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Continuing Studies newsletter
spring 2009 | www.sfu.ca/cstudies
Celebrating Five Years in Surrey
GreG eHLerS
2008 sFU sUrrey FACts
Continuing Studies offered over
85 distinctive courses at the Surrey
campus, attracting close to 1,400
total course enrolments.
Continuing Studies Programs at SFU Surrey
Aboriginal University Prep • Career Development Practitioner
Certificate • Certificate in Management—General
Management, Certificate in Management—Tourism Sector •
City Program • Diploma in Applied Project Management •
Diploma in Rehabilitation Management • Integrated Studies
Program in Liberal and Business Studies • Language,
Culture and Heritage Programs (Chinese, Korean,
Punjabi) • Philosophers’ Café • Strategic Supply Chain
Management Leadership Program
Coming soon to SFU Surrey: SFU NOW
new And growing ProgrAms
Career and life planning popular
New programs in Career and Life Planning (CLP), first offered
last spring at SFU Surrey, are generating positive response
and interest from students as well as school boards and other
community organizations.
Continuing growth and opportunities at SFU Surrey
A part of Continuing Studies’ Management and Professional The interest in lifelong learning at SFU’s Surrey campus has evident from day one,” says burgess. “Our Continuing Studies
Programs portfolio, CLP includes foundational training and exploded in the past five years as the community embraces portfolio here now includes everything from free public lectures to
continuing education for professionals in career-advising fields, Continuing Studies’ outreach and professional development short courses and workshops, as well as certificates, diplomas and
as well as courses and services for adults considering a career programming. Last year, for example, Continuing Studies offered degrees.”
change. more than 85 courses with a total course enrolment of almost Community outreach is an important aspect of Continuing
The full-time Career Development Practitioner Certificate 1,400. Studies’ mandate in Surrey. Popular community-centred programs
program runs twice each year. The part-time version began this The enthusiastic response is no surprise to Susan burgess, who include the Philosophers’ Café, the Summer Health Institute and
March, and program director Kon Li says that a new Implicit has been with Continuing Studies at Surrey since the beginning. the Sustainable entrepreneurship Lecture Series.
Career Search program will begin this fall, with vocational She is the director of Management and Professional Programs, burgess sees still more opportunities for growth. “I wouldn’t be
assessment services to follow. For more information visit which ran close to 70 courses at Surrey last year in programs surprised if Continuing Studies’ programming at the Surrey campus
www.sfu.ca/mpprog/careerpractitioner.htm. related to project management, supply chain, general management, overtakes the Vancouver campus in a few years,” she says. “There
tourism and career development, among others. is still so much potential to be realized as we build awareness
Pent-up demand for Punjabi “The potential at the Surrey campus, which serves Canada’s in the Fraser Valley and grow our connections with the local
MCKAy SAVAGe
fastest growing city and the larger Fraser Valley region, has been community and faculty colleagues at the campus.”
A new Punjabi language program for working adults
filled up fast this spring at SFU Surrey, confirming
not jUst dreAming oF A degree
AUP
Continuing Studies’ assessment that there was pent-
up demand for such a program. returning to university often seems an impossible dream in
“We created the program in fall 2008 and the midst of balancing a full-time job with a hectic family life.
marketed it through e-mails to the local community yet Corrine Chang, a mother of two who works for the
and through ads on Facebook and Google,” says Canada border Services, is fulfilling that dream thanks to
Wendy Steinberg, acting director of Language, Continuing Studies’ three-year degree completion program
Culture and Heritage Programs. Classes were for mid-career adults.
fully subscribed when the 12-week program The Integrated Studies Program in Liberal and business
began Jan. 29. Studies, offered at SFU’s Surrey and Vancouver campuses,
Coming up are focus-group sessions for a pilot has graduated more than 450 students with bachelor of
program in Punjabi language and culture. Targeted General Studies degrees since 1995.
at Indian-heritage youth, the pilot will form part of Chang and the rest of her classmates take classes
the university’s community outreach plans. together for three days every three weeks for three years, all
“We’d like to hear from anyone who might like to while continuing to work. Chang even manages to volunteer
participate,” says Steinberg. Call 778-782-5118 or at the same time, and credits her family and employer for
email language@sfu.ca. their support.
