UNews - PACT

U of L students tackle food insecurity on campus

caroline.zentner — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 17:27:54 +0000

Through the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Nourish initiative, student clubs have joined forces to decrease food insecurity on campus during March, which is Nutrition Month. With one in five students facing food scarcity, around 2,000 students sometimes run out of food and cannot afford to buy more.

The COVID-19 pandemic has prevented the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ from running some of its regular Nourish programs, including Buy a Student Breakfast and Dinner for Six. This year, the PACT (Philanthropy, Advancement, Community and Traditions) club, the U of L Students’ Union (ULSU), the Organization of Residence Students (ORS) and Agility have teamed up for the Swipe Out Hunger campaign.

Started by a group of friends at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of California, Los Angeles in 2010, Swipe Out Hunger is a non-profit organization that partners with universities and colleges to address hunger and food insecurity among post-secondary students. The U of L is the first Canadian university to partner with the organization.

“I’m very proud of our students for banding together this year to address food insecurity on campus,” says Dr. Mike Mahon, U of L president and vice-chancellor. “Under the umbrella of Nourish, we have launched several programs to combat hunger over the years, but this year has been particularly challenging due the pandemic and our students have faced limited employment opportunities to supplement their income. These student clubs have come up with some very creative ways to provide healthy food for our students and I encourage everyone to get involved in Swipe Out Hunger.”

“Students used to grab breakfast together or have a snack in the library or meet in Urban Market,” says Amy Lambert, a fifth-year student who’s a member of the ULSU and PACT. “Food brought joy and connection. You meet and talk and nourish yourself, both mentally and physically. That hasn’t been possible this year, but the need is still there. We wanted to partner with our local community members and Umami has been great within our U of L community, and they teach you about the actual process of nourishing.”

On Thursday, March 25, the student clubs have partnered with Umami Shop Canada to offer a basket of ingredients for Pad Thai (two to four servings), along with a Zoom cooking lesson to make the dish. The student clubs have secured funding for 175 baskets for students on a first-come, first-served basis and members will be helping pack the baskets in the days ahead of the cooking class.

They are also extending the offer to purchase a basket to anyone who’d like to participate. The baskets at $24.99 each plus GST can be ordered through Umami. Choose “Virtual Cooking Class” from the top menu and then click on the “Umami Pad Thai UofLxUmami” option to order a kit. Community members also have the option of adding a donation to support Nourish programs.

“Anyone who wants to support our U of L community is welcome to buy a basket,” says Lambert. “We are asking community members to place their orders by March 22 at the latest.”

In addition, the last two weeks of March will be devoted to increasing awareness of food insecurity on campus. Recipes from Dr. Angeliki Pantazi’s nutrition class will be made available online on the Food for Thought website. Students in the class worked with each recipe to add nutrition or lower costs.

This project was made possible because of programs like Agility, which is completely funded by donors, that support creative student-led projects.

“We are extremely grateful to our donors for making it possible for our students to apply their education to real-world projects,” says Brandy Old (BA/BEd '17), Agility manager. “They take risks and collaborate in innovative ways to bring real change and awareness to food scarcity.”

Alumnus Turner earns TD Insurance Meloche Monnex Fellowship in Advancement

trevor.kenney — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:12:18 +0000

An engaged and enthusiastic leader who founded and served as the first president of PACT (Philanthropy, Advancement, Community and Traditions) at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge has earned a 2021 TD Insurance Meloche Monnex Fellowship in Advancement.

Kierian Turner initiated and served as the first president of the PACT club. PHOTO BY Nathan Hughes

Kierian Turner (BMus ‘20), a graduate of the Digital Audio Arts program in the Department of Music, is currently working as an alumni engagement assistant in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s Advancement office. The TD Insurance Meloche Monnex Fellowship provides funding to support his position for a further 12-month term, and strongly emphasizes the professional growth of each fellow, ensuring the strength of tomorrow’s advancement professionals. Turner is one of only two recipients selected from across the country to receive the award and the second U of L student in the past three years (Karissa Hartley (BA ’18)).

Turner initially began working as a caller in the student call centre. He has excelled in student engagement, relationship-building and event management. In leading the establishment of PACT, Turner spurred the group’s executive to develop and execute two new programs that supported the connection between students and alumni and promoted young alumni giving.

“I learned a great deal during my inaugural PACT presidency, but perhaps the greatest revelation was the degree to which our community is eager to give back time, talent and treasure to offer support to students,” he says. “This shared belief will be the guiding light of my fellowship, especially as members of our ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community look to one another for support during this especially difficult year.”

