UNews - Christine Clark

Blackfoot Digital Library receives Blackfoot name

caroline.zentner — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 21:38:08 +0000

The Blackfoot Digital Library (BDL) has received a Blackfoot name — Apani. The name, chosen by Elder Jerry Potts, translates to moth or butterfly and means ‘those that transfer knowledge.’

From left to right are Pam and Martin Heavy Head, Jerry Potts, Danielle Heavy Head, Bryce Many Fingers, Lilly Wells and Blair Many Fingers.

“It is noted in Blackfoot mythology as a carrier of information,” said Potts. “On a lot of Blackfoot teepees that come from dreams, you’ll see that symbol on the back of them.”

The BDL, launched about 15 years ago through a joint effort of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and Red Crow College, provides a central space for field notes, photographs, images of Blackfoot objects, and recordings that have spread around the world. With a wealth of information, the library is a venue for sharing stories about Blackfoot families and communities. BDL also presents a way to respond to publications that have misinterpreted or misrepresented Blackfoot experiences and way of life and is designed to be an educational resource.

“I really cherish our old ceremonial items, like the beaver bundle,” says Potts. “It goes back thousands of years, back to, on the Blackfoot timeline, when dogs could talk. Those bundles are still active today. The old people, everything they did meant something, and the library allows younger people to learn about these things.”

“It’s really important to have a Blackfoot name attached to the project,” says Danielle Heavy Head, Blackfoot Digital Library liaison. “It sets more of a precedent within the community that this library is an important place, and it holds a lot of knowledge that can be carried forward.”

Along with receiving a Blackfoot name, a core group of people, comprised of Heavy Head, Christine Clark (BFA – New Media ’10, MFA – New Media ’14), a new media professor, library systems staff and students, has been evaluating how the content is structured in the digital library.

“I’m already a big Blackfoot nerd,” said Bryce Many Fingers, an undergraduate student studying psychology and art who is part of the core group. “As an artist, I like to get into dating the archives and collections and seeing the objects on the Mootookakio’ssin site and incorporating that into my art.”

He says learning more about Blackfoot history has given him insight into how to go about creating his artwork. For example, knowing that many of the photos of Blackfoot people taken by white people were an attempt to document a disappearing culture makes him more intentional when taking photos himself.

“There are a bunch of ways that working on the BDL benefits me personally, and then I’m just hoping others can utilize the resource,” he said.

For Blair Many Fingers, a master’s student in the Cultural, Social and Political Thought program, the most valuable lesson was applying Indigenous research methods based on collective relationality with the community of people who contributed to the project.

“I learned from the Elders, knowledge keepers and all the research participants, such as the librarians and FNMI liaison workers we conducted focus groups with, and so much from my supervisors, Danielle Heavy Head, Christine Clark and Dr. Josephine Mills,” Blair said. “The dream world, to the Blackfoot, is where the transfer of knowledge occurs. In that sense, the digital collection of Blackfoot knowledge is a place where people can learn about the Blackfoot way of life. However, I must advise that the digital library is meant to be a spark and gateway to lifelong learning and embodying the values of our ancestors. Part of learning is fostering real-life relations with our Elders, who teach us about the beauty of creation through stories, song, ceremony and language.”

Some of the major changes to the BDL include an extensive land acknowledgement developed by Blair and protocols for using the information in the library.

“That was part of our process of thinking about how we want to bring people into this space and set the terms of engagement with people,” said Clark. “Blair is working on a few more pieces for the site that will talk about protocol and how to access the information respectfully and in ways that are appropriate.”

Another focus for the revitalization work was to add more context to the records, such as sorting records into beginner, intermediate or advanced information, so users can more easily identify the appropriate records. Work was also done to connect each record to a list of names and places where, previously, a record would only link to an origin location and a current location.

“It’s very important to have connections to the land,” says Heavy Head. “Within Blackfoot ways of thinking, everything needs to be connected back to the land where we belong.”

In addition, Bryce has been adding Niitsitapi values to each record while incorporating the Blackfoot language. Work to update the records will continue as the BDL site grows. Having a Blackfoot name provides an umbrella for that future growth.

“When you give something a name, that means it’s alive,” says Bryce.

Funding for the Blackfoot name and revitalization project included the Indigenous Research Engagement grant from the Office of Research & Innovation Services, the Niitsitapi Circle of Excellence in Work-Integrated Learning (NCEWIL) from the Centre for Work Integrated Learning and Career Development, and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Library.

