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Researcher Stories |
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University of Regina researchers to help develop immigrant family
literacy program
Researcher:
Vianne Timmons
(Education)
A team of University of Regina researchers will soon be
working with members of the local community on a new program designed to
increase the literacy levels of new Canadians whose first language is
not English. Called "Connecting Families through Community," the
project involves working closely with immigrant families in Regina to
develop and
implement a flexible literacy program that meets the families'
specific needs. By providing information, training, and resources on
family literacy, the resulting program will increase the ability of
service providers to help new immigrants both in Saskatchewan and across
the country.
"Connecting Families through Community" is a three-year project made
possible by a $296,000 award from Human Resources and Social Development
Canada. The project is being led by University of Regina President
Vienna Timmons, who undertook several initiatives to develop rural and
Aboriginal family literacy programs in Atlantic Canada prior to becoming
President of the University of Regina on September 1.
"International Education Week is a fitting time to announce ‘Connecting
Families through Community,' because the number of families immigrating
to Saskatchewan and the rest of Canada is growing," Timmons said. "In
too many cases, these families face language barriers that do not allow
them to participate to their full potential in terms of Canadian
education, employment, and culture. Our hope is that by assessing and
addressing the needs of local immigrant families, we can develop a
comprehensive program that will be applicable nationwide."
Timmons' co-investigators on the project at the University of Regina are
Barbara McNeil and Fatima Pirbhai-Illich, who are both professors in the
Faculty of Education. "Connecting Families through
Communities" also involves a research team at the University of Prince
Edward Island, where Timmons was Vice-President of Academic Development
before coming to the University of Regina.
The project will begin later this fall both in Regina and in Prince
Edward Island with a needs assessment to determine the literacy goals of
members of the English as a Second Language (ESL) community. In stage
two, researchers will develop a family literacy program in close
consultation with the families who participated in the needs assessment.
This will include an in-depth analysis of "culture shock" factors that
affect new Canadians' readiness to benefit from literacy programs. In
the final stages, the research group will deliver and evaluate a pilot
literacy program based on the experiences of 20 immigrant families.
The final outcomes of "Connecting Families through Community" will
include a framework of supports needed by newcomers to Saskatchewan and
Prince Edward Island, a published ESL Family Literacy program, and a
snapshot of recommendations for support for newcomer families in both
provinces.
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| University
of Regina researchers receive funding to develop the
Prairie Environmental Process Laboratory (PEPL)
Researchers:
Kyle Hodder, Joseph Piwowar and David
Sauchyn (Geography)
Drs. Kyle Hodder, Joseph Piwowar, and David Sauchyn
received $144,269 in federal funding to develop the Prairie Environmental
Process Laboratory (PEPL) at the University of Regina. The funding was
provided by the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s Leaders Opportunity
Fund, a program designed to help Canadian universities attract and retain
outstanding faculty members and researchers.
PEPL is a new type of research facility designed to
integrate studies of the prairie environmental system. Integrated studies
are rare because any single researcher is unlikely to possess the full
suite of research capabilities required to examine a more integrated view
of the system. Although the prairie environment is widely known as
Canada’s driest large area, it is also the only major region of Canada
where drought is a landscape hazard. The impacts of environmental change
in the prairie region have a national significance through effects on
agriculture and resource extraction, as well as on a growing
population. Changes in temperature, precipitation, streamflow, drought
and human activity on the prairies are typically studied as individual
components of a complex system. Creation of the PEPL is unique in Canada,
and rare globally, because it integrates:
•
hydro-geomorphic processes (Hodder);
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intensity, frequency and duration of past precipitation and stream flow (Sauchyn);
and
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spatial and temporal patterns of landscape change that influence, and are
influenced by, these environmental processes (Piwowar).
The new facility is designed to permit integrated
studies of the prairie environmental system led by multiple researchers
with, collectively, a fuller suite of research capabilities than any
individual researcher or individual research program could achieve.
As Canada moves further into an era of adaptation to
environmental change, understanding the integrated nature of the
environmental system will better prepared Canadians for
effective adaptation measures. PEPL will help provide decision-makers
with a process-based scientific context for the forecasting of prairie
water supplies and the evaluation of water resource management
strategies. For more information on PEPL, please contact
Kyle Hodder in the
Department of Geography.
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History professor releases new book on Regina and the experiences of the
Great War
Researcher:
James Pitsula (History)
James Pitsula has published For All We Have and Are: Regina and the
Experience of the Great War (University of Manitoba Press). The book
examines how issues such as class, anti-immigrant actions, volunteer
movements, local politics, and the social gospel played out against the
backdrop of the war overseas.
