Indian Initiative
SFU is the first Canadian university to sign an agreement to help India produce research pioneers and professionals in public health. The Public Health Foundation of India, funded with $50 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is partnering with universities worldwide to train future faculty for seven public health institutes. SFU faculty will develop collaborative research programs, and master’s of public health degree students will get practical training.
HIGH Society
Economics professor Arthur Robson is one of only 10 Canadians elected a Fellow of the Econometric Society. Robson is Canada Research Chair in Economic Theory and Evolution and is a widely published game theorist. Emeritus professor of economics Richard Lipsey is the only other sfu
professor in the 550-member society.
Business Anniversaries
The Faculty of Business Administration celebrates two milestones in 2008: the Executive mba program, the first in Canada, celebrates 40 years while the
faculty itself reaches 25 years.
BOLIVIA BOUND
SFU will offer university-based community
economic development training to Bolivians. The training will assist communities in developing local economies and enterprises that are equitable and sustainable.
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SUPPORTING SURREY
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| Dale Regehr, inside the stunning Dale B. Regehr Grand Hall, which serves as the main entrance and community hub for the campus. |
Young entrepreneur Dale Regehr, 28, donates
$1 million to scholarships and awards in SFU Surrey’s $2-million Close to Home fundraising campaign. Regehr is president and CEO of WestStone Properties, a $1-billion master-planned community beside the new campus in Surrey.
Report Card on Health
Receiving a health report card and follow-up
phone call after a checkup helps patients lower the risk of heart disease. Gerontology chair Andrew Wister and his team compared 611 people and found the follow-up makes a big difference because it makes patients more aware of their health. |
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Feeling Faint?
You might be if you’d
just returned from space. Kinesiologist Andrew Blaber is on a research team looking at how space flights affect human physiology and why astronauts often faint after their return to Earth.
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Heart Saver
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| Stephen Czerniej and
Bryan Churko, both
lifeguards and engineering students, demonstrate the heart rate monitor. |
A compact waterproof heart rate monitor developed by engineering students at SFU could help lifeguards quickly check the pulse of drowning victims. Current heart rate monitors are developed for use in dry environments and are often quite large.
Money Makers
SFU’s student-managed endowment fund garners an impressive average annual return of 13.2 percent – outperforming the university’s professionally managed endowment funds. The fund was established with a $5.7-million donation from the Lohn Foundation and enhanced by a $200,000 contribution from hsbc Canada. In just four years its value has doubled to $10 million, and it now represents five percent of the value of all sfu endowments.
| WOODWARD’S RISING
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| Chancellor emeritus Milton Wong (right)
and his family donate $3 million to help the School for the Contemporary Arts relocate as anchor tenants in the Woodward’s redevelopment project. Wong chairs the $30-million capital fundraising campaign.
Michael Audain, Polygon Homes chair and arts philanthropist, donates $2 million. sfu will name the building’s main exhibition space the Audain visual arts teaching gallery and establish the Audain visiting chair in visual arts.
The B.C. government gives $49.3 million to the new building. The 127,500-square-foot, five-storey facility will open in late 2009 and will feature performance theatres, galleries, a cinema and soundstage, dance and music studios, computer labs, and film-editing suites. |
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| Virtual Communities |
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| Go back in time to the inside of an ancient First Nations longhouse. |
| A collaborative project between the Sto:lo Nation and SFU’s Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, together with the university’s Learning and Instructional Development Centre, re-creates life in ancient longhouses and pithouse villages. A Journey into Time Immemorial and the earlier
A Journey to a New Land are designed for use in schools and were funded by the Virtual Museum of Canada Investment program. <www.sfu.museum/time> and <www.sfu.museum/journey> |
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Experiments consistently show people who suffer from serious pain often find more relief through playing video games than with drug-based treatments. Now Diane Gromala, founding director of SFU’s BioMedia lab, is trying to find out why. Her research could result in the development of successful, cost-effective alternatives to pain medication. |
| Restoring the Totems
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| Squamish Nation hereditary chief
Ian Campbell
leads the ceremony blessing the totems. |
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Five totem poles from SFU’s Naheeno Park are being restored and relocated on campus.
The poles were carved more than 30 years ago by the late Tshimsian artist Ray Wesley.
The restoration will be overseen by Jackie Timothy, a local carver based at SFU. |
| Architectural Honours |
SFU receives the Prix du XX siecle (20th century prize) for the Burnaby campus. The award celebrates the enduring excellence of nationally significant architecture. Two of the five prizes awarded went to the architectural team of Arthur Erickson and
Geoff Massey. In addition to sfu, Van-couver’s Smith House 2 was honoured. |
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| University
architect Lee Gavel holds award. |
| ONE TO WATCH |
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| Former Continuing Studies program
director Debbie Bell is one of eight
individuals CanWest News is telling us to watch this year. She is expanding the hippy (Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters) program to communities across Canada.
The program gives disadvantaged children an educational boost to prepare for kindergarten and beyond. |
| (l to r) Debbie Bell, Executive Director – HIPPY Canada, Bill Clinton, Miriam Chandia, Home Visitor – HIPPY Britannia, Robin Green, Coordinator – Aboriginal HIPPY Consortium. |
MORE HONOURS
UniverCity wins a prestigious North American award for sustainable planning. The award, presented by the American Planning Association, recognizes UniverCity’s commitment to innovative features, including the first community transit pass program in Canada.
| Taking a Charge! |
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| Kinesiologist Max Donelan (above) looks at his revolutionary wearable technology that generates electricity from simple walking. The device that looks like a knee brace can generate up to five watts of electricity and will revolutionize the way we charge portable
battery-powered devices. It will have significant medical, military, and consumer applications. |
Column Art by ... Photo India Initiative: Julie Ovenell-Carter /PAMR, photo Dale Regehr: Greg Ehlers/lidc, illustration (fridge): Bambi Edlund, photo in pool: Marianne Meadahl /PAMR, Photo of First Nation Long House: SFU/LIDC’s Media Design team, photo Milton Wong: Greg Ehlers /lidc, illustration (astronaut): Bambi Edlund, photo Totems and Lee Gavel: Marianne Meadahl /PAMR photo Bill Clinton: courtesy the Vancouver Board of Trade, Photo (Max Donelan: Greg Ehlers /lidc, illustration (Zapping Pain): Bambi Edlund <www.lepenq.com>.
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