PUBlic Professor Series to examine biases of web creators and strategies to advance cultural renewal

trevor.kenney — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 18:20:23 +0000

The web is an integral part of our digital lives and like all media, how websites are designed and developed reflects cultural values. This influences what we see and what we don’t see, what we can do there and what we can’t.

Melissa Shouting, left, and Christine Clark have been working together exploring the intersection of technology and cultural renewal.

On Thursday, Jan. 25, 7 p.m. at the Sandman Signature Lodge, Melissa Shouting (BHSc ’19) and Christine Clark (BFA – New Media ’10, MFA ’14) will explore how the web is being reshaped in Indigenous worldviews for cultural revitalization, renewal and relationship building in their PUBlic Professor Series talk — Weaving World Views: The Web as a space for cultural vitality.

Shouting and Clark have been working together the last five years exploring the intersection of technology and cultural renewal.

“All online spaces reflect the culture from which they are created. Values are embedded in content presentation and what options are available to us,” says Clark, an associate professor of Web Design and Development in the Department of New Media. “We might think that some social platforms like Facebook or Instagram are culturally agnostic because whoever uses the platform can choose what they post. But in fact, there are myriad little design decisions that these companies have made that encourage patterns of use. We end up becoming complacent with fitting ourselves into Instagram size boxes.”

Shouting, a registered member of the Kainai (Blood) Nation who holds a faculty position in the Faculty of Health Sciences, says their talk connects web design with health outcomes for Indigenous communities.

“Given how our digital identities are interwoven with our sense of self, it is important to establish a nurturing environment online and offline,” she says. “It begs the question, what do online spaces feel like when they are designed from different cultural perspectives? What can they feel like when they are designed to reflect Blackfoot cultural values?”

Clark’s research and creative practice are rooted in design collaborations that promote decolonization and environmental sustainability at local levels. She and Shouting, with many others, are currently working on the Mootookakio'ssin [MOO-DOO-KAK-IO-SIN] research project, an international collaboration exploring how to provide access to Blackfoot items held in museums in Europe using digital technologies, like photogrammetry, RTI and web-based interfaces.

“In our talk we’ll look at examples of how web technologies reflect the biases of those that make them, and ways that Indigenous people are reshaping the web in their own worldview.”

This is the fourth of the six-part PUBlic Professor Series of talks. Initiated in 2014, the monthly lecture series is designed to spark thought-provoking discussions and bring a diverse group of experts and researchers from the ULethbridge campus right into the community.

Check out the PUBlic Professor Series web page for the 2023/24 talk schedule, to register for priority seating or to join the series mailing list.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge unveils Mootookakio’ssin website, creates bridge to historical belongings

trevor.kenney — Thu, 18 Nov 2021 16:41:56 +0000

Utilizing the latest in web technology, the new Mootookakio’ssin website launched today creates a bridge that connects Blackfoot peoples to historical Blackfoot items housed in British museums, thereby reinvigorating a rich, cultural past through in-depth storytelling and laying a foundation to keep the knowledge of Elders alive for future generations.

Each item was photographed digitally to create 3D images for the website.

The culmination of an ambitious and challenging three-year research project, Mootookakio’ssin (moo-DOO-ka-keyo-sin) has brought together ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and United Kingdom (UK) researchers, three British museums, as well as graduate and undergraduate students, all led by Blackfoot advisors and Elders. The result is a stunning, engaging and interactive website that is now a part of the Blackfoot Digital Library and allows users to see and manipulate historical Blackfoot belongings while telling a story that truly brings them to life.

“We use stories to connect with one another and utilizing the story technique allows us to control the narrative about the item and how it is being delivered,” says Melissa Shouting (BHSc ’19), a member of Kainai Nation and a graduate student in the Faculty of Health Sciences. “Storytelling also allows us to

An example of a Blackfoot Awl Case.

showcase who we are as a People, and how we think collectively when it comes to our knowledge systems.”

Shouting is an accomplished beadmaker who, like many Blackfoot artists, can now utilize the incredible detail of the website to see the intricacies of the historical items to guide their own artistic practices. She was part of the delegation that travelled to Britain to document and photograph the historical items housed in British museums.

“One of the reasons I said yes to going there was because we weren’t just going to look at the items and keep that knowledge to ourselves, we were going there to eventually create this website that really illustrates who we are, and then deliver it back to our community,” she says.

