All Posts Tagged With: "Simon Fraser University"
Is a fraudster recording what you’re typing?
Identity thieves target campus computer labs
Photo by Official GDC on Flickr
Simon Fraser University students were shocked to learn last week that a Chinese couple stole 500 pages of information on 150 students from a computer or computers in a campus lab. The couple used it to make fake student cards, which they then used to steal transit passes.
The fraudsters were caught and deported. But Jim Garnett from B.C. Transit Police says the crime should serve as a warning to students that public machines on campus aren’t always safe.
The information that was stolen appeared to have been lifted using keystroke loggers, devices the size of a small USB key that are hidden on or inside computers to record everything that’s typed.
Continue reading Is a fraudster recording what you’re typing?
Gondola to Simon Fraser won’t fly
Would cost $12-million more
Vancouver’s transit authority has released a report on the viability of a gondola to ferry students and professors up Burnaby Mountain to Simon Fraser University. The report by CH2M Hill found that it would cost $12-million more than using buses over a 25-year period. That means it won’t be built anytime soon. The option may be considered in a “future strategic transportation plan,” says TransLink. Many people supported the aerial alternative because winter weather often keeps buses from navigating the icy roads and because the gondola may be more environmentally friendly than buses. However, the gondola was opposed by some homeowners who would have lived underneath it.
150 students are victims of identity fraud
Chinese couple made fake student cards
Canada has deported a Chinese couple who stole information from more than 150 Simon Fraser University students, CBC News reports. Siyuan Gu and Jing Wang pleaded guilty in December to using forged student ID cards to obtain U-Passes. They possessed a 500-page printout of information on SFU students that had been obtained by recording keystrokes, provincial court heard. U-Passes are highly valuable because they allow their 80,000 student users unlimited access to transit in Vancouver at a rate of just $30 per month. The regular price is $151 for a three-zone pass. Gu had spent nine years in Canada on an academic visa and Wang is listed as his wife. Earlier this year, TransLink, Vancouver’s transit authority, said that U-Pass fraud amounts to $15-million annually. In the past, much of that fraud was due to people registering for school, dropping out and then illegally re-selling selling their U-Passes on Craigslist.
Canada’s Top Five university comics
Prof. Pettigrew ranks our campus cartoonists
#2. Caveman Agent by Evan Eshelman
One fond memory of my undergraduate days is of reading the comics in the student newspaper. They lacked the artistry of professional comics in the big dailies but they had a certain joie de vivre that came with, presumably, not getting paid very much (if anything at all).
Since then I have followed university comics mainly when they get involved in controversies, as when the UPEI student newspaper was confiscated by university officials after it published the notorious Danish Mohammed cartoons, or when a community college ran a comic in which Barack Obama looked a bit like a monkey, or when the Saskatchewan student paper ran a comic, reportedly by mistake, showing Jesus in, shall we say, a sexually compromising position.
But browsing student news sites the other day, I became curious as to the state of university comics, so I went looking and found that the tradition was alive and well, and even better than I remember. In fact, I was so impressed that I am inspired to provide my entirely subjective, online-only list of the top five university comics in Canada. Here are my picks.
5. The Daily Snooze, by Jacob Samuel, Simon Fraser
Samuel provides us with quite charming one-off panel cartoons, of the sort one finds in The New Yorker—and provides fewer head scratchers than that redoubtable mag.
4. Ski Ninjas, by Kyle Lees, Lakehead
Ski Ninjas feels like it could have been called Little Orphan Anime. I admire the strong lines and the simple off-beat humour, as in this strip where the joke is essentially that “booze” is a funny word. Which it is.
3. Too Fancy Gents, by Mike Hayes and Amani Elrofaie*, Western
Too Fancy Gents gives us the dialogue of two Oscar Wilde-esque fellows called Monocle and Bowler (perversely, Monocle wears a bowler, and Bowler wears a monocle). Typically our gents (who really are too fancy) sound awfully posh but quickly veer off into accounts of their sexual escapades or drug-fuelled misadventures.
2. Caveman Agent, by Evan Eshelman, York
I must admit, I don’t think I always understand Eshelman’s Caveman Agent (which feels a bit like Ziggy if Gary Larson had drawn it, with a dash of Krazy Kat for flavour), but the drawing is fantastic and the artist manages to catch his main character (is Cavemen his name?) in oddly human moments, as in this panel where he tries to keep his dinosaur from being traumatized.
