February 2008
During a five-week odyssey last spring that took him 26,000 km across Canada’s northern extremities, University of Toronto professor emeritus Franklyn Griffiths asked the aboriginal inhabitants how they liked having a front row seat to the great climate change drama. They told him, but the answers were not always what one might expect from popular […]
It’s that time of year again when students prepare to fill out their course evaluations. No matter how confident I’ve become with my teaching, the drill remains a source of consternation. Like death and taxes, the evaluation exercise is something instructors cannot avoid, certainly not at any university whose administrators believe in accountability. We’ve all […]
A series of newspaper articles this past fall seemed to herald the demise of the campus pub because students are generally drinking less. But that impression of widespread closures is simply not accurate, says Jeff Dockeray, the executive director of the Campus Hospitality Managers Association, a group that represents campus-based restaurant and pub operators. “You […]
The new campaign aims to have a single clear message for foreign students
It’s called Espresso, but this machine at the University of Alberta bookstore doesn’t brew coffee. Rather, it prints paperback books on demand in mere minutes. The bookstore has the only Espresso Book Machine in Canada and just the fourth in the world. Since the machine’s arrival in early November, it has been running virtually non-stop, […]
Clear policies are needed on how they’re used
The stethoscope has undergone few changes since its invention in 1816, but a cheap MP3 player may push it into retirement if early research from the University of Alberta proves correct. Bill Hodgetts, a U of A audiologist, is part of a research team that is exploring the use of a $40, off-the-shelf MP3 player […]
The University of Manitoba is putting its money where its mouth is, so to speak, with the creation of a new Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture, where scholars, students and storytellers from many disciplines and cultures will gather to research oral traditions and create new oral works. Reportedly the first such institute in […]
André Costopoulos has been digging for bones in an animal cemetery – and no, this isn’t the plot of a Stephen King novel. The McGill University anthropology professor was called into action when a zoo an hour’s drive south of Montreal approached the university with a request to dig up some animal skeletons buried on […]
Universities are calling on the federal government to invest in three key areas to meet some of the challenges facing Canada. In a brief to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty leading up to the 2008 federal budget, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada proposed that the government increase financial support for graduate students, contribute […]
Some experts feel Canada’s universities have been slow to support security and intelligence studies post-9/11
A heated debate over how to train PhD students for the jobs awaiting them has percolated for 15 years in Europe and the U.S. It’s high time for a Canadian discussion
Only a tiny fraction of bees produce honey. Researcher Laurence Packer’s mission is to learn everything he can about the vast majority that don’t