A Blackfoot weapon, this Big Whip is part of the collection.

Blackfoot Elder Jerry Potts, a key resource throughout the project, says the significance of showing these belongings, some which date back to the 1700s, is immeasurable.

“Some of these items were from the first contact the Blackfeet had with settlers. The material we are looking at was developed before there was any trade, so they were made with quill work and natural dyes,” says Potts. “The Blackfoot People are so tied to nature and the landscape, so you look at these items and try to imagine what they saw. Our culture and our belief system are captured in this art — there’s a lot of value in that.”

Christine Clark (BFA ’10, MFA ’14), professor of new media in the Faculty of Fine Arts, says the group accomplished even more than it set out to with its initial proposal, thanks in large part to the cooperative nature of the project.

3D imagery is able to capture the incredibly fine detail of this Blackfoot Moccasin.

“We weren’t sure if we were going to be able to meet all our goals because there were so many unknowns,” she says. “The team dynamics were so important for this project because if any one piece had fallen off, the whole project would have fallen apart.”

Named by Elder Dr. Leroy Little Bear (BASc (BA) '72, DASc '04), Mootookakio’ssin translates to “distant awareness.” The aim is to connect people living in traditional Blackfoot territory with these non-sacred, historical Blackfoot belongings housed in British museum collections. While COVID-19 restrictions limited the workshopping and outreach activities the group had planned initially, they did allow for more intensive work on the website.

“Our primary goal was to design and build a custom site for the 3D material and involve as much storytelling as possible with each piece, and we were able to do that,” adds Clark. “We were also able to incorporate a feature called RTI (reflectance transformation imaging) where you can change the light source to reveal the surface detail on the items. This has definitely been the most multifaceted website I’ve worked on, and I was really lucky to have one of our recent graduates, Calvin Lloyd (BSc ’20), lead the development of this very challenging project.”

Potts sees the website as another small step forward in educating Blackfoot youth and non-Indigenous people alike on the roots of a rich culture, its resilience and how it continues to resonate even today.

“It’s very new and innovative thinking to try and capture this idea and this traditional knowledge and use it to build bridges and understanding,” he says. “It’s a pretty good start and it works because there was a will at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and with their researchers to make a difference and they had the right people in the room to give direction to the project. We’ve opened up some doors now with other ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and museums in Britain and that’s really exciting.”

Elder led research and creation project Mootookakio’ssin reactivates Indigenous objects

trevor.kenney — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 16:56:24 +0000

Mootookakio’ssin, at its simplest description, is a project to create detailed images of historical Blackfoot objects housed in British museums. At its most complex, it is creating a virtual home for Indigenous objects, a place to reactivate the Blackfoot relations within them and transfer that knowledge all the way from Britain back to their peoples in southern Alberta.

Melissa Shouting leads a beading workshop in the U of L Art Gallery.

After two years of research, construction and creation, this collaborative project between ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and UK researchers, led by Blackfoot advisors and elders, is coming to fruition, culminating in presentations, exhibitions, workshops, and the launch of the digital object microsite in summer 2021, to be housed in the Blackfoot Digital Library.

Named by Elder Dr. Leroy Little Bear (BASc (BA) '72, DASc '04), Mootookakio’ssin translates to “distant awareness.” The aim of the project is to connect people living in traditional Blackfoot territory with non-sacred, historical Blackfoot objects housed in museum collections in Britain, using digital imagery to record objects in great detail.

Mootookakio’ssin is truly guided by the peoples the project aims to serve. From the onset, Blackfoot elders have been involved, providing guidance, knowledge and appropriate cultural practices. Funded by the Government of Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund, principal investigator Christine Clark is leading the development of a microsite presenting the digital images and their associated knowledge. Alongside Clark and her U of L research team are a UK research team, a Blackfoot Elder advisory group, consultation with additional Blackfoot Elders, a design advisory group, and numerous student researchers, developers and artists, all contributing to and aiding in the key outcome of the project -knowledge transfer.

“The items documented within this project opened doors for conversations that are holistic in nature, and that welcome the collectiveness of knowledge translation and transmission within the Blackfoot confederacy and its people,” explains Melissa Shouting, master’s student, artist and research assistant. Shouting was one of the Blackfoot members that visited with the objects in British Museums, alongside representatives from all four Blackfoot tribes, sharing and connecting their experiences and interpretations of the knowledge shared through the items.

