Top Ten
November 11, 2015
Carleton receives $1.8 M from Cisco for new research chair
Carleton University will receive $1.8 M over nine years from Cisco Canada to establish a new Research Chair in Sensor Technology for the Internet of Things. The new role will be held by Mohamed Ibnkahla, who comes to Carleton from Queen’s University, where he worked as a professor for 15 years. “With this chair, Carleton and Cisco confirm a strong partnership dedicated to bringing the technology of the future to the service of society. With the work of Dr. Ibnkahla and his colleagues, we will contribute to Ottawa’s well-deserved reputation as a smart city,” said Carleton President Roseann O’Reilly Runte. Ottawa Business Journal | Carleton
SFU partners with Chinese firm to create commercialization and acceleration network
Simon Fraser University and Hanhai Zihye Investment Management Group have signed an MOU that will lead to the creation of the Hanhai – SFU China-Canada Commercialization & Acceleration Network (C2-CAN). The mission of C2-Can will be to support the commercialization of advanced technologies developed in China and Canada, connecting innovators and entrepreneurs with necessary resources. “C2-CAN will enable Canadian entrepreneurs and early-stage companies to reach across international borders,” said SFU President Andrew Petter. “The accelerator program will facilitate the development of sustainable, high-growth businesses, while expanding opportunities for collaborative research and commercialization of technology.” SFU
Trent receives $1 M toward library renovations
Trent University has received $1 M from David and Joan Moore to fund renovation of the university’s Bata Library. The donation will fund a space renewal plan for the library, which will look at developing more individual and group study spaces. Renovations are expected to start by 2017. “We chose the library because a university library is central to the learning and teaching process," said David Moore. “We were convinced that by imaginative planning and repurposing, this wonderful facility, Bata Library could better reflect the student needs of collaborative space and state of the art computing power.” With the receipt of this gift, Trent’s Unleash the Potential fundraising campaign has reached 85% of its goal. Peterborough This Week | Peterborough Examiner | Trent
JIBC and Camosun offer joint program
Next September, graduates holding a Law Enforcement Studies diploma from the Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC) or a Criminal Justice diploma from Camosun College will be able to attend JIBC’s Bachelor of Law Enforcement Studies program on Camosun’s Lansdowne Campus. “We are very excited to expand regional access to the … program and offer it on Vancouver Island in partnership with Camosun College,” said Dean of the School of Criminal Justice and Security at JIBC, Mike Trump. The program can be completed at Camosun, at JIBC’s New Westminster Campus, or at Okanagan College’s Penticton Campus. It is available to graduates from relevant diploma programs at other institutions, such as criminology or criminal justice programs. JIBC | Camosun
CMU campus briefly locked down due to suspicious package
The campus of Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg was briefly locked down Monday night after the discovery of a nearby suspicious package. Winnipeg police blocked off the intersection of Grant Avenue and Shaftesbury Boulevard and prevented students from leaving the library. The lockdown was lifted after two hours when police confirmed the package was not a threat. CTV News
Tentative agreement reached between Western, UWOFA
Western University has reportedly reached a tentative collective agreement with the librarians and archivists represented by the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association (UWOFA). The new agreement still requires approval from the university’s Board of Governors and ratification by UWOFA, but once passed, it will apply to 49 librarians and archivists employed at Western. The tentative deal was reached on Friday, November 6 after two days of conciliation with Greg Long, a Ministry of Labour appointed conciliator. "I want to thank the negotiating team for all their hard work and commitment,” said UWOFA President Kristin Hoffmann. “They did a great job on behalf of our members. And I’m very thankful to our members for their support of the team.” Western | UWOFA
Revised TPP concedes to “liberal” Canadian copyright laws
The latest version of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) has offered a “compromise between Canada’s previously liberal copyright regime and the demands of American copyright holders,” according to the Canadian Bar Association’s National magazine. According to reports, the deal initially contained a section forcing Canadian service providers to remove Internet content that was protected by US court rulings. The newer version, however, reportedly requires copyright holders to petition Canadian Internet service providers to give several rounds of warning to their clients before helping the copyright holders pursue legal action. CBA National
Reporters not invited to event announcing Chevron-funded Chair at uCalgary
University of Calgary Professor David Eaton has been named the inaugural NSERC/Chevron Industrial Research Chair, a position devoted to advancing the practice of hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" through technology and research. The announcement was initially slated to be part of a public event on Monday, yet the event's status was reportedly changed to private over the weekend. Calgary Herald contributor Stephen Ewart questions the timing of the change and suggests that it came in response to the criticism uCalgary has recently faced over its connections to corporate donors from the energy sector. Calgary Herald
University of Missouri president resigns amidst escalating racial tensions
University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe stepped down Monday in response to widespread student protests directed at his handling of alleged racial abuses on campus. Unrest at the university began in September 2015 when Missouri Students Association President Payton Head reported on his Facebook page that he had suffered repeated racial abuse on campus. The post went viral, and the lack of a strong reaction by Wolfe eventually motivated students and university faculty to engage in public protest at the school’s homecoming parade. Protests continued to escalate up until Monday, when Wolfe held a televised news conference to announce his resignation. Globe and Mail | National Post | CTV News | Chronicle of Higher Education | Inside Higher Ed
Students potentially confused by growing number of college rankings outlets
There has been an explosion in the number of outlets offering to rank colleges in the US ever since the 2008 recession, and this explosion may have created more confusion than clarity around questions of quality, reports The Atlantic. The most common metric for measuring the value of colleges today is ROI or return on investment, which often uses the average earnings of university graduates to give new applicants a sense of what salary they might expect to make after graduation. Others look at research capacity, students’ social mobility, and a host of “traditional” factors such as graduation rate, average GPA, faculty quality, and general student happiness. Doug Shapiro, Executive Director of Research at the National Student Clearinghouse, has even suggested that “the data are of such poor quality, that [ranking colleges] is completely misleading.” The Atlantic
