UNews - Graduate Students' Association

Meeting of the Minds Conference, 3MT finals showcase student research to virtual audience

trevor.kenney — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 21:13:13 +0000

Join the best and brightest undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral researchers at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge for a Meeting of the Minds on Friday, March 26.

The Meeting of the Minds Conference, hosted by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Graduate Students' Association (GSA), features five- and 10-minute talks representing a wide variety of research taking place on campus. Registration is free to all those who wish to attend. The conference will use the Zoom web platform which will allow participants to see the various aspects of the conference.

Following opening remarks at 9 a.m., research talks get going at 9:15 a.m. These talks and poster presentations are quick snapshots of some of the amazing work U of L students are engaged in, and are intended for a general audience.

The breadth and depth of the research is remarkable and includes everything from examinations of whether children should be part of family violence discussions with therapists, to the psychology of weight management approaches to DNA and RNA repair.

“I think most people would be surprised at how many different kinds of research are taking place at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ on a daily basis,” says Rachel Stark, GSA vice-president student life. “The work we are doing as students is of a high quality and makes key contributions to our fields of study and to society as a whole.”

Also included in Meeting of the Minds are the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) finals and the annual Images of Research competition. The 3MT finals begin at 5 p.m. and feature the top students from qualifying heats presenting their research in just three-minute segments. 3MT is an international research communication competition originating from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Queensland. The winner will go on to represent the U of L at the Western Regional Competition in May.

Awards will also be presented for the Images of Research competition, which provides a unique opportunity for graduate students to display their research, scholarly and artistic work.

For more information and to register for Meeting of the Minds, visit this link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/meeting-of-the-minds3mt-tickets-143018406905.

U of L student and faculty research to be showcased at two events

caroline.zentner — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 16:55:16 +0000

The public is invited to learn more about research being conducted at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge through the annual Community ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Research Exchange (CURE) and the Meeting of the Minds conference Friday and Saturday.

Friday’s CURE event highlights the research being done by U of L faculty and students involving community partners. Now in its third year, CURE began as a way to ensure the research being done at the U of L had a way to be used by community organizations, government bodies, non-governmental organizations, industry and the general public.

CURE begins at 11:15 a.m. with opening remarks in Andy’s Place (AH100). Shannon Flint, assistant deputy minister with Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development, will give the keynote speech at 11:30 a.m. Lunch is provided. Speed talks are scheduled from 12:45 to 3 p.m. in Markin Hall, M1040. Researchers with the Alberta Gambling Research Institute and the Alberta Centre for Child, Family and Community Research will give brief talks about their research. A poster session and reception is scheduled from 3 to 5 p.m. The posters will highlight research being done in areas as diverse as men’s depression, rural nursing practice and an investigation into the medicinal properties of prairie plants.

Following CURE, everyone is welcome to attend the finals of the 3-Minute Thesis Competition, which opens the Meeting of the Minds conference, at 5:30 p.m. in the Atrium of Markin Hall.

Following the finals and awards presentation are sessions with the Centre for Oral History and Tradition and Blake Evernden, a graduate student who does multi-disciplinary work in new media. He will talk about his film titled Prairie Dog. Hosted by the Graduate Students’ Association, the conference is now in its ninth year.

“The Meeting of the Minds is a multi-disciplinary research conference for both graduate and undergraduate students here at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge,” says Mark Carrell, president of the GSA. “It’s a great opportunity for these students to build their presentation skills.”

Saturday’s events get underway at 9 a.m. with oral presentations by more than 40 students. A poster session with more than 20 submissions follows from 3:30 to 5 p.m. and Dr. Louise Barrett, a U of L psychology professor, will be the plenary speaker at 5 p.m. A full schedule of events is available online.

“It is probably one of the larger conferences put on by graduate students,” says Carrell. “If you bring students from different faculties into one space to talk about their research, there’s endless networking possibilities there.”

In addition, Carrell says local politicians and regional employers are invited to attend the conference, giving students the possibility of learning about employment opportunities.

Since 2009, the number of graduate students, both international and domestic, in research-based programs at the U of L has increased significantly. This academic year, 561 students are pursuing masters’ and doctoral degrees. The Meeting of the Minds conference has also grown, with a 20 per cent increase in the number of undergraduate students participating this year.

“We’re really excited to let the community know about the conference,” says Jenna Kummer, the GSA’s vice-president (academic). “Graduate enrolment is growing and it’s an important piece for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. We’re a young graduate community and a conference like this helps attract students to the U of L.”

