All Posts Tagged With: "Thompson Rivers University"
Thompson Rivers students want budget published
Student union says “it doesn’t make sense”
TRU photo by tuchodi on Flickr
Students at Thompson Rivers University are joining their peers at schools like the University of Prince Edward Island in demanding that their student union’s budget be published online.
It would seem like a given that students who are forced to pay substantial fees—$150 per year at TRU—would have easy access to the projected spending of their money. Indeed, they do at some schools like the University of British Columbia and the University of Alberta.
But many student unions like TRU’s have bylaws that only require executives to share their budgets at annual general meetings or when students make appointments to sit down with executives to go over the numbers.
Continue reading Thompson Rivers students want budget published
B.C. student may have died of meningitis
Rare disease kills one in 10 who get it
Thompson Rivers University is warning staff and students after a fourth-year theatre student, Bradley Munro, died of what appears to have been meningitis. Meningitis is a swelling of the brain that is caused by viruses or bacteria. The more rare bacterial form (Meningococcal meningitis) causes death in roughly 10 per cent of those who get sick and permanent damage, such as deafness, in another 10 per cent. There are between 160 and 350 cases reported in this country each year, says Health Canada. The disease is contagious and signs of infection include vomiting, fever, severe headache and stiff neck. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas signed a law earlier this year that will make his state the first to require that all university and college students be vaccinated against the disease.
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:
Lawyer calls for another new law school
We’ve heard of the rural shortage. But a suburban shortage?
Photo by Ian Barrett for Maclean's
Just months after British Columbia opened its first new law school in 30 years, a top lawyer is advocating for another one, this time in Surrey.
B.C.’s newest law school is at Thomson Rivers University in Kamloops, where its mission is, in part, to address the rural lawyer shortage.
Tony Wilson, an adjuct professor at Simon Fraser University, makes the argument that there’s a pending shortage in suburban Surrey too. He notes that the city near Vancouver is projected to be the biggest in B.C. by 2020. Surrey grew by 13.6 per cent between 2001 and 2006.
There’s plenty of work, Wilson argues in his letter to Canadian Lawyer. “Surery has… clients, many of them in real estate, real estate development, or other small or medium-sized businesses,” he says, “and if you’re into criminal law, the newspapers would suggest that opportunities abound.”
Goodbye Bay Street. Hello Humboldt.
From the 2011 Maclean’s Professional Schools Issue
Photograph by Nayan Sthankiya
Click here for our 2011 Law School Rankings
When she was in law school, Amber Biemans always figured she’d practise in the city. After she and her husband had kids, though, she felt the pull of small-town life. At age 26, Biemans joined a firm in Humboldt, Sask. (population 5,900); two years later, she’d bought out a senior partner at the firm who was ready to retire. Making partner at age 28 was an “amazing opportunity,” says Biemans, now 32, but beyond that, “the benefits here are immense,” from the commute to work—which takes all of five minutes—to the close relationships she’s built with clients.
Beware the rental scam
Kamloops student out $1,000 and has no place to live
Photo courtesy of nkeppol on Flickr
A Thompson Rivers University student is out nearly $1,000 after he was scammed online. He showed up at an apartment on Arrowstone Drive in Kamloops that he thought he’d rented, sight unseen, by sending his deposit in the mail earlier in the summer. The building manager had never heard of the person who he’d sent the cheque to. The 22-year-old student will now need to find a new home.
It’s common for fraudsters to pretend to be a landlord by posting online and then asking students to send a cheque or money order for an apartment that can’t be viewed. Often, the scammer says they’re out of town on business and that the student can drive by the place, but can only view photos of the interior. This type of scam was prevalent in Calgary in 2009.
In April, Waterloo police warned against a variation on the rental scam in which the student owns the property. Thieves will pretend to accidentally overpay for an apartment using a fake cheques. Then, they ask for the difference to be returned to them before the bank realizes the cheques are fakes.
Ontario announces first new law school in 42 years
Aboriginal and Northern students preferred
Photo courtesy of steakpinball on Flickr
Canada’s lawyer shortage might finally start to improve. Ontario announced yesterday that it will fund the first new law school to be built in the province in more than 42 years. Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont. received $1.5-million in funding and hopes to enroll students by 2013.
The new school will be the seventh in Ontario and the first-ever in northern Ontario. The only other new law school announced for Canada since the 1980s is the one under construction at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, B.C., which will take its first 40 students in September.
