trade in seahorses. Her work has encompassed countless hours of underwater and trade research, intense consultation with communities and consumers, and dialogue with all levels of government.

The winner of the 2010 Indianapolis Prize receives $100,000, along with the Lilly Medal and will be
awarded at the Indianapolis Prize Gala on Sept. 25.

For more information, visit http://seahorse.fisheries.ubc.ca/News/releases.html.

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UBC members nominated for YWCA Women of Distinction Awards

UBC faculty and alumni are among the 67 nominees for the 2010 YWCA Women of Distinction Awards.  UBC was also nominated for the Innovative Workplace Award.
 
Arts, Culture and Design Award
Prof. Rena Sharon, School of Music; Artistic Director, Vancouver International Song Institute; Artistic Co-Director, Young Artist Experience    

Education, Training and Development Award
Assoc. Prof. Mona Berciu, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy     
Assoc. Dean and Prof. Anne Condon, Dept. of Computer Science

Health and Active Living Award
Pro. Janice Eng – Dept. of Physical Therapy          

Young Women of Distinction Award
Andrea Morgan: former UBC student in Global Resource Systems program in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems.  She is nominated for her work as an advocate of the Save UBC Farm Campaign.
 
Nominated UBC alumni include: Deb Hewson, BA’81, Barb Hislop, BHE’76, Dip.Marketing and Sales Management’83, Kathy Leavens, BSc’81, MBA’83, Lianna Mah, BASc’86, MEng’87, Michelle Pockey, LLB’94, Lorna Bennett, Bed’74, Med’79, Iona Whishaw, MFA’90, Janice Eng, BSR’ 85, Judy Graves, Honorary Degree ’09, Shirley Chan, Honorary Degree ’99, and Micheal Vonn, BA’85, LLB’ 03.
 
For a complete list of nominees, visit http://www.ywcavan.org/content/2010_Nominees/1190

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Electrical and computer engineering profs receive NSERC Discovery Supplement

Electrical and computer engineering professors Juri Jatskevich, Lutz Lampe and Rob Rohling were  awarded new Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Accelerator Supplements valued at $40,000each.

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Materials engineering grad student receives NSERC Vanier award

Materials engineering graduate student Ehsan Mohammadi Zahrani has been awarded one of the eight NSERC Vanier CGS awards. He was ranked first out of the 16 UBC applications sent to NSERC. Zahrani studies the electrochemical behavior and corrosion properties of new biomaterials for hard tissue human body implants and drug delivery application under the supervision of Prof. Akram Alfantazi.

For more information, visit http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Media-Media/NewsRelease-CommuniqueDePresse_eng.asp?ID=190

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Pharmaceutical science faculty honoured for best paper

Rosemin Kassam and Mona Kwong of UBC’s Pharmaceutical Sciences, will be awarded the 2010 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Rufus A. Lyman Award for best paper published in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education.  Kassam and Kwong authored the winning paper entitled An Enhanced Community Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience Model to Improve Patient Care.

Kassam is an associate professor in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Kwong is a coordinator for the Structured Practice Education Program, lecturer and research associate in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

The award and a $5,000 stipend will be presented at the 2010 AACP Annual Meeting and Seminars closing banquet on July 13 at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel and Towers.

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Two UBC teams place in New Ventures World Competition

Two UBC entrepreneur teams comprised of engineering and commerce students placed in the New Ventures World Competition held in Lincoln, Nebraska, April 9-10. Omniwrite received third place and a $1,000 prize; Aegis received Honourable Mention and a $500 prize. Two additional teams—H2knOw and Aeos Biomedical—competed in the international competition. All teams were developed through partnerships formed in the Applied Science 486/New Venture Design course.

Congratulations to the students on the teams: Jine Jine Li, Andy Tsai, Ivan Bezhyn, Annabelle Gerber and Melissa Mills; Winnie Lai, Edwin Jaury, Christopher Chan, Scott Schaffter and Peter Stein; Ivan Tang and Megan Franklin; Patricia Backlund, Colin O’Neill, Nicholas Seto, Wylie Spencer, Emi Yamada and master’s student John Holt.