Desmond Morton, Professor Emeritus of History at McGill University
writes ‘With Pitsula’s focus on local issues and controversies, the war
emerges as a multi-purpose catalyst for changes both cruel and humane,
most of them with roots in pre-war society but all of them enhanced by a
wartime rhetoric of sacrifice and self-denial. His multi-faceted
approach sets a high standard and should be welcomed as a model.’
Pitsula is the author of five books in political and social history
including, As One Who Serves: The Making of the University of Regina,
New World Dawning: The Sixties at Regina Campus and New Perspectives on
the Canadian Constitutional Debate.
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Building Capacity to Attack Climate Change
Researcher:
Norman Henderson (Director,
PARC)
 The
Prairie Adaptation Research Collaborative at the University of Regina (PARC-UR)
received more than $2 million dollars over four years from the
Government of Saskatchewan as part of the province's commitment to
attack climate change.
"The research that PARC will
undertake will help us prepare for and adapt to the effects of climate
change and continue to advance Saskatchewan as a leader in environmental
protection and the green economy," said the Minister of Environment.
Climate change experts are
predicting warmer and drier conditions for Saskatchewan which may impact
the provincial economy. The funding will be used to build understanding
and capacity to address climate change in key sectors of the province
including water resources, ecosystems, forestry, agriculture and energy,
in addition to improved adaptation practices for those sectors.
"This funding is building
valuable partnerships between PARC, the federal government, various
provinces and a number of economic sectors to help reduce the negative
impact of climate change," said the Minister of Industry and Resources
(now Energy and Resources). "It also allows Saskatchewan to take advantage of economic
opportunities that may be identified."
"This renewal of our partnership
with the Government of Saskatchewan provides us with the resources we
need to research climate impacts and to provide
adaptation options to lower climate risks and take advantage of new
climate opportunities," PARC Director, Dr. Norman Henderson said.
PARC’s objective is to generate
practical options to adapt to current and future climate change. It
originated as a co-operative venture among the Government's of Canada,
Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba and is mandated to pursue climate
change impacts and adaptation research in the Prairie Provinces.
Saskatchewan is the largest contributor to the collaborative while PARC
continues to receive funding support from the other jurisdictions.
For more information about PARC,
visit www.parc.ca
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Four researchers recognized at the Administrative Sciences
Association of Canada Conference
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Four researchers in
the Faculty of Business Administration were recognized at the annual
conference of the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada (http://www.asac.ca/).
Research papers written by these faculty members were selected to
receive the Best Paper award in three divisions of the conference.
Morina Rennie was recognized in the Business History division, Zhou
Zhang was recognized in the Finance division, and Aldene Meis Mason
and Robert Anderson were recognized in the
Entrepreneurship and Family
Business division.
The conference was held in Regina, Saskatchewan on May 22nd
to May 25th, 2010.
Please view the
abstracts below for more information about these award winning
papers. |
L to R: Aldene Meis Mason,
Zhou Zhang and Morina Rennie
(Absent: Robert Anderson) |
Business History
Division:
Ron Baker, Department of Business,
University of Guelph and Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Business
Administration, University of Regina, CAN
Morina D. Rennie,
Faculty of Business
Administration, University of
Regina, CAN
NET DEBT IN THE CANADIAN PUBLIC
ACCOUNTS: ITS EMERGENCE, EVOLUTION, AND ENTRENCHMENT
We look at the emergence, evolution
and entrenchment in Canada of an important measure of financial position
in the public sector—Net Debt. We find that, while Net Debt did not find
its way onto the Government of Canada’s Balance Sheet until 1920, the
concept emerged well before that time. We attribute its ultimate success
to growing symmetries between structural variables of accounting
innovation: users and providers of information.
Finance Division:
Zhou Zhang, Faculty of Business
Administration, University of Regina, CAN
THE EVOLVING BORROWING COSTS OF
RULE 144A MARKET: A CROSS-COUNTRY ANALYSIS
We use a large sample of Rule 144A
and public debt issuance by U.S. and Canadian firms to examine whether
yield spread are different between the two countries for the period of
1991-2008. We show that the yield spread is 50 basis points higher in
the 144A market than in public debt market after controlling for other
determinants of yield spread. We show that Canadian issuers have 12
basis points lower yield spread than U.S. issuers, but the difference
disappears in a matched sample that controls for the differences in
industry and issue size between the two countries. We also find that
financing costs increase after the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act,
and the impact is more pronounced for the U.S. firms than for Canadian
firms.
