July 2007
July 19, 2007
Tech it Up! Two
KAMLOOPS-Teachers at all levels interested in finding new or better ways of teaching with technology have until July 31 to take advantage of the discount for early bird registration for this year’s Tech it Up! summer institute.
Aimed at giving teachers at all levels the opportunity to find out how they can enhance instruction with technology using curriculum tools and emerging technologies, the 2nd annual Tech it Up! summer institute will be held August 23 and 24 this year.
Hosted by TRU's Instructional Development and Research Group (IDRG) and @kool, the virtual school operated by School District 73 (SD 73), the institute features experienced educators and guest speakers from schools and universities across the province with tips on practical ways to use technology in courses, whether face-to-face, online or blended.
“The workshops are different from last year’s, so there won’t be any repetition for people who came to the first TechitUp! institute,” explained co-organizer Melissa Jakubec.
Although advanced techies will have a chance to build their skills and knowledge further, no prior experience with technology is necessary, said Jakubec.
“Beginners, or those who want to be beginners but don’t know how to get started, will find it easy to get the basics. Presenters will share practices they use in everyday teaching situations in a hands-on format without a lot of theory,” she added.
New this year is ‘Do you want a Second Life?’ presented by techno-whiz and CURA researcher Dan O’Reilly. The workshop on Second Life, a 3-D world that extends the concept of immersive environments beyond gaming, will be held over two days, and Jakubec warns that registration is limited for this double session, which is co-sponsored by TRU’s Small Cities CURA.
Also new this year is Blogging for Beginners, Web 2.0 tools, Flash media server, and a special presentation by the TRU Library on AskAway and Facebook.
Cost of the two-day summer institute, to be held at TRU, is $75 before July 31st and $90 after that date. The cost is $40 for those wishing to register for only one day. Fees include lunch and refreshments throughout the day. Participants may view a detailed program and register online or phone 250-250-852-6817 for more infor..
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For more information, email
Melissa Jakubec or phone 250-852-6257.
July 19, 2007
TRU professor appointed to provincial council
KAMLOOPS-Dr. Grant Larson, Dean of the School of Social Work and Human Service and TRU-OL tutor, has been appointed to the Network Planning and Advisory Committee (NetPAC) of the BC Mental Health and Addictions Research Network as the TRU representative.
"I feel quite honoured to be selected for this provincial council, and look forward to providing leadership and representation from TRU in promoting and approving key provincial initiatives for mental health and addictions research in BC," said Larson, who has been appointed for an initial two-year term.
NetPAC, governing body of the BC Mental Health and Addictions Research Network, is comprised of one representative from the four of BC's major universities, six regional health authorities, the Provincial Health Services Authority, two provincial ministries (Health and Child and Family Development), the Health Services and Policy Research Support Network (HSPRN) Mental Health Team, and voluntary agencies, and directs priority setting, policy oversight, and approval of key initiatives.
Specifically, NetPAC members are responsible for steering the Network on key initiatives and maintaining fiscal responsibility; supporting and promoting Network involvement and activities in their home organizations and geographic areas; assisting in identifying and obtaining resources to support the work of the Network, monitoring progress of initiatives and advising on adjustments, and overseeing ongoing planning and plan implementation.
"In essence this committee makes key recommendations about research on mental health and addictions in BC, an important committee which I hope will have the effect also of increasing TRU research in these areas," said Larson.
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For more information, please email
Grant Larson at 250-828-5242
For more information on NetPAC, go to:
www.mhanet.ca
July 19, 2007
Prestigious CIHR grant supports Vancouver mental health study
KAMLOOPS-Vancouver is one of three sites to be studied by a 15-member research team exploring the effects of the closure of BC's mental-health asylum, Riverview, in 2000.
Thompson Rivers University instructor and Open Learning tutor Diane Purvey has just received notice that she and 14 co-applicants from other universities in Canada, the US and the UK have garnered a grant of $24, 972 per year for a five-year period from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for a study entitled "Open Doors / Closed Ranks: Locating Mental Health after the Asylum."
A collaborative research project which will explore a broad set of questions central to improving understanding of the deinstitutionalization of mental health care in Canada, the study will involve a multi-regional, multi-disciplinary research team of scholars drawn from history, sociology, community psychology, criminology, human geography and nursing. It builds on a previous project funded by a $39,990 Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Research Development Initiatives Grant which enabled the group to generate website infrastructure, and to digitize and design preliminary content.
The study will afford insights into contemporary challenges faced by patients, social workers, nurses, psychiatrists, local residents and policy makers and will contribute to current debates about mental health service provision, providing an essential historical context for those currently working in the field.
