UNews - Thompson Rivers ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ

U of L leads way in establishing ACCRU

trevor.kenney — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 19:44:35 +0000

This story by Léo Charbonneau appeared in the Sept. 12 edition of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Affairs. It is re-posted here with their permission.

There is a new university group in Canada: the Alliance of Canadian Comprehensive Research Universities.

Created at a meeting in Ottawa in June, ACCRU brings together the vice-presidents, research, of the smaller comprehensive universities in Canada that have "a strong commitment to research," said Dan Weeks, vice-president, research, at ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

The creation of the alliance is in part a reaction to the group known as the U15, which advocates on behalf of what it calls "Canada's 15 leading research universities."

A graphical representation of ACCRU.

That group, previously called the G10 and then the G13 before it expanded to its current 15 members, has given those institutions "a strong unified voice for consultation and lobbying activities on their behalf," said Dr. Weeks.

However, ACCRU is not meant to be a lobbying group, he stressed. Rather, the aim of the new alliance is to discuss the challenges and issues that these smaller universities face, and to pool resources and best practices with like-minded colleagues.

"If we do have advice and things that have policy implications, the route would be through either AUCC [Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada] or our individual presidents," he said.

Dr. Weeks set the ball rolling for the new group with a letter he sent to colleagues this past January.

The letter reads in part: "There are a number of unique challenges associated with conducting world-class research at Canada's small institutions. Effectively meeting these challenges and ensuring that research investments made in our institutions are of maximal benefit to all Canadians prompts me to suggest that Canada's 'small' research universities might benefit by informal discussion of the merits of forming a group or forum. This would give us the opportunity to discuss and react collectively to issues we face now or that will arise."

The response was "absolutely fantastic," said Dr. Weeks. "Everybody was excited about getting together." The respondents agreed on a date and venue for the event, and of the 25 universities initially contacted, 19 sent representatives to the Ottawa gathering – in most cases, either the vice-president or associate VP research.

While stressing that membership in ACCRU is "meant to be inclusive," Dr. Weeks acknowledged he had to come up with "some sort of algorithm" to choose who to invite.

He and William Bridger, a former vice-president at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Western Ontario, devised a plan. First, they said the university had to describe itself as a comprehensive university.

Second, they did a rough calculation of the percentage of tri-council funding that each university receives, and "there was a pretty obvious breakpoint, and so we invited everybody below that line," said Dr. Weeks.

But he added, "I really wouldn't put too much stock in this 'who's in, who's out' type of thing. It's really more about the scope of your operations and would you benefit from being at these discussions."

The attendees to the Ottawa meeting "talked a lot about faculty recruitment and, related to that, the general perception of small universities by the public and by other institutions," said Dr. Weeks.

They also discussed research ethics, infrastructure, animal care, research centres and institutes, contracts, "and all the things that we have to fulfill in terms of policies and regulations" but often with far fewer resources than the larger universities, "so we have to be more clever about how we get some of these accomplished."

Katherine Schultz, vice-president research at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Prince Edward Island, attended the meeting and said the conversations "were frank and open." She noted that, unlike vice-presidents, academic, there is no national meeting for VPs research, so this group "fills a gap that many of us perceived. … It's a forum for information exchange that didn't exist."

André Manseau, dean of research at Université du Quebec en Outaouais, said it was "very enriching" for him to have his colleagues share their experiences. "We face many similar issues," he said. "Our offices are of relatively modest size and we don't have a lot of specialized personnel."

The ACCRU members agreed to meet again in Ottawa in early December, before the annual Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council's leaders meeting (of senior university administrators who serve as points of contact with the council).

The alliance also created three working groups that will report at the December meeting: one looking at best practices, one on governance of the group itself, and a third tasked to craft a mission statement.