Meeting of the Minds Conference

trevor.kenney — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:35:28 +0000

What is genetic fingerprinting? Why do bears wear pants? Will a person change their risky behaviour after exposure to frightening information? What is voluntourism, and how can it affect developing countries? Is there a more efficient way to distribute wireless services? Who are the people asking all of these questions, anyway?

Join the best and brightest undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral researchers at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge for a Meeting of the Minds and get answers to these –and more – questions on Saturday, Mar. 10 in Markin Hall.

The Meeting of the Minds Conference, hosted by the U of L Graduate Students' Association and sponsored by the School of Graduate Studies, is geared to bring research to an external community audience, and all presentations are open to the general public and free to attend.

The day concludes with a reception and poster presentation display at 5 p.m., a cocktail dinner and a 7 p.m. talk by pioneering U of L neuroscience researcher Dr. Bryan Kolb.

Meeting of the Minds promises to deliver a surprising and educational day of more than 30 talks and poster presentations which represent the wide variety of research taking place on campus at the undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral level. This is the sixth annual event of its type on campus.

"It is extremely important as a researcher to be able to present your work in a way that is understandable to an external audience," says spokesperson Samantha Dawson. We are looking at this event as a way to not only explain what we do, but to gain experience in public presentation skills and networking."

With more than 500 people conducting research and taking graduate studies at the U of L, Dawson says the opportunity to learn from each other is also extremely valuable.

"We don't have time to drop into someone else's lab and ask them what they are up to, so our event also gives us a chance to learn even more about what our colleagues are working on," she says. "We hope that this sparks collaboration between people who might not have previously thought of working together."

Dawson says that conference organizers have worked hard to encourage participation from all areas of campus.

"We had people from different faculties review papers – for example, a biological sciences presentation might have been reviewed by someone from fine arts or management, and vice versa. This ensured that there was a good level of external review and requests for clarity. If the reviewer didn't understand it, it was unlikely a broader community audience would understand it."

This year's conference promises to be the largest to date.

"With the Meeting of the Minds theme and external focus, hopefully we will draw more people to campus to learn about graduate studies and the diversity of work taking place here," says Dawson.

For a complete list of presentations, check the Notice Board.

Smith revels in the opportunity to volunteer

trevor.kenney — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 19:02:25 +0000

Adam Smith (BSc '05, MSc '09) can see his breath in the air as he makes his way out to the parking lot. He unlocks the door and slides into the seat of yet another strange car, catching his reflection in the rearview mirror as he adjusts it. If you watch closely, you might notice a stifled yawn – it's 3 a.m.

Adam Smith has been volunteering for Operation Red Nose for the last 11 years.

As a student, Smith pulled his share of all-nighters. In fact, he laughs at the memory of sleepless nights spent monitoring lab experiments as he worked towards his master's degree in biochemistry. If you ask him what's keeping him up now, it's not all-night parties or lab work. Instead, the 28-year old's lack of sleep comes from long nights as an Operation Red Nose (ORN) volunteer.

"I started volunteering when I was on the track team," explains Smith, who threw weight and shotput for three years before suffering a career-ending injury.

"Red Nose started as something I had to do – but now it's something I want to do."

Having returned for the 11th successive year, Smith obviously enjoys volunteering but he takes his responsibilities very seriously. Originally participating out of obligation to his team, Smith admits he's had a change in perspective and now volunteers as a way of giving back to the community.

"I've developed a greater appreciation for what it's all about," says Smith. "It's more than hanging out with friends and raising money for Pronghorns athletes. It's also about playing an active role in the community, and taking part of the shared responsibility for making that community a better place."

Although, Smith admits, the money does support a cause near and dear to his heart.

"As a student athlete, it's not easy to balance school with a tough training schedule," acknowledges Smith, who trained up to 30 hours a week and didn't have a lot of time left over for a part-time job. "I travelled to meets and competitions across Canada, and all of my expenses were covered by Pronghorns Athletics."

With those thoughts in mind, Smith returns each year to volunteer for ORN. He gives generously of his time, spending up to five nights each winter making sure that holiday partygoers and their vehicles get home safely. In addition, he's worked with groups like the Graduate Students' Association to encourage others to get involved.

"ORN is a great program and offers the best of both worlds: you and your vehicle home safely at the end of the night," says Smith. "It has become a staple of our community and demand continues to grow each year."

