News Briefs

November 2, 2007

Enrollment up at UPEI

CHARLOTTETOWN – The University of Prince Edward Island has reported an increase of more than five per cent in its first-year students compared to 2006, a news release said.

UPEI has also seen a jump of more than 30 per cent in students transferring in from other universities. The numbers reverse the university’s recent trend of out-migration from PEI.

In examining the increase, recruiter Chris Powers and his team interviewed a number of students from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to find out what attracted them to UPEI. The release said more students choose UPEI because of its low class sizes and abundant new facilities.

Ryerson art explores disabilities

TORONTO – Ryerson University recently unveiled a unique exhibition that exposed the history of disabilities in Canada.

The exhibit, called Out From Under: Disability, History and Things to Remembers, is the first exhibit that uses a variety of objects to symbolize a particular moment in the historical struggles of people with disabilities. According to a news release, the exhibit was created by the school’s students, faculty, alumni and community activists. Some objects on view were grey sweat suits representing anonymity and institutional confinement, and mechanical devices like respirators and iron lungs.

McMaster considers new campus

BURLINGTON – Plans for a new McMaster University campus in Burlington, Ont. are continuing to make progress, according to a news release from that institution.

On Oct. 30, the university provided the Mayor and City Council of Burlington with an update on the project, saying they will pursue new sites within the city. A main focus of the new campus will be creating a home for the Centre for Advanced Management Studies. According to the release, the plan will be brought before the university’s Board of Governors this December for final approval.

Prosthetic arm earns award

FREDRICTON – A professor from the University of New Brunswick (UNB) is part of a team of scientists that have earned the Popular Mechanics 2007 Breakthrough Award, said a news release.

Kevin Englehart, associate director of UNB’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering, teamed up with various university personnel and government laboratories south of the border to create a state-of-the-art prosthetic arm that earned the award.

According to the release, the arm, dubbed Proto 2, is designed to operate using not only muscles, but also nerve fibres and eventually the brain. This will give users the ability to use the arm simply by thinking. The prosthetic has 80 sensors in the fingertips and palm, which gives users the ability to feel with the new arm, said the release.

UVic goes green

VICTORIA – The University of Victoria (UVic) celebrated International Campus Sustainability Day on Oct. 24 by announcing it would switch all its bond paper supplies to 100 per cent recycled content by the new year.

A UVic release said that in switching from its current mandate of using paper made from 30 per cent recycled content, the university has become the first in British Columbia to make the 100 per cent recycled content commitment. UVic said its campus consumes about 72 million sheets of paper annually.