UNews - Dr. Bryan Kolb

Social Justice Symposium to touch on democracy, art, environment and more

caroline.zentner — Wed, 13 Sep 2017 16:29:18 +0000

The School of Liberal Education at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge is hosting a Social Justice Symposium to bring together interested students, faculty, staff and community members for an afternoon of talks devoted to various aspects of social justice.

The symposium begins at noon on Friday, Sept. 22 in the Markin Hall Atrium with a keynote talk by Dr. Bryan Kolb, a U of L neuroscientist, titled Brain Development: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. His hour-long talk is followed by three blocks of 10-minute talks by U of L faculty members.

The first block starts at 1:20 p.m. and includes Dr. Harold Jansen (Political Science)—Education for Democracy; Paula Cardozo (Library)—Libraries for Social Justice;Dr. Josephine Mills (Fine Arts/Art Gallery)—Art and Activism.

The second block begins at 2:20 p.m. with Don McIntyre (Management)—The TRC; Dr. Jan Newberry (Anthropology)—Raising Spirit; and Dr. Tom Johnston (Geography)—Two Geographical Perspectives on Justice.

The third and final block begins at 3:20 p.m. with Dr. Anne Dymond (Fine Arts)—U of L’s Refugee Work; Dr. Maura Hanrahan (Native American Studies)—FNMI Issues in the Academy; and Dr. Cheryl Currie (Health Sciences)—Understanding the Social in Epidemiology.

The symposium provides plenty of time for discussion to spark a community-wide conversation. In addition, a booth fair will feature representatives from various campus and community groups interested in social justice.

Please RSVP at http://teachingcentre.anyvite.com/vvegbzngm8.

Oral history project celebrates U of L’s 50th anniversary with 50 Voices

caroline.zentner — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 16:29:31 +0000

The 50 Voices oral history project has woven a tapestry of perspectives about the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge over the past 50 years. From the early days, when Dr. Van Christou (LLD ’84) worked to convince the provincial government of the need for a university in Lethbridge, to the turn of the century, when Dr. Bryan Kolb was shocked but pleased by then-president Dr. Howard Tennant’s promise to construct a neuroscience building, the project captures the U of L’s impressive emergence as a leading university.

Undertaken as an anniversary project, the Centre for Oral History and Tradition (COHT) wanted to portray a diverse assortment of voices—faculty, staff, students, alumni and administrators—in the 50 Voices project. COHT was still in its infancy when it adopted the project to commemorate the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s 50th anniversary. Dr. Jenna Bailey, a post-doctoral fellow with COHT, suggested the idea as she had been involved in a similar project at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Sussex.

Dr. Dennis Connolly is one of the people featured in the 50 Voices oral history project

The 50 Voices project committee, which includes Professor Emeritus Dr. Jim Tagg, Dr. Chris Hosgood, Dr. Heidi MacDonald and U of L archivist Mike Perry, brought Tracy McNab (BASc ’81, MA ’09) on board as project manager to begin planning for 50 Voices. The beauty of oral history is that it provides a way to tell a story from multiple perspectives, something that befits the U of L’s beginnings.

“I don’t think a traditional top-down narrative suits the U of L; it was a grassroots university,” says McNab.

“The two best features of oral history are highlighted in this project,” says MacDonald, a U of L history professor and COHT director. “First, oral history allows us to interview people from a variety of walks of life and I think we’ve come through. Second, the richness of oral history allows the participants to interpret the event as they saw it.”

After McNab set up the terms of reference and the study had been approved by the Human Subject Research Committee, the difficult process of selecting interviewees started. They built on the interviews done by Tagg for the First Generation Oral History Project. They wanted an equal number of men’s and women’s voices. After seeking help from the U of L’s 50th anniversary steering committee and numerous other constituencies, names started pouring in and, once the 50 had been chosen, invitations were sent.

