November 22, 2007 - Edmonton - It was 80 years ago this week that CKUA Radio first went on
November 22, 2007 - Edmonton - It was 80 years ago this week that CKUA Radio first went on the air from the University of Alberta's Power Plant.
Though built on a shoestring budget, Canada's oldest public broadcaster was the pride of the Department of Extension, "taking the university to the people" with lectures, music, debates and dramatic performances.
The first thing listeners would have heard on that November 21st evening was a rendition of "God Save the Queen" performed on an old piano, followed by a few introductory words from the university's president, Henry Marshall Tory: "Good evening, friends of the university audience."
It was not the smoothest launch. The station couldn't initially be heard on its own frequency, and H.P. Brown - first director, announcer, disc jockey, sound effects man and lecturer - set fire to the studio's burlap curtains with a makeshift magnesium powder flashbulb on a camera poised to capture the historic moment. It was an age, writes Marylu Walters in CKUA: Radio Worth Fighting For, when a mere high-pitched voice would crash the microphone.
CKUA (the last two letters referring to the university) eventually worked out the kinks, however, and began focusing its efforts on a rural audience. This was because, in the words of extension director Ned Corbett, "people who live in the country are more disposed and have more time, particularly in the long winter evenings, to listen to programs of a sound educational character."
One enthusiastic early listener wrote that the best part of his day was when he could finally remove his manure-covered boots after working on the farm, lay down on his cot and listen to the fine classical music floating from his radio. The story reflects what countless listeners have said over the years.
Eight decades after its inauspicious beginnings taking the university to the people, the CKUA Radio Network - mainly supported by listener donations and subscriptions - now takes its unique brand of informed music programming to the world over the Internet. To celebrate its birthday, we've prepared a short video (see above). We thank Lorna Thomas, producer of the television documentary "Radio Worth Fighting For," for permission to use her footage, and CKUA for some of the still photography.
When you're done playing the video, tune into 94.9 FM on your radio dial or ckua.org on the Internet to find out what else CKUA has planned to celebrate turning 80, including a live variety show broadcast from the Myer Horowitz Theatre Friday, Nov. 23, hosted by the station's old disk jockey, John Worthington.
Address of this ExpressNews article:
http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/article.cfm?id=8888
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The Many Moods of Christmas
Greenwood Singers and the U of A Faculty of Education Handb
The Many Moods of Christmas
Greenwood Singers and the U of A Faculty of Education Handbell Ringers get ready for their December 2007 concert.
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The University of Alberta's 100th birthday celebration promises to be an extraordinary and
The University of Alberta's 100th birthday celebration promises to be an extraordinary and exciting year.
The U of A's ambitious plans for becoming recognized as one of the world's top research universities by 2020 involve a couple of deep breaths and a fond look back before grabbing hold of the momentum built up during the school's first 100 years. With that, the university today announced its Centenary 2008 celebrations at a press conference that featured a pat on the back reaching across the last century.
"The university's first president Henry Marshall Tory believed a great university could be built out in the wilderness, right here on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River," said U of A President Indira Samarasekera, honorary co-chair of Centenary 2008, relating the tale of Tory's first fabled recruits, which included professors from Harvard, Columbia, Berkeley and McGill universities.
"There is no question in my mind that Tory launched this institution on an extraordinary course," said Samarasekera. "As we stand on the threshold of our second century and survey the accomplishments of this institution and its graduates, Tory, I think, would be very proud."
The wide range of celebratory activity planned for 2008 include centrally organized signature events, centenary award projects and dozens of faculty and department events.
A highlight will be the much-anticipated Prime Ministers' Conversations series, which will see the U of A host each of the six living former prime ministers throughout the year, where they will reflect on the topic Advancing Canada - Changing the World.
Another big event will be the Festival of Ideas, considered the capstone of the centenary celebrations and a legacy for the City of Edmonton, which features big ideas and bold visions from some of the world's most acclaimed artists, writers, scholars and performers, headlined by author Salman Rushdie.
Having a research and education institution of the U of A's magnitude has enriched the lives of every Edmontonian, all of whom Mayor Stephen Mandel invited to join the festivities.
"Marvels are going to come out of this year," Mandel said, adding the university has taken on a new vision, far surpassing anything the school's founding father could have dreamed of. "The city had its centennial and the province had theirs, but the university's is going to be about ideas, about people, about knowledge, about art, about creativity, about everything we are in this city, this province and this wonderful university."
Also among the signature centenary events are Centenary Road Trips planned for 11 cities throughout the province. This event is designed to pay homage to the original 'Tory Tour,' named after the whirlwind trips the U of A's famed first president made to Alberta towns, trying to drum up support for his vision.
"Indeed, the University of Alberta would not exist without the generations of faculty, students, staff, alumni, friends and donors who have come through its doors and made up its community over the years," said Samarasekera, who was joined by fellow Centenary 2008 honorary chair Jim Hole in unveiling the centenary's logo.
