News Stories
VIU’s Engaged Citizens Speaker Series Confronts the Housing Crisis
October 7, 2021
WHAT: VIU’s Engaged Citizens Speaker Series WHEN: Thursday, October 14, 2021, 6 to 7:30 pm WHERE: Zoom webinar, Registration link During the COVID-19 pandemic, housing has quickly become the frontline of defense against the spread of the virus. But for precariously housed or homeless people, the request to “stay home” is an impossibility. Leilani Farha, Global Director of The Shift, an... Read more
VIU Graduate Student Joins National Advisory Committee
January 28, 2021
Master of Community Planning student Felicia Fischer will advise on initiatives that aim to advance sustainability and access at institutions across the country. A Vancouver Island University (VIU) student will have the chance to weigh in on collaborative sustainable development initiatives taking place at institutions across Canada and make sure students are involved in them. Felicia Fischer... Read more
VIU Chosen to Offer National Land Management Training for First Nations
October 22, 2019
University will begin offering the Professional Indigenous Lands Management Certificate program in summer 2020. Behind every sustainable, thriving community is the guiding hand of a land manager tasked with balancing the needs of the people who live there with what needs to be done to ensure resources are protected for future generations. Thanks to the expertise of Vancouver Island University’... Read more
Vancouver Island University Recognized as a Bee Campus
October 16, 2019
Bee City Canada designation commits VIU to organizing activities that help protect pollinators on campus and raising awareness about the importance of pollinators. Vancouver Island University’s (VIU’s) Nanaimo campus is set to become a hive of bee-friendly events and activities thanks to its designation as a Bee Campus. Bees are tiny insects, but they pack a large ecological punch. More than... Read more
VIU Grad Pursues Planning Dreams with City of Nanaimo
May 31, 2019
After conducting research that took her around the world, Master of Community Planning alum Lainy Nowak is working as a Planning Assistant in the City of Nanaimo’s Community Development Department. As a Planning Assistant with the City of Nanaimo, there is no such thing as a typical day for Lainy Nowak. The Vancouver Island University (VIU) Master of Community Planning alumna, who started work... Read more
VIU Master of Community Planning Program Launches Academic Journal
December 4, 2018
Vancouver Island University’s (VIU’s) Master of Community Planning program now has its own peer-reviewed academic journal. Future Plans, an online academic journal accepting submissions from students, professional planners, consultants and researchers across Canada, published its first edition in late November. Featured authors in the inaugural edition include VIU students, a VIU professor and a... Read more
Q&A with Dr. Pam Shaw
October 16, 2018
Dr. Pam Shaw, Director of VIU’s Master of Community Planning Program and Research Director of the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute (MABRRI), understands the importance of getting students excited about learning. As an undergraduate at a large university, she was uninspired by the lecture hall until she met a professor whose passion changed her perspective and ignited her... Read more
VIU Press Launches First Book
March 16, 2018
Adjunct Professor Michael A. von Hausen pens Small is Big, a guide to revitalizing small- and mid-size downtowns Vancouver Island University (VIU) Press celebrated an important milestone this week with the launch of its first book. This special honour goes to Small is Big: Making the Next Great Small to Mid-Size Downtowns by Michael A. von Hausen, a leading Canadian urban designer and planner and... Read more
VIU Professor Awarded Prestigious 3M Teaching Fellowship
February 21, 2018
Passion for teaching matched only by helping students discover their own path Vancouver Island University’s (VIU) Dr. Pamela Shaw has received the prestigious 3M Fellowship, which is awarded to only 10 educators annually. It is given for exceptional teaching in a Canadian post-secondary institution. “I am so grateful to receive such an honour,” says Shaw. “I couldn’t believe it when I heard. I... Read more