“They were thrilled to be asked. Only one person declined our invitation in favour of someone else in the department they thought would be more representative,” says MacDonald. “Tracy deserves an awful lot of credit for that; oral history is all about relationship and communication.”

Students were also involved in the process, whether conducting interviews or transcribing them. In addition to Jenna Bailey, who served as a consultant on the project, Johanna DeVisser, Diane McKenzie, Nicole McMullan and Jasmine Saler conducted the interviews, transcribed them and chose representative excerpts for the 50 Voices website. Levi Balen photographed the interviewees and edited photos for the website.

“It was amazing and I really enjoyed working on the project,” says Diane McKenzie (BA ’16), a graduate student who conducted 13 interviews for 50 Voices. “The people I interviewed were fantastic. They are so interesting and have accomplished so much in their lives. This project is a great way to capture the U of L’s history.”

A theme that emerged from the interviews was that the U of L was a community from its very early days. That’s a sentiment that Sheila Matson, one of the 50 Voices, agrees with. Matson, who joined the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in 1968 as support staff in the Registrar’s office, says the U of L was like a second home—a place where she felt welcomed and safe, had adventures and was encouraged to grow.

“I was a kid when I started and it’s wonderful to still be around this place,” says Matson. “I feel like I have a real history here. My first husband, Grant Pisko (BASc ’70), and my current husband, Alan Matson (BASC ’71, BEd ’77), are both alums. My son Matt (Pisko) (BSc ’97) and my daughter Lindsay (Pisko Ganske) (BA, BMgt ’01) studied here and worked as lifeguards at the pool. Our family has really been linked with the U of L.”

The full interviews will be deposited in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Archives and will be available on the web through the library for generations of students, community members and scholars in the years ahead.

“This is truly a legacy gift for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ,” says Perry. “By acquiring, preserving and making this project available to the wider community, the 50 Voices Oral History Project will make a lasting contribution to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s historical record.”

“The interviews provide context and emotion and the result is an account with breadth and depth,” says McNab.

Researchers show prenatal stress influences new behavioural traits, including handedness

caroline.zentner — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 17:41:22 +0000

A new study by researchers at the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, recently published in Cerebral Cortex, shows the effects of prenatal stress accumulate across generations and can affect behavioural traits, such as right- and left-handedness.

Mirela Ambeskovic, a PhD candidate working in the laboratory of Dr. Gerlinde Metz, was the lead author in a study that examined the effects of prenatal stress over four generations of rats.

Mirela Ambeskovic

“Our original idea was just to test the effects of prenatal stress on motor development to see if it affects males and females differently and whether one generation of stress would have a different effect than four generations of stress,” says Ambeskovic. “But while I was testing my animals’ fine motor skills in a reaching task, I noticed something interesting.”

Ambeskovic found that males who were in the multigenerational stress group were predominantly left-pawed, while females in the same group were both left- and right-pawed. In comparison, males whose ancestors were only exposed to stress once, either in their mothers or their great-great-grandmothers, did not show a significant increase in being left-pawed.

She and Metz, a neuroscience professor, went through previous research and found no conclusive evidence of a genetic link to handedness.

“We thought maybe it’s an epigenetic effect because these animals have been stressed and epigenetically programmed across generations,” says Ambeskovic. “We did see a difference in behaviour so the stress had negative effects on fine motor skills in males and it actually had positive effects in females. Our females were better at the reaching task than the control group which had experienced no stress.”

With the help of Dr. Bryan Kolb, also a neuroscience professor, they examined the neural structure of the brains of these male rats. The researchers found their right hemispheres — which are linked to the left paw — showed increased complexity and spine density, or more connections, in their neurons.

Dr. Gerlinde Metz

“Ancestral stress often affects males more than females,” says Ambeskovic. “It affects their behaviour and it also changes their brain organization, so we see the structural changes in the neurons and their spine density.”

Researchers don’t know what comes first, paw preference or a dominant right brain hemisphere but even so, such changes should be adaptive. Ambeskovic says ancestral stress may have a protective effect for females.