"The discoveries and the breakthroughs of our people have changed how we think and improved lives around the world."
While the atmosphere will be jubilant, the legacy of the centenary will forever entrench the U of A's original vision.
"Henry Marshall Tory and our founder Alexander Cameron Rutherford, our first premier, did not set out to build a mediocre little college on the prairies," said Samarasekera. "We are well on our way to getting there, but we owe it to them and to all those that have come since, to continue to strive towards our vision of becoming one of the world's top public research facilities."
Address of this ExpressNews article:
http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/article.cfm?id=8782
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With today's opening of the Alberta Diabetes Institute, the University of Alberta not only
With today's opening of the Alberta Diabetes Institute, the University of Alberta not only welcomed an eagerly-awaited new building into the campus fold, but, hopefully, an unprecedented level of co-operation.
Building on its renowned reputation for diabetes research, the U of A will employ a multidisciplinary approach to solving the diabetes puzzle by involving 35 principal investigators from five university faculties including: Agriculture, Forestry and Home Economics; Medicine & Dentistry; Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; Physical Education and Recreation and the School of Public Health.
"Such scientific and technological and social advances, today, are rarely achieved by brilliant individuals working in isolation. Instead, they are achieved through highly specialized and collaborative research carried out in highly sophisticated facilities," said U of A President Indira Samarasekera. "Ask any parent of a child with diabetes, they will tell you that it is imperative that a cure be found soon so their child can look forward to a long and happy life. That's why the Alberta Diabetes Institute exists."
In conjunction with World Diabetes Day, the world's gaze focused on the 65,000-square-metre Health Research Innovation Facility, which houses the institute. The institute will eventually occupy about two-thirds of the HRIF east building.
Tom Marrie, dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, said the building represents a considerable achievement and the culmination of a dream from his predecessor, Dr. Lorne Tyrrell, and then-associate dean of research Dr. Joel Weiner.
"You might say it was born out of necessity, but they conceived of the idea that we needed not one, but two research buildings," said Marrie. "It is also a tribute to the career of Ray Rajotte, who 30 years ago began a lifelong journey to try to find a cure for diabetes. Most importantly, this building is all about a team of dedicated individuals from all across the university who have come together to try to find a cure for diabetes."
The institute is the culmination of the life work of Rajotte, who started his research into diabetes in the early 1970s. He was responsible for creating the U of A's famed Islet Transplant team which, in 1999 under the guidance of Dr. James Shapiro, gave the world the Edmonton Protocol - the world's first islet transplant technique. On the heels of this discovery, Rajotte began pushing for a research institute that would corral all facets of diabetes reasearch under one roof.
"It took scientists from each of the five faculties to help write the proposal to the Canada Foundation for Innovation," said Rajotte. "To all the scientists and the support staff - I would like to paraphrase John F. Kennedy - ask not what the Alberta Diabetes Institute can do for you, ask what you can do for the Alberta Diabetes Institute."
"Work together as a team that will lead the world to find a cure for diabetes."
The Canada Foundation for Innovation's original pledge of $28.5 million was the catalyst that sparked the project. The price tag now sits at $300 million, of which the government of Alberta has contributed $246 million.
"There really isn't any more important issue in health today," said David Hancock, Alberta's minister of health and wellness, referencing claims that diabetes is an epidemic. "Improving the health of Albertans will assist us with not only improving the quality of their life and their productivity, but also in controlling health-care costs. And this will only occur if government pursues new ways to save live, works to prevent chronic illnesses like diabetes, and encourages people to stay healthy by eating right and staying active."
Premier Ed Stelmach declared the institute "the brain centre for research."
"As diabetes reaches epidemic proportions world-wide, the opening of the Alberta Diabetes Institute on World Diabetes Day demonstrates Alberta's commitment to investing in diabetes research at the University of Alberta, improving the quality of life for all Canadians affected by diabetes, and providing hope to people across the globe," he said.
With all the university's diabetes researchers now under one roof, institutionalizing the much-talked-about atmosphere of co-operation now falls into the lap of Ron Gill, who takes over from Rajotte as the institute's scientific director.
"A lot of Nobel prizes have been achieved by people who change fields, work with someone in a different area that they didn't understand very well and together they accomplish something very unique," said Gill. "In fact, that's how they discovered insulin: Banting and Best, people who would not normally work together, did something a little bit different, and looked at things a little differently and did something entirely new, and that's how science works."
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No matter how physically limited a person might be, physical fitness continues to be the c
No matter how physically limited a person might be, physical fitness continues to be the common denominator for longer, more fulfilling lives.
Thanks to a generous gift from two local donors, the University of Alberta's Steadward Centre for Personal and Physical Achievement now boasts an impressive new piece of equipment that allows people with quadriplegia and paraplegia better access to such a life.