As he buckles his seat belt and shifts into gear, Smith knows he's going to be tired the next day, but his yawn turns into a smile when he thinks about the difference he's making.

Operation Red Nose, now in its 17th year, provides rides home to individuals in their own vehicles. There is no fee for the service, but donations are gratefully accepted. For more information or to volunteer, call 403-329-2681. If you're out on the town and need a ride, call 403-320-4155.

For a look at the full issue of the December 2010 Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Amnesty International's Neve highlights Global Justice Week

trevor.kenney — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:15:25 +0000

Battling for human rights has been a lifelong commitment for Amnesty International's Alex Neve. The insight he's gained from being on the front lines of that battle will form the basis of the lecture he'll deliver to a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge audience during Global Justice Week, Sept. 30 to Oct. 2.

Neve will cap the week with his lecture, Economic Insecurity, National Insecurity: Don't Lose Sight of Human Rights. The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Students' Union (ULSU), in collaboration with the Graduate Students' Association (GSA) and Lethbridge Public Interest Research Group (LPIRG), is hosting the three-day event. Neve's talk is Friday, Oct. 2, 7 p.m. in PE250.

"The purpose is to raise awareness of the fact that we live in an unjust world," says Alex Massé, ULSU VP Academic and organizer of the event. "It's so students living here, in the richest part of the world, don't take their position for granted."

Within the last year, economic uncertainty has been on the minds of many, from governments to average citizens. Neve, the Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada since 2000 and member of the organization since 1985, says that can't take away our focus from human rights.

"The message I want to convey is that we live in insecure times," Neve says. "We live in times of economic insecurity, especially in the last year."

Because of this, human rights often get pushed to the back burner in times of economic distress. Amnesty International is trying to put human rights back into the forefront.

Neve, who holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree, a Bachelor of Laws Degree and a Master of Law Degree in International Human Rights Law, believes that security of any sort should be grounded in human rights.

Amnesty International has long advocated for fair trials to ensure justice, the proper handling of prisoners in Afghanistan, as well as improvements to Immigration Security Certificates (a legal mechanism used by the Government of Canada to detain and deport non-citizens). According to Neve, there are currently five Security Certificate cases in Canada in which Amnesty International is involved in various ways.

On the economic front, Amnesty International launched the "Demand Dignity" campaign, which looks at human rights violations that lead to and deepen poverty. This is a worldwide campaign that was launched in May. Neve explains that we don't often look at human rights in terms of poverty.

Amnesty International also highlights the plight of Indigenous people in Canada, particularly with regard to women's issues and the role of the economy in deepening poverty.

While Neve's presentation highlights Global Justice Week, a variety of other events will be taking place, including a talk by Joshua Key, author of The Deserter's Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away From the War in Iraq.

Events begin Wednesday afternoon as U of L professors take the podium at Galileo's Gallery, beginning at 3 p.m. Dr. Kent Peacock of the Philosophy Department presents, Justice in a Hungry World; Dr. Patrick Wilson of the Anthropology Department presents, Fair Trade and Global Economic Injustice: Opportunities and Obstacles; and Bruce MacKay of Liberal Education presents, Genocide: Never Again or Always.

Funding cuts to post-secondary, topic of ULSU event

trevor.kenney — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:09:50 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Students' Union will host Public Interest Alberta today at noon as they present "Don't Cut Us Out", an event discussing funding cuts to post-secondary education.

Public Interest Alberta launched "Don't Cut Us Out," as a province-wide campaign. Tuesday's event will feature speakers representing the Students' Union, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Faculty Association, the Graduate Students' Association and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

They contend that Alberta's future largely depends on post-secondary education; it enriches our economy, makes our society healthier and more vibrant and it helps to solve the problems affecting our environment. Investing in post-secondary education will make Alberta strong and prosperous.

"The Government of Alberta has a great opportunity to boost Alberta's economic and social development through post-secondary education," says Alex Massé, Vice President of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Students' Union. "We are deeply concerned that recent provincial funding decisions will jeopardize that development by forcing our post-secondary institutions to sacrifice either access or quality."

Although the need for post-secondary education is greater than ever, provincial funding for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge will see, at best, a zero per cent increase in the years 2010 to 2012. This loss in funding will be felt throughout the institution, and has forced the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ to consider eliminating staff, faculty and services. The Alberta Government has the power to increase post-secondary education funding by prioritizing this grand investment.