This one makes me slightly regret my one-winner-per-university rule, though, since York provides several other worthy candidates, including Adventuresome by Keith Maclean, and the very clever Sent from the Moon, by Alison Wight. Let’s call those very honourable mentions.
1. Glamour Pig, by Katherine Johnson, Dalhousie
Glamour Pig is a largely text-based comic with admittedly sketchy drawing, but has just the sort of skewed viewpoint that gives us a new perspective on life (as in one comic where Johnson lists some of the downsides of eye glasses: “Impossibility of repair should damage occur in post-apocalyptic future.”). This is the kind of comic that makes you feel like you have a cool new friend.
If I have missed any worthy candidates, please feel free to link to them below. Meantime, campus cartoon artists: don’t stop now!
*We initially failed to give credit to Amani Elrofaiem, the illustrator behind Too Fancy Gents. We regret the error. Additionally we initially listed Ski Ninjas as Sky Ninjas. This post was updated Jan. 14, 2011.
Learning biz to the sound of rap
How Baba Brinkman is teaching M.B.A.s
Photo by Mark Peterson/Redux
From the Maclean’s Rethink Issue. Story by Angelina Chapin.
It’s a Sunday night in Manhattan, and the only place in the world where 40 white people have their fists in the air chanting “I’m a African.” Their ringleader is performer Baba Brinkman: a tall, gangly man who is explaining to his audience in the off-Broadway theatre how the theory of evolution is captured in the lyrics of New York City-based hip-hop duo Dead Prez.
Brinkman’s riff on their song, which argues that until 60,000 years ago Homo sapiens all lived in Africa, is a part of his rap guide to evolution—the second in a series of educational rap guides he’s produced. The songs unpack such Darwinian principles as natural and sexual selection using the analogy of the rap industry: just as certain organisms are selected to survive in nature based on favourable qualities, certain rappers are selected by their audience to succeed based on talent.
In a class of their own
Adventure Studies, Space Engineering, Costume Studies!?
UBC Wood Processing students putting together the podia used at the 2010 Olympic ceremonies
From the 21st Maclean’s University Rankings—on newsstands now. Story by Alex Ballingall.
Parents have a tendency to dream on behalf of their children. Sometimes they envision their daughters and sons climbing the hallowed staircases of ivory tower institutions. Sometimes they’re graduating from law school, leaping headlong into medical school, or simply training to take over the family business. There’s no doubt such dreams have merit, but they don’t always mesh with what kids want. Canadian universities offer a staggering array of enticing programs in which students can pursue their own destinies and determine their own dreams. Here are a few standouts:
SFU lockout ends with concessions on both sides
Staff keep $30 wages, but don’t need to be replaced
Photo courtesy of stephenrwalli on Flickr
The Simon Fraser Student Society lockout has ended after 94 days. ”I think both sides compromised,” President Jeff McCann told The Peak student newspaper. The Canadian Union of Public Employees staff signed a new collective agreement with the SFSS board on Oct. 11 and went back to work.
The major relief for current employees in the new contract is that permanent staff will keep their current wages, which average $30.48 per hour. The SFSS had originally proposed a wage cut of roughly $10 before the lockout began in July. New permanent employees will start at $25 per hour—lower than the union wanted—but more in line with the average hourly wage in Canada, which was $24.71 in August, according to Statistics Canada.
The board won concessions too, in that new student employees can be paid a much lower $14.50 per hour. That could save money. McCann had long argued that wages were so high that the SFSS was being forced to cut services and bursaries. Another win, as far as the board is concerned, is that they’re not obligated to replace staff when they leave, so long as they maintain a complement of at least six full-time and two part-time staff. There are currently 12 full-time employees.
Stalemate in Simon Fraser Student Society lockout
Latest offer would maintain $30 hourly wages
Photo bt stephenrwalli on Flickr
Fifteen unionized employees remain locked out by the Simon Fraser Student Society nearly three months after the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3338 rejected a contract that included $10 per hour wage cuts in July.