“It could be that, through epigenetics, our moms prepare us for a stressful environment that might be coming down the road and it’s more important for females to know how to cope with it as they will be the bearers of the future generation,” says Ambeskovic.

In the same way, males affected by ancestral stress might be better prepared to defend their territory because they are more adaptable, perhaps because they could be more prone to using both paws if needed, Metz adds.

“There have been studies, that for programming across generations, there’s an increase in behavioural flexibility, especially in the males. That’s what we’re seeing here. There’s more flexibility to do more tasks,” says Metz.

Ambeskovic is also looking at the effects of multigenerational stress and aging. She has found that males exposed to multigenerational stress are more susceptible to chronic diseases as they age. This study, and others, show the brain can be changed by experience and this could help pave the way to developing interventions that could change the brain in beneficial ways earlier in life.

Board of Governors Research Chairs announced

caroline.zentner — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 16:04:30 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Board of Governors appointed or reappointed eight Board of Governors Research Chairs at its regular meeting on April 21, 2016. The Board of Governors Research Chair program acknowledges the research accomplishments of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ faculty members.

“The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge is home to world-leading researchers across many disciplines,” says Dr. Erasmus Okine, Vice-President (Research). “These recipients represent the outstanding work that occurs every day on our campus – research that improves our communities near and far.”

Tier 1

Dr. Reginald Bibby, Tier I Board of Governors Research Chair (Reappointment July 1, 2016 to December 31, 2018)

Dr. Bibby is a respected sociologist whose research is focused on monitoring social trends in Canada through a series of national surveys of adults and teenagers. His areas of specialty include religion and youth.

Dr. Bryan Kolb, Tier I Board of Governors Research Chair (Reappointment July 1, 2016 to December 31, 2018)

Dr. Kolb is a renowned leader in neuroscience research. His research focuses on how neurons in the cerebral cortex change in response to experiences, drugs, hormones and injury, and how these changes influence behaviour.

Dr. Robert McDonald, Tier I Board of Governors Research Chair (Reappointment July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2021)

Through his research, Dr. McDonald seeks to understand the organization of memory in the mammalian brain. He has developed a theory of age-related cognitive decline that proposes this disorder is heterogeneous and includes multiple factors that interact to lead to dementia, mini-strokes, seizures and other conditions.

Dr. Stewart Rood, Tier I Board of Governors Research Chair (Reappointment July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2021)

Dr. Rood devotes much of his time to river resources management, namely researching plant physiology and the ecophysiology of river valley cottonwoods.

Tier 2

Dr. Carly Adams, Tier II Board of Governors Research Chair in Organizations & Society (July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2019)

Dr. Adams is a social and cultural historian whose research contributes to the body of literature that explores the place of sport, recreation and leisure within the social and cultural context of Canada. Dr. Adams focuses on women’s sport and its impact on society.

Dr. Rob Laird, Tier II Board of Governors Research Chair in Origins & Explorations (July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2019)

Dr. Laird is an evolutionary ecologist who uses field, lab and theory-based approaches to study a variety of problems in population, community and evolutionary ecology.

Dr. Bonnie Lee, Tier II Board of Governors Research Chair in Healthy Futures (July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2019)

Dr. Lee is a registered marriage and family therapist and has spent the past decade leading a program of research in developing a model of Congruence Couples Therapy for problem gamblers.

Dr. Pei Shao, Tier II Board of Governors Research Chair in Organizations and Society (July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2019)

Dr. Shao has an active research program covering such topics as credit markets, financial institutions, corporate finance, and mergers and acquisitions.

UNews - Dr. Bryan Kolb

Social Justice Symposium to touch on democracy, art, environment and more

Related Topics

Oral history project celebrates U of L’s 50th anniversary with 50 Voices

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Researchers show prenatal stress influences new behavioural traits, including handedness

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Board of Governors Research Chairs announced

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