For more information on the Tuesday event, contact Alex Massé at 403-329-2222 or e-mail su.academic@uleth.ca.

Amnesty International's Neve highlights Global Justice Week

trevor.kenney — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:55:35 +0000

The art of making policy

trevor.kenney — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:53:15 +0000

If you've gone through airport security lately, you've probably grumbled once or twice about the long security lines and 'random' pat-downs.

While you may blame this inconvenience on precedents set by our neighbours to the south, the policy creation is far more complicated, explains U of L Master of Arts (Political Science) student Christina Marcotte.

For her thesis, Marcotte analyzed the creation of two post-9/11 policies: the Container Security Initiative (CSI) and the NEXUS Trusted Traveler Program, using the Policy Streams model developed by American political scientist, J. Kingdon.

"I wanted to take a look at where the ideas for these programs came from and what the impetus was for adopting them," says Marcotte, who was supervised by political science professor
Dr. Geoffrey Hale.

Marcotte first became interested in security policy as a student intern at the European Institute of Public Administration, in the Netherlands. She worked for a researcher who asked her to gather details about North American foreign policy to compare with EU policy.

Hale says Marcotte is an unusually thoughtful student with a penchant for time management. "Not only did she stay ahead of her deadlines – which few students do – she also made time to serve as vice-president internal for the Graduate Students' Association."

From his office across the hall, Hale was often pleased to see a steady stream of students visiting her office.

"That is a wonderful sign of leadership," he says.

Now that she has completed her thesis, Marcotte is gearing up for a job as a junior commerce officer with Industry Canada – a position where Hale knows she will find success.

"Christina has the capacity to bridge worlds. That's a skill set she strengthened very well while she was here."

Refreshed for the push to exams

trevor.kenney — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:26:56 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge President Dr. Bill Cade chats about what's happening in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community

Reading Week is now behind us and I trust everyone used the break to advantage.

We are fortunate to have a mid-February respite and it seems to come at a perfect time in the academic cycle. Now, with the days getting longer and spring beckoning just around the corner, my hope is we all feel refreshed for the push to exams and the end of the semester.

I want to congratulate personally those students newly elected to posts in the Students' Union. I commend you for taking the initiative to stand up for student office and assume a leadership role for the student population.

We have been very fortunate over the years to have some outstanding student leaders who have contributed to the U of L in so many positive ways. There has been a revolution occurring in student government over my time in academia, from a place where students essentially had no governance to now, where students are involved in every aspect of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's decision-making process. I much prefer our present situation.

You need only look at the makeup of the U of L's Board of Governors to see how much influence students actually have on the institution's priorities. The President of the Students' Union, the President of the Graduate Students' Association as well as a third, elected undergraduate student, are all on the Board of Governors, helping to shape policy.

Recently, it was announced that we have partnered with the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary in creating the Institute for Space Imaging Science (ISIS).

We are seeing much more cooperation between the province's residential universities, something I like to call cooperation to compete. While competition does exist between the institutions, we have carved out our own unique identities and have three quite different universities. Given that, it is in our best interests to pursue collaborative initiatives that serve to benefit our institutions, both individually and collectively.

Speaking of growth, I had the opportunity to tour the Markin Hall construction site recently and was impressed thoroughly with the progress being made. This project is transforming and revitalizing this area of campus and once complete, promises to open a new chapter for both the School of Health Sciences and the Faculty of Management.

The U of L continues to be a hub of activity for the southern Alberta area. In the past few weeks, both the Alberta 55 Plus Winter Games and the South Western Alberta Teachers' Convention Association (SWATCA) used the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ as a centre for their activities.

The Winter Games were extremely well received and the feedback I've heard has been wonderful on the performance of our Global Drums group during the closing ceremonies.

It's also great to see SWATCA back at the U of L where they truly belong. This is the second consecutive year their teachers' convention has been held at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ after a prolonged absence. Given the fact a good majority of teachers in SWATCA graduated out of our own Faculty of Education programs, it's only fitting they return each year to further their learning.

At the time of this writing, the Pronghorns men's hockey team is readying to host a Canada West playoff series. It's great to see the Horns back in the playoffs and it shows how this program, once a national champion, is back on the rise.

The spring calendar is once again full of opportunities for students, faculty and staff to make the most of their U of L experience. Whether it is a lecture, a concert, a workshop or one of the many Fine Arts productions on campus, I encourage people to sample from all that are available to them.

Never turn down the prospect of learning something new.

UNews - Graduate Students' Association

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