Entrepreneurship and Family
Business Division:
Aldene Meis Mason,
Faculty of Business Administration, University of Regina, CAN
Leo-Paul Dana, Faculty
of Management, University of Canterbury, NZ
and Adjunct Professor, Faculty of
Business Administration, University of Regina, CAN
Robert B. Anderson,
Faculty of Business Administration, University of Regina, CAN
GETTING READY FOR OIL
AND GAS DEVELOPMENT IN THE NWT: ABORIGINAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
This case study uses an
interdisciplinary approach to examine Inuit and First Nations
perspectives and initiatives to foster sustainable entrepreneurship and
economic development related to
the proposed Mackenzie
Gas Pipeline in the Northwest Territories. The
1,220-kilometer
pipeline would connect the Mackenzie Delta to Alberta Tar Sands and
North American markets. These findings will be of interest to business,
government and Indigenous leaders involved in resource development. Key
aspects included self-government and land claim agreements, approaches
to entrepreneurship and economic development, sustainable development,
human resource development initiatives, business service support and
increased participation of women and Aboriginal peoples.
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Christopher Somers named as U of R's newest Canada Research
Chair
Researcher: Christopher
Somers (Biology)
The federal government has announced that Christopher
Somers, an
assistant professor of biology in the University of Regina's
Faculty of Science, has been named as a
University of Regina Canada Research Chair
(CRC).
Through his research, Somers examines the nature and frequency of
genetic mutations that can be passed on from one generation to the
next in birds and other animals. By relating
these mutations to the animals'
exposure to pollution, Somers' work supports wildlife conservation
and habitat protection while helping
scientists better understand the risks
of genetic mutation in humans.
"My research combines fieldwork in animal ecology with both
environmental chemistry and genetics," Somers explains. "While
there is a lot of information available about
the kinds of environmental exposures that can
cause genetic damage leading to cancer, very little
information exists in an area that should also be of high concern to us
- how environmental pollutants can cause
DNA damage that leads to mutations in sperm
and eggs which can in turn be passed on to
offspring."
As a Tier II CRC, Somers will receive funding totalling $500,000 to
support his research over the next five years. In addition, he
will receive an associated $252,000
infrastructure grant from the Canada
Foundation for Innovation (CFI). He is also eligible to have his CFI
grant and two years of his CRC funding matched by the Government of
Saskatchewan's Innovation and Science Fund. During the course of
his research program, Somers will use this
combined funding to establish a
state-of-the-art genetics laboratory at the University of Regina, and to
conduct research on mutations and population genetic changes in
animals
affected by human activities.
"The University of Regina is well-known for environmental and
health-related research across many faculties and departments, and
Dr. Somers' work is further evidence of the
quality and relevance of the work that takes
place here," said the U of R's Vice-President Research
and International, David Gauthier. "We are greatly honoured and
pleased
that Dr. Somers is being recognized as Canada Research Chair, an
appointment that will provide crucial funding for work that has
such great potential in the fields of
genetics, environmental science and health."
The Canada Research Chair Program was established by the federal
government in 2000, with an allocation of $900 million. The
program aims to make Canada one of the world's
top five countries for research and
development. Previous recipients of CRCs at the University of Regina
include: Christine Chan in Energy and Environmental Informatics;
Shadia Drury in Social Justice; Gordon Huang
in Energy and Environment; Peter Leavitt in
Environmental Change and Society; Randy Lewis in
Computational Physics; Greg Marchildon in Public Policy and
Business History; Charity Marsh in Interactive
Media; Joseph Piwowar in Geomatics and
Sustainability; Carol Schick in Social Justice and Aboriginal
Education; and Christopher Yost in Microbes, the Environment and
Food Safety.
More information about Somers and his work can be found at:
http://www.uregina.ca/biology/faculty/Somers/Somers.htm
The Pacific Institute
for the Mathematical Sciences and the University
 of
Regina
Researcher:
Shaun Fallat (Mathematics and
Statistics)
The basic mandate of PIMS is to:
▪ promote research in and applications of the mathematical sciences
of the highest international caliber
▪ facilitate the training of
highly-qualified personnel at the
graduate and postdoctoral level
▪ enrich public awareness of mathematics through outreach
▪ enhance the mathematical training of teachers and students
in
K12
▪ create mathematical partnerships with similar organizations
in other countries, with a
particular focus on Latin America
and the Pacific Rim.
The University of Regina became a
full member of PIMS in December of 2007, and since that time we have
been able to capitalize on this membership by securing support for a
number of scientific, educational, and industrial events hosted and
organized by faculty here in Regina. A selection of these events are:
▪ 2nd Annual Meeting
of the Prairie Research Network for the Mathematical
Sciences - Brandon, MB, May 7-9, 2008
▪
Western Canadian Linear Algebra Meeting Winnipeg, MB, May 30-31, 2008
▪ 12th Industrial Problem Solving Workshop and the 11th Graduate
Industrial Mathematics
Modeling Camp, June 9-20, 2008, Regina, Sask.
