News Briefs

April 25, 2008

Encyclopedia proves popular
REGINA – Since it first became available online last April, the University of Regina’s Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan has received more than one million hits from provincial residents and people around the world. A U of R news release said almost every entry in the encyclopedia has been accessed, but some are proving to be more popular than others. The entry entitled “Aboriginal People of Saskatchewan,” for example, was viewed the most with just over 10,700 hits during the year. The “Military History of Saskatchewan” entry was second with almost 10,400 views. Other popular entries include “Saskatoon” (about 9,400 hits), “Native Grasses and Grasslands” (more than 7,800), “Women of Saskatchewan” (almost 6,200), “Grain Elevators” (almost 4,800) and “Saskatchewan Roughriders” (more than 4,100). The encyclopedia can be found at www.esask.uregina.ca

Co-operating on a B.Ed.
HALIFAX – Memorial University and Dalhousie University have announced a partnership that will see Memorial’s Bachelor of Education degree offered at Dalhousie University beginning in the spring of this year.

In the first year of the program, up to 60 students will be admitted, said a Dalhousie release. The program is designed for the preparation of teachers at the intermediate and senior high school system. Graduates will be eligible for teacher certification in the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.

Principal resigns
KINGSTON – Karen Hitchcock, the first woman and first American to serve as principal of Queen’s University, has resigned before completion of her first five-year term.
News reports said Hitchcock had asked in January to be reappointed when her term ended in June 2009. Calls to not renew her term came from undergraduate student government, faculty, alumni and past trustees. Reports said these groups expressed concern that Hitchcock’s plan to make the university a global leader in research and graduate studies was too unfocused and multifaceted, and she was criticized for going ahead with the largest construction project in the university’s history—a student and athletics centre—without a major donor or appropriate financial plans.