Universities represented at the ACCRU meeting in June:

* Acadia ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ
* Bishop's ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ
* Brandon ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ
* Brock ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ
* Cape Breton ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ
* Lakehead ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ
* Nipissing ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ
* St. Francis Xavier ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ
* Saint Mary's ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ
* Thompson Rivers ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ
* Trent ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ
* Université de Moncton
* Université du Québec en Outaouais
* ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge
* ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Northern British Columbia
* ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Prince Edward Island
* ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Regina
* ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Windsor
* Wilfrid Laurier ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ

Building blocks construct future

trevor.kenney — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 19:04:20 +0000

When Brad Kempster moved to Lethbridge this past summer and started constructing Lego models under the guidance of Dr. Claudia Gonzalez, he was also piecing together his future studies at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

Kempster, currently an undergraduate student at Kamloops' Thompson Rivers ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, was alerted by his brother (Cody, BSc '08, already a U of L student) to a research opening in Dr. Claudia Gonzalez's kinesiology lab. The ongoing project was the study of right and left hemispheric differences when processing information within the vision for action system in the brain.

"As an undergrad, this is a really nice consolidation of what I have learned over the past three years," says Kempster, a fourth-year BA student with a major in psychology. "Having taken a number of statistics classes and experimental design classes, to now have the opportunity to come to a university and work with someone who gives you the freedom to design an experiment and implement the knowledge you've gained from class has been great."

Dr. Claudia Gonzalez, standing, observes undergraduate student assistant Brad Kempster as he participates in a Lego building exercise that tests a subject's visuomotor control.

The research focuses around handedness and the contributions of each cerebral hemisphere to visuomotor integration. It may get at the core of why 90 per cent of the population is right-handed, and just may serve as a future tool to aid rehabilitation techniques for those who suffer right or left hemisphere brain damage.

The Lego tests that Kempster and Gonzalez administer are simple in design but offer deep insight into the workings of the brain. They present subjects with a Lego model, then time the participants as they attempt to reconstruct it from pieces scattered on a table divided into four quadrants.

"This is an effective and simple test to assess what hand people prefer to use when reaching out and grasping an object," says Gonzalez.

"What we have found, not surprisingly, is that right-handers use their right hand much more than their left hand, even though some of the objects are on the left side of the table," she says. "It's a less efficient movement but we still prefer to reach across rather than to use our left hand to perform the task.

"Interestingly, left-handers are not the mirror image of right-handers. Many people who say they are left-handed either use both hands or even their right hand more often than their left to reach and grasp the objects. By doing this task, you get a more accurate idea of their handedness, at least with respect to visuomotor control."

For Kempster, the hands-on research opportunity is invaluable, and upon completion of his undergraduate degree, he expects to come to the U of L and work on a master's degree under Gonzalez.

For Gonzalez and the U of L, the collaboration promises to yield another valuable graduate researcher.

"Working with undergraduates is one of the most satisfying experiences a professor can have," she says. "I've been very fortunate to add Brad to my team. Undergrads bring to the lab incredible amounts of energy and enthusiasm and his contributions have been quite significant to my research.

"He took a chance to come here and work with me this summer, even though he has a year of work to do before he finishes his degree. His plans are to come back here next year as a graduate student which is great for me, the department and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ."

GET THE FACTS

· Gonzalez is an assistant professor and Canada Research Chair in kinesiology, earning her bachelor's degree in Mexico before completing both her master's and PhD at the U of L.

· There is no definitive answer as to why people are right- or left-handed. The theory that Gonzalez investigates is that the left hemisphere might be more specialized in visuomotor control, and that's part of the reason why right-handed use is more prevalent.

· Gonzalez says the evolution of a predominant right-handed society could be a chicken-and-egg scenario, asking, "Do we use our right hand more because the left hemisphere is more specialized in integrating visual and motor information, or did the left hemisphere become more specialized for visuomotor control because we are predominantly right-handed?"

Taal, Lawrence are Horns athletes of the week

trevor.kenney — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 21:09:00 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns basketball players, Lauren Taal and Danhue Lawrence, were named Horns Athletes of the Week on Tuesday.