▪ Conference on Algebraic Aspects of Association Schemes and
Scheme Rings
University of Regina, July 8-11 2008
▪ Summer Graduate School: Combinatorial Models in Geometry and
Topology of
Flag Manifolds, University of Regina, June 5-14, 2007.
▪ Mathematics Enrichment Camp 2008, University of Regina,
September 27, 2008
Some upcoming events supported in part by PIMS and
the University of Regina include:
▪ PIMS Distinguished Lecture Series, University of Regina,
April 2009 – December 2009.
The primary purpose of lecture series is to have reputable visitors
come to our
department and present accounts of their recent research, as well
as insights
into directions for future research.
▪ Canadian Operator Symposium (COSy), University of Regina, May
26-30, 2009.
This annual conference in operator algebras and operator
theory is organized by
local faculty, and is part of the broader PIMS collaborative
research group involving
the University of Regina (as well as U. Victoria & U.
Alberta) that was recently
accepted by PIMS.
One of the flagship scientific activities offered by PIMS is its
Postdoctoral program. For this program, candidates apply to PIMS for
a postdoctoral fellowship with the support of a local faculty member.
Financial support is shared between the local supervisor(s), the
University of Regina, and PIMS. To date the Department of Mathematics
and Statistics has secured two postdoctoral fellowships, and it is our
hope that other researchers from other departments are able to
participate in this valuable program.
PIMS is unique in several ways, partly because of its distributed
structure. PIMS has representation at each of the eight major
universities in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Washington
State. PIMS events are organized at each site, and PIMS researchers are
distributed throughout the network. PIMS is institutionally bi-national
(the University of Washington is a full member) and it is the only
institute of this kind in mathematics.
Locally, PIMS is represented by a site director (Dr. Shaun Fallat,
Mathematics);a site administrator (Leigh Anne MacKnight); and a PIMS
board member (Dr. Katherine Bergman). Faculty at the University of
Regina interested in learning more about PIMS, its relationship with the
University of Regina, and how individuals might seek out potential
opportunities for securing PIMS financial support for a local scientific
event are encouraged contact Shaun Fallat in Mathematics & Statistics at
585-4107 or by email
sfallat@math.uregina.ca
The website for PIMS is http://www.pims.math.ca/
The website for Mathematics and Statistics is
http://www.math.uregina.ca/
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Government of Saskatchewan, Royal Dutch Shell and University of Regina
establish international CO2
storage assessment centre
Researcher:
Malcolm Wilson (Director, Office of Energy & Environment)
In November 2008, the Government of Saskatchewan, Royal Dutch Shell and
the University of Regina announced a new international centre that will
help make western Canada a world leader in the worldwide deployment and
acceptance of Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS).
Globally, many governments and industries view CCS as a promising
greenhouse gas reduction mechanism, and the University of Regina has
been instrumental in pioneering the technology through its CO2
capture research and participation in the Weyburn enhanced oil recovery
project.
The new centre, known as the International Performance Assessment Centre
for Geological Storage of CO2 (IPAC-CO2), has been
created through founding investments of $5 million each from the
Government of Saskatchewan and Shell and will be managed from the
University of Regina.
IPAC-CO2 will focus on key elements of the geological storage
of CO2:
* Assessing proposed CCS projects around the world and advising on the
proper management of technical issues and performance monitoring;
* Informing stakeholders and the public about CCS from an independent,
science-based perspective; and
* Networking internationally to share and build on the findings of other
research organizations.
As a part of this global partnership of research institutes, the
University of Regina will see a wide range of benefits for its students
and researchers, and for collaborative opportunities with other IPAC-CO2
partners.
"The University has a great deal of expertise to contribute,” said
University of Regina President Vianne Timmons. “With Dr. Malcolm Wilson
and his team at the forefront, we are confident the centre will allow us
to expand our research enterprise to help provide environmental
solutions both in Saskatchewan and beyond our borders.”
The creation of IPAC-CO2 firmly establishes
Saskatchewan as a CCS global leader, according to the Honourable Ken
Cheveldayoff, Minister of Crown Corporations.
"The Government of Saskatchewan is a strong supporter of innovation in
the successful deployment of CCS and further development of clean coal
technologies," he said. "Our government is proud to work with the
University of Regina and Royal Dutch Shell in this public-private
partnership that will make an important contribution to the challenge of
climate change."
"Shell sees the timely deployment of CCS as a critical part of society's
response to climate change," said Brian Straub, President, Shell Canada
and Country Chair. "Implementing widespread CCS relies on credible
scientific knowledge and we are pleased to support the formation of
IPAC-CO2 and the activities it will undertake to help make
CCS a reality."
