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Laurentian University Senate Approves Compassionate Grading

Laurentian University Senate Approves Compassionate Grading

Students will have increased options for their academic records

December 10, 2020 – After a robust conversation, the Laurentian University’s Senate voted in favour of a motion that will provide for  equitable and compassionate outcomes for all students, particularly those who have experienced the full force of the COVID-19 pandemic. This motion enables students to choose whether they would like to be assigned a “pass” or “fail” designation on their final transcripts for individual courses, rather than having their specific grade listed.

 

Many institutions across Canada, such as Concordia University, University of Toronto, and the University of Alberta among many others, have instituted compassionate grading options such as the pass/fail system. With this decision, the Laurentian University Senate is demonstrating its commitment to providing students with every opportunity to succeed.

 

Laurentian is proud of the leadership of our student association representatives who brought forward this motion before the University Senate.

 

QUOTE:

“Students are at the core of our decision making, and this decision will offer flexibility at a time where they need it most. It is an unusual step, and one that we feel will have a positive impact on student success.” - Robert Haché, President and Vice-Chancellor of Laurentian University

McEwen School of Architecture announces winners of Sudbury2050

McEwen School of Architecture announces winners of Sudbury2050

100 design concepts for the future of our community were received from creative teams representing over 20 countries.

(December 10, 2020) The designs varied widely in their approach and their design solutions. All of them represented creative and often provocative thinking about our City of Greater Sudbury and its future. Each presented a different story about our community.

Rarely does a community get the opportunity to be the focus of an international design competition. 

The competition jury developed a short list of Top 5 in the Student Category and the Top 8 in the Open Category. All of these shortlisted teams made public presentations online, on November 23 and 24, 2020.

Following these presentations, the competition's jury made its final selections. The public was also invited to vote for their choice and over 2,000 votes were cast online.

 

View Competition Winners

View Competition Backgrounder

LU and Wiikwemkoong Help Launch First-Ever Culturally Relevant Indigenous Wellness Measure Made With Children For Children

LU and Wiikwemkoong Help Launch First-Ever Culturally Relevant Indigenous Wellness Measure Made With Children For Children

"Aaniish Naa Gegii: How are you?" was released on National Child Day

(Dec. 8, 2020) Laurentian University is pleased to congratulate the team behind Aaniish Naa Gegii: the Children's Health and Well-being Measure (ACHWM). This initiative is a direct result of the dynamic partnership between Naandwechige-Gamig Wikwemikong Health Centre and the Evaluating Children's Health Outcome (ECHO) Research Centre at Laurentian University. Alongside the re-launch of the organization's website. The launch was timed to coincide with the celebration of National Child Day, November 20.

This initiative is a testament to the years of research, hard work, and leadership of Research Chair Dr. Nancy Young, Naandwechige-Gamig Health Services Director Mary Jo Wabano, and their devoted teams. The journey began in 2009 when Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory and Laurentian University initiated an active collaboration to create a new measure for Indigenous children. They have since developed ACHWM, a tablet based app and website where community leaders can access information and statistics.

The app is a culturally relevant measure of health and well-being for Indigenous children aged between eight and eighteen years old. Created with the children and for the children, the tablet-based app serves as a catalyst for discourse, services, and possibly future funding. Some of its functions include health assessment, program evaluation, and mental health screening. All the work that has gone into the creation of this app was made possible by funding from Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services Ontario, and a grant from AMS/OSSU. Its goal is to improve the lives of Indigenous children.

Currently the services provided through the website and app are intended to help community leaders support children between eight and eighteen, however, a model that could work for younger children between three and seven years old is in development. Additionally, the team has been working on creating a model for adults, for instance Indigenous students in postsecondary education. 