The RT 300 Motorized Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) Cycle Ergometer allows people who have lost the use of their legs to better access a technology designed to keep them fit.
FES is a technique which applies electrical currents to paralyzed muscle through electrodes placed on the surface of the skin. This current delivers the necessary stimulation to illicit a muscle contraction with the purpose of providing useful movement so a person can exercise.
"We stimulate their muscles to pedal the bicycle against a resistance," said Bethany Steen, an FES consultant with the centre. "Just as anyone would pedal on an exercise bike, their muscles are pedalling but the action is controlled by electrical stimulation.
"It stimulates the quadriceps on one side just at the same time as the quadriceps on the other so then it is a push-pull pedaling motion. Just as your brain controls your own muscles, the machine controls the muscles in this case."
For people who have lost the use of their legs, the muscles in the legs begin to deteriorate.
"Over time we can slow muscle atrophy and even build up muscle," said Steen, adding that there are other benefits as well. "The RT 300 allows people to also get some much-needed cardiovascular exercise. Because they are sitting in their chairs all the time, they are at higher risk for cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and Type 2 diabetes."
Steen says the bike improves circulation, which helps with pressure sores and seems to alleviate the pain that comes with muscle spasms.
"And just getting some general exercise, their energy levels go up, and just like any of us who get out and exercise regularly, they start to feel better about themselves."
The centre already utilizes two similar bikes, but the RT 300 has the advantage of being transfer free, which means users stay in their own wheelchair during the workout.
"The difference with this bike is that the staff doesn't have to transfer you, so it is a lot easier on them," said Darin Wood, a 19-year-old quadriplegic who has been using the RT 300 three times a week. An avid athlete before a car accident in May of 2006, Wood found a way to stay physically active despite his injury thanks to the cutting-edge equipment at The Steadward Centre.
"I was playing hockey five to six nights a week, not only that but all kinds of sports. I was extremely active, but after being on the bike a short amount of time it was almost like my legs woke back up again. I got my hockey legs back."
Another improvement on the new bike, which carries a price tag of more than $20,000, is that it is controlled by wireless Internet. Programs designed online can be downloaded onto the RT 300. Every member has a specific code that is punched into the control pad and their individual program comes up.
"The bike, being so new, means it is a lot smoother and there are a lot more program advances," said Wood, one of seven Steadward Centre members who use the RT 300. "We can work at a greater level of resistance and use different strengthening exercises. The greater level of resistance gives me harder workouts, so in that sense you get more of a cardio workout and a muscle workout as well."
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November 5, 2007 - Edmonton - The University of Alberta's 15th David Peikoff Chair of Deaf
November 5, 2007 - Edmonton - The University of Alberta's 15th David Peikoff Chair of Deafness Studies Lecture took aim at the idea that language is a spoken form of communication.
Jolanta Lapiak, an Ameslan (American Sign Language) literary and media artist and poet in video, performance, photography, digital art and text, offered a critique of visual-manual and vocal-auditory entities within logocentrism - the view that logos (the Greek term for speech, thought and reason) is the central principle of truth or reason. She challenged Aristotle's statement that without speech, there is no reason.
Lapiak used examples of how logocentrism and phonocentrism - the view that speech is central to language - are practiced within literature and discussion of visual-manual language and how this rooted prejudice affects culture and language of Ameslan people.
Linda Cundy, an education consultant with Edmonton Regional Educational Consulting Services, enjoyed Lapiak's usage of the term 'deafhood' over 'deafness.'
"The word 'deafness' is related to 'not able to hear,'" she said. "We are in a neo-movement in which deaf people all over the world are taking charge of their own lives instead of allowing others to take care of us. That is what the term 'deaf-hood' is all about. It's a process of identifying and promoting our being as deaf individuals."
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Michael Brown
Edmonton — Body temperatures plunged but the United Way's money thermomet
Michael Brown
Edmonton — Body temperatures plunged but the United Way's money thermometer inched higher on Friday as the University of Alberta's Jeux Du Commerce (JDC) team held its second annual Chillin' For Charity Polar Bear Swim.
About 40 brave souls donned a wide range of poolside attire and dove, flopped, cannonballed and back-flipped into a cold-beer-temperature pool all in the name of the U of A's biggest charity drive.
"The water was absolutely freezing, but as you can tell, the coldness of the pool was overshadowed by the fun of the day," said event organizer Maureen Walsh, of the arctic plunging that helped raise more than $30,000 for the United Way. It is, by far, the biggest contribution to date.
"JDC recognizes the importance of community involvement and charity initiatives on campus," said Walsh. "That's where Chillin' for Charity fits into the competition."
Chillin' For Charity is part of a challenge from JDC teams across Western Canada who host similar swims on the same day. JDC West provides students from nine universities the chance to compete in intense academic, social and athletic contests.