The student union’s latest offer on Sept. 1 included no wage cuts for current employees and a reduction in full-time staff by attrition only. Instead of cutting wages and employees, the offer would have allowed for a gradual reduction in the number of full-time positions and the SFSS would have been able to hire students at starting wages of $13 per hour instead for future positions.
The union says that would create a two-tired system. Richard Overgaard, a CUPE national communications representative, told The Ubyssey student newspaper at UBC that the union won’t counter the offer until the SFSS ends the lockout.
Services that are unavailable due to the lockout include the copy centre, the Women’s Centre and the LGBTQ support centre.
The SFSS maintains that a $30.48 average hourly wage for 15 full-time staff is unsustainable in light of its $800,000 deficit. The average hourly wage for all Canadians aged 25 to 54 in August was $24.71, according to Statistics Canada. CUPE says that its members are not overpaid.
SFU chemistry professor found dead
Man from Richmond, B.C. taken into custody
Police found a dead woman on Tuesday night that they have now confirmed to have been 37-year-old Simon Fraser University professor Melanie Alexis O’Neill, reports CBC News.
Police believe the death may have been a homicide but they have not yet determined the cause of death.
O’Neill was an associate professor of biological chemistry at Simon Fraser University. She was recently awarded tenure.
Police told CBC that a man who knew the owner of the home was taken into custody in Richmond, B.C.
Simon Fraser student society locks out employees
Union says $30-per-hour average wage is fair
Photo courtesy of stephenrwalli on Flickr
Labour disputes are common at Canadian universities. And when they happen, student unions often take the side of the workers. But at Simon Fraser, the dispute isn’t between the university and a labour union — it’s between the labour union and the student union itself.
The Simon Fraser Student Society locked out its unionized office workers on Monday. The sticking point is wages — $30.48 per hour on average — which the Student Society wants to lower by as much as $10 per hour, according to a union representative. The average hourly wage for all Canadians aged 25 to 54 in June was $24.71 in June, according to Statistics Canada.
Continue reading Simon Fraser student society locks out employees
Boomers are the latest cash crop
Later-in-life schooling ‘is not just growing, it’s growing exponentially.’
When David Prosser, 64, graduated from Ryerson University in June of last year, it was his third time there in a cap-and-gown ceremony. In 2005, after ending a lifelong career at Kodak Canada, he enrolled to train as a fundraising manager at Ryerson’s G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education, and now works as a development director for a Toronto-based mental health charity. “It was a big change to get from the corporate world to the non-profit,” he says—but his alma mater was there to help.
Prosser is one of an increasing number of students who are trotting back to campus decades after their first graduation, and changing the face of universities across Canada. Mid-career and mature professionals going back to the books are fuelling a boom in adult education that goes well beyond colleges. At the Chang school, enrolment rose by 49 per cent since 2001; at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies (SCS), it’s up 75 per cent since 2007; at the University of Ottawa, it nearly doubled between 2000 and 2009, growing 28 per cent this academic year alone; and at McGill University, it grew by around 6.5 per cent since 2009-2010. When Simon Fraser University (SFU) advertised a free workshop called “Later in Life Career Transitions” around Christmas last year, the 70-spot event was fully booked before New Year’s, and when the school decided to make another 100 seats available, they sold out in a week. “I think it says a lot about the hunger for learning and career options later in life,” says SFU’s dean of lifelong learning Helen Wussow, who added that enrolment at the school was up this year.
Continuing education used to be predominantly the realm of public and private colleges, but universities are now diving into the sector. Many have been offering some continuing education classes for decades, but the recent eye-popping rates of growth reflect a conscious effort to step up those programs. “In the last four years we’ve created a new visual identity for the school and a new brand-awareness effort,” says Almira Mun, strategic marketing director at U of T’s SCS, adding that this included a facelift for course catalogues and publications, and more ads in local newspapers. In 2008, the U of O turned its adult education classes into a new Centre for Continuing Education, which offers both personal enrichment and professional development classes and is housed in a brand-new building with a view of the Parliament Buildings. SFU and McGill are both conducting market research to lay the foundations to expand their offerings for adult learners.