"We plan to undertake three inter-related community studies which will focus on the experiences of deinstitutionalization in rural Saskatchewan, small-town Nova Scotia, and urban Vancouver," said Purvey, a faculty member in TRU's School of Education and a history tutor with the university's Open Learning division who is involved in the Vancouver study.
Her university's BC Interior locale may soon be involved as well, however, as Purvey recently submitted an application for funding to research a Kamloops focus.
BC, slower to implement deinstitutionalization than other Canadian provinces, introduced a new deinstitutionalization policy directive in the 1990s, and the 1998 BC Mental Health Plan called for the devolution of resources from the Riverview asylum to regional health authorities. Since 2000, approximately 600 of Riverview's remaining occupants were relocated to cities and towns throughout BC, with continuing community effects.
According to the Correctional Service of Canada, the number of mentally ill offenders in the federal prison system has more than doubled in the last 10 years, and it is believed that between one in five and one in eight prisoners suffers from a mental illness, prompting Penny Bartlett of the Canadian Mental Health Association to state in 2005 that "prisons have become warehouses for the mentally ill due to funding cuts and closures in community psychiatric Facilities."
The Vancouver study, involving nine of the researchers, will explore pathways from the asylum which took patients, professionals and policy debates into downtown Vancouver and beyond to other urban centres in the Greater Vancouver area. The group is particularly interested in investigating how new and emerging structures and policies served to replicate facets of the asylum through professional surveillance, the use of other institutions, including hospitals, group homes and shelters, and policy directives which acted to police the behaviour of psychiatric survivor/consumers.
The group hopes to host an international conference on the history of deinstitutionalization in the twentieth century in the fall of 2011, to publish the results of that conference, and to develop teaching modules based on project research findings for both secondary and post-secondary students.
This fall, team leaders will meet in Edmonton to coordinate research strategies for the project's first phase.
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For more information, please email
Diane Purvey at 250-371-5526 or by email.
July 23, 2007
TRU names new Director for the Williams Lake Campus
Kamloops-Thompson Rivers University is pleased to announce the appointment of Gerry Desrochers as the Williams Lake Campus Director, effective Aug. 1.
The new Campus Director position results from a revised administrative structure that refocuses the role of the senior administrative officer of the Williams Lake campus to the general administration of the facilities, financial resources and support services of that campus, and on the implementation of plans for strategic growth. This position will report jointly to the Vice-President Administration & Finance and to the Provost & Vice-President Academic, and will work closely with TRU Deans and Directors to direct the strategic development of the Williams Lake campus. This administrative structure better recognizes the authority and responsibility of the Deans of the academic divisions of TRU for their academic programs and academic staff, regardless of the site of delivery of the programs, and still provides for overall integration and coordination of the academic activities, and the support required to deliver them.
Desrochers brings a broad range of leadership and managerial expertise and experience to his new position. He is a registered Professional Engineer and holds a B.A.Sc. Mechanical Engineering from UBC. He also has Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning Certification - Residential Systems Design and Commercial Systems Design from BCIT. He has been employed with Thompson Rivers University since 2003 in a variety of roles including teaching, co-operative education, employer liaison, international work and was instrumental in the successful launch of the new Bachelor of Technology - Trades & Technology Leadership degree program. He is currently Chair of the Management Information System Committee for COOP Career Educational Development - computer development project.
Prior to joining TRU, Desrochers had experience in leadership positions as a commissioned officer in the Canadian Armed forces, as a project manager and project design/engineer in aerospace manufacturing, and as a superintendent at the Weyerhaeuser sawmill in Kamloops.
"I'm very pleased to be given the opportunity to work with the community," Desrochers said. "I look forward to meeting all the faculty and staff on a one-to-one basis to better understand the challenges and opportunities in Williams Lake."
These meetings will take place as soon as Derochers returns from a trip to China where, on behalf of the School of Trades & Technology, TRU World, and the School of Business, he will be promoting the TRU Bachelor of Technology degree program. "A top priority for me upon my arrival in Williams Lake will be the formation of a campus advisory council, which will be comprised of representatives from faculty, staff, Chairs and Deans."
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For more information contact:
Cliff Neufeld
VP Administration & Finance TRU
250.828.5011 or by email,
cneufeld@tru.caGerry Desrochers
Director TRU Williams Lake
250.828.5106 or by email,
gdesrochers@tru.ca
July 23, 2007
Feds okay $250,000 for rural trades training programs
KAMLOOPS- Thompson Rivers University (TRU) has received $250,000 funding from Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD) to support the partnership initiative with School District #73 to deliver trades training to rural and Aboriginal communities in the Interior of British Columbia.