"Indigenous knowledge transfer is reliant on personal lived experiences and the interpretation of the knowledge shared through oral history practices, creation stories, ceremonies and kin-based knowledge systems," says Shouting. "This mode of knowledge translation has the ability to connect individuals to the knowledge that is attached to the objects revealing a connection with their ancestors. In sharing this knowledge, it allows us to understand not only the objects but the purpose, the history and the teachings associated with crafting together such objects.”

The ability to bring this knowledge back to southern Alberta was tackled by Clark and a team of student developers. They created web-based prototypes featuring digital models of the objects using spatial web technologies to reunite the objects with their associated knowledge and culture. Clark continued to meet with Blackfoot advisors throughout the development of the protypes and the microsite that will host them.

“My part in those discussions was to listen and learn about what was important to them, working to ensure that the microsite would support these goals,” says Clark. “Too often, Blackfoot items are displayed as relics of the past, of a culture that has died away. The collection should feel alive and feel connected to contemporary Blackfoot artistic practices. For the design of the site, we have animation incorporated into the 3D models, so it avoids them feeling static.”

In addition to public access to the microsite, the U of L Art Gallery continues to play a role in education and outreach through exhibitions and workshops, and by engaging students in the discussion. Partnering with Dr. Jackson Two Bears’ Indigenous Art Studio classes in Spring and Fall 2020, students, both Indigenous and not, created responses to Mootookakio’ssin – to the digital images, the techniques and knowledge that can be learnt from the historic Blackfoot objects, and to the research generated around the colonial history of these objects.

The first student exhibition, Stories That Objects Tell, was set for installation in March 2020 when the gallery closed due to COVID restrictions. Gallery staff completed the installation behind closed doors and presented a virtual format in Fall 2020. The second exhibition, Virtual Stories That Objects Tell, was approached from the beginning as a virtual exhibition, putting new meaning to Mootookakio’ssin.

“The students had to make their work from home and make work that either exists purely in a digital format or that would work well when documented and presented online,” says Dr. Josephine Mills, art gallery director and curator. “The students created ambitious, insightful, and emotional works that engage with identity, personal history, the legacies of colonialism, and museum practices.”

To learn more about Mootookakio’ssin, join Danielle Heavy Head, Christine Clark (BFA ’10, MFA ’14), Melissa Shouting (BHSc ’19), Louisa Minkin and Josephine Mills on Thursday, March 4, from 2 to 3 pm as part of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s Indigenous Awareness Week.

Stay up to date on upcoming events and opportunities to participate at blackfoot.cctbd.ca/.

Virtual Stories that Objects Tell is available online at ulag.ca/virtualstories.

Interactive website shows Albertans how the climate is changing in their backyard

caroline.zentner — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 16:37:03 +0000

As Alberta’s climate changes, the demand for practical information on climate extremes and their impact is increasing and ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge professors, Dr. Stefan Kienzle, (Department of Geography & Environment) and Christine Clark (Department of New Media), have found a way to meet that demand.

They developed an interactive website, albertaclimaterecords.com, four years ago and have now updated it to include observed weather records from 1951 to 2017, three future climate projections (2041 to 2070), and 55 climate variables, such as number of frost days, length of the growing season and rainfall extremes. With more than 100 high-resolution maps available for download, the website is of particular interest to farmers, ranchers, foresters, water-resource managers, infrastructure planners or anyone who wants to see how Alberta’s climate has changed.

“We need to be prepared for what’s happening and this is what the website’s about,” says Kienzle. “We want to inform Albertans about what’s going on in their backyard and how our weather patterns have changed. Then anyone can at least anticipate what weather patterns are occurring in their region now and in the future and adapt accordingly.”

The updated website is designed to provide key information for climate vulnerability assessment across Alberta. Users can pinpoint a location in the province and generate a wealth of weather information for that area.

“It is clearly getting warmer in Alberta and it’s getting warmer much faster than most of the rest of the world,” says Kienzle. “The average annual temperature in southern Alberta has gone up by one-and-a-half to two degrees and by two to over three degrees in northern Alberta. Winters are the key driver of this average annual warming. They have warmed by four to five degrees in the south and by six to seven degrees in the north since the 1950s.”

The Alberta climate is also increasingly variable with more extreme weather events and warm and cold spells.