The increased demand for later-in-life schooling is coming from foreigners seeking a quick gateway to the Canadian workplace, mid-career professionals who want to update their skills and, especially, sprightly baby boomers looking for a new career after retirement or some stimulation to keep an aging mind in shape. But regardless of place and year of birth, when skilled workers look for a professional upgrade or intellectual pastime, they increasingly want to do so at the university level, says Serge Blais, director of U of O’s adult ed centre. The sector, he says, “is not just growing, it’s growing exponentially.”
And, along with enrolment, revenue is on the rise. At U of O, for example, it grew by 89 per cent between 2000 and 2009. Other schools declined to disclose financial information to Maclean’s. Yet, with young people’s full-time post-secondary enrolment expected to dip by nine per cent between 2012 and 2025 due to Canada’s aging population, catering to seasoned students looks like a good insurance policy.
SFU’s new president flying under the radar
Andrew Petter’s role is not to innovate but to simply manage
I just finished up my work for the Christmas holidays by interviewing Stephen Toope, UBC’s President, for a good hour or so. He conducts an annual interview with the student media each year, and it’s always a valuable opportunity to examine the mindset of a man leading of one of Canada’s largest universities.
Right now, UBC is moving forward on a number of “big picture” items: governance of lands, a new strategic plan, sustainability partnerships with Vancouver , and Toope is going about it confidently. But that’s to be expected. He’s been President for nearly five years, and having been reappointed to another five-year term in the summer time, is intent on seeing his vision for the university come to fruition.
The conversation made me think of Metro Vancouver’s other university—Simon Fraser University—and its new President, Andrew Petter, a former provincial NDP cabinet minister. Despite 35,000 students and a good reputation for a institution only 45 years old, SFU plays York to UBC’s U of T—not so much second fiddle as not part of the national conversation. Petter’s arrival at SFU merited a small story from the Vancouver Sun, but otherwise, his first few months have merited little attention.
Will this change? The university is well suited for growth in the next few years: With a recent move to the NCAA, and the development of satellite campuses throughout the lower mainland, SFU is in a strong position, so Petter’s job in the coming years may be more of a managerial one than anything else.
I asked Sam Reynolds, an SFU journalist, about what effect, if any, Petter’s first semester as President has had on the Burnaby campus, and here’s what he had to say:
Petter steps into the shadow of former SFU President Michael Stevenson. Under Stevenson, SFU continued to move away from relative isolation on Burnaby Mountain to being a vibrant part of the Metro Vancouver community with the extensive expansion of the University through openings of three new campuses. Stevenson inherited a University plagued with problems after a tumultuous decade, from academic program cutbacks and budget shortfalls to a long running sexual harassment case involving a swimming coach and a Science undergrad turned Fox News contributor.
Overall the student body of SFU as a whole has been rather blasé about the change in guard.
The only real challenge Petter has faced in his inaugural term is that of a negative response by student activists to a donation to SFU’s Woodward’s campus by Vancouver based gold producer, Goldcorp. These activists claim that Goldcorp has a rather sordid history of human rights abuses through their mining operations in the Global South and this donation is merely an attempt to distract the public and repair their image. Despite this manufactured activism, the student body as a whole is rather indifferent and nonchalant about the subject.
Petter has inherited a University that substantially redeveloped itself during the last decade. Petter’s role will not be to innovate, but to manage. SFU will face considerable, though not serious, financial pressure during the next decade and if Petter brings the University through this turbulent time unscathed he can call his term a success.
Catching a lift to class
Translink is taking proposals to determine the feasibility of a 30-person gondola linking Production Way SkyTrain Station to SFU
Simon Fraser University students may be getting a new way to hitch a ride to school. In response to growing demand for more sustainable, reliable transit service to the mountaintop campus, Translink, B.C.’s transit authority, is taking proposals to determine the feasibility of a 30-person gondola linking Production Way SkyTrain Station in Burnaby to SFU. The proposed 2.6-km sky lift would cost an estimated $70 million, and effectively replace the need for Translink’s fleet of 60-foot diesel buses to travel up and down the mountain’s steep, icy slopes each winter—a route that is closed between 10 and 15 days a year due to heavy snowfall, often causing class cancellations. The new service, say proponents, could also be responsible for removing some 50,000 hours of bus service from the mountain.