Turner has quickly grown into his role with Advancement and brings a full slate of talents to the team.

“His knowledge of the inner-workings of Advancement combined with his cross-institutional experience are just what we need to steward the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ towards a culture of philanthropy,” says Lyndsay Montina, manager, Alumni Relations. “Kierian is an exceptional young leader with unmatched enthusiasm, and I can guarantee he is worthy of this fellowship.”

Turner was the 2020 Department of Music Most Distinguished Graduate and won multiple scholarship awards, including: 2019 MusiCounts Scholarship; 2019 Fine Arts Shining Student and 2019 Arts & Science Shining Student; 2018 Joyce & Ron Sakamoto prize for Research and Development in Digital Audio Arts.

Turner is excited to lay the groundwork for the creation of a culture of philanthropy amongst students, beginning with a research project that will ultimately inform a student engagement plan tied to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s Annual Day of Giving. The proposed project will be foundational in building an environment where students understand, celebrate and engage with philanthropy while simultaneously building stronger affinity.

Broader community invited to view popular Last Lecture Series as it moves to online format

trevor.kenney — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 17:32:27 +0000

It has become an annual rite of spring for ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge students and now, the broader community will have the opportunity to take in an enhanced online edition of the Last Lecture Series.

Presented annually by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Students’ Union (ULSU), the Last Lecture Series has become one of the most popular events of the academic year. It traditionally features three U of L professors talking about life lessons that cannot be learned in the classroom, posing the question to them, “If you could talk about just one thing for your last lecture, what would it be?”

This spring, with an in-person event not possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ULSU is co-hosting with the student club PACT (philanthropy, advancement, community, traditions) and taking the event online. They have also expanded the lecturer list to an impressive eight speakers who represent a broad cross-section of disciplines from throughout campus. Celebrating a theme of adaptability, this impressive group will be online Friday, June 5 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to present their individual thoughts on what adaptability means to them.

“With most end-of-semester events cancelled, we wanted an initiative that could bring the uLethbridge community together,” says Kierian Turner, one of the event organizers and a past PACT president. “The Last Lecture has always been important to students of the graduating class, so we prioritized moving to an online model so that students are still able to get that final takeaway. It was important to have a panel with diverse experiences and research backgrounds so that attendees have the opportunity to connect on a deeper level and have a more holistic experience.”

The speaker schedule is as follows:

Tony Montina (BSc '08, MSc '10) — Introduction

10 a.m. — Adam Letourneau (Dhillon School of Business) — Life can Wonderfully be a Series of Career Changes

10:30 a.m. — Dr. Robin Bright (BASc '79, BEd '82, MEd '88) (Faculty of Education) — Everything I Really Need to Know, I Learned in ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ

11 a.m. — Dr. Shannon Spenceley (BN '84) (Faculty of Health Sciences) — Strange Days - Thriving in Uncertain Times

11:30 a.m. — Dr. Janay Nugent (BA '95) (Department of History) — The Empowerment of Young People in Tumultuous Times

12 to 1 p.m. — Lunch Break

1 p.m. — Don McIntrye (Dhillon School of Business) — Tricksters & Butterflies: Belonging Beyond this Day

1:30 p.m. — Dr. Robbin Derry (Dhillon School of Business) — What to Hold onto When Everything is in Flux?

2 p.m. — Dr. Anne Dymond (Faculty of Fine Arts) — Is it Too Late to Switch my Major? Or How I Learned to Live with Doubt

2:30 p.m. — Dr. Bryan Kolb (Department of Neuroscience) — Adaptability and the Brain that Changes Itself

Tony Montina — Closing

“What I love about our speaker lineup is that each of these professors apply their personal experience and expertise to a theme that is relatable to everyone — adaptability,” adds Turner. “This lineup will truly demonstrate the importance of a liberal education and how you can apply your uLethbridge experience to the many ways you will have to adapt throughout your lifetime. We have world-class faculty, and we are excited to share a glimpse of that with our community.”

The Last Lecture is a book co-authored by Randy Pausch, detailing everything he wanted his children to know after he was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Pausch delivered his last lecture entitled Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams as part of a lecture series where ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ are challenged to think about what really matters to them and give a Last Lecture.

For more on The Last Lecture speakers, follow this link: uleth.ca/alumni/last-lecture. To join the event, check in at go.uleth.ca/LastLecture2020.

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