"IPAC-CO2 is also well-situated to work with and build on the
extensive CCS expertise now being developed in western Canada with
support from the neighbouring province of Alberta at the Universities of
Alberta and Calgary," she added. "I would like to thank the Government
of Saskatchewan and Royal Dutch Shell for their confidence in this new
chapter of CCS development."
Broad acceptance of CCS technology requires that IPAC-CO2
develop its credibility, objectivity and transparency. For that reason,
the centre will work internationally to allow the best expertise in the
world to be brought to bear on the issue of geological storage of CO2.
This expertise is found at the Universities of Regina, Calgary, Alberta
and Dalhousie, as well as in other international organizations. To this
end, IPAC-CO2 has already begun discussions with, among
others, Imperial College, England, the CO2CRC in Australia,
and the Instituto do Meio Ambiente in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
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Award-winning
Saskatchewan health researcher tackles public policies to promote
healthy individuals and communities
Researcher:
Gloria DeSantis, Political Science / SPHERU
Media Contact: Michael Robin, Communications Manager, SHRF
Phone: (306) 975-1687
Website: www.shrf.ca
Five Saskatchewan researchers were recognized for excellence and
achievement in exploring links between chronic pain and anxiety
disorders, the causes of schizophrenia, maintaining physical activity
for health in seniors, the link between pets and gastrointestinal
disease, and the role of community-based organizations in public health
policy.
These researchers are the award recipients from the 2008 Santé! Awards
Dinner presented by the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF)
on December 4, 2008.
Of the five Saskatchewan researchers, this year's SHRF Top Research
Fellow Award in Socio-Health was Gloria DeSantis, a current post
doctoral researcher in the Department of Political Science and the
Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit (SPHERU) at
the University of Regina. SPHERU is a provincial initiative that
includes researchers from the University of Regina and the University of
Saskatchewan working at sites in Regina, Saskatoon, and Prince Albert.
Working with supervisor Tom McIntosh of SPHERU, Gloria is exploring and
measuring the role of community-based organizations (CBOs) in advocating
development of public policies that promote healthy individuals and
communities. Her work focuses in particular on those communities where
unhealthy social conditions are common.
"Tonight's award recipients demonstrate how our health researchers
establish prominence while continuing to push into new areas of
knowledge," said SHRF CEO June Bold. "We are proud to support and
celebrate the work of these innovators, whose efforts are so important
to the health of people in our province and beyond our borders."
The Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation is the provincial agency
that funds and facilitates health research in this province. In 2008,
the Foundation approved close to $8 million in new multi-year grants and
awards. This includes support for 10 new investigators, eight
post-doctoral researchers, two research teams, four developing research
groups, and nine research conferences or workshops. SHRF also drew
nearly $1.4 of national funding to the province through partnerships
with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
For more information, including a full listing of funded researchers and
summaries of their work, visit www.shrf.ca
For more information about SPHERU, please visit: www.spheru.ca
The Office of Research Services kindly thanks the Saskatchewan Health
Research Foundation (SHRF) for providing this story and photograph for
our website.
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University of Regina
Part of International Research Team
Researchers:
Zisis Papandreou and George Lolos (Physics)
The University of Regina is part of an
international research team looking into
how matter is held together.
There is a combined investment of $1.8 million for the
Regina
portion of the project, which will cover equipment and salaries
of researchers and students during the next three years. About
$600,000 is coming from the Natural Sciences and Engineering
Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the federal funding agency
for university-based research and student training. The other
$1.2 million is coming from the U.S. Department of Energy.
"It's rare to have such international agreements, where large
amounts of research dollars are transferred to another country,
but it's because the U of R is recognized as a world leader in
research in this area," explains one of the Regina researchers,
Dr. Zisis Papandreou, a professor of physics.
The
U of R is part of a $310 million project being led by the Thomas
Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in
Newport News,
Virginia.
Physicists have only been able to theorize about how matter
binds together. It's hoped this research - called the GlueX
experiment - will be able to test the theories. There are also
research teams involved in the project from
Indiana
University
and
Carnegie
Mellon
University,
among others.
Part of the project - a barrel calorimeter, which measures
energy - will be constructed at the
University
of
Regina
starting in June. The barrel calorimeter, which will be four
meters long and one metre in diameter, will have about
one-million optical fibres imbedded in lead sheets. The
calorimeter measures the energy and timing of particles that
pass through it, which may help physicists learn more about
protons and neutrons and how they are bound together.
In April, Dr. Papandreou, along with Dr. George Lolos of the U
of R, attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a $14 million
experimental hall at the
Jefferson
facility in
Virginia.
