UNews - founder

Calgary alumni dinner hosts Bremmer

trevor.kenney — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 22:14:40 +0000

He appears regularly on CNBC, has published articles in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times and Newsweek, all while presiding over the leading global political risk research and consulting firm. Ian Bremmer, the president of Eurasia Group, is the guest speaker for the 2013 Calgary Alumni & Friends Dinner, Tuesday, Apr. 9 at The Fairmont Palliser.

"He is definitely one of the world's leading authorities on how political developments move markets," says Anil Tahiliani (BMgt '90), Chair of the Calgary Alumni & Friends Dinner. "His insight on global macro political trends and the emerging markets they influence is especially relevant for our Calgary audience, many of whom are influenced daily by the changing political climate throughout the world and its effect on the markets with which they interact."

Bremmer founded Eurasia Group in 1998 with an initial investment of just $25,000. Today, the company has offices in New York, Washington and London, as well as a network of experts and resources around the world. He created Wall Street's first global political risk index, has authored several books, writes 'The Call' blog on ForeignPolicy.com and regularly appears on national television and radio programs as an acclaimed expert in his field.

"When we first introduced the Calgary Alumni & Friends Dinner, our goal was to create an evening that would not only bring our alumni together in fellowship, but to give attendees a compelling and engaging speaker that reflects the values and goals of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge," says U of L President, Dr. Mike Mahon. "Ian Bremmer is representative of the U of L's ever-growing international reputation as well as its continued emergence as a comprehensive research university."

Tickets for the Apr. 9 event are priced at $175 per plate and are available online at www.uleth.ca/conreg/calgarydinner or by calling ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Advancement toll-free at 1-866-552-2582 or e-mailing advancement.events@uleth.ca.

Chambers leads overseas project

trevor.kenney — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:14:47 +0000

The British Museum's collection of Inuinnait objects is part of a visual repatriation project taking northern elders, crafts people and researchers to London, England.

The project is part of the Ulukhaktok literacies research, a long‐term collaboration among the NWT Literacy Council, the community of Ulukhaktok, and Dr. Cynthia Chambers, a Faculty of Education researcher from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

The research sought to understand what literacy meant traditionally to the Kangiryuarmiut and what it means today.

The elders, researchers and crafts people will examine British Museum tools, clothing and other objects dating back to the first encounters between Europeans and ancestors of the Inuinnait.

The museum objects and the trip to London, England will be captured in photos and a video documentary.

"People who still know the importance of these objects to the traditional way of life will have a chance to see some of them," says Helen Balanoff, the NWT Literacy Council executive director. "We hope to be able to capture language and stories about the objects, as well as the skills involved in making them."

Those going on the Apr. 16‐23 trip include Chambers and toolmaker Adam Kudlak and researchers Emily Kudlak and Helen Kitekudlak, all of Ulukhaktok, as well as Emily Angulalik, a founder of the Kitikmeot Heritage Society, and elders Mary Avalak and Annie Atigihioyak, all of Cambridge Bay.

The Ulukhaktok literacies research project findings from Phase 1 were shared in a museum exhibit at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in 2009 and in the recent book, Pihuaqtiuyugut: We are the Long Distance Walkers.

Scholarship dinner to honour Allen

trevor.kenney — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:06:31 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Faculty of Management will celebrate its 25th anniversary, in the U of L's 45th year, by honouring a man who has devoted his life to his family, career and the community.

The Faculty will honour Del Allen, the founder of D.A. Electric and a well-known community volunteer, entrepreneur, supporter of post-secondary education, sport and youth programming in the city, at its Thursday, Apr. 5 Management Scholarship Dinner. Proceeds from the event will support the Del Allen Scholarship.

Allen established D.A. Electric with his brother Don in 1975 and it quickly grew into a successful regional enterprise. His son Doug now manages the daily affairs of the business. The success of D.A. Electric, combined with Allen's values and sense of community, have allowed him to support and help provide direction for many local groups, including the Boys and Girls Club of Lethbridge and District, Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce, Lethbridge Construction Association, the Interfaith Food Bank and numerous sports organizations.