As part of the $30,000 donation, U of A School of Business Dean Mike Percy raised the stakes by not only offering to match all funds raised by his Business 201 students, but also promising he'd bungee jump at West Edmonton Mall if their donations exceeded $2,500. The class raised $4,500.
"Given that last year we raised $1,584.97, I thought it was a safe bet," said Percy, whose motive for this year was not just to raise more money but to improve on last year's dive. "Last year, I did what I thought was a perfect cannonball. There was a little problem in that I misjudged my height; I went too high relative to the depth of the pool. This year I will try for the same form, just not as high."
Percy was joined by Mike Mahon, dean of the Faculty of Physical Education, in the ceremonial first dive which was followed by springboard performances from a cast of superheroes, synchronized swimmers, a newly married couple and the king himself, Elvis Presley.
With that, the U of A's United Way fund-raising drive sits at $534,000 with a week to go, although donations for this year's total are counted right up to Dec. 31.
"We only raised $6,500 last year, and this year it was $30,000 so it's bigger and better, and we're going to go even bigger next year," said Walsh, adding that hopefully these late fall balmy conditions carry over to next year's Chillin' For Charity Polar Bear swim. "(Last year) we had to chip ice off the water before Dean Percy jumped in. It was -32 C with the wind chill."
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Michael Brown
Edmonton -- Done right, teaching can have an impact beyond the lecture ha
Michael Brown
Edmonton -- Done right, teaching can have an impact beyond the lecture hall. Done exceptionally well, those lessons take on lives of their own.
That's what has happened with the Psychology 400/409 Honours Seminar II full-year course Connie Varnhagen taught last year -- its effects are still being felt today.
"The goal of the class is to help students develop professional skills in communications, information literacy, time management, team work -- all that sort of stuff," said Varnhagen "As professionals they need to be able to transfer their research to a lay audience. You can't go tell your grandmother that you're studying aggression in convict cichlids because grandma's not going to know what you're talking about and why you would be studying fish."
"You have to be able to talk about what you're doing in any science in terms that any layman can understand and that helps society advance."
As one of their major assignments, each of three groups of students selected a target age group and a relevant health topic for that group. The students then translated the latest research on that health topic into an appropriate visual medium for their audience.
One group selected children and stress. They realized that they needed to target parents and decided that a public service television announcement would be the best medium for disseminating information about stress among kids. Working with KidshaveStressToo.org, a program of the Psychology Foundation of Canada, a local filmmaker and child actors, the group produced a 30 second public service announcement that is currently airing on City TV Edmonton and Calgary.
"There are so many pressures on kids that we thought it would be good just to raise awareness of it," said Emily Handford who, along with Karen Ross and StephanieYan, produced the dramatic commercial that puts children in adult situations, to communicate the fact that children suffer from stress as much as adults do. "It already had a well-developed website around it so we decided to make a commercial around it, to hopefully send people to the website and raise awareness about it."
With a budget of $500 and the help of local filmmakers Tyler MacIntyre and Ian Ketehu, the threesome went about begging and borrowing their way to a television commercial.
"Karen had the idea of having kids dressed up in actual office attire," said Handford, whose team borrowed kids from their own families and a local theatre group. "The idea was these are some things that cause stress in adults, and although that doesn't cause stress in kids it kind of grabs people's attention."
The group consulted with U of A sociology professor Lisa Strohschein, who conducts research into the effects of divorce and different stressors on children, to help develop the commercial's theme, and then put it into script form on the advice of Silvana Babchishin, a television commercial writing instructor. From there it was a day of lights, camera, action.
"Our hope was to get it on TV eventually," said Handford. "At the end of class we had the commercial done, and Karen did a lot of work over the summer to finish off the process of getting it on TV."
Because KidshaveStressToo.org is a non-profit organization, the commercial is categorized as a public service announcement, which TV stations run for free. As luck would have it, City TV agreed to run the announcement in its Edmonton and Calgary markets 12 times a week from October - December.
"It was kind of cool when I came across it on late-night TV, but my sister phoned me and said she saw it on Ugly Betty in prime time on Sunday night," said Handford. "That was more than we ever hoped for."
The TV exposure was just one of three success stories that last year's class produced.
Another group selected the diagnosis of schizophrenia in young adults for their project. With the help of the Edmonton Chapter of the Schizophrenia Society of Alberta, the students designed a series of facts-and-myths posters entitled Let's Talk Schizophrenia that was displayed in a poster campaign in the City of Edmonton's transit fleet.
A third group selected the issue of HIV/AIDS among seniors. Working with pharmacists and several local HIV/AIDS groups, the students developed a brochure, AIDS Doesn't See Age, targeted specifically for older adults.
Connie Varnhagen's home page:
http://www.psych.ualberta.ca/~varn/
KidshaveStessToo.org
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