This is where the GlueX experiment will be housed and where
scientists will study the properties of gluons that bind protons
and neutrons.
"This is basic research, so at this point we cannot say what we
might learn about direct applications to everyday life," says
Dr. Papandreou. "But in the past, basic research in other areas
has lead to such things as CD players, scanners at store
checkouts, and
MRI
machines used in medicine. Basic research is driven by human
curiosity, and there are often spinoffs later."
Dr. Papandreou and Dr. Lolos - who are U of R alumni - have been
researching this field for about 10 years. Dr. Lolos is deputy
spokesman of the experiment and Dr. Papandreou is a member of
the Collaboration Board. Dr. Papandreou will be in
Newport News,
Virginia,
from May 11 to 13, representing the U of R at a GlueX
Collaboration Meeting, as plans move forward to start
construction of research facilities for the project.
For more information on this project, please visit the
Department of Physics (http://www.phys.uregina.ca/research/gluex/
and the GlueX Experiment website (http://www.gluex.org/).
Media Contact: Dale Johnson, External Relations
E-mail:
Dale.Johnson@uregina.ca
Phone: 306-585-5439; Mobile: 306-536-4312
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Mark Wihak Directs and Produces River
 River,
a feature film directed and produced by Media Production and
Studies (MPS)
faculty member Mark Wihak, tells the story
of the friendship between two aspiring young artists.
This ultra-low
budget film has garnered a lot of attention.
It has screened at festivals in Canada, the United
States, Brazil and England and has won seven awards:
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U
of R graduate Maya Batten-Young as
Roz in Mark Wihak's
River
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the
Screenplay and Reel Indie Awards at the
Canadian Film Festival-Toronto; Best Narrative Feature at the Fargo Film
Festival; Best Actress Awards for Maya Batten-Young at the Whistler Film
Festival and the Fargo Film Festival and Best Actor Awards for Adam Budd at the
Canadian Film Fest and the Fargo Film Festival. The film had its national
broadcast debut on Super Channel in October 2008, its provincial debut on SCN in
May 2009 and is now available on
DVD.
the
River
had considerable involvement from
MPS
students and alumni: the film’s lead actors, Maya Batten-Young (BFA’07) and Adam
Budd (BFA’02), as well as three members of the five-person crew, Ryan Good
(BFA’06), Beatrix Moersch (BFA’ 07) and Davin Robbins (BFA’07). Wihak,
Batten-Young and Budd developed the story of River during a two-month
workshop prior to shooting.
“The awards are a testament to the potential of improvised storytelling. I think
the way we made River - working with the actors in the writing stage, and
a small, flexible crew - offers an alternative to the way many films are made in
Canada,
using the
Hollywood
production and story model but with a fraction of the resources.” says Wihak.
“We should embrace the budget realities in
Canada
and see them as an opportunity to explore new ways to make films and new ways of
telling stories. There is an audience out there for films that speak a different
language than that of
Hollywood.
The model we used on River was inspired by the contemporary English
filmmakers Mike Leigh and Michael Winterbottom, as well as by the examples of
our students in
MPS
who make some excellent films with very little in the way of cash resources.”
The film garnered enthusiastic responses upon its World Premiere at the Montreal
World Film Festival. John Griffin’s
review in The Gazette gave the film 4 stars and described it “as one of
the gems of the festival” and "wonderfully
evocative."
When River screened at the Canadian Film Fest in
Toronto,
Eye Magazine’s Jason Anderson wrote, “Best of the fest is this wry talky
tale…a striking feature debut”.
Legendary Canadian filmmaker Allan King (Warrendale, Who Has Seen the Wind)
said of River, “It’s a wonderful film! I’ve never seen anything like it.
It is full of astonishing, subtly dramatic surprises and touching discoveries as
the characters discover themselves in each other’s eyes and ours.”
Elan Mastai, programmer of the Kingston Film Festival wrote, “This astonishing
feature debut shows just how much depth, insight, and beauty filmmakers can
achieve on a tiny budget. What makes the film so striking and genuinely moving
is the unexpected wealth of deft humour, revealing moments, tender intimacy, and
lyrical images.”
The
DVD
of River includes the 24-minute, "Unless We Take A Chance:
Making
River"
and a commentary track. DVDs can be ordered by contacting
info@riverthemovie.com
River was produced with the assistance of the Saskatchewan Arts Board, the
Saskatchewan Communications Network, SaskFilm, The Fine Arts Research Fund, The
President's Fund/SSHRC General, the Humanities Research Institute and the
Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative.