Allen has also generously supported further education through donations to post-secondary institutions, including funding for ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge athletics and academic scholarships, and a sizeable financial commitment to the library in 1995.

Allen was also a member of the Lethbridge College Wind Turbine Advisory Committee, helping the College develop its wind generation program. In addition, he made a major donation toward the construction of the Trades Building on the college campus.

While Allen's business has wired a massive number of homes, businesses and industrial projects over the years, one of his brightest ideas, and most visually spectacular projects, was the lighting of the High Level Bridge in September 2009 during its centennial celebrations. He also helped bring the illuminated Christmas Train for a stop on the bridge that December. Allen and D.A. Electric most fittingly won the Spirit of Lethbridge Award that year.

The Management Scholarship Dinner traditionally sells out quickly, so for those wishing to attend, ensure you reserve individual tickets or a table as soon as possible. Tickets, priced at $125 may be purchased online at www.uleth.ca/conreg/scholarship_dinner.

If you wish to learn more about sponsorship opportunities, reserving corporate tables, ordering tickets by phone or making a donation to the Del Allen Scholarship Fund, call 403-329-5181.

DELF-DALF Centre a language hub

trevor.kenney — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 21:22:45 +0000

More people in southern Alberta will have access to an internationally recognized French language testing process this year.

The DELF-DALF French Language Proficiency Testing Centre at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge offered its first exams in April and is now gearing up for a new round of testing in November.

The DELF-DALF tests recognize written and spoken competency in the French language at several levels, ranging from beginner to expert. More than 50 people, including U of L students, middle school students from Pincher Creek and members of the general public, completed the testing process last year. Successful candidates receive an internationally recognized diploma issued by the Centre International D'Etudes Pédagogiques (CIEP) in Paris.

Modern languages professors Steven Urquhart and Barbara Dickinson founded the local centre through a successful grant application to the Canada-Alberta Official Language Protocol (COLEP) in 2009, which saw them receive $127,000 per year over four years.

Modern Languages faculty members (L to R), Steven Urquhart, Mélanie Collado and Barbara Dickinson.

A steering committee, consisting of director Urquhart and co-directors, Dickinson and Mélanie Collado from Modern Languages and Peter Heffernan from the Faculty of Education, is working with local school boards to promote French in southern Alberta. The entire testing process is strictly controlled by the French government through the CIEP and depends on "corrector-examiners" who have successfully completed an extensive training course. Currently the Centre has recruited correctors from Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Pincher Creek.

As part of the Centre's ongoing work, Urquhart and Collado spent part of their summer in Nantes, France attending a program offered by the CIEP to become trainers for the DELF (Diplôme d'études en langue française) and DALF (Diplôme approfondi de langue française) corrector-examiners.

"In this way, we will be able to train correctors without depending on the Alliance Française in Calgary, " says Urquhart. "This past summer, a few correctors took training in order to be able to offer advanced testing (DALF C1/C2), which should appeal to ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ students as well as to people looking to work and or study internationally. Most French universities, for example, require students to have the C1 level to enroll in regular courses with French students."

Urquhart adds that employers are increasingly recognizing the DELF/DALF standard when a second language is required or suggested as part of a job description.

"The DELF and the DALF correspond to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), which is quickly becoming the international standard with respect to the evaluation of language proficiency," says Urquhart. "For example, at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, the Common European Framework of Reference was used to evaluate potential employees' language proficiency."

Urquhart says that the French diplomas have equivalencies in German (Zertifikat Deutsch), Spanish (DELE), Italian (CELI) and many other languages. These diplomas serve as language proficiency guides for public and private sector institutions around the world, and allow them to better understand an individual's language competency.

"This is the only French testing centre south of Calgary, so anyone in this area can contact us to learn more about the process. We are also looking for people to act as corrector-examiners. The more people we have helping us, the better we can serve those who want to take the tests and have their language skills officially recognized."

The deadline to apply for the next round of testing is Oct. 4. The tests begin in early November. There is no cost, but a deposit is required to confirm enrollment and is refunded when the course is complete.