“Under global climate change, we would expect that we would have an increase in heat waves and we have that,” says Kienzle. “We have two to four times more heat waves per year compared to the 1950s. Interestingly, cold spells have also increased by a factor of two to four.”

This fall has been a prime example of that increased variability and its impact on farmers. These weather swings present more risks to farmers, whether it means harvest cannot be completed or yields are lower due to lack of precipitation or increased heat stress on crops.

The good news for growers is that the growing season is longer, creating more flexibility in seeding and harvesting, although the date of last frost has not changed significantly. Farmers also have opportunities to grow a wider variety of crops due to more heat units in the air and higher temperatures. For example, currently farmers living in the Pincher Creek area cannot grow corn now because of a lack of heat units and a shorter growing season; that could change in the future.

A new feature of the website is future climate projections. Kienzle chose three climate models most relevant to Alberta to project the climate from 2041 to 2070. For southern Alberta, those projections show even warmer temperatures, a declining number of frost days and more summer days where the temperature is 25 C or higher.

While annual precipitation is projected to increase slightly, evaporation rates will strongly increase due to higher temperatures and a longer frost-free period, resulting in overall drier soil conditions. The trend is for more rainfall to fall on fewer days, increasing the risk of flooding causing severe damage, which has occurred more frequently in recent years.

U of L research project will provide access to detailed models of historical Blackfoot objects held in British museums

caroline.zentner — Wed, 22 May 2019 18:20:00 +0000

A team of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers and Blackfoot Elders will soon embark on an ambitious project that will provide immediate virtual access to historical Blackfoot objects held in museums, thanks to federal funding from the New Frontiers in Research Fund.

The U of L researchers, led by Christine Clark (BFA ’10, MFA ’14), an assistant professor of New Media, and including Dr. Josie Mills, director and curator of the U of L Art Gallery, Danielle Heavy Head, Blackfoot Digital Library liaison, Jackson 2Bears, U of L art studio professor, and Marcus Dostie, U of L geography instructor, will create extraordinarily detailed 3D models of non-sacred Blackfoot objects held in British museums. Their collaborators in England include Louisa Minkin, MA Fine Art course leader at Central Saint Martins, Ian Dawson, co-director of the Critical Practices Research Group at Winchester School of Art, and Andy Jones, archaeology professor, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Southampton.

In order to adhere to their protocols and priorities, the project will be directed by Blackfoot Elders. Blackfoot approaches to knowledge emphasize the importance of caring for and sharing knowledge. The digital objects will be linked to people living in Treaty 7 territory through the Blackfoot Digital Library website, exhibitions at the U of L Art Gallery and live events, such as beading workshops.

The project is not focused on sacred objects nor on repatriation - the return of objects. Repatriation claims by Blackfoot elders focus on objects that would be returned and put back into use and as a result, these claims focus on sacred objects, such as ceremonial bundles. Mills explains “Our goal is to support sharing knowledge about how Blackfoot objects were made and to allow young artists to learn about historical techniques and materials. We will make images of everyday items which we can share with a wide audience because these do not have protocol restrictions.”

“This funding will allow us to study emerging technologies from a Blackfoot perspective. Imaging the artifacts in England is just the start; the biggest challenge is what we do with the resulting digital models,” says Clark. “We want to design media that reunites the objects with their traditional knowledge and supports the needs of the community, even in places where there isn’t high-speed internet access.”

“The importance of this project is huge for the Blackfoot Digital Library, as well as the Blackfoot community,” says Heavy Head. “These models are going to be freely available to our local artists. Many like to do traditional crafts like making beaded outfits and moccasins. This project allows them to examine the item closely, figure out how things were made back then and eventually be able to use those techniques in their contemporary pieces. These kinds of projects help us relearn, rediscover and re-ignite ceremony into the collective consciousness of our community.”

After creating detailed digital models of Blackfoot artifacts, the researchers will use digital tools, art-based public engagement and hyperlocal network technologies (for areas with limited access to high-speed Internet) to allow Blackfoot people to have immediate access and interact with the historical objects and their associated knowledge.

The research project begins with a trip to England with Blackfoot Elders and students to produce digital images of non-sacred objects in the British Museum, The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge, and the Horniman Museum in London. To get an idea of some of the objects in the collections, read this article from the Horniman Museum & Gardens blog.