AboriginAl PreP ProgrAm to exPAnd She was recently interviewed on CbC’s Living Vancouver
Health education thriving The Aboriginal University Prep program is now in its fifth session
show and offers some advice for anyone contemplating a
return to school: “Think of where you want to be three years
Continuing Health education (CHe) runs a number of popular at the Surrey campus, with plans to expand the program to the from now and take that chance … take that step forward.”
programs at the Surrey campus, including the successful Vancouver campus. Forty-five aboriginal students have participated
CbC
Diploma in rehabilitation Management and the Summer Health in the university transition program since the first cohort in 2007.
Institute, which is a public education series that addresses topics They take foundational courses in university-level reading and writing,
of physical and mental health. CHe has also won grants and mathematics, study skills, and indigenous knowledge in a modern
contracts for: world. The program includes a mentoring component which is an
• Preparation for Health Careers in Aboriginal Communities extremely important part of the program.
• eMentoring: A New Gateway to Effective Supports for “Many students come in with a degree of uncertainty, but once
Aboriginal Students Pursuing Health Careers classes start and they begin interacting with each other and with
• Public Engagement with Information Technologies for faculty, their confidence builds and they become better prepared for
better Health the realities of university life,” says Natalie Wood-Wiens, program
• Better Knowledge, Better Health—Promoting Health Literacy coordinator. “They undergo a transformation, even in the short period of
in the Digital era one semester, and achieve more clarity in terms of their education and
• Water Quality Management career options.”
Program director Michal Fedeles says CHe will soon offer a Program staff are now exploring a mixed-delivery program option that
diploma in workplace health leadership, a program his team is would include some online components so that students can learn at
developing in partnership with three b.C. health authorities. their own pace.
2 simon fraser university news y continuing studies y spring 2009 newsletter
news sHorts
UpdateS
yoseF wosk is 2009 bC CommUnity ACHiever
Premier Gordon Campbell recently announced that yosef Wosk,
program director, Interdisciplinary Programs, is the recipient of a
2009 bC Community Achievement Award. The award “celebrates
british Columbians who go above and beyond in their dedication
and service to others and who devote time and energy to
making their communities more caring, dynamic, beautiful,
healthy and unique. They inspire by their example.”
stAnding room only For City leCtUres
The City Program’s free public lectures consistently draw a full
house, from the Last Candidate Standing—a municipal election
event like no other—to the Paradise Makers’ series featuring the
planners and builders who shaped our city. reservations are
recommended for upcoming lectures on sustainability and the
Shifting Gears series.
Videos of many lectures are also available for free download
from the City Program’s website at www.sfu.ca/city, and are
viewed by thousands of visitors from around the world.
oPerA stUdies retUrns
After a five-year hiatus, the SFU Opera Studies program is
back with an 11-session course, An In-Depth Study of Selected
Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts and Telecasts. The program
previews live opera broadcasts and telecasts from the Met in
New york City, presenting them at participating Cineplex Odeon
theatres in and around Vancouver.
web-sAvvy seniors register online
Who says lifelong learners aren’t web-savvy? The SFU Seniors
program initiated online registration this spring and over 60 per
cent of lifelong learners used the new service.
“Our online registration service is user-friendly and available
24 hours a day, “ says program director Alan Aberbach. “Seniors
can register in minutes, even more conveniently than by phone.”