To learn more, please visit this website: http://www.uleth.ca/artsci/delf-dalf/

This story first appeared in the September issue of the Legend. For a look at the full issue of the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Honorary degree recipients make contributions

trevor.kenney — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 18:04:55 +0000

The 2011 Honorary Degree Recipients

A distinguished group of four people make up the Spring Convocation list of Honorary Degree recipients. In each instance, it is apparent that this group gave a great deal to their vocational field but more than anything, they gave back to society.

Maude Barlow

Maude Barlow is a widely published author, leader in the International Water Justice Movement, senior advisor on water to the 63rd president of the United Nations General Assembly and the founding member and national chairperson of the Council of Canadians.

Clint Dunford

Clint Dunford is a business consultant and four-term member of the Alberta Legislature (Lethbridge West) who was instrumental in the creation and launch of Campus Alberta and WorkSafe Alberta, among other initiatives. A cancer survivor, Dunford served as the honorary chairman of the Canadian Cancer Society's Walk for Life.

Kim Phuc

Kim Phuc is a noted humanitarian and subject of the famous photograph of a young Vietnamese girl fleeing her village after a horrific napalm attack. Phuc founded the Kim Phuc Foundation and is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for a Culture of Peace.

Gordon Semenoff

A Pincher Creek-born theoretical physicist, Gordon Semenoff is a professor of physics at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of British Columbia. He was the 2010 Bertram Brockhouse medal winner and is a renowned expert on quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, statistical mechanics and string theory.

2011 Honorary Degree Recipients

trevor.kenney — Mon, 16 May 2011 21:34:32 +0000

The 2011 Honorary Degree Recipients

Maude Barlow

Clint Dunford

Kim Phuc

Gordon Semenoff

Going about their business

trevor.kenney — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:29:12 +0000

A video game development group, a web-based used book marketer and a biology researcher who hopes to make algae more useful were the regional winners of the SouthVenture Business Plan Competition.

The three teams shared $10,000 in prize money and now move into a province-wide competition where they will represent the innovative spirit of U of L students to the entire province.

Pictured (left to right) are Gezim Hoxha, Tyrel Schick and Trevor McMillan, regional winners of the SouthVenture Business Plan Competition.

As well, the teams receive more training opportunities with the other six regional finalists from Calgary and Edmonton – and an opportunity to compete for another $10,000 in cash awards.

The grand prize of $6,000 went to Tyrel Schick, a New Media major and founder of Nougat Software, a game developing company made up of more than 30 U of L students from many different disciplines.

The runner-up prizes of $2,000 each went to Gezim Hoxha, a management/computer science double major and founder of GizmoBooks.com, a unique used book exchange portal; and Trevor McMillan, a PhD candidate in biology and co-founder of ALGENs, a biotech start-up which improves strains of algae for biofuel production, agricultural food production and therapeutic drug manufacturing.

The award program was organized and administered by the Research Services office at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, with financial support from TechEdmonton.

For a look at the March issue of the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Senate selects honorary degree group

trevor.kenney — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:17:51 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Senate has confirmed six deserving individuals to receive an Honorary Degree at Convocation ceremonies taking place in the spring and fall. Following are short biographical sketches of this year's honorees.

Maude Barlow
Barlow is a widely published author, leader in the International Water Justice Movement, senior advisor on water to the 63rd president of the United Nations General Assembly and the founding member and national chairperson of the Council of Canadians.

Clint Dunford
Dunford is a business consultant and four-term member of the Alberta Legislature (Lethbridge West) who was instrumental in the creation and launch of Campus Alberta and WorkSafe Alberta, among other initiatives. A cancer survivor, Dunford served as the honorary chairman of the Canadian Cancer Society's Walk for Life.

George Gemer
A well-known Lethbridge track and field and fencing coach, Gemer is also an author and survivor of Second World War prisoner of war camps who fled Hungary for Canada in 1956. Gemer has coached and officiated at the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and other world-class sporting events while retaining close ties to the Hungarian community in Lethbridge and beyond.

John Kloppenborg
A ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge graduate (1974), he is a professor and Chair at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto's Department and Centre for the Study of Religion. Kloppenborg is well-known as a researcher of the origins and sources of early Christian texts such as the Q document, a lost book of the New Testament.