The research team will then produce web-based prototypes featuring the digital models to reunite the objects with their culture. In the final phases, the researchers will ensure the objects become part of the Blackfoot Digital Library website, as well as organize exhibitions and public programming to engage people with the knowledge held by the objects. Participants in the project will gain skills in digital media technologies—an area that needs more Indigenous voices. Indigenous youth will be involved in multifaceted workshops directly connected to their culture, creating an entry point for further learning and engagement.

“I’m excited about the professional development opportunities for our students,” says Mills. “This project will build bridges between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and perspectives. We will be able to hire Blackfoot students to deliver programs in Lethbridge and on the Kainai, Piikani and Siksika reserves.”

The New Frontiers in Research Fund supports high-risk, high-reward and interdisciplinary research to help Canadian researchers make the next great discoveries in their fields.

Women Scholars’ Speakers Series simplifies research with only 1,000 Words

trevor.kenney — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 18:24:25 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Women Scholars’ Speakers Series takes the ten hundred word challenge in the upcoming panel discussion How We Came to Study The Things We Do.

Inspired by a panel held at the American Association for Physical Anthropology called Communicate Your Science Using English’s Ten Hundred Most Common Words, “the challenge aims to improve science communication in a jolly way,” says series co-chair Dr. Louise Barrett (psychology).

“The idea is that you explain what you do using only the most common words in the English language, forcing you to avoid jargon, and offering the possibility for some inspired renaming of things,” explains co-chair Dr. Josephine Mills (art). “Examples from the AAPA sessions include, ‘Dogs go places they are not from and eat weird animals in their homes: Reasons for fewer weird animals’, or my favourite, ‘The relationship between the soft pink things and the hard white things.”

During the panel discussion (Wednesday, Nov. 22, 7 to 9 p.m. at the Dr. Foster James Penny Building), five speakers from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge take the challenge: Christine Clark (new media), Dr. Liz Galway (English), Dr. Habiba Kadiri (math), Darlene St. Georges (education) and Dr. Amy Shaw (history).

Each speaker will create a maximum three sentence description of what they do in their research using only the ten hundred most common English words.

“You can’t imagine my relief that ‘art’ is in the ten hundred words,” laughs Mills. “But art gallery is not. So my example if I were on the panel would be something like, ‘I want to understand better how people, especially if the people who come to see the art come from many places, think and feel about art that was made now when they go to the places that show this art. The places that give the money to make these plans want us to say how we know that our plans work, but these places do not have very good ways to understand how we know when the places that show art have done a good job.’”

The panelists are then able to use their full vocabulary to provide a 10-minute talk about how they came to work in their field.

How We Came to Study the Things We Do is free to attend, with a cash bar available. For more information on the Women Scholars' Speaker Series, check out their list of events.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ celebrates medal winners at Spring 2015 Convocation

trevor.kenney — Thu, 28 May 2015 17:23:21 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge celebrates the achievements of its newest graduates at the 2015 Spring Convocation, May 28 and 29, in the 1st Choice Savings Centre for Sport and Wellness gymnasium.

Distinguishing themselves among the many outstanding graduates are the U of L’s medal winners for 2015.

Distinguishing themselves among the many outstanding graduates are the U of L’s medal winners for 2015. They are as follows:

Gold Medal of the Governor General – Jenni Karl
Jenni Karl was born in Lethbridge and raised in the small farming community of Foremost, Alta. After high school she pursued her BSc in Neuroscience at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge where she joined Dr. Ian Whishaw’s laboratory to study motor behaviour in a rodent model of Huntington’s disease. After working for one year as a research assistant in Melbourne Australia, Jenni returned to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and Dr. Whishaw’s laboratory to complete her MSc, and PhD in Behavioural Neuroscience. Her research is directed at understanding how the human brain generates the skilled hand and mouth movements that we use to grasp and manipulate objects. She is especially interested in how these movements and their underlying neural substrates arose through evolution, are established during development, and break down in various neurological disorders. She is currently a post-doctoral fellow at Western ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in London, Ontario.

