VIU Fest, a free, all-ages community event, is coming up on October 18. Check out live music, explore the pumpkin patch, take part in hands-on science demos and enjoy delicious food and beverage options, including a beer garden with the best view in town! New this year, pop-up classrooms offer people the chance to experience for themselves what hands-on learning is like at VIU.
Featured experts
Students design tech aid for people with visual impairments
Jack Redberger and Jay Koidhis, students in VIU’s Information Technology and Applied Systems program, are designing version two of their Proximity Pal, a small device worn across the chest that vibrates as the wearer gets closer to an object. Redberger received the Lloyd Milburn Innovation Award to help develop the device and get it market-ready.
Tackling the province's pressing health challenges
Chemistry Professor Dr. Kyle Duncan and Nursing Professor Dr. Caroline Variath have received funding through Michael Smith Health Research BC to pursue their research. Duncan is studying how diseases like cancer change metabolism in specific areas of tissue and how that may suppress the immune system or reduce the success of cancer treatments. Variath is investigating how to build community capacity to support patients and families considering and receiving medical assistance in dying.
How the education system can strengthen democracy
How can we use the education system to strengthen democracy? Dr. Michael MacKenzie is VIU’s Jarislowsky Chair in Trust and Political Leadership. He explores how teachers can weave democratic practice into everyday lessons across all subjects in a Research Chair Speaker Series talk on October 15. He argues that teachers should give students hundreds of opportunities to do democracy, not just learn about it.
VIU news
Combining business and trades training in a new way
VIU is the first institution in Canada to offer direct pathways from Culinary Arts and Baking programs into a Hospitality Management degree. Students who enter the degree program from these two trades programs simply join the third year of the program. It gives trades students who want to enter leadership roles easy access to that training.
VIU recognized as Moose Hide Campaign Ambassador Campus
The Moose Hide Campaign has designated VIU as an official Ambassador Campus for the university’s ongoing support of the campaign’s mission. The campaign is a nationwide, Indigenous-led movement that began in British Columbia. It encourages all Canadians – especially men and boys – to stand against gender-based violence and take meaningful steps toward reconciliation. For the past seven years, VIU’s Student Engagement and Experiential Learning department has organized hundreds of events that feature education and awareness about the Moose Hide Campaign’s mission.
VIU in the news
Delving into the dark side of healthy eating
Isabelle Desrosiers, who recently graduated from the psychology program at VIU, is raising awareness about a relatively unknown eating condition called orthorexia nervosa, where a person gets fixated on only eating “healthy” foods. It is often overlooked because affected individuals aren’t necessarily focused on weight loss. And society’s fixation on healthy eating and living makes the condition even more difficult to diagnose.
Read more in the National Post
Happening at VIU
Malaspina Theatre presents: Animal Farm
Tired of human rule, the animals of Manor Farm seize control, dreaming of a world of equality. But as the pigs rise to power, their utopian vision twists into a terrifying tyranny. That’s the plot of an upcoming theatrical production of George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm, being presented at the Malaspina Theatre next month.
“When I came upon this adaption of Animal Farm, I knew I had to bring it to the stage at VIU,” said VIU Theatre Program Chair Leon Potter. “It reflects the seductive and creeping onset of authoritarianism in a time of mass misinformation, the erosion of objective truth and the desperately misguided lunacy of those who place all of their own eggs in the basket of those whose only desire is to feed themselves. The play stands the test of time because it tells the story of human nature and its hunger for power. This adaption does not shy away from the brutality and horror necessary to satiate that hunger.”
Opening night is Thursday, November 6 at 7:30 pm and the production takes place on select dates until November 15.
Scarecrow Spectacular
The third annual Scarecrow Spectacular takes place at VIU’s Milner Gardens & Woodland from October 24 to 26. Wander through Scarecrow Lane to admire and vote for your favourite scarecrow creation. All created by local business and organizations. Admission is from 11 am to 3 pm and cost is $10 for adults, $6 for youth and children aged 12 and under.
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