VIU News & Experts: February 5, 2025

The Black History Month edition

In this issue of VIU news & experts: 

• Black History Month events and experts
• Weighing marmots in the wild
• Truck donation helps VIU heavy duty mechanic students

Featured experts

Black History Month experts

Dr. Paul db Watkins, a VIU English Professor, has published numerous works on multiculturalism, hip-hop, Canadian poetry, jazz, DJ culture and improvisation. new book Soundin’ Canaan: Black Canadian Poetry, Music, and Citizenship examines the contributions of key Black Canadian poets. includes an accompanying soundtrack, which Watkins says invites the readers to “immerse themselves in the interplay between text and sound.” He invites anyone intrigued to learn more to come to the book launch event on February 6 at the Vault Café. This launch will feature poet and musician Sonnet L’Abbé (Sonnet’s Shakespeare) and Nanaimo Poet Laureate Neil Surkan (Unbecoming). Watkins will perform remixed versions of sections from the book. Learn more about the book.
 
Dr. Sonnet L’Abbé, a VIU Creative Writing Professor, is an award-winning author whose poetic practice has recently turned to songcraft and voice. Their chapbook, Anima Canadensis, won the 2017 bp Nichol Chapbook Award, and their most recent book of poems, Sonnet’s Shakespeare, was nominated for multiple awards and named a Quill and Quire Book of The Year for 2019. In their work, they write about Black identity, mixed-race Blackness, Blackness and gender, Blackness in the workplace, Blackness and dating interracially, Blackness in literature and poetics, and Black feminisms. Sonnet has written scholarship on Afro-Canadian and Caribbean Canadian literatures and arts. One of their concerns is the relationship and responsibility Black identities have to white settler identities and Indigenous identities on Turtle Island / in the colonial project of Canada.
 
English Professor Dr. Melissa Stephens’s doctoral expertise is in post-colonial and globalization studies with a focus on Black Caribbean and American literature. Areas of expertise:

• Black Caribbean and African American literatures focusing themes of resistance, liberation, antiracism and critiques of neoliberal capitalism
• Black feminisms, intersectionality, and social justice movements

Learn more about events happening at VIU, from a book launch, to an open mic and night of music, in this Black History Month at VIU blog post.

Looking for an expert for another story? Connect with VIU Experts.

VIU news

Weighing marmots in the wild

Two VIU Technicians, working in collaboration with the Wilder Institute, have spent almost two years building an electronic weigh scale to provide valuable research data on marmots in the wild. Read more.

Waste Management donation

A big thank you to Waste Management, who recently donated four trucks to VIU’s Heavy Mechanical Trades Foundation program!
 
The donation enables students to work on modern trucks – previously much of the equipment students learned on is more than 25 years old and is becoming outdated.
 
“These trucks will be used by our foundation students and Level 4 Truck Transport students in a full range of activities that include all truck systems,” says Instructor and HMT Department Chair Brad Jannaway.
 
Brad says the donation came about after a visit with Waste Management Senior District Fleet Manager Jeffry Siemens. 
 
“Jeffry knew of four trucks about to be turned over and was happy to consider donating them,” Brad says. “After a few checks and approval from management, he was able to sign off on the donations and even had three of them towed from Victoria to our Nanaimo campus at their expense. It is all much appreciated by myself and the whole department."
 
“These trucks have served BC communities well for many years,” says Jeffry Siemens, Waste Management’s area fleet manager for the Pacific Northwest/BC. “Now they will serve VIU students thanks to this workforce development program. This important collaboration is an example of WM investing in our communities.”

Retired Anthropology Professor receives King Charles III Coronation Medal

A commitment to community advocacy has earned VIU Honorary Research Associate Dr. Imogene Lim a King Charles III Coronation Medal. Read more.

Augmented reality sandbox

Students are digging deep into learning with an augmented reality sandbox. The sandbox generates 3D topographical maps that include features such as mountains, valleys and bodies of water using an adjustable bed of sand. The map is cast onto the sand using a standard AV projector and a Kinect depth camera from an old Xbox, with colours such as blue representing water and red representing higher elevations. The sandbox helps students visualize and understand concepts taught in the classroom. The innovative tool was built by Devin Ayotte, a VIU Engineering Technician, and Gerri McEwen, a VIU Earth Science Technician, in collaboration with a Women in Trades Training cohort through VIU’s Carpentry department. Read the VIU Blog on the project.

VIU in the news

The View Gallery’s latest exhibit Evolution: a journey was showcased in The Discourse. The exhibit features the work of six VIU alumni. Read the article.
 
Dr. Jane Watson, a VIU Emeritus and biologist weighs in on an article on sea otter behaviour off the coast of Vancouver Island. A sea otter is suspected of killing river otters in the area. Read the CBC article.
 
Kelly Black, an Adjunct History Professor at VIU, discusses what Ye’yumnuts teaches us about ongoing efforts to protect ancient sites in an article published in The Discourse. Read the article.
 
Dr. Farhad Moghimehfar, BC Regional Innovation Chair in Tourism and Sustainable Rural Development and professor at VIU, has partnered with Mountain Biking BC on a community trails impact study. “Mountain biking has increased exponentially since COVID-19, so it’s a good time to study trail use and how it benefits the economy.” Read about the study.
 
VIU Mariner’s men’s basketball player, Kaeleb Johnson, who is from Anchorage, Alaska, gets recognition in the back-to-back victory over Okanagan. Read the sports recap in the Anchorage Daily News.
 
Dr. Georgina Martin, a VIU Indigenous/Xwulmuxw Studies Professor, will talk about the transformative power of storytelling and intergenerational learning. Learn more.
 
An augmented reality sandbox, built by Devin Ayotte, a VIU engineering technician, and Gerri McEwen, VIU earth science technician, is helping students visualize the effects that changes to topography have on water flow and weather erosion. Read more in the Nanaimo Bulletin.

Happening at VIU

Poet Laureate presents first Colloquium 

Neil Surkan, Nanaimo’s Poet Laureate and a VIU English Professor, kicks off VIU’s Arts and Humanities Colloquium Series with his talk Toward More (Un)Certainty: Parenting and the Poetics of Hope. After the birth of his son, Neil says he felt excitement and responsibility but also started to notice death’s encroachment.
 
Neil examines poems by other parent poets where the speakers reckon with becoming their “children’s ancestors in a world of increasing precarity.” Neil’s talk is on February 7 from 10 to 11:30 am at Malaspina Theatre (Building 310) at VIU’s Nanaimo campus. People can also watch the live stream on the Media Studies YouTube channel.

View Gallery presents Evolution: a journey

VIU’s View Gallery is proud to showcase the incredible talent of six alumni from the Visual Arts program. The exhibition, Evolution: a journey, features the work of Jadranka Andros, Carra Christy, Georgi Frie, Julia Knowlden, Jason Ritter and Denise Tierney.
 
This diverse exhibition features stunning works in oil, acrylic, sculpture, printmaking, textiles, and video, highlighting the artistic growth and innovation of these alumni. The exhibit runs at the View Gallery until February 14. The View Gallery is open during exhibits from 10 am to 4 pm from Tuesday to Friday. It is in Building 330 at the Nanaimo campus.