Silver Medal of the Governor General – Douglas Turnbull

School of Graduate Studies Medal of Merit, Master of Science – Mohammad Akbari
Thesis: claVision: Visual Automatic Piano Music Transcription
Mohammad Akbari was born and grew up in Abadeh, Fars, Iran. He began his Masters in Computer Science at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in 2013 under the supervision of Dr. Howard Cheng. Also a musician, Akbari did research in an interdisciplinary field in computer science and music, which resulted in developing an innovative system named claVision for visual piano music transcription. Winning the 2014 Canadian Microsoft Imagine Cup Innovation Competition, filing a patent application for claVision and incorporating claVision Inc. are other achievements during his master studies. He is currently a PhD student in Engineering Science at Simon Fraser ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

School of Graduate Studies Medal of Merit, Master of Arts – Ann Holden
Thesis: Home and Native Land: How the Eeyouch in Quebec and the Sami in Norway Used Hydropower Developments to Democratize Legislation

School of Graduate Studies Medal of Merit, Master of Fine Arts – Christine Clark
Thesis: Here | Now | Look | See: Information Visualizations of Recent Climate Records in Alberta
Christine Clark grew up in Cochrane, Alta. and came to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in 2012 for the Masters of Fine Arts - New Media program. Her graduate research focused in the design of climate change data visualizations and design/science collaboration. Christine plans to continue collaborating with scientists, artists, research groups and non-profits as a graphic designer, data visualizer and new media strategist.

School of Graduate Studies Medal of Merit, Master of Counseling – Bethany Mills
Project: Increasing Adolescent Self-Esteem: A Focus on Wellness and Process
Bethany Mills authored an original group counselling (psychoeducational) program to improve self-esteem in adolescents. Bethany developed a targeted and very implementable program and is noted as an emerging academic with potential publications on the horizon.

School of Graduate Studies Medal of Merit, Doctor of Philosophy – Corinne Sidler
Thesis: A Role for Epigenetics in Aging and the Age-Dependent Response to Ionizing Radiation
Corinne Sidler’s research compares the ability of animal and plant models to repair DNA damage. Her PhD work has resulted in five publications thus far in highly ranked journals, with additional publications in their final stages. Corinne received several distinguished awards and prizes during her tenure as a PhD student. She is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Biochemistry, in ETH Zürich Switzerland.

Faculty of Arts & Science Gold Medal (Arts) – Maxime Chambers-Dumont
Max Chambers-Dumont's academic performance as a philosophy major with a minor in political science has been outstanding. He has served as a research assistant to two of his philosophy professors on issues of sustainable energy and climate change – an experience which has informed his undergraduate honours thesis on distributive justice and climate change.

Faculty of Arts & Science Gold Medal (Science) – Samuel Woodman
Samuel Woodman completed an honours thesis in conjunction with a degree in environmental science. Since the age of 16, he has worked as a research assistant in four different labs at the U of L. His research interests include plant physiology and adaptation, behavioural toxicology, parasitology and scanning electron microscopy. Following graduation, Sam will be working towards publishing papers associated with his research as well as starting new research projects in advance of beginning his PhD studies abroad.

Faculty of Education Gold Medal - Julia Vandezande
Julia Vandezande completed a double major in biology and earth and atmospheric sciences from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta before deciding to go into teaching and enrolling at the U of L. She completed a Bachelor of Education majoring in Science Education, achieving the highest final academic standing in the Faculty of Education.

The Alberta Teachers’ Association William Aberhart Gold Medal in Education – Emily Hildenbrandt
Emily Hildenbrandt grew up in Calgary and completed her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary. Emily decided to pursue an education degree at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and is commended for her amazing work ethic, strong classroom management skills and an ability to engage in thorough and thoughtful instructional planning. She is currently working at a middle school in Calgary.

Faculty of Fine Arts Gold Medal – Camille Rogers
Camille Rogers has been immersed in music since she was born. After discovering her love of performing while she was in high school at Lethbridge Collegiate Institute, she went on to study voice at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge. During her studies, Camille has had the privilege of singing leading roles in several operas, including Dido in Dido and Aeneas, Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro and Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, all with the Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra. Camille has been accepted to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto Faculty of Music where she will pursue a Master of Music in Opera Performance and is the recipient of the prestigious province of Alberta Heritage Fund Arts Graduate Scholarship valued at $15,000.

Faculty of Health Sciences Gold Medal – Arron Kardolus-Wilson
Arron Kardolus-Wilson is a dedicated and engaged learner who is committed to community projects and marginalized populations. Arron's academic work consistently exceeded expectations, and integrated critical thinking with thoughtfulness and creativity.

Faculty of Management Gold Medal – Carmen Greeff
Carmen Greeff has been an exceptional student, earning a Bachelor of Management with a major in accounting. Due to her outstanding academic achievements she has won several academic scholarships. Along with a rigorous program of studies, Carmen has worked part-time, volunteered and is an accomplished pianist. Carmen is currently studying in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Saskatchewan Master of Professional Accounting program.

