People
SFU PEOPLE IN THE NEWS - March 9, 2011
March 9, 2011
Media Matters, a report on Simon Fraser University in the news, is compiled and distributed by SFU Public Affairs & Media Relations. This edition lists the main items of known media coverage from 9 a.m. Pacific Tuesday March 8 to 9 a.m. Pacific Wednesday March 9.
WEST HOUSE
- News media lined up like moviegoers at a box-office hit to tour SFU West House on Tuesday.
SFU researchers Lyn Bartram and Robert Woodbury collaborated with the mayor of Vancouver’s office and BC Hydro in staging a house-warming at West House’s new location in East Vancouver.
Mike Higgins and his wife Ura Jones, the first tenants and research subjects at the first-of-its-kind, sustainable-living, interactive home were star attractions.
The Early Edition show on CBC Radio kicked off the media coverage with a reporter’s pre-taped tour of West House.
Then the house had visits and coverage from Fairchild Radio and Fairchild TV, Ming Pao, The Province, The Vancouver Sun, CBC-TV, GlobalTV, Citytv, Sing Tao Daily, World Journal, Epoch Times, News 1130 radio, 24Hours, BCIT News and VancouverObserver.com.
The Province, for example, wrote: “Ura Jones and Mike Higgins are about to become one of Vancouver's most closely watched couples. . . . The couple are the first tenants of West House, a city-owned laneway home loaded with lots of green technology that's a prototype for the home of the future. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and SFU president Andrew Petter were among dozens of guests Tuesday as the ultra-green 610-square-foot residence was opened up for all to see.”
GlobalTV reporter Tanya Beja told viewers: “The house is behind me. . . . It's full of technology that will allow the home and the tenants to actually produce more power than they consume.”
Bartram (assistant prof in SFI Interactive Arts + Technology) went on camera to talk about the technology in West House (which drew big audiences in Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympics.) And she spoke on CBC Radio.
The Province: http://at.sfu.ca/sRyZQj
SFU news release (with link to video): http://at.sfu.ca/nbLxax
CTV News (with video): http://at.sfu.ca/fiIstu
EDUCATION
- United Way of the Lower Mainland invited media to an event this morning (March 9) at which SFU’s “Friends of Simon” initiative was given a Scotiabank Celebration of Community Award.
Friends of Simon recruits, prepares and assigns SFU students as literacy tutors in the Lower Mainland, offering support during after-school, Saturday and summer programs.
Among others, CTV and Citytv covered the event.
United Way news release: http://at.sfu.ca/ZYUdqL
Friends of Simon (Faculty of Education): http://at.sfu.ca/mZOxCd
STUDENTS
- Three SFU Communication students blogged for Georgia Straight on their effort to collect e-waste (unwanted electronic gear) on the Burnaby campus Monday March 14—so it can be properly and safely recycled.
Jessica Ellington, Leah Karpus, and Elizabeth Quan wrote: “Bring your old cellphones, computers (if you can carry them!), iPods, and small appliances. At the end of the day, we’ll bring them to Free Geek, where they will be refurbished and will not be sent overseas.”
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/jebNkV
- CKWX News 1130 reported that a group of SFU students is taking an idea developed in the classroom and turning it into an environmentally-friendly business—to deliver food and goods downtown by tricycle.
Student Lorretta Laurin is one of five students who developed the concept in a sustainable community development class.
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/KAuYXE
- Burnaby Now promoted a book drive by SFU Beedie School of Business students. “Joseph Choi, Alex Venetis and Steffi Chua organized the BIG Book Drive—an event aimed at increasing literacy in low-income families and children through book collection at various locations. (Choi) said that their new target is to have collected 10,000 books in total by the end of the event. The book drive will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 19 and 20.”
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/kpBQHo
- A blog by SFU Communication student Tyler Morgenstern, on the apparent rebranding of the federal government as the "Harper Government", ran on the news-and-commentary website of Rabble.ca. It quoted Kathleen Cross, SFU Communication lecturer: “When the government itself adopts the 'Harper Government' branding itself, what we see is a politicizing of the bureaucracy."
The blog: http://at.sfu.ca/qMQhCo
ACCIDENT
- Sadly, media reported the death of a young woman in a car accident on the Burnaby campus Tuesday night March 8. Three others in the car were injured, two seriously, when the car went off University Drive near the Campus Return junction. None were immediately identified.
The Vancouver Sun: http://at.sfu.ca/CVrZkj
The Province: http://at.sfu.ca/qYZQRN
CKWX News 1130: http://at.sfu.ca/LsIzmV
ENVIRONMENT
- Energy expert Mark Jaccard was quoted at length in a story on the news-and-commentary website of TheTyee.ca. He questioned the use of cash incentives (such as Hydro buying back old fridges) and subsidies to buy energy-efficient appliances and replace incandescent light bulbs).
"If you have an objective like energy efficiency, why do you assume we have to spend money to achieve that? We should spend zero dollars. . . eliminate the Power Smart budget, and use electricity pricing and regulation instead."
The story continued: “Money would be better spent, says Jaccard, focusing our efforts on ‘radical rate design’ and regulations that force manufacturers to build efficiency into their products.”
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/yYfCXy
- CBC News covered a Yukon forum on energy use, in which Jaccard said Yukoners should get used to uncertainty when it comes to their energy future. With Yukon's reliance on boom-and-bust resource industries, it can be difficult to plan major electricity projects, he said.
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/QEwKTC
- The Vancouver Sun carried an opinion piece on the dangers facing BC’s wetlands and watersheds. It quoted Nancy Olewiler, director of SFU Public Policy, as saying BC needs new legislation to protect the wet lands in order to preserve the quality of water. "If you don't invest in it now and protect it you're going to have a huge debt in the future. We've got some good stuff going, but is it enough? No.”
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/bBsjWW
HEALTH
- Prof. Diane Finegood of SFU Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology was in a Postmedia News story in the Regina Leader-Post. The story said the support of friends helps people tackle diet and obesity.
Finegood: “Perhaps the best work on the topic is a longitudinal study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2007 that found that behaviours relevant to obesity can be influenced by friends. . . . But a whole host of things in our environment affect energy balance media, the neighbourhoods we live in, advertising, how much we commute. That is the backdrop.”
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/nbMkzc
- There was more media and blog pickup of the weekend story in which SFU Health Sciences prof Bruce Lanphear warned parents how house renovations could expose children to lead dangerous chemicals. And Lanphear was set to do an interview with Fairchild TV this morning.
SFU news release: http://at.sfu.ca/HuaqUJ
DEPORTATION
- Andrew Mack of the Human Security Report project at SFU was in a Canadian Press and CTV story on the deportation of a Sri Lankan boat-migrant who admitted former membership in the Tamil Tigers.
“Andrew Mack, a Simon Fraser University professor researching civil war and terrorism, said if the man acted merely as a conventional soldier it's ‘nonsensical’ for him to be labelled dangerous, and likely he's been targeted by an oppressive Sri Lankan regime. ‘It's not at all clear as to why the (Canadian) government should see this person as a threat,’ he said.”
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/TczaxB
BUSINESS
- Nathaniel Payne, researcher and teaching assistant at SFU’s Beedie School of Business, wrote an article on the website of JustMeans.com. It began this way: “In the controversial world of pharmaceuticals, drug giant Merck has shown an ability to sustainably manage both risk and reward.”
Full story: http://at.sfu.ca/qyzsrL
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