From left: students Kate Harling, Ania Chwala and Brittney Stanwa haul lumber as part of a United Way Day of Caring held in November.

Okanagan campus social work students were helping special needs individuals and their families at the United Way Day of Caring, held in the last week of November.

A United Way Day of Caring is a partnership between organizations to volunteer time and support for a day. Employees or volunteers come together, develop team-building skills and make a difference in the community. The Day of Caring was organized by the School of Social Work’s Student Union and held at Arion Therapeutic Farm in Kelowna.

Students Angie Walsh, Brittney Stanway, Ania Chwala, Jordan Oostenbrink, Karlena Bonita, Kate Harling, Chelsea Watts, and Richelle Collins were on-hand to help prepare for a Winterland event held the following weekend — which included pony rides, face painting, gingerbread cookie decorating, crafts, farm tours as well as a visit and photos from Santa Claus.

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IT, Media and Classroom Services has significantly increased the campus community’s access to its Helpdesk this month — moving from an eight to twelve hour weekday schedule.

Helpdesk hours are now 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The instructional, research and business activities at UBC’s Okanagan campus have grown dramatically over the past five years, and the expanded phone and walk-up Helpdesk hours reflect this.

Expanded hours will continue throughout the current academic term.  IT, Media and Classroom Services will perform a review and analysis of this service expansion in January to determine how service delivery can be further improved.

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IT, Media and Classroom Services will be working with UBC IT to upgrade the Okanagan campus’ email services.

This upgrade will require a migration of existing mailboxes to the new server and the migration will be coordinated with departments and units throughout the remainder of 2011 and early part of 2012.

Updates will be posted as the project progresses on the IT, Media and Classroom Services news blog. To find out more, contact Vanessa Lomas, project manager.

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Shirley Chau, assistant professor in the School of Social Work at UBC’s Okanagan campus, will be studying why the health of immigrants declines after a few years in Canada.

UBC professor examines wellbeing of newcomers who settle in smaller centres

Studies have shown the health of immigrants to Canada who live in large cities like Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver declines after only a few years, but can the same be said about immigrants who settle in smaller centres?

And if so, why?

Shirley Chau hopes to answer those questions over the next 36 months when she looks into the wellbeing of immigrants.

An Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus, Chau has received a $238,000 grant from the Canadian Institute of Health Research to conduct the study involving communities in three provinces.

Chau says smaller communities are becoming more diverse with immigrants arriving from places like China, Columbia, Peru, India and many other locations. Chau suspects the stress of moving to a new country, building a new life, new career, and trying to find their way in a new culture may play a role and will examine if this is also the case for immigrants settling outside of large cities.

The three-year study will be conducted in Kelowna, Red Deer, Alberta, and Brandon, Manitoba.

A sample of 72 eligible participants, from 24 to 44 years old, will be drawn from the three communities.

Chau wants to learn more about their settlement experience by equipping participants with cameras and having them take pictures that represent their perceptions and experiences of health and wellbeing from their own perspective.  She will then conduct interviews about the meaning these collected images hold for participants.

Working with Chau will be UBC Professor of Nursing Joan Bottorff, Associate Professor of Geography Carlos Teixeira , as well as Judy Hughes, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba, and Daniel Lai, professor and associate Dean (Research & Partnerships) of the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Social Work. Local community service agencies serving immigrants at each research site will also assist.

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IT, Media & Classroom Services has created a campus-wide teleconferencing service that is now available to all researchers, faculty, and staff.

Dial-in teleconferencing allows campus community members requiring access to dial-in from a variety of locations. The service also allows teleconference organized to set a date and time for participants to join by having them call the conference system and entering an access code. There are also multiple ways to dial in to the conference system including a direct campus number, a local Kelowna and area phone number, or a North America toll-free number.

Currently IT, Media & Classroom Services has licensed 26 ports which will allow a total of 26 concurrent incoming phone calls to the teleconferencing server. Please note that wireless conference phones are also available.

To request a teleconference simply submit a “Request Teleconference” work order via the online helpdesk and your request will be processed within two business days.

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The LibDub team is planning a day-long video project that will capture a day in the life of UBC’s Okanagan campus on Mar. 26.

Students at UBC’s Okanagan campus are taking school pride to a whole new level – they’re about to produce a “LipDub” video that captures the spirit of the campus for an online audience worldwide.

“A LipDub is a type of video that combines lip synching and audio dubbing to make a music video,” says student Lauren Gaudet, one of more than a dozen students organizing a full day of video production on Mar. 26. “Universities across the world have done it. Now it’s our turn.”

The video’s theme is a day in the life of UBC’s Okanagan campus.

“It will be a fun and dynamic way to showcase the Okanagan campus and everything it has to offer,” says Gaudet.

A LipDub is made by filming individuals or groups lip-synching to a song, then dubbing over it in post-editing with the original audio of the song. Several hundred students and members of faculty and staff are expected to participate in the video production, which will be posted to the online video site YouTube.

Technical expertise for the project is provided by staff from the on-campus Media Centre, which produces video for the www.ubco.tv video website. The Mar. 26 production gets underway at 10 a.m. in the campus courtyard, and is expected to continue in various campus locations until 5 p.m. that day.

The students have already posted a 35-second promotional YouTube video about the project  on their LipDub project website — www.ubcolipdub.com.

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Day of Caring students-turned-construction-experts (from left to right): Kira Robertson, Natasha Hass, Brittany Taylor and Chelsey Forsyth.

Over 20 UBC social work students came out on January 22, to bring a new beginning for one family.

At the inaugural Day of Caring a group of individuals from the Okanagan campus’ School of Social Work, the United Way of the Central Okanagan and the Stepping Stones Counselling Group joined together to paint and decorate bedrooms for a family who have experienced domestic violence.

There were two results from the day: very happy children with new bedrooms and new memories; and students who were given the opportunity build and learn from experienced Stepping Stones counsellors and therapists.

UBC student participants at the Day of Caring included:

• Kate Budd
• Nikki Davidson
• Chelsey Forsyth
• Natasha Hass
• Thomas Lait
• Kathryn Mclean
• Jordan Oosentbrink
• Brittany Showdra
• Maureen Smith
• Brittney Stanway
• Olivia Sullivan
• Dave Rider
• Kira Robertson
• Brittany Taylor

Plans are already in development for the second annual Day of Caring.

Day of Caring student helpers (from left to right): Nikki Davidson, Jordan Oosentbrink and Kate Budd.

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The campus community’s people, achievements and events are constantly being showcased on UBCO.TV. Check out what’s new:

• President’s Town Hall
  Professor Stephen Toope discussed key initiatives and engaged the campus community personally at his second annual Town Hall meeting on September 10.
• Advancing a sustainable campus
  Highlights of sustainable initiatives at UBC’s Okanagan campus

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