Bill Reid and the Raven’s Call: exploring Identity
sFU now beAts enrolment tArgets What is identity? SFU’s 7th Floor Media is developing a new There, they contemplate the changes confronting them and argue
SFU NOW (Nights Or Weekends) has surpassed its registration website for the bill reid Foundation that explores this question about where they belong.
expectations one semester ahead of schedule. through the life and work of celebrated artist bill reid. The animation remains as unfinished as reid’s story. It raises,
Launched last fall, SFU NOW accommodates working bill reid was born in 1920 to a Scottish-American father and a but does not answer, questions about identity: Where does identity
students who want to pursue a university degree without Haida mother, and his work ultimately embodied two profoundly come from? Is it birth, experience or some combination of factors
sacrificing their family or career. Students can work toward a different cultural traditions. His creative and personal journey is outside of us?
bachelor of General Studies degree by taking courses on nights being brought to life on the new website, which includes a photo Visitors can create their own endings to the story in text, graphic,
and/or weekends and completing course requirements over as biography of reid, video commentaries from his friends and critics, audio or video format, and share them on the website.
many semesters as they choose. reid’s own comments, a photo gallery of his work, and articles by Another section, entitled “What is Identity?” offers lesson plans
SFU NOW represents a departure from traditional university his widow, Martine reid, about his artistic journey. for teachers.
planning, says NOW program director Neil Mathur. “We’re The website, which is part of the Virtual Museum of Canada, 7th Floor Media, which specializes in new media design and
moving to accommodate students, not the other way around.” features an animated adaptation of “The raven’s Call,” reid’s content, was well positioned to develop this project, says co-
Fang Huang, who juggles kids and a career, is a typical NOW unfinished short story. The story was inspired by a totem pole— director Julie Zilber, because they understand how cultural content,
student. She thought that attending university was unimaginable which Reid encountered in the Royal Ontario Museum—from his youth engagement and new media intersect. They are also
until discovering the NOW program, and says, “This program is Haida mother’s ancestral village, Tanu. familiar with the Virtual Museum of Canada’s strict technical and
making it possible for me to pursue my dream.” In artist Michael Nicoll yahgulanaas’ animation, figures on a accessibility requirements, as they have previously created five
Since most students are returning to school after a long Haida totem pole hear the call of a supernatural raven and slip other VMC sites for institutes ranging from the Vancouver Holocaust
absence, SFU NOW staff offer personalized assistance. away from a museum as it is closing. They make their way to Haida education Centre to the royal bC Museum. The Bill Reid site will be
“The entire staff, online support, structure and professors Gwaii, the traditional northwestern b.C. island home of the Haida. ready in fall 2009 at www.virtualmuseum.ca.
have been fantastic from day one,” notes student Wendy Adam.
You and darwin, together at last
The program is so successful, says Mathur, “that we’re
accelerating our plans to offer courses in Surrey.”
HeAltH literACy leAds to better HeAltH
In fall 2008, Continuing Health education hosted a learning
session titled Searching Health Information Online that attracted Our health, the way we look and feel, the way we think, our
rObIN ryAN
60 participants—among them members of the public, health relationships to others, even why we might believe the things we
and education professionals, and library science specialists. The do, are all the result of past evolution.
Michael Smith Foundation for Health research supported this As organizers of the Vancouver evolution Festival we thought
event through the Technology-enabled Knowledge Translation that if we could make these connections, the wonder of
Investigative Centre. evolution would become apparent to Vancouverites—and some
tHe bUzz on bees of the misunderstandings might be rectified too. Fortunately,
Disease, pest and habitat problems are plaguing the lives of Vancouver is home to some of the world’s most important
bees and challenging b.C.’s 2,000 beekeepers. That’s why many thinkers in evolutionary biology—philosophers, archaeologists,
of them enrol in the bi-annual bee Masters Short Course at SFU, psychologists and evolutionary biologists who were all eager to
where guest speakers present lectures on current topics such participate. Vancouver is even home to an eerily persuasive Darwin
as the Varroa mite, winter colony management, nutrition and the impersonator.
detection and control of diseases. We started with a very long list of possible topics. We nixed
Held this year in early March, the course is run by the b.C. suggestions for Darwin and Your Pets and Darwin and Your Garden
Ministry of Agriculture and Lands and administered by SFU’s but agreed on the risqué Darwin and Your Sex Life.
