March 6, 2007
The 12th annual issue of
Maclean's "Guide to Canadian Universities" is out and on the shelves, with 2-page profiles of selected Canadian universities. An article on residences highlights that there is only room for 1 in 10 undergrads to live on campus, a problem that schools are trying address, particularly with upscale renovations meant to lure potential recruits. The pressure students feel to join a drinking-party future is also discussed in "It's Beer Pressure." The rankings repeat those included in the Fall 2006 "University Rankings" issue.
Maclean's Ranking ToolSix years ago Michael Ryan, a uCalgary grad student, dug up a fossil while camping on a ranch about 290km southwest of
Calgary . That fossil, it turns out, is a new dinosaur species discovery. The large, plant-eating reptile that lived 78 million years ago was named Albertaceratops nesmoi, after the ranch owner Cecil Nesmo, in recognition of his help to fossil hunters. Nesmo, who is now 62, can remember researchers visiting his family land back to when he was 4 years old.
CBCThe first lady of
Canada , Laureen Harper, will be the honorary chair of the Mount Royal College Conservatory Feast of Sound & Song gala, to be held October 14 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Mrs. Harper will be the first individual with national status to chair the event. This will be the 16th year of the event, which aims to raise money for scholarships and new instruments. Last year, $108,000 was raised.
Mount Royal News ReleaseLaval University has announced plans for a "supermarket school," a facility that has a fully functional, 40,000 square foot retail outlet on or near campus that will be run by one of Quebec's leading grocery chains and will double as a research and teaching tool. Researchers in the areas of food processing, nutrition, marketing, management, industrial relations and more will benefit from the new facility. Sobeys, Metro Inc. and Provigo Inc. are all rumoured to be bidding. Everything will hold potential for experiment: from shopping carts to consumer psychology to management strategies. The winning store should be determined by mid-May, and will be expected to cover all costs, operate the store, pay rent on the building and contribute $2 million to fund a research chair.
The Globe & MailThe BC Ministry of Advanced Education has announced the release of
Perspectives, an interactive multimedia tool designed to encourage high school students to consider their PSE options.
Perspectives offers a series of interactive interviews with PSE students, and is designed to work in conjunction with the "Planning 10" curriculum. Academica Group worked with the Ministry and the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation to research student interests and needs, script shoot and produce the DVD, develop the curriculum components and test it in pilot schools
. BC Ministry of Advanced Education News Release North Island College ,
Malaspina University College and
Camosun College are running a joint contest that will award three lucky Canadians a free year's tuition. Students are to complete an online "college knowledge" quiz to be entered in a draw, from which the winner will be randomly selected. The quiz includes questions about each school, and encourages students to use the school websites as resources, driving traffic to their online portals. The contest is aimed at
Vancouver Island high school students, but there are no entry restrictions other than college employees. Check out
collegeknowledge.ca for more details.
Campbell River Mirror Student-operated erotic magazines are one of the more provocative side effects of the new media world, where almost anyone with a computer and a little university financing can put out their own publication. Titles such as
Boink and
Squirm ("a magazine of smut and sensibility") showcase nude students in spreads on par with
Playboy, and discuss topics from the history of birth control to sadomasochism. While not universal across all campuses, erotic student magazines are fairly widespread among the larger schools, showing a generation of learners who are very comfortable with sexual imagery and maybe their own sexuality as well. Some even receive university funding and have faculty advisors.
The New York Times
rtraction