The contribution, being delivered through the federal government’s Community Economic Diversification Initiative, will support a state-of-the-art mobile training unit. Funding for the project is contingent upon confirmation of funding from other resources.
The Community Economic Diversification Initiative is a component of the federal Mountain Pine Beetle Program that provides a total of $36.6 million to support community capacity building and projects that offer innovative opportunities for economic growth, job creation and future sustainability of communities threatened by the beetle.
“Canada’s New Government is getting things done for the people of British Columbia,” said the Honourable Rona Ambrose, President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of Western Economic Diversification. “Thanks to our investment, the Mobile Training Unit will be capable of delivering specialized trades training to rural and Aboriginal communities in the region. This is another example of our commitment to working with partners to improve opportunities that will deliver real results for Aboriginal people ”
“TRU appreciates its partnership with School District #73 and the Government of Canada’s support of this initiative” said TRU President Roger Barnsley.
He added, “This project demonstrates a highly innovative approach to meeting regional needs and ensuring accessibility to education. We look forward to future discussions with other levels of government and with local industry to further develop this rural trades training initiative.”
The mobile training unit, 53 ft trailer, which expands to a 1000 square foot training lab, will initially be used to address welding, millwright and electrical trade shortages. Initial program offerings are expected to be scheduled as 6-month programs involving high school students and the general public, combined with 6-10 week apprenticeship programs.
“High waitlists for welding programs have prompted the university and school district to offer a Welding Level C program as an initial Foundation program, and consultation with industry indicates an immediate regional need for Millwright Level 1 and 2 apprenticeship programs as well,” said TRU Dean of Trades and Technology Ralph Finch.
“TRU and the School District have been working on this initiative for two years,” Terry Sullivan, SD73 Superintendent said. “This funding will equip our mobile trades training unit and get trades education delivered to our rural secondary schools where it is vital for the sustainability of rural education. Also, it will provide greater incentives for our students to stay in school.”
The new mobile training facility will be available to assist in the retraining of individuals who have lost their employment due to current and future debilitating economic and labour market dislocation as a result of the pine beetle infestation. Potentially, over the next eight years 50,000 workers may be affected.
TRU and SD #73 have enjoyed, for many years, a positive and productive relationship in meeting the needs of learners in the interior of British Columbia. The mobile training initiative joins other innovative projects that have made TRU and S.D.#73 education leaders in the Province.
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For more information please contact:
Ralph FinchTRU Dean of Trades and Technology
250.828.5125
Terry Sullivan
SD73 Superintendent
250.374.0679
July 24, 2007
Nearly 500 international trainees in TRU programs this summer
More than 200 international trainees are coming to Kamloops this summer for specialized training programs at Thompson Rivers University (TRU), and nearly 300 more are studying in customized TRU programs in China and Chile through July and August.
For the past six years, TRU has been a leading training centre for teachers from China, and this summer 120 visiting teachers will be on campus in July and August for advanced English language studies and teacher training.
TRU's popular summer study tours, combining English language studies with social and recreational activities, have operated for 17 years and this summer will welcome 90 participants from Kyoto Bunkyo Junior College, NOVA Academy, and Osaka Kun-Ei High School in Japan, and the Induk Institute of Technology in Korea.
TRU World Associate Vice-President Cyndi McLeod notes that, "Specialized training for international trainees has long been a focus at TRU, and we've had excellent numbers attending in previous years as well. But every year, we see more diversity in the countries represented by international trainees. It's really exciting to have this range of cultures and variety of programs on campus this summer."
In addition to the programs offered here in Kamloops, TRU remains very active in its customized training programs overseas. There are nearly 300 trainees this summer alone in teacher training programs in Viña del Mar, Chile, respiratory therapy training at the Hunan People's Provincial Hospital in Changsha, China, and, in preparation for the Beijing 2008 Olympics, English language and customer service programs in Beijing, China. This summer's program marks the second phase of this exciting project. The program began in fall 2006, and continues to provide intensive training for 100 managers from China Net Communications Corporation (CNC). CNC is the largest telecom company in China and the official telecommunications provider for the 2008 Olympic Games.
"TRU is continuing to build its reputation for delivering specialized, relevant training to international clients, whether on campus or overseas, and it's a competitive advantage we're very proud of," says McLeod.
Canada's most comprehensive university, TRU's international projects and linkages currently extend to more than 45 countries with students from more than 50 nations enrolled at the main campus in Kamloops. TRU World is the university's international education, training, and development division. Please see
www.truworld.ca for more.
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For more information contact:
Cyndi McLeod
Associate Vice-President, TRU World
Thompson Rivers University
Tel: 1-250-828-5191
Email:
cmcleod@tru.ca