People
SFU PEOPLE IN THE NEWS - November 29, 2010
November 29, 2010
NEW ENVIRONMENTAL SCHOOL
After almost three years in the making, a new environmental school has been approved in Maple Ridge. The school will feature split classes of students from kindergarten to Grade 7, taking part in hands-on, project-based classes outdoors, reported the Maple Ridge News. SFU researchers have funding for five years to train teacher and develop the school’s curriculum.
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/TbQfoG
FORENSIC ENTOMOLOGY IS COOL
Forensic scientists are now considered cool thanks to TV shows like CSI. SFU criminologist Gail Anderson is quoted in a Postmedia News story about the upcoming Canadian Society of Forensic Science conference.
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/YFsvxo
MUNICIPAL FUNDING MODEL BROKEN
SFU public policy professor Doug McArthur co-authored a ThinkCity report that said municipalities have to find a new way to generate revenue instead of relying on property taxes and user fees. According to their opinion piece published in The Vancouver Sun, shifting the tax burdern from businesses to residents is not sustainable.
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/Ztqcwt
SPY GAMES
Vancouver Sun international affairs columnist Jonathan Manthorpe reviewed Castles Made of Sand, a new book by SFU international security expert Andre Gerolymatos. The book “looks at the fumbling and often counter-productive efforts by Britain's intelligence agencies and Washington's CIA to manipulate events in the Middle East,” according to the newspaper.
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/SCkOYI
OPENING DOORS TO THE NEW WORLD
Two SFU students were profiled by the Burnaby NOW. Alain Ndayishimiye and Delphine Umutoni are studying on Burnaby Mountain through the World University Service of Canada’s student refugee program.
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/yNysHQ
EXTRA EXTRA
A new performance called Extra Extra starts this Wednesday and it’s based on the huge dichotomy in current media. According to The Province, it is the latest dance piece from Vancouver choreographer SFU Contemporary Arts instructor Judith Garay.
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/YsGbyV
MEDDLING WITH GENES
Randy Shore, who writes The Green Man blog for The Vancouver Sun, spoke with SFU communication professor emerita Pat Howard about genetically engineered food. Shore asks the question: Are we playing with fire?
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/liofOp
PENSION ABYSS
According to a Globe and Mail survey of more than 20 Canadian universities, there is a “combined pension plan solvency deficit of at least $2.59 billion, and since some schools last crunched their numbers before 2008, that figure could still grow.” SFU shows a 15.9 per cent loss in 2008, with an estimated solvency deficit of $21.7 million.
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/RdthKA
HELPING IN NEPAL
SFU grad Jeanna Hamlett was profiled by her hometown newspaper the Oelwein Daily Register (Iowa) for her work with a Nepal orphanage. She had just returned from a six-week trip with the Volunteer Alliance program. Hamlett participated in the program because she “wanted to experience life in a different culture before beginning studies in a graduate program in physical therapy.”
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/VXzYIB
ALSO IN THE NEWS
In an editorial, The Calgary Herald cited SFU public policy professor Jon Kesselman’s assertion that the Canada Pension Plan needs a major boost.
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/qjaJqQ
Through the C.D. Howe Institute, SFU environmental economics professor Mark Jaccard released a study this week explaining how Canada could tax carbon emissions and return the money to the emitting provinces to cut taxes, reports The National Post.
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/EyRpdn
The Burnaby NOW covered the official grand opening of University Highlands elementary school. Education Minister George Abbott and local MLA Harry Bloy were in attendance.
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/pwmcSa
After the first major snowstorm of the season, News 1130 radio spoke with TransLink’s Ken Hardie, who said a gondola would’ve been helpful. Classes at SFU’s Burnaby campus were cancelled in the afternoon last Thursday and TransLink bus service suspended temporarily due to unsafe road conditions.
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/LDYxpr
SFU ATHLETICS
A 77-59 loss to UC San Diego dropped the SFU men’s basketball team’s record to 0-3 to start the season. According to the BoxscoreNews.com, the Clan play their home opener this Wednesday against Quest University, while they host Montana State Billings in the West Gym in its first Great Northwest Athletic Conference match-up.