FEBRUARY 2001

Coastal health and safety

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research announced $2.1 million for a five-year multidisciplinary research program based at Memorial University to study and identify ways to promote marine and coastal workplace health and safety. The program will be administered through the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Applied Health Research, set up in the Faculty of Medicine in March 2000 with the aid of $500,000 from the provincial Department of Health and Community Services. The co-directors of the program are Dr. Stephen Bornstein, a professor in the Department of Political Science and director of the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Applied Health Research, and Dr. Barbara Neis, associate professor in the Department of Sociology.

Marine Institute partners with Chinese university

When Dr. Peter Fisher helped establish the bachelor of technology program a couple of years ago, he knew it had the potential to reach a lot of students. As director of instructional development and student services at the Marine Institute, Dr. Fisher and his colleagues have been working diligently to tell students about the new program. His message is getting out there — as far as China, in fact. As a result of a new partnership arrangement with Jilin University, Chinese students will be coming to Memorial University in 2002 to begin the bachelor of technology program. Representatives from Jilin University first visited the Marine Institute last summer and wthin months, Dr. Fisher and representatives from the College of the North Atlantic travelled to Changchun in Northeast China to begin negotiations with Jilin University. Changchun is located in Jilin Province and has a population of about four million.

Board approves new Grenfell residence

The Board of Regents approved a residence project that will see eight apartment-style modules built on the Grenfell College campus. During the February meeting, approval was given for the conceptual design and preliminary plans for the student apartment complex, which is seen as a key factor in the plan to increase enrolment to 1,500 by recruiting locally, provincially, nationally and around the world. As it stands now, 200 students are accepted annually for Grenfell's dormitory-style residence accommodations, and just as many are turned away.

Shrinking the world

If you needed proof that the world is getting smaller, here it is. The Labrador West Centre for Interactive Learning officially opened its video conference facilities, Feb. 12-16, by reaching out to the world. Through the sponsorship of the Iron Ore Company of Canada and the support of the College of the North Atlantic and Memorial's School of Continuing Education, the centre is sporting the latest in videoconferencing technology and they are ready to show it off. Linda Nuotio, operations co-ordinator, reported on the week of tightly packed virtual expeditions. "We're going to be visiting with NASA employees involved in aerospace research from the NASA Glenn Research Centre, Cleveland, Ohio; holding a skating clinic with world-class Canadian figure skater Ben Ferreira in Edmonton; gleaning gardening tips from horticulturalist Mike Manning in St. John's; running an all-day videoconference Valentine's Day message marathon on Feb. 14; and experiencing the rain forest in the gorilla exhibit at the Buffalo Zoo, New York state."