Conference Services. Participants attend from around the During the lecture, Darwin and Your Health, the audience
Pacific Northwest and, in past years, have come from as far squirmed when they learned that many allergies may be due to
away as Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, California and Alaska. a too-clean environment. It seems we evolved with worms in
We all love anniversaries. And this year is a big one—the 150th our systems but now they’re gone and our health may be
teACHing tHe teACHing AssistAnts anniversary of the publication of naturalist Charles Darwin’s book, suffering for it.
This spring, the International Teaching Assistants Program On the Origin of Species, which was published on Nov. 24, 1859. All six evenings filled up in record time and we had enthusiastic
attracted a diverse group of 14 international graduate students The book, which placed humans in the same family tree as all and sophisticated discussions among the 200-plus attendees at
and teaching assistants from countries such as China, Myanmar, other creatures on earth, sold out that same day. each event. One high school teacher was even inspired to organize
russia, brazil and egypt. To commemorate the book’s anniversary, and also the 200th a Darwin Week at her school.
Over the past 17 years, the program has offered a welcoming anniversary of Darwin’s birth, the Vancouver evolution Festival The lectures brought Darwin and his distant and difficult ideas
and safe space for its students to make the linguistic, cultural (www.vanevo.ca) organized a yearlong series of events. SFU’s to life. And it seems that Vancouverites and Darwin were happy to
and academic transition into SFU’s educational environment. Vancouver campus at Harbour Centre hosted the most extensive celebrate one of the most important big ideas in history, together.
“We use an integrated approach that puts language into a event from January–March 2009: A six-part lecture series entitled By Arne Mooers, an SFU associate professor of biology and
social and cultural context,” explains program director Wendy Darwin and You, co-sponsored by UbC and SFU. moderator of the Darwin and You lecture series. The series has
Steinberg. “And at the same time, participants can practice It’s easy to forget that Darwin’s discovery came 100 years before been videotaped and all lectures are available for download from
skills that will help them as TAs.” the discovery of DNA, yet it is critical to our everyday existence. Continuing Studies in Science at www.sfu.ca/cstudies/science.
newsletter simon fraser university news y continuing studies y spring 2009
You’re invited
DIANe MAr-NICOLLe
ContinUing stUdies Free PUbliC leCtUres And events
More info: www.sfu.ca/cstudies. (V) Vancouver. (S) Surrey
March 20: Against Intellectual Property, with David Levine,
Washington University (V)
March 23: english Language and Culture info session (S)
March 25: english Language and Culture info session (V)
March 27: Imagine BC—Public Dialogue on BC’s Resilient Health
Habitat and Livelihoods
April 8: Working for Change in Tough Times (V)
April 10: The Writers Studio readings, blenz Coffee Shop (V)
April 23: A Plea for the bees (V)
April 24: Active Transportation in Portland, with Sam Adams,
Mayor of Portland (V)
April 30: The Life and Death of Cities (V)
May 6: Growing Citizens: Gardening as a Catalyst for Civic
engagement (V)
May 8: The Writers Studio readings, blenz Coffee Shop (V)
June 3: Celebrating Citizen engagement (V)
Judge by day, philosopher by night UPComing PHilosoPHers’ CAFés
For times, see www.philosopherscafe.net
March 20: Is it possible to expect the unexpected? (Oakridge)
March 26: If you were the Auditor General of Canada what
It is arguably SFU’s most popular community program—garnering “It reminds me of the very vibrant and powerful café culture federal department or agency would you make sure to audit
accolades throughout the academic world and devotees in every in Pakistan, where writers and activists of all stripes engaged in and report on thoroughly? (West Vancouver)
community it reaches. It is the Philosophers’ Café, founded important debates and discourses,” he says. March 29: Love and Romance Myth #3 First Love—True Love?