“It would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 1,870 tonnes in the first year alone,” says Gordon Harris, president and CEO of SFU Community Trust, which initially raised the idea with Translink. SFU Community Trust’s initial feasibility study estimated that a gondola could save Translink $1.6 million a year in operating costs.
Modelled after the Peak 2 Peak Gondola, which connects Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, the new route could potentially move up to 3,000 people an hour in roughly half the regular transit time—about eight minutes. But despite community enthusiasm for the project, Translink must prioritize. “We do not, at this point, have money for expansion,” says Translink spokesman Ken Hardie. The money to get this project off the ground, he suggests, may have to come from some sort of public-private partnership.
It’s getting crowded in here
Campus residences are overflowing with crush of first-year students
Incoming students at Dalhousie University that were guaranteed a room in residence are out of luck as the school year starts. At least 75 students will have to sleep in common areas while the university finds a solution to an apparent overflow. It is a direct result of rising enrolment numbers, says Heather Sutherland, assistant vice-president ancillary services. “Dalhousie is thriving,” she said.
Many universities intentionally oversubscribe their residences, and temporary housing is common, as there are always a handful of students who change their minds, or simply don’t show up. What is notable at Dalhousie this year, is that the university is having difficulty accommodating first-year students who are guaranteed a room if they apply before August 1. It may take until Thanksgiving before the housing situation is sorted out. “Past practice has shown us they’re not sure where they want to live,” Sutherland said.
Dalhousie is just one of several universities across Canada that is experiencing a crush of first-year students wanting to live on campus. While final enrolment numbers are not yet available, universities are preparing for what could be a record year.
Similar to Dalhousie, the University of Western Ontario guarantees a room to all first-year students who apply, but has avoided having to resort to temporary housing, or a waiting list. With an extra 270 first-year students wanting a bed, a little over 100 will be housed in on campus apartments, normally reserved for upper-years students. The displaced older students are being moved to an apartment building just off campus that the university leased in anticipation of increased demand. “We know that first-year students want to be on campus,” Susan Grindrod, associate vice-president of housing, said.
At McGill University, the residence normally operates at 105 per cent capacity at the beginning of the year. This year they are running at 110 per cent. To accommodate for the overflow, and a general rise in demand in recent years, McGill has converted other areas, such as small study areas, into rooms. Additionally, the university has acquired three hotels, adding at least 800 rooms, to be converted to residences by September 2011.
Mike Porritt, executive director of student housing for McGill, says that while higher enrolment can partially explain the increase in demand for residence, it is the proximity to campus services that is attracting students. Students are closer to their classes and libraries, and can more easily form study groups. “We’re a part of the academic mission of the university,” he said. To back up that claim, he cites internal numbers that show first-year students living in residence boast grade point averages six per cent higher than their peers who live off campus. The retention rate, students who stay on for second year, is eight per cent higher for those who live on campus.
At the University of British Columbia, where demand has been straining the school’s resources for much of the past decade, a survey of 6,000 students last year revealed that 82 per cent recognize that it is profitable to live at school. “There seems to be a heightened understanding of the benefits of living on campus,” Andrew Parr, UBC’s managing director of student housing, said.
Across the city from UBC, Simon Fraser University takes a unique approach to campus housing. “We don’t oversubscribe,” says Chris Rogerson, associate director of residence. Instead, SFU only sends out as many offers as there are rooms available. Any offers that are declined are then sent to the next students on the list. In previous years, about 55 per cent accepted the first offer. This year the yield was closer to 65 per cent.
Not every university is experiencing rising demand for on campus living, however. York University has seen a steady decline, being unable to even fill existing rooms. In 2008, there were around 50 vacancies. Last year, there was approximately 150. This fall, Debbie Kee, director of housing, expects there to be 250 unfilled rooms. The decline is a combination of new housing developments around the campus, and the fact that York is a commuter school. Many students, who live in the Greater Toronto Area, who might have previously lived in residence, are choosing to stay home because of financial restraints. “Unfortunately it has left us a little shy,” Kee said.
Criticize the RCMP and lose your funding?
Deputy commissioner warns SFU prof over negative comments made in the media
Simon Fraser University’s head of criminology says an RCMP officer threatened to pull funding for the department in response to critical comments made against the Mounties. According to emails, obtained by Postmedia, RCMP deputy commissioner Gary Bass appears to have issued a “thinly veiled threat” against SFU’s director of criminology, Robert Gordon, for publicly criticizing RCMP “arrogance” in handling the Robert Pickton case.
