September 2007
Sept. 5, 2007
The Small Cities CURA project at the Kamloops Museum
Sept. 15 2007 to Jan. 7 2008
KAMLOOPS--Local painter and teacher Melinda Spooner has spent much of
the summer talking with local residents about their special places, and
in return she has given each of them a painting depicting both the scene
and the private story shared.
Photographer Ernie Kroeger has been pursuing the idea of understanding
city spaces by linking photographs to walking. “I was inspired by
conceptual artist Stanley Brouwn,” says Kroeger. “Brouwn once
declared that all the shoe shops in Amsterdam comprised an exhibition of
his work. By good fortune, while thinking of a suitable response to this
work, I found a photograph of a shoe shop interior in the Kamloops
Museum collection. The photograph, circa 1920, was taken by little-known
Kamloops photographer John Scales. I liked the graphic symmetry of the
photograph and became intrigued when I noticed the reflection of the
photographer’s legs and tripod in the glass display case. What better
place, I thought, to begin a walk than in a shoe store?”
Sculptor and photographer Donald Lawrence has been focusing on the
mining camps of 19th-century Tranquille Creek, a place rich in history
and contemporary significance for many living in Kamloops. According to
Lawrence, the creek was the place to be for “miners who came down from
the Cariboo goldfields after the main rush had peaked, or who never made
it that far north in the first place; the Shuswap in their cottonwood
dug-out canoes, curious party-goers from the burgeoning settlement of
Kamloops to the east, itinerant photographers, and survey parties of the
Geological Survey of Canada.”
Works by these artists and others will be part of a new exhibition, a
special Small Cities CURA* project hosted by the
Kamloops Museum and
Archives along with the Fine Arts Department of Thompson Rivers
University. The project will take the form of an art installation
exploring the many scenes and dwelling places that give Kamloops its
character and identity. Five TRU faculty members will explore ideas of
home, neighbourhood and the activities that define our “places”
within the community, with reference to such specific questions as
“What is the future of culture within smaller cities?” “What
‘scenes’ or activities are specific to Kamloops?” and why?
“How is living in Kamloops perceived by a retiree, or by a recent
high school graduate, and how would they and others define quality of
life?”
The participating artists include Kroeger, Lawrence, and
Spooner along with sculptor Doug Buis and photographer Eileen Leier.
The museum has worked directly with TRU faculty by providing access to
the museum collection and assisting with the installations. The CURA
program was specifically designed to combine the intimate local
knowledge of community organizations and groups with the breadth and
depth of knowledge of the university community.
An opening reception and brief talk will take place at the Museum, 6pm,
Saturday, Sept. 15. All members of the community are invited to
attend.
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For further information, please contact:
Dennis Oomen, Curator, Kamloops Museum by phone at 250-828-3576
Melinda Spooner, University Curator and Coordinator for the
Artist-Researcher initiative, Thompson Rivers University by phone at
250-377-6150
For information regarding the Small Cities CURA, please contact the
Research Director Will Garrett-Petts by phone at 250-828-5248
*The Community-University Research Alliances, or CURA, is a program
operating under the aegis of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada. The Small Cities Cura program is designed to support
alliances between post-secondary institutions and community
organizations. The goal is to help the growth of new knowledge and
develop the tools and methods that can help meet the needs of
communities confronting unparalleled change and challenge.
Sept. 14, 2007
Many first learn an appreciation of the arts in school, a recent study forming part of the Thompson Rivers University-based inquiry into the quality of life in small cities shows.
The study, part of a five-year research initiative funded by a $1 million Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) grant, also found that while people most frequently think of painting and/or drawing when they hear the word ‘arts’ or the phrase ‘artistic activity,’ the most frequently mentioned “most important” arts-related activity in the total sample and in each community was music in some form, particularly listening to music and singing alone. Singing in a group, the researchers discovered, gave participants a relatively low level of satisfaction.
Based on a random selection of 2000 households in each of five British Columbia communities: Comox Valley, Kamloops, Nanaimo, Port Moody and Prince George, the study’s 10-page questionnaire investigated 66 distinct arts-related activities and examined the associations between respondents’ time invested in and satisfaction obtained from each kind of activity.
“We have some new and valuable things to say about the importance of arts-related activities,” said CURA research partner Alex C. Michalos, Chancellor of the University of Northern British Columbia and TRU honorary degree recipient, and co-investigator P. Maurine Kahlke of UNBC’s Institute for Social Research and Evaluation.