and nurtured over the past 10 years by yosef Wosk, director of Makhdoom has been leading the Philosophers’ Café on (burnaby)
Interdisciplinary Programs in Continuing Studies. Commercial Drive in Vancouver for the past 2.5 years, where March 30: Is social Darwinism an instrument of racist and
The Café, which has brought dialogue to the community and a robust crowd regularly gathers to engage in discussions on authoritarian thought? (Commercial Drive)
become a champion of free speech and open discussion, is philosophy, politics and science. Makhdoom greets regulars and March 31: Suffering: A blessing in disguise? (Kitsilano)
exemplified by one of its most thoughtful and erudite moderators, newcomers with a warm hug or a friendly welcome. The atmosphere April 1: 2012 signifies the end of the Mayan calendar (Surrey)
Zahid Makhdoom. is relaxed and casual—a direct reflection of his ability to put April 2: What can we expect in 2010, in 2011? What effect the
A judicial justice of the peace for the Province of b.C. and a well- everyone at ease, whether they are outspoken or shy, politically Olympics? (False Creek)
known writer and former activist for social justice, Makhdoom is similar or opposed, educated or not. April 7: How would you allocate the taxes that are collected
originally from Pakistan. He fled to Canada after being imprisoned Makhdoom engages the same techniques in his courtroom as to run the country? (Coquitlam) • For the love of art—the
and tortured for publicly airing his views on law, democracy and he does at the café. “As a judicial officer serving in a high-volume pleasures of collecting and its lasting rewards (Point Grey)
secularism. court, I have a duty to impartially adjudicate. I must actively listen,” April 8: Is world government desirable? (White rock)
Committed to the idea that citizenship necessitates civic he says. “When someone is needlessly wasting court time, I have April 9: Legal and compassionate considerations of euthanasia
engagement, Makhdoom’s first job was advocating for some First a duty to protect the integrity of public resources while ensuring (Tsawwassen) • Agree or disagree: Higamous, hogamous,
Nations communities in Canada and in the US. He then ran in the the dignity of the person involved is never compromised. And as woman’s monogamous; Hogamous, higamous, man is
1993 federal election. His judicial appointment in 1996, however, a moderator of the Philosophers’ Café, I also must actively listen, polygamous (Maple ridge)
required him to relinquish his right to engage in political activism. draw out the silent ones and respectfully ensure everyone has an April 15: Ethics of Disagreement — What do we owe to those
The Philosophers’ Café, he says, is a new way to continue his equal opportunity to engage. Above all, I must remain impartial and who think differently than we do? (North Vancouver) • The
interest in building a thoughtful society. committed only to the free flow of ideas.” ethics of the Hundred Mile Diet (New Westminster)
Updates from the Centre for Online and distance education
online biology CoUrse gets toP mArks sFU HelPs tHe online m.ed grAdUAtes First stUdents
CODe
How do you develop an online introductory biology course that sAlvAtion Army A new online Master of education in Imaginative education
truly captures the interest of students who are only taking the in CHile (M.ed) that attracted students from around the world graduated
course to fulfill curriculum requirements? The hot dry sidewalks its first students last August.
That was the challenge facing SFU’s Centre for Online and of Santiago, Chile The Imaginative education degree is connected to the
Distance education (CODe) as the development team worked throng with street Imaginative education research Group (IerG) headed by SFU
with biology faculty members to revise bISC 100, an online vendors. Many sell education professor Kieran egan. IerG is dedicated to making
introductory biology course. bottled water from learning more imaginative, meaningful and effective.