For more information on River:
www.riverthemovie.com
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The
ATLAS Experiment: Mapping the Secrets of the Universe
Researcher:
Kamal Benslama (Physics)
 On October 2006, the
University
of
Regina
became an institutional member of the ATLAS collaboration. ATLAS is a
particle physics experiment at the world's biggest atom-smasher, the
Large Hadron Collider (LHC), in
Geneva,
Switzerland.
The LHC is a new particle
accelerator located at CERN
– the world’s largest particle physics laboratory. The $9.5 billion LHC
is located 100 metres underground in a 16-mile long circular tunnel
which runs under the Franco-Swiss border.
Photo provided by the ATLAS experiment at
CERN
Inside the LHC tunnel, two particle beams will be
accelerated to extremely high energies, and then crashed into each other
forty million times per second. The resulting conditions will correspond
to those which existed approximately 1/10,000,000,000 of a second after
the “Big Bang,” when the temperature was 1,000,000,000,000,000 degrees
Celsius. The 7,000 tonne ATLAS detector will electronically register
these conditions, allowing physicists to analyze the reactions that
created them.
The first beam in the LHC was
successfully steered around the full 27 kilometers of the world’s most
powerful particle accelerator at 10h28 am (Geneva time) on September 10,
2008. On
September 19, 2008,
the operations were halted due to a serious fault between two
superconducting bending magnets. Due to the time required to repair the
resulting damage and to add additional safety features, the LHC is
scheduled to restart this autumn, and to run continuously until
sufficient data have been accumulated for the LHC experiments to
announce their first results.
"The startup of the LHC will be an historic event marking the transition
from over two decades of preparation to a new era of scientific
discovery", says Kamal Benslama, a physics professor at the University
of Regina. “More importantly, however, it represents the beginning of a
new era of data collection and analysis that will help explain the
origin of the universe and the nature of matter. It will be a new era in
which the
University
of
Regina
can expect to play a significant role.
Dr. Benslama co-ordinates the
University
of Regina’s
participation in the ATLAS project, which is the largest experiment in
the history of the physical sciences. The ATLAS collaboration is a
virtual United Nations of 37 countries. In this troubled world, it is
inspiring to see people from many lands working together in harmony.
International collaboration has been essential to this success. These
physicists come from more than 174 universities and laboratories and
include 700 students. The ATLAS detector will search for new discoveries
in the head-on collisions of protons of extraordinarily high energy.
ATLAS will learn about the basic forces that have shaped our Universe
since the beginning of time and that will determine its fate. Among the
possible unknowns are the origin of mass, extra dimensions of space,
microscopic black holes, and evidence for dark matter candidates in the
Universe.
Contact:
Kamal.benslama@uregina.ca
More information on:
http://uregina.ca/~benslamk
http://atlas.ch
http://uregina.ca/~benslamk/media.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0ZqV5u-z6o&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv9j-CcspaY
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Jennifer Tupper and Michael
Cappello Receive Outstanding Publication Award
Researchers: Jennifer Tupper and Michael Cappello
(Education)
 Jennifer
Tupper, an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education and Michael
Cappello, a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Education were awarded the
Canadian Association of Curriculum Studies Outstanding Publication
Award, 2009 for their article “Teaching Treaties as (Un)Usual Narrative:
Disrupting the Curricular Commonsense”.
published in Curriculum Inquiry 38(5).
The article emerged from a SIDRU research project funded by
Saskatchewan Learning and the Office of the Treaty Commissioner.
It examines the importance of treaty education for students
living in a province entirely ceded through treaty.
Specifically, the article asks and attempts to answer the
questions: Why teach treaties? and What is the effect of teaching
treaties? Building on research that explores teachers’ use of a treaty
resource kit, commissioned by the Office of the Treaty Commissioner in
Saskatchewan, the researchers worked with six classrooms representing a
mix of rural, urban and First Nations settings in an attempt to make
sense of what students understand, know, and feel about treaties, about
First Nations peoples, and about the relationships between First Nations
and non-First Nations peoples in Saskatchewan. The research revealed
that initially students were unable to make sense of their province
through the lens of treaty given the commonsense story of settlement
they learn through mandated curricula. Drawing on critical race theory,
the researchers critique curriculum and its role in maintaining
dominance and privilege. The term (un)usual narrative is used by the
researchers to describe the potential of treaty education to disrupt the
commonsense. (Un)usual narratives operate as both productive and
interrogative, helping students to see ‘new’ stories, and make ‘new’
sense of their province through the lens of treaty.