The RCMP is one of the primary donors to SFU’s Institute for Canadian Urban Research Studies, which is a part of the criminology department. In the email the deputy chief accuses Gordon of making inaccurate statements in the media, and questions the relationship between SFU and the RCMP. “The ongoing bias you display against the RCMP in articles such as this have caused many to ask why we would want to continue to be in that partnership given this apparent lack of support from the head of the department,” the email, sent on Aug 22, stated.
Bass told Postmedia that the RCMP has no plans of pulling funding for two research chairs at the Institute. “We have no intention of pulling away from that contract. We have a great relationship with SFU,” he said.
Psyching yourself up for September
For first-year students, the transition from high school to university can be difficult
If you’re a third-year student you probably won’t start thinking about the new academic year until mid-August − or maybe not even until the evening of September 6. Many first-year students, however, are getting nervous already, wondering what university is going to be like.
After having spoken to dozens of students and professors the verdict is in: it’s going to be really different than high school. But the news isn’t all bad. While there will be some difficult transitions, many parts of university life are much better than at high school. Students say there is less social pressure (it’s no longer cool to bully people), they like having freedom from parents and teachers who take attendance and university campuses offer limitless opportunities for having a great time. But the one thing that everyone agrees on: it is up to you to make your university experience a good one, and much more so than it was in high school.
This new-found responsibility to take care of oneself starts in the classroom. Rey Buenaventura, an academic advisor at Simon Fraser University, says, “No one is checking that they’ve done their homework. Nobody is checking on their attendance that closely. Sometimes students feel like there is no one who really cares about what they do, whether they even show up. That can be a problem.” By seeking out professors and TAs during office hours, setting up study groups with classmates and participating in seminars and class discussions, students can create a more meaningful connection with a class that may have 300 or 400 people in it − but it’s up to the student. “In a class of 500 students, the professor isn’t going to come to you; you have to go to the professor,” he says. “You can create your own experience.”
Some students, particularly those who went to a relatively small high school, feel like they get lost in the crowds of people. No longer do their professors know their name and they may spend the whole day on campus without running into anyone they know. But other students found this aspect of university life a relief. “It was easier to find people that shared similar goals, values and interests,” said Michael, a student at McMaster University. Kady, a McGill University student, says, “A big difference for me was the new establishment of myself. Coming into school without any connections to specific people, teams or clubs gave me the opportunity to reconstruct my McGill life exactly how I wanted it to be.”
For the experienced university students out there: what were the biggest differences you noticed between high school and university? How did you cope with the transition?
University students can’t spell
Profs say high schools aren’t teaching grammar
Little or no grammar teaching, cellphone texting, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, are all being blamed for an increasing number of post-secondary students who can’t write properly. For years there’s been a flood of anecdotal complaints from professors about what they say is the wretched state of English grammar coming from some of their students.
Now there seems to be some solid evidence.
The University of Waterloo is one of the few post-secondary institutions in Canada to require students to pass an exam testing their English language skills. Almost a third of those students are failing. “Thirty per cent of students who are admitted are not able to pass at a minimum level,” says Ann Barrett, managing director of the English language proficiency exam at Waterloo. “We would certainly like it to be a lot lower.” Barrett says the failure rate has jumped five percentage points in the past few years, up to 30 per cent from 25 per cent. “What has happened in high school that they cannot pass our simple test of written English, at a minimum?” she asks.
Even those with good marks out of Grade 12, so-called elite students, “still can’t pass our simple test,” she says. Poor grammar is the major reason students fail, says Barrett. “If a student has problems with articles, prepositions, verb tenses, that’s a problem.” Some students in public schools are no longer being taught grammar, she believes. “Are they (really) preparing students for university studies?”
At Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, one in 10 new students are not qualified to take the mandatory writing courses required for graduation. That 10 per cent must take so-called “foundational” writing courses first. Simon Fraser is reviewing its entrance requirements for English language. “There has been this general sense in the last two or three years that we are finding more students are struggling in terms of language proficiency,” says Rummana Khan Hemani, the university’s director of academic advising.