“As we redesigned the course, we tried to incorporate cheap plastic tubs It was the education faculty’s first graduate program to
different types of study activities to capture the students’ filled with a few be offered online and it was a great success says Kanthi
interest,” says Kanthi Jayasundera, a program director with handfuls of ice and Jayasundera, a program director with the Centre for Online and
CODe. strapped to bicycles. Distance education (CODe).
biology lecturers Joan Sharp and Tammy McMullan
FACULTy OF eDUCATION
The bottled water is
developed quizzes for each unit to help students evaluate a luxury that they themselves can’t afford.
their progress, and incorporated hints as guidance for clearing Improving the lot of Chile’s curbside entrepreneurs is just
up misconceptions or misunderstandings. They used articles, one project among many for the Salvation Army as it seeks
images and case studies to build connections to biological to develop social services and improve the quality of life for
concepts, and included instructions for home laboratory impoverished groups in South America.
experiments. Video clips also helped to bring the subject To meet its goals, the Army has turned to SFU’s Centre for
to life, says Jayasundera. For example, one clip shows a Online and Distance education (CODe) for help in enhancing its
360-degree view of the flora and fauna, with magnification, own capacity to train Army officers in the South America West
during a walk on burnaby Mountain. And technology tools territory (bolivia, Chile, ecuador and Peru).
such as eLive ensured engaging, online synchronous (real- Alan Doree, CODe program director, and Major Ian Swan,
time) discussions with the instructor, tutor marker and an assistant professor from the Army’s educational division She says the program is ideally suited to working teachers
classmates. at booth College in Winnipeg, visited Santiago in February to because it combines online courses during the fall and spring
Students give the revised course top marks. begin planning an online distance education program that booth semesters with face-to-face courses at the burnaby campus
“Many found the course content interesting and said that College can offer to its officers in Chile. during the summer semester.
they had a better understanding of science after taking the “We met with the local officers to establish a project In addition to using traditional online teaching technologies,
course,” says Jayasundera. Plans for future revisions include framework and timeline and to introduce them to Moodle, the the program also used eLive, a tool that lets students hold
developing new simulations of required lab experiments. online platform for delivering the courses that they’ll be using,” synchronous (real-time) discussions via the Internet using voice,
explains Doree. “We also mapped out a series of courses that, text, whiteboards and shared applications.
ANA KreSINA
with our support, booth College can create and deliver.” “Our students became avid users of eLive to ‘meet’ and
CODe, he says, will provide instructional design support as interact with each other to discuss their concerns, questions and
well as administrative, logistical and technical advice plus, he ideas,” says Jayasundera, who notes that students were from
laughs, “a sympathetic ear regarding the weather in Winnipeg.” China, Thailand, USA and across Canada. “As well, they used
Doree also envisions a second phase of the project in which eLive for weekly seminal sessions with their instructor and to do
CODe would help booth College to improve its instructors’ a library orientation with the liaison librarian.”
familiarity with online teaching. The program also introduced a new ePortfolio tool to help
“It all means that Army staff will be better able to navigate the students document their learning journey throughout the
online learning world,” says Doree, “and then assist those who program. Students used the tool to collect, select, reflect, share
navigate the hot dry sidewalks of Santiago.” and present their work in a creative way over the Internet.
4 simon fraser university news y continuing studies y spring 2009 newsletter
Continuing Studies and
GAry MCMANUS
global Village Raise a poet
Cultural exchange student and poet Akerke Mussabekova, from Almaty, Kazahkstan, is brushing up her
english language skills and learning about Canadian culture in Continuing Studies’ english Language
and Culture (eLC) Program.
Mussabekova, 21, is in Vancouver to spend a four-month residency with the Vancouver International
Writers Festival in conjunction with the Historic Joy Kogawa House writer-in-residence program. The
residency is part of the HSbC Group’s Cultural exchange Programme in partnership with Poet in
the City, a U.K.-based charity committed to making new connections for poetry.
Mussabekova has an extensive knowledge of Kazakh, russian and english literature and has
developed a broad portfolio of her own poetry. During her residency she is meeting with local
poets and writing educators.