Lakehead president Brian Stevenson said he aims to start with 55 students in 2013, but will accept up to 150 students after three years. The program will have a strong focus on aboriginal law, rural and remote practice, plus natural resource management — all specialties that cater to northern Ontario’s economy. The university will give preference to northern residents and aboriginal applicants.
Smaller schools shouldn’t target international students
They serve should serve niche domestic markets
Often times, so much of our attention into post-secondary issues is focused on the large research-intensive schools that it’s easy to forget there’s a whole other world out there of mid-level universities, focusing on the undergraduate level, where changes in policy affect just as many students. Which is why a little nugget from Thompson Rivers University (TRU) caught my eye.
“I would like to see an improvement on the domestic side in the next few years,” said Ulrich Scheck, Provost and VP Academic, to Kamloops this Week. The numbers bear out that TRU has seen international enrolment rise 15 per cent in the last year, while domestic numbers have slightly dropped. These changes make sense from a pure market perspective—TRU became a full university in 2005, and is undoubtedly more attractive to international students than before. And at the same time, the fees for internationals ($450 per credit, as opposed to $121.15 for domestics) makes it attractive for the university, even discounting the built-in subsidies received by TRU for domestic students.
But does it make sense? UBC is a giant school, a key economic driver for all of British Columbia, and has spent 20 years building connections throughout Asia to ensure bright international students come to Canada. Increasing international seats while keeping domestic enrollment static make sense. TRU, on the other hand, serves Kamloops, the fifth largest city—in British Columbia. It simply serves a different niche than UBC, and just because it’s called a university doesn’t mean it should be pursuing the same strategies.
This isn’t to say that international students shouldn’t be welcome at smaller schools. But a heavy push for them only really makes sense in the context of a globally competitive university—your Waterloos, Toronto, et al.
President fired from Interior B.C. university defends record
Decision followed an annual review of Kathleen Scherf’s leadership
The outgoing president of Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, B.C., is defending her year in office after she was fired by the school’s board of directors.
Kathleen Scherf had been president and vice-chancellor since September 2008, but the board of directors said it lost faith in her leadership.
Scherf said she respects the board’s authority to dismiss her, but “thought my performance was excellent given the results.”
Reading from a prepared statement, Scherf listed off accomplishments from the past year.
“We broke all previous campus United Way campaigns, raising just short of $64,000; during my time, TRU’s fundraising activities increased 342 per cent from the 12 months previous,” she said.
“And finally, we were able to bring the first new law school in 35 years in Canada to TRU.”
The board’s decision followed an annual review of her leadership during the past three months.
Scherf is known for her often colourful demeanour, from referring to other people as “dude” to keeping bold-coloured streaks in her hair.
However, the board has insisted her eccentricities weren’t the reason she was fired.
Scherf will receive nine months of severance worth $168,000, and she is allowed to return to the school to teach if she wants – an option Scherf said she’s keeping open.
Scherf was the school’s fifth president.
Before moving to Kamloops, she was a dean at the University of Calgary and had previously taught at the University of British Columbia and the University of New Brunswick.
- The Canadian Press
BC throne speech promises cash injection, new law school
New funds for colleges and universities announced after last year’s surprise cuts
British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell is promising new funding for the province’s colleges and universities less than a year after hitting those institutions with surprise funding cuts.
In Monday’s Speech from the Throne, which opened the new session of the province’s legislative assembly, the Liberal government promised new funding for colleges and universities, “green” research, post-secondary infrastructure, and the creation of a new law school at Thompson Rivers University.
British Columbia is only weeks from the official start of a provincial election campaign. Voters will go to the polls May 12.
The speech did not include the specific amount that will be earmarked for new post-secondary spending.
Last year, the Campbell government surprised B.C. universities by cutting funding while claiming they were merely re-allocating funds. It remains to be seen if the increase will be an inflationary increase, intended to fill the gap created last year, or an effective increase in funding.
Gordon Campbell announced plans to create a law school at Thompson Rivers University (formerly known as the University College of the Cariboo). The law school will be located in Kamloops, with degrees granted by the University of Calgary.
TRU president Kathleen Scherf says the new law school will focus on Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law. TRU hopes to recruit students to the school in 2010.
The Kamloops region will be a key battleground in the coming election. The New Democratics hold three seats in the region, with the governing Liberals holding the other two. Both Liberal seats were won in closely contested races.
Funding details are expected in the provincial budget which will be unveiled Tuesday.