Emoticons, happy faces, sad faces, cuz, are just some of the writing horrors being handed in, say professors and administrators at Simon Fraser. “Little happy faces … or a sad face … little abbreviations,” show up even in letters of academic appeal, says Khan Hemani. “Instead of ‘because’, it’s ‘cuz’. That’s one I see fairly frequently,” she says, and these are new in the past five years.
Khan Hemani sends appeal submissions with emoticons in them back to students to be re-written “because a committee will immediately get their backs up when they see that kind of written style.”
Professors are seeing their share of bad grammar in essays as well. “The words ‘a lot’ have become one word, for everyone, as far as I can tell. ‘Definitely’ is always spelled with an ‘a’ -’definitely.’ I don’t know why,” says Paul Budra, an English professor and associate dean of arts and science at Simon Fraser. “Punctuation errors are huge, and apostrophe errors. Students seem to have absolutely no idea what an apostrophe is for. None. Absolutely none.”
Former attorney general named SFU president
Andrew Petter to take the reins in Sept.
The new president of Simon Fraser University is no stranger to the academic world. Andrew Petter, former dean of the University of Victoria law school and a former attorney general of B.C., takes over as SFU president on Sept. 1. Petter was selected following an international search.
The 56-year-old says his first goal for the Burnaby, B.C.-based institution will be to build on its “diversity and combination of strengths as one of Canada’s leading universities.” As well as serving as professor and dean in the law faculty at UVic, Petter was a two-term New Democrat MLA, from 1991 to 2001. He held several powerful cabinet posts ranging from minister of finance to attorney general, minister of health and minister of aboriginal affairs.
The Canadian Press
SFU student takes top award at global entrepreneur competition
British Columbia student founded one of the world’s largest song lyric websites
A British Columbia student who founded one of the world’s largest Internet song lyric websites has taken the top prize at a global entrepreneur contest.
Milun Tesovic, 24, of Burnaby defeated 32 competitors to be named winner of the 2009 Global Student Entrepreneur Awards in Kansas City.
The Simon Fraser University student founded metroLyrics, the world’s third largest music website that garners 35 million monthly visitors.
Judge Dean Gagnon says Tesovic won the title for founding a company that skyrocketed in only three years to become a leader in the industry.
Gagnon says Tesovic’s maturity and vision left the panel awestruck and shows entrepreneurs can succeed at any age.
The competition is open to students who own and run a business while attending college or university and will hand Tesovic $150,000 in cash and prizes.
- The Canadian Press
SFU to start in NCAA one year earlier, in 2010
League will give their students a unique opportunity, says school’s athletic director
Simon Fraser University will begin play in the NCAA Division II in the fall of 2010, one year earlier than originally planned, in a move that will save the school money while offering athletes a unique opportunity, athletic director David Murphy said Tuesday.
“We have the ability to provide a great Canadian education and we can also combine that with an NCAA athletic experience,” Murphy told a news conference. “No one else can do that.”
SFU is the first non-U.S. member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The school’s varsity teams will become the 10th member of the NCAA’s Division II Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
Richard Hannan, the conference’s commissioner, said SFU was a logical choice.
The conference has institutions in five states, including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.
“They are a prestigious, quality institution, academically and athletically, ” said Hannan. “Geographically they are a great location for us.
“We needed another member. We need to get to 10, then hopefully we can get to 12.”
SFU currently has 19 teams competing in the small-college National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics in the U.S. and Canadian Interuniversity Sports.
Murphy said joining the NCAA will save SFU money in travel and membership fees. It costs about $500 to belong to the NCAA, while CIS fees are “quite a bit more,” he said. “The savings in memberships will be over $40,000.”
SFU currently plays in the CIS’s Canada West conference, where they sometimes must travel as far as Winipeg for games – a trip of about 1,870 kilometers by air.
Another major difference is the NCAA pays to travel to any championship. In the CIS and NAIA, individual schools pay the travel costs. Under CIS rules, scholarships can only cover tuition and school fees. An NCAA scholarship covers tuition, room and board, which could give SFU an edge when recruiting athletes.
Originally, SFU had planned to compete in the CIS next season and move on the NCAA in 2011-12.