Kim Phuc
Phuc is a noted humanitarian and subject of the famous photograph of a young Vietnamese girl fleeing her village after a horrific napalm attack. Phuc founded the Kim Phuc Foundation and is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for a Culture of Peace.

Gordon Semenoff
A Pincher Creek-born theoretical physicist, Semenoff is a professor of physics at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of British Columbia. He was the 2010 Bertram Brockhouse medal winner and is a renowned expert on quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, statistical mechanics and string theory.

For a look at the March issue of the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Art Now features Trasov, Morris

trevor.kenney — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:45:41 +0000

The popular Art Now series has resumed for the Fall semester at the U of L, and the Wednesday, Sept. 29 edition features a pair of aoutstanding artists from British Columbia on campus.

Vincent Trasov and Michael Morris will speak at 12:15 p.m. in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Recital Hall (W570).

In 1970, Trasov and Morris founded Image Bank, a conceptual vehicle for mail art projects, which featured collaborations with Eric Metcalfe, Gary Lee Nova, Ray Johnson, General Idea, and Robert Filliou. Further to this, Morris and Trasov, along with eight colleagues from various disciplines, founded and directed the Western Front Society, an artist-run centre developed as a site for the production and presentation of "New Art" in all disciplines, including performance and media arts
Morris attended the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Victoria and the Vancouver School of Art, and completed his post-graduate studies at the Slade School of Fine Art at London ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in England, for which he received a Commonwealth Scholarship. He was the acting curator at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1966, and from 1967 to 1970 he organized art events and exhibitions at the Simon Fraser ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Art Gallery. Known primarily as an abstract painter and printmaker, Morris has also completed successful works in film, photography, video, installation and performance.
Trasov majored in languages and humanities at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of British Columbia. In 1969 he began making conceptual art, working with process, text and materials and later video work. In addition, Trasov assumed the identity of Mr. Peanut and with the support of the arts community, Mr. Peanut ran for mayor of Vancouver. As a marker of his artistic influence, he was selected by the Vancouver Sun in 1999 as one of the top 100 British Columbians who shaped the province over the past century.

Cinema Politica film tonight in Galileo's

trevor.kenney — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:27:16 +0000

The Lethbridge Public Interest Research Group is screening the film, Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, Tuesday night, 7 p.m. in Galileo's Gallery.

Everyone is welcome to attend this free event, a part of the Cinema Politica documentary film series, screening every Tuesday in Galileo's.

Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai is a 79-minute film that tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai, whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy; a movement for which this charismatic woman became an iconic inspiration.

FULL SYNOPSIS

Planting trees for fuel, shade, and food is not something that anyone would imagine as the first step toward winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet with that simple act Wangari Maathai, a woman born in rural Kenya, started down the path that reclaimed her country's land from 100 years of deforestation, provided new sources of food and income to rural communities, gave previously impoverished and powerless women a vital political role in their country, and ultimately helped to bring down Kenya's twenty-four-year dictatorship.

Taking Root weaves a compelling and dramatic narrative of one woman's personal journey in the context of the turbulent political and environmental history of her country. Raised in the rural highlands of Kenya, educated in the United States during the 1960s civil rights era, and the first female to receive a PhD in East Africa, Maathai discovered the heart of her life's work by reconnecting with the rural women with whom she had grown up. They told her that their daily lives had become intolerable: they were walking longer distances for firewood, clean water had become scarce, the soil was disappearing from their fields, and their children were suffering from malnutrition. Maathai thought to herself, "Well, why not plant trees?" Trees provide shade, prevent soil erosion, supply firewood and building materials, and produce nutritious fruit to combat malnutrition. With this realization Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, a grassroots organization encouraging rural women to plant trees.

UNews - founder

Calgary alumni dinner hosts Bremmer

Related Topics

Chambers leads overseas project

Related Topics

Scholarship dinner to honour Allen

Related Topics

DELF-DALF Centre a language hub

Related Topics

Honorary degree recipients make contributions

Related Topics

2011 Honorary Degree Recipients

Related Topics

Going about their business

Related Topics

Senate selects honorary degree group

Related Topics

Art Now features Trasov, Morris

Related Topics

Cinema Politica film tonight in Galileo's

Related Topics