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From Impacts to Adaptation:
Canada in a Changing Climate
Researcher: Dr. David Sauchyn
(PARC Senior Research
Scientist and
Professor of Geography)
 The National Assessment on Climate Change, titled From Impacts to
Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate, brought together experts from
across the country to conduct the most thorough review of climate change
impacts and adaptation in Canada to date. Dr. David Sauchyn (PARC Senior
Research Scientist & Professor of Geography, UofR) co-led the Prairies
chapter of this national-scale scientific synthesis of
knowledge of climate change impacts and adaptation in Canada.
Through a primarily regional approach, the Assessment
discusses current and future risks and opportunities that climate change
presents to Canada. It is based on a critical analysis of existing
knowledge, drawn from the published scientific and technical literature
and from expert knowledge.Dr. Sauchyn
presented the key findings of the Prairies chapter at the PARC/Johnson-Shoyama
GSPP public lecture: Climate Change Impacts & Adaptation in Saskatchewan
& Canada. In his words:
“We discovered that the recent warming in our
region exceeds the global average. That we live in a part of the world
that is warming faster than the rest of the world and that the climate
changes that are projected for the future will very soon be outside of
the range of our personal experience.
“The most challenging aspect of climate change
isn’t necessarily a 2 or 3 degree increase in the average conditions
because we rarely get average conditions on the prairies: it is going to
be the extreme hot dry years or floods. We can expect years that are
drier than we have had in the recent past and we can expect years that
are wetter, so we have to develop the capacity to deal with these.”
The key conclusions of the Prairies chapter are
that:
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Increases in water scarcity represent the most
serious climate risk in the Prairie Provinces.
-
Ecosystems will be impacted by shifts in bioclimate,
changes in fire and insect disturbances, stressed aquatic habitats and
the introduction of non-native species, with implications for
livelihoods and economies dependent on ecological services.
-
The Prairies are losing some advantages of a cold
winter. Cold winters limit pests and diseases, facilitate winter
operations in the forestry and energy sectors, and provide access to
remote communities through the use of winter roads.
-
Communities dependent on agriculture and forestry
are highly sensitive to climate variability and extremes. Drought,
which can have associated economic impacts of billions of dollars,
wildfire and severe floods are projected to occur more frequently in
future.
-
Adaptive capacity, though high, is unevenly
distributed, resulting in differing levels of vulnerability within the
region.
-
Although adaptation processes are not well
understood, institutions and civil society will play a key role in
mobilizing adaptive capacity by building on several recent examples of
initiatives that enhance resilience.
Sauchyn reminds us that “the actual impacts of CC
are in our hands. They depend on how the climate changes, which is
partly up to us and how well we adapt, which is entirely up to us.”
Dr. Sauchyn’s Prairies chapter co-authors at the
University of Regina include Dr. Elaine Barrow, Dr. Polo Diaz and Dr.
Norman Henderson. There were also inter-institutional partners at the
Universities of Alberta, Lethbridge and Winnipeg as
well as at the Saskatchewan Research Council.
For more information
and to download a copy of the report, please visit
www.parc.ca/nacc.htm
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 Colonized
Bodies: The Art of Norval Morrisseau
Researcher: Carmen Robertson (Department of Visual
Arts)
Carmen Robertson, a professor in the Department of Visual Arts, received
a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada (SSHRC) to answer a key question: Who was Norval
Morrisseau?Historically, this Anishnaabe artist has
not fit neatly into the history of Canadian art.
As the mishomis or grandfather
of a new artistic movement within Indigenous contemporary art,
Morrisseau challenged the Canadian art establishment to make a space for
a discourse related to Indigenous aesthetics. While his advances
influenced generations of artists, Morrisseau's contributions have often
been couched within a racial discourse fraught with stereotypical
constructions, undermining his artistic achievements.
Robertson's in-depth analysis of Morrisseau's art will identify the
colonizing gestures in the language that is contained within the artist
and his work to engage his body of work theoretically and
methodologically within an art historical discourse.
Her results will illustrate how his exceptional artistic
contributions and place in Canadian art history contributed to an
emerging discourse on Indigenous art.
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Researcher receives funding from
the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation
Researcher:
Darren Candow (Faculty
of Kinesiology and Health Studies)
 Dr.
Darren Candow, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and
Health Studies, received nearly $80,000 in operating funds, as well as
$30,000 for resistance-exercise equipment, from the Saskatchewan Health
Research Foundation for a project entitled “Potential of
resistance-exercise and creatine supplementation on aging musculoskeletal
health”. His project will investigate how creatine, a naturally occurring
substance found in seafood and red meat, and resistance-exercise can be
effective over the longer term to counteract
the muscle and bone loss associated with aging. What he discovers could
help Saskatchewan seniors live independently longer through enhanced
knowledge and training opportunities in nutrition, exercise physiology
and metabolism, biochemistry, and cell biology.
Darren Candow
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