“I first began writing poetry when I was just 11 years old and have always loved to write,” she
says. “This residency gives me a chance to progress my writing career on an international level.”
Through SFU’s Writing and Publishing Program Mussabekova has attended poetry readings
with betsy Warland, director of The Writers’ Studio, and participated in The Writers’ Studio
downtown eastside reading Series. She plans to take an advanced poetry workshop through the Studio. Her
residency includes literary translation classes at UbC’s School of Creative Writing, as well as
work with Carol Condruk, an SFU eLC instructor, on the english translations of her poetry. They are
Writers’ Jamboree working to clarify grammar and syntax, ultimately retaining the integrity of her poems in english.
“I’m very proud of my culture and I think Kazakh poetry is particularly beautiful,” she says.
AM
“I hope I may also be able to use my skills during my stay to translate Canadian poetry into
ON N
WIL S
Last fall, more than 125 Downtown eastside writers spent two the rich Kazakh language.”
days discussing their work with professional writers and editors
during the first annual Downtown eastside Writers’ Jamboree. Development Agency (CIDA) and as chair of the Management
HeIKO DeCOSAS
Sponsored by SFU’s Writing and Publishing Program, The Committee of the WHO Global Programme on AIDS. His mother is a
Writer’s Studio and Friends of the Vancouver Public Library, the former executive director of AIDS Vancouver Island.
jamboree included blue Pencil consultations for 24 individual Decosas ventured into the world of documentary film in the
writers as well as four round Table events in which publishers, late ‘90s after working and living in both Ghana and Canada as a
writers and editors offered practical tips and advice. musician and carpenter. “I naively set out to make a movie about
Guest lecturers Karen X. Tulchinsky and ryan Knighton AIDS in Africa,” he says. but he never made the film. He says that
read from their current and early work and discussed their while he was in Zimbabwe he became overwhelmed by the sense
development as writers. An open-mike session featured 20 of immediate need among the people he met. So he put down his
Downtown eastside writers, some reading their work for the first camera and just listened to and tried to help the groups he met
time. along his travels.
“Participants loved the opportunity to meet established On his return to Canada, Decosas began pursuing a
writers, editors and publishers and hear stories of their writing communication degree at SFU in order to further his interest in
processes and career paths,” says betsy Warland, director creating change in the field of development. He enroled “hoping to
of The Writers’ Studio (TWS). She coordinated the event with develop a technical and theoretical grounding in journalism, video
beth Davies, head librarian at Carnegie Centre. “Nearly half of production and public health communication.”
those involved in organizing and hosting the jamboree were TWS
RedUCIng HIV In gHana
He first learned of the Ghana HIV stigma project through
graduates and mentors who volunteered their time,” she adds. his graduate supervisor, Martin Laba, director of the School of
The SFU Community Partnership Fund and Friends of the Communication. Laba had recently become the academic director
Vancouver Public Library funded the event. Warland plans to offer of the reducing HIV Stigma by education – Ghana project, and had
another jamboree later in 2009. Heiko Decosas, an MA student in the School of Communication traveled to Accra in 2005 as a communications specialist. When he
and an associate producer with CbC radio, is completing a learned of Decosas’ background and interest, Laba suggested he
UNDerGrADUATe SeMeSTer IN DIALOGUe
documentary film about a Continuing Studies international consider the project for his final master’s film.
development project to reduce HIV stigma in Ghana through Last year, Decosas traveled to Ghana to begin work on the film,
education. The film will explore and document HIV stigma in Ghana and met with the Ghanaian project directors for the first time.
and the cross-cultural exchange and collaboration as Continuing He’ll return to Ghana for a three-month visit in late March, and will
Studies staff work with partner universities in Ghana. Together, they support the project as a field liaison while he continues to work
are developing training programs that will help teachers and youth on the film. The completed film will be featured at a conference in
workers in their quest to prevent the spread of HIV. Accra in April 2010.