For more info visit: www.engineering.ubc.ca

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Irving K. Barber BC History Digitization Program: 2010 recipients announced

A handful of First Nations projects and the first out-of-province initiative are among the successful recipients of the 2010/11 BC History Digitization Program (BCHDP) awards.  Launched in 2006, the digitization program is an initiative of UBC’s Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. It provides matching funds that help libraries, archives, museums and other organizations digitize unique historical items, including images, print and sound materials.

This year marked the first out-of-province grant, made to the United Church of Canada, which is headquartered in Toronto. It is one of three approved projects involving records relating to First Nations groups in BC.  The project will result in the digitization of visual and documentary records relating to Methodist and United Church missions in B.C.

In addition, grant funding has been awarded to eleven photographic digitization projects around the province as well as five applications that featured the digitization of local newspapers.

The Learning Centre will provide nearly $200,000 for 25 projects in 2010/11. BCHDP funding has totalled more than $650,000 for 76 projects throughout B.C.

For a complete list of grant recipients and project descriptions, visit www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca/ps/BCDigitInfo.html.

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UBC Pediatrics and CIHR host forum and poster competition

Dr. Bob Armstrong, Head of UBC Dept. of Pediatrics, together with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health (IHDCYH), will host a panel discussion entitled Scientific Forum on Global Health

A poster-making competition will also be held where trainees (masters and doctoral students, and postdoctoral fellows) and clinical residents/fellows studying maternal, reproductive, and child health are invited to present their work.

The competition will be divided into four categories: master students, doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, and clinical residents/fellows. Cash awards will be given to the best poster(s) in each category.  A pre-selection process will be held as space is limited to 40. Priority will be given to trainees/residents and fellows working on CIHR-funded research.

Interested candidates must submit the title of their poster and a brief summary (maximum 500 words) to IHDCYH-IDSEA@cihr-irsc.gc.ca no later than April 23. Selected candidates will be notified by April 28.

Date:  May 4
Time:  4:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Place:  Chan Centre for Family Health Education at the Child and Family Research Institute
             950 West 28th Ave., Vancouver
Info:  http://www.cfri.ca/documents/cihr-ihdcyhmay2010.pdf

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Leave for Change volunteers share their stories

UBC staff members who volunteered to the Leave for Change program last year will share their stories during Celebrate National Volunteer Week.

Speakers will include:
• Erin Creak, Communications Manager for MedIT – volunteered as a Marketing advisor in Malawi.
• Erin Cusack, Advisor for Student Financial Assistance and Awards – volunteered as a Career and Social Counseling advisor in Ghana.
• Nancy Vered, Administrative Director for the Dept. of Chemistry – volunteered as a Human Resources/Financial Curriculum advisor in Vietnam.

Date:  April 20
Time:  12 – 1 p.m.
Place:  Brock Hall, Centre for Student Involvement (CSI) – First Floor, 1874 East Mall
Info:  RSVP to communications@hr.ubc.ca by noon April 19

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UBC Film Production program celebrates 40 years with "The Big Picture"

The UBC Film Production Program will celebrate its 40th anniversary this May. To commemorate, a campaign entitled The Big Picture has been initiated by the UBC Film Production Alumni Association, the UBC Film Production Program and UBC Alumni Affairs.

The Big Picture campaign will include a gala celebration, a public film screening series held in partnership with the Pacific Cinémathèque, a documentary on the history of the program, and the launch of a new scholarship fund for undergraduate students.

The gala will bring together more than 300 UBC Film Production graduates, current students, industry friends, staff and faculty, and will feature live and DJ music, screenings of past and current student films and other memorabilia behind the UBC Film Production story.

The preliminary version of the documentary film will be screened at the gala where additional filming will also take place.  All proceeds from gala ticket sales will go towards the new Film Production Scholarship. 

 Date: May 8
 Time: 7 p.m. – 2 a.m.
 Place: Theatre-Film Production Building, 6358 University Blvd
 Info: Tickets $25, http://www.ubcfilmalumni.org/

The public film screening series co-sponsored by the Pacific Cinémathèque will feature seven historically significant UBC Films curated by film historian and critic David Spaner.  The filmmakers will be in attendance to discuss their work and achievements. 

 Date: May 5 – 7
 Time: 7 p.m.
 Place: Pacific Cinematheque, 1130 Howe Street  
 Info: Tickets available at www.cinematheque.bc.ca

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