Driving Social Change

david.kirby — Wed, 14 May 2014 20:23:43 +0000

Collaboration and innovation, it seems, go hand-in-hand. After all, as the saying goes, two heads are better than one. But if two (or more) people are more likely to create something new than a singleton working solo, a critical question must be asked: what’s the best way to bring multiple minds together?

Researcher Leanne Elias (BFA '95, MEd '03) may have the answer. A designer, artist and associate professor of new media at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, Elias has developed a unique model for creating productive working relationships, particularly among those with disparate views. It’s all part of her passion for building strong communities, and ultimately, helping to drive social change.

“I’m really interested in connecting people,” says Elias, the latest recipient of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Students’ Union’s Teaching Excellence Award. The honour recognizes outstanding efforts to increase students’ learning experiences. “Collaborative work doesn’t happen through cold calling. It happens when you provide opportunities for people to meet in person. Before anything else can happen, you have to build trust.”

From there, she says, great ideas can take shape and exciting initiatives can take off. But Elias does more than just talk about trust; she demonstrates the importance of it in her multidisciplinary projects.

Leanne Elias (L) with a group, including graduate student Christine Clark (R).

One example is Ecotone, a three-year initiative that focused on environmental stress in southern Alberta. Well aware that environmentalism and climate change can be divisive topics in this oil-rich and agriculturally prolific province, Elias wanted to help build a collective of concerned citizens who were interested in sustainability, and protecting Alberta’s land and water resources. To build such a community, she and a local entomologist organized 140 people who, at first blush,
had little in common – artists, scientists
and ranchers.

During the grassroots project, which was funded by the Alberta Rural Development Network, each group explained their work to the others. To start, the scientists presented their research on land use and the health of the Prairies. Next, 15 professional contemporary artists spent time on ranches across southern Alberta, learning about the realities of agricultural life. Finally, the artists translated their ranching experiences into creative works that were exhibited at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in downtown Lethbridge.

All three groups reported new insights from their participation in Ecotone. The scientists, for instance, realized that artists conduct research, and in turn, the artists learned more about scientific investigations and food production. Meanwhile, the ranchers developed an appreciation for artistic endeavours.

Ultimately, Ecotone’s model of collaboration eliminated communication barriers among people who had never before interacted. Equally important, the participants continue to meet and discuss environmental issues to this day. It’s an outcome that pleases Elias and will no doubt be mentioned during a presentation that she and her graduate student Christine Clark (BFA í10) will deliver during a conference in Sweden this June. The Design Research Society Conference will enable Elias and Clark, a master of fine arts student in new media, to share the paper they co-authored on the success of Ecotone.

Committed to the creative and professional growth of the next generation of researchers, artists and designers, Elias often collaborates with students on her research projects. “It’s exciting to see ideas being sparked in students,” she says. “I learn as much from them as they learn from me.”

Committed to the creative and professional growth of the next generation of researchers, artists and designers, Elias often collaborates with students on her research projects.

To that end, Elias regularly takes students to South by Southwest (SXSW), an annual music, film and interactive conference and festival held in Austin, Texas. A dazzling showcase of digital creativity with presentations from the brightest minds in emerging technology, the SXSW interactive festival, in particular, is a wonderland for new media students.

“You attend talks given by your heroes and network with like-minded people and innovators,” says Clark. “Through my work with Leanne, I’ve really been opened up to the idea of being more involved in communities of practice.”

In fact, Clark was part of a group of graduate students who, at the request of Elias, interviewed artists, educators and practitioners of new media at SXSW and in New York City about how they adapt to changes in the medium. The videos were then edited by undergraduate students and posted on a website that Clark designed. An evolving video catalogue that explores the collaboration and overlap between new media and other
disciplines, Newmediaintersections.com, is funded by the U of L’s Interdisciplinary Research Development Fund. Elias serves as the project’s principle investigator and is aided by U of L professors Dr. Janice Rahn (Education), Denton Fredrickson (Art), Dr. Dana Cooley (New Media) and Dr. John Usher (Management).

“The site shows how new media is impacting other disciplines and can work together with, for example, management and the sciences,” says Elias. “There are so many possibilities.”

This story appears in the Spring 2014 edition of SAM magazine. For a look at the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - Christine Clark

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