Their study, “Impact of Arts-Related Activities on the Perceived Quality of Life,” is one of 20 projects aimed at creating a small-cities quality of life index and is the first survey using specific research techniques in the context of a wide variety of information about arts-related activities and the perceived quality of life. Of the 10,000 total questionnaires distributed, a total of 1027 were returned. Nearly two-thirds of all respondents were female, with a mean age of 53 and a mean household income of $72,799. Fifty percent of the total sample reported that they were in excellent or very good health.
“It is probably best to regard the total and individual community samples as merely representative of some British Columbian residents who had some interest in the arts,” explained the researchers. Our findings regarding the comparative advantage of arts-related activities are mixed, complicated and modest at best.”
Nevertheless, “because no other study has considered as broad an array of questions concerning as broad an array of arts-related activities, with as large a sample, we have good reasons for taking our results very seriously,” they said.
Although we appreciate all arts-related activities as important expressions of humanity, this is not a work of advocacy and we have no more interest in boosting the arts with our research than Anaxagoras had in moving the planets with his astronomical investigations.”
In April and May 2007 a province-wide survey was undertaken to obtain a representative sample for the province, with results currently being calculated.
Michalos will present his findings at 6pm this Friday at TRU’s “Last Best West or Just Like the Rest? Interrogating Western Canadian Identities Conference in room 130 of the university’s Campus Activity Centre. The session will also be webcast via the CURA website in collaboration with BCcampus at: www.smallcities.ca
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Backgrounder on the study 
For more information, please contact Dr. W.F. Garrett-Petts (Research Director of the Small Cities CURA, TRU) at 250-828-5248 or petts@tru.ca or:
Dr. Alex C. Michalos (Director, Institute for Social Research and Evaluation, UNBC) at 250-962-8719 or michalos@unbc.ca.
Sept. 17, 2007
A leader in the Canadian tourism industry will be recognized with an honorary doctorate degree from Thompson Rivers University next month.
Peter R.B. Armstrong, founder, president and CEO of the Armstrong Group, the owner and operator of Rocky Mountaineer Vacations, will accept an honorary doctorate of laws degree at the university’s Fall Convocation ceremony to be held at its Kamloops campus at 3pm on Oct. 4.
“Peter Armstrong has been an innovator and leader in the Canadian Tourism industry,” said TRU President and Vice-Chancellor Roger Barnsley. “His Armstrong Group has been a significant economic and cultural contributor for Kamloops, and Thompson Rivers University will be very proud to have him as an alumnus."
“It's a great privilege to receive this honorary degree from TRU,” said Mr. Armstrong. “My company's long standing relationship with Kamloops is one that I value immensely and this award further cements my attachment and commitment to the city and its institutions”.
Building on the tourism experience he gained starting out as a 21-year-old doorman at the Hotel Vancouver, Mr. Armstrong founded Spotlight Tours, a precursor to becoming partner and president of Gray Line Vancouver. In 1990 he turned his attention to rail travel, assembling a team to bid on the fledgling Rocky Mountaineer, a two-day all daylight journey through Canada’s West and the Rocky Mountains.
Now in its eighteenth year of operations, Rocky Mountaineer Vacations has grown from the entrepreneurial dream of Mr. Armstrong to the successful company that has hosted nearly one million guests on North America’s largest privately owned passenger rail service, including bringing 80,000 visitors to Kamloops each season. The Armstrong Group also owns and operates the Thompson Hotel, Two River Junction Theatre in Kamloops and Gray Line West, a successful motor coach operation based in western Canada.
Rocky Mountaineer Vacations was honoured with a World Travel Award as the ”World’s Leading Travel Experience by Train” for the second consecutive year in 2006. Most recently, RMV ranked as one of the 50 Best Employers in Canada for 2007 by the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business magazine.
In addition to this recognition from TRU, Mr. Armstrong sits on the board of directors of many organizations in the tourism industry, as well as educational, private and public companies and charities. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the World Tourism and Travel Council, Chair of St. George’s School, a member of the Boards of Directors of the Vancouver Police Foundation and the CHILD Foundation and a Fellow of the Sauder Business School. He has been recognized as entrepreneur of the year several times by various organizations and received the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for contribution to Canadian communities. He was inducted into the Canadian Railway Hall of Fame in 2002 and named the 2007 Tourism Leader of the Year by Tourism BC.