Despite losing a pair of games to visiting ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Saskatchewan, Taal had a pair of strong games offensively, scoring double digits in both contests.

On Friday night, Taal led the Horns with 17 points in a 68-51 loss, hitting three, three-pointers and also grabbing three rebounds and a pair of steals. She followed up that performance with 11 points, four assists, two rebounds and a steal in Saturday night's 62-46 loss.

Through eight conference games, Taal sits 17th in Canada West scoring, averaging 10.9 points per game.

On the men's side, senior guard Danhue Lawrence had a big weekend versus the Saskatchewan Huskies. In the Horns two losses to the defending CIS champions, Lawrence combined for 50 points. On Friday night, in the Horns' 93-61 loss, Danhue topped the Horns with 16 points on 6-of-16 shooting and grabbed team high eight rebounds.

The next night, Lawrence was a point short of matching his Pronghorn career high, netting 34 points. He was 9-of-16 from the field and hit 13-of-16 from the free throw line. He also grabbed another eight rebounds and added eight assists.

Horns basketball heads to Kamloops this weekend for games against Thompson Rivers ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

Building blocks construct future

trevor.kenney — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 17:38:01 +0000

"This is an effective and simple test to assess what hand people prefer to use when reaching out and grasping an object," says Gonzalez.

For Kempster, the hands-on research opportunity is invaluable, and upon completion of his undergraduate degree, he expects to come to the U of L and work on a master's degree under Gonzalez.

For Gonzalez and the U of L, the collaboration promises to yield another valuable graduate researcher.

GET THE FACTS

• Gonzalez is an assistant professor and Canada Research Chair in kinesiology, earning her bachelor's degree in Mexico before completing both her master's and PhD at the U of L.

• There is no definitive answer as to why people are right- or left-handed. The theory that Gonzalez investigates is that the left hemisphere might be more specialized in visuomotor control, and that's part of the reason why right-handed use is more prevalent.

• Gonzalez says the evolution of a predominant right-handed society could be a chicken-and-egg scenario, asking, "Do we use our right hand more because the left hemisphere is more specialized in integrating visual and motor information, or did the left hemisphere become more specialized for visuomotor control because we are predominantly right-handed?"

Student leaders sought for international volunteer experience

trevor.kenney — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:44:05 +0000

Students at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge looking to develop leadership skills have an opportunity to travel internationally as part of a volunteer experience with the Developing World Connections (DWC) organization.

Developing World Connections (DWC) is a Canadian grassroots non-profit organization that offers international volunteer experiences in Rwanda, Kenya, Swaziland, Sri Lanka, India, Cambodia, Guatemala, and Peru.

In 2009, DWC sent seven university teams (typically 10 people per team): including three from ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of British Columbia, two from Ryerson, one from ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Victoria and one from Thompson Rivers ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. DWC is currently seeking student leaders to lead groups for the summer of 2010.

DWC partners with grassroots non-profits that deliver sustainable development projects in their respective communities. Working as part of a team, DWC volunteers get their hands dirty volunteering their time and energy working directly with members of the community. The work often revolves around the construction of small physical infrastructure projects like sub-surface dams, low-income houses, health posts and community centres. As a registered charity, DWC provides a tax receipt for the entire cost of the experience and students are encouraged to fundraise. ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ student experiences last four to six weeks long and also include a culture tour component.

The role of a student team leader is comprehensive and requires one to be organized, responsible and highly motivated. Being a student leader is a lot of work, but offers an invaluable experience. This is a volunteer position but the team leader's costs are totally covered.

Those interested in being a DWC university student team leader can contact Jess Rothenburger, development coordinator, Developing World Connections at 250-434-2524 ext. 13/Toll Free 1-866-458-8209. For more information on the program, visit the DWC web site at www.developingworldconnections.org

UNews - Thompson Rivers ��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ

U of L leads way in establishing ACCRU

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