Decosas developed an interest in HIV and AIDS from his parents. For more information on the Reducing HIV Stigma by Education—
His father, a physician and epidemiologist, lives in West Africa Ghana project, visit www.sfu.ca/cstudies/international/t2/. Funded
and has worked as an AIDS advisor for the Canadian International by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
Surveying emergency Shelters
LeadeRS SUmmIt ImagIneS The Continuing Studies research and evaluation Unit (reU)
team has found itself in some unusual places—from remote Port
Hardy, b.C. to Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago. It’s all part
Many of the 2,830 homeless-shelter residents who responded
to the survey, for example, indicated an impressive array of past
achievements, from writing and publishing books, maintaining
a ReSILIent FUtURe FOR B.C. of the job as the unit carries out applied research projects and
evaluations for SFU departments and faculties as well as for groups
long professional careers and breaking records in sports, to doing
philanthropic work in the community.
What will it take to move b.C. towards a future that supports and organizations as varied as the City of Surrey, the Canadian “What we’re hoping the study will do is help people look beyond
resilient health, habitats and livelihoods? International Development Agency, Vancity and Action Canada. statistics and simple solutions for more housing, and get to the
More than 150 b.C. leaders met at the Wosk Centre for Dialogue In a new project with the Salvation Army, the reU is researching realization that the homeless have a huge array of stories—and that
on February 23 for Imagine bC, a summit organized by Dialogue the issue of service delivery to residents in Salvation Army we all could find ourselves in an unusual place like this, given a
Programs that explored big ideas that bring focus and energy to emergency shelters across Canada. A mixed-methods research similar combination of circumstances.”
some of the major challenges facing the province. study, it involves two comprehensive surveys: one given to Dunlop says the research results will be used in an educational
“The outcome? Leaders recognized that b.C. needs to establish administrators at all 72 shelters and another to shelter residents. forum as well as an enhanced Salvation Army strategy for
a highly educated workforce, an engaged citizenry, a policy The researchers also interviewed 80 residents for ethnographic addressing homelessness.
environment that enables innovation, and a market in which we can case studies in Winnipeg and Vancouver. The project is funded through the Salvation Army Development
sell innovative ideas,” says Joanna Ashworth, program director of “Our goal is to improve the Salvation Army’s understanding of Endowment Fund and managed by Continuing Studies with
Dialogue Programs and director of Imagine bC. “Neither a top- how their delivery of service is impacting individuals experiencing oversight from the SFU-Salvation Army Endowment Committee.
down nor a bottom-up approach will work,” she adds. “We need homelessness,” says program director Cathie Dunlop. “So we’re
opportunities for creative people from diverse sectors to meet in asking administrators what it means to provide good service to
focused and productive ways to generate innovative ideas together.” shelter residents, how that service could be improved and what dean Joan Collinge
Ideas from the summit covered the gamut: energy conservation, they are most proud of. We’re also asking residents how they view phone 778.782.5100 y fax 778.782.5098
literacy, health empowerment, sustainable food systems, creativity their stay in the shelter as part of their overall journey and what
in education, local economic initiatives such as micro-credit loans they are most proud of.” www.sfu.ca/cstudies y email cstudies@sfu.ca
and community investment funds, and new ways of creating citizen The last question, says Dunlop, gave some surprising and writer/editor Diane Luckow
engagement. inspiring glimpses into the universality of human experience and copy editor Patricia Graca
“Imagine bC is itself an experiment in innovation,” says Ashworth. the fragility of our day-to-day existence.
“Its foundation is dialogue—a kind of open-source democratic “It has turned out to be an assumption-busting project,” she
architecture that is more necessary than ever for engaging british says. “People often assume the homeless are different—but any of
Columbians as we strive for a more resilient future.” us could find ourselves in their situation.”
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