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For more information, please contact the Office of the President at 371-5740
Sept. 18, 2007
KAMLOOPS – Thompson Rivers University (TRU) in Kamloops has won a third major contract for training related to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in China. The contract is with China Net Communications (CNC), the largest telecommunications company in China and the official telecommunications provider to the 2008 Summer Olympics.
TRU World, the international education division of the university, put forward the bid that will see TRU develop and deliver an eight-week intensive Media English and Media Terminology training program for three different groups of CNC site managers and high level company officials who will work closely with media agencies and television networks during the 2008 Summer Games in China.
In two previous training programs delivered by TRU over the past year, site managers and other officials of China Net Communications have been provided with English language and customer service and hospitality training specific to their upcoming roles with CNC in providing services and support to the world media next summer.
“I believe we have exceeded their expectations in the first two contracts, and because of that, we are honoured and delighted to have won this third opportunity to help them prepare for next summer” said Cyndi McLeod, Associate Vice-President of TRU World.
“I truly believe that the success of our training programs and the strong relationships we have with clients in China and elsewhere have elevated TRU into the upper echelons of this kind of work in Canada” add McLeod, who this week is negotiating new training opportunities in Chile, where TRU is currently providing language and western education methods training to 160 teachers in the municipality of Vigna del Mar.
Under the leadership of McLeod, TRU World has become a leader in many different dimensions of internationalization. Over and above the more than 2,000 students from 65 different countries who take courses and programs on the Kamloops campus every year, TRU also now offers fulltime degree programs to over 1,000 students in other countries, and is involved in contract training and international development work in some 30 countries and can now send its own Canadian students abroad to more than 300 different universities around the world through the TRU Study Abroad program.
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For more information please contact
Josh Keller, Director Communications, (250)828-5006 or by email:jkeller@tru.ca
Or, Cyndi McLeod, AVP TRU World, (250)851-5162 or by email:cmcleod@tru.ca
Sept. 24, 2007
TRU welcomes record-breaking number of students from around the world
KAMLOOPS – Thompson Rivers University has marked another milestone, breaking its own record, with a total of 1,033 international students from 65 different countries studying on the Kamloops campus this fall.
This represents an almost 10 per cent increase of over last fall when the previous highest record for international students was set, and an 8 per cent increase in the number of countries represented on the TRU campus.
While student numbers from China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea still lead the way, a European country has cracked the ‘Top 5’ for the first time, and the most significant new growth is coming from countries from Africa and the Middle East.
With 33 students, Germany has become first non-Asian country to rank in the top five of international student numbers at TRU, while Russia (31), Nigeria (30) and Saudi Arabia (23) are all new to the ‘TRU World Top 10’ list. The other two countries in the top ten include Hong Kong (32) and Indonesia (32).
In terms of diversity, there are 61 students from seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including the record 30 students from Nigeria and eleven students each from Kenya and Zimbabwe; 40 students from nine countries in North Africa and the Middle East; 27 students from the four countries in Scandinavia; and 20 students from seven countries in Central and South America, including Mexico.
“The level of service provided to students by staff in our division makes us unique in this country” said Cyndi McLeod, Associate Vice-President of TRU World, the international arm of the university that includes international student recruitment, international contract training and development, and international partnerships and accreditations.
“We recognize this as a major accomplishment in a very competitive environment, and the key to our success is the way in which we touch the lives of students from the first time we have contact with them, right through to their graduation from the university.”
TRU is also experiencing continued growth in other areas of activity under the umbrella of TRU World, including programs delivered offshore. Over 1,000 students are enrolled in degree programs in business at two different universities in China, and a new program in India has jumped from 30 students last year to over 140 students enrolled this fall.
New agreements are also under discussion in Chile, Singapore, Vietnam and Dubai, and record numbers of Canadian students are expected to be see the world and make an international experience an integral part of their education as they take advantage of over 300 different university ‘Study Abroad’ opportunities now available at TRU.
“Our continued growth on all fronts also has major economic implications for the local Kamloops economy, and is generating revenues that are vital for the university to keep seats open in existing programs and create new opportunities for Canadian students” said McLeod.
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For more information please contact :
Cyndi McLeod, AVP TRU World, (250)851-5162 or by email to:cmcleod@tru.ca
or
Josh Keller, Director Communications at 828-5008 or by email:jkeller@tru.ca