QUOTES

“I commend Dr. Young, Mary Jo Wabano and their team for the years of hard work that has led to the creation of this app. It’s extremely rewarding to see this continued partnership with Naandwechige-gamig Wikwemikong Health Centre and the many participating Indigenous communities.The relationships built through this important work truly speak to the aspirations established in Laurentian University's 2018-2023 Strategic Plan and our commitment to Truth and Reconciliation.”
Robert Haché, President and Vice-Chancellor of Laurentian University

“Our goal is to make sure this supports wellness for all Indigenous children and youth [Inuit, First Nation, and Métis]. It started off being about planning and evaluating in the community and along the way we discovered that we need to help each child in the process. There are no financial barriers for communities that want to use this, whether it’s for 5 children or 500.”
Dr. Nancy L. Young, Director of the School of Rural and Northern Health and Research Chair

“I am passionate about making sure the children of our community [Wiikwemkoong] and now communities across Canada have access to services to support their needs and fill in the gaps. This will give us a better sense of what we can do as a community to collectively support our children towards maintaining balance in life, maintaining wellness. This is my driving force: it’s all for the children.”
Mary Jo Wabano, Health Services Director, Naandwechige-Gamig Wikwemikong Health Centre

“There is such an incredible team working tirelessly to create mindful resources that make sense and work for Indigenous people. We have such a vast team, I’m really proud to be a part of it.”
Mia Bourque BA (hons) / MA Candidate, ACHWM Community and Culture Liaison, Evaluating Children’s Health Outcomes (ECHO) Research Centre, Laurentian University

Laurentian University celebrates sixth consecutive Giving Tuesday

Laurentian University celebrates sixth consecutive Giving Tuesday

University committed to supporting students facing hardships during the pandemic

(Dec. 1, 2020) December 1, 2020 will mark the sixth consecutive year that Laurentian University participates in Giving Tuesday. This global event is a day of giving that happens each year after Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It is a time when Canadians, charities and businesses come together to celebrate giving and participate in activities that support charities and nonprofits.

This year has been like no other. These are difficult times, and we are dealing with unprecedented working and living conditions. With our strategic plan #Imagine2023 in mind, this year's Giving Tuesday Campaign will focus on raising funds for Laurentian University students facing the many hardships during this Global Pandemic.
 
The Student Emergency Support Fund

The Student Emergency Support Fund was established by Laurentian University shortly after the COVID-19 emergency was declared on Tuesday, March 10th, 2020. TD has generously partnered with us this year and has provided $15,000 in matching funds. Community members interested in contributing will be able to double their impact by donating through laurentian.ca/give/make-an-impact 

The goal of the fund is to provide financial assistance to students with:

  • Food purchases and other costs for financially disadvantaged students; 
  • Addressing housing challenges for students who are self-isolating to protect their loved ones in remote, rural and Indigenous communities, or who are stranded far from home and loved ones due to border closures;
  • Securing an internet connection at home, for those who may have just been using the internet on campus previously; 
  • Income loss due to a business closure or lay-off;
  • Other financial hardships that may have presented themselves due to the COVID-19 measures implemented by Laurentian University, and all levels of government.
     

LU Researcher Plays Critical Role in Developing Picture of Earth's Early Days

LU Researcher Plays Critical Role in Developing Picture of Earth's Early Days

Prof. Alesandro Ielpi and colleagues use zircon to unlock secret to the emergence of continents

(November 30. 2020) Laurentian University's Alessandro Ielpi celebrates a career milestone as his work is featured in a prestigious publication in his field. The assistant professor of sedimentology in the Harquail School of Earth Sciences has travelled far and wide in order to uncover valuable insights about our planet. This week, the renowned journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters shares some of his most significant findings.

The paper, co-authored by Jesse Reimink at Pennsylvania State University, Joshua Davies at Université du Québec à Montréal and Alessandro Ielpi at Laurentian University, gives us an idea how continents first formed billions of years ago. Though there has long been consensus about the early formation of continents, the exact shapes, locations, and ages of those first pieces of dry land have long been under dispute. The trio's work brings us a step closer to pinpointing where and when this process began, thanks to their research on zircon. Taking advantage of the mineral's resilience over the years proved to be the key to this work; zircon is so resilient that it has been described as a sort of time capsule. Zircon forms in magmas that, once solidified, can be eroded by the elements. Zircon grains are then transported away and incorporated in sediments across the world. By dating the zircon in such sediments, researchers can reconstruct the size and distribution of previous rocks in a watershed.

At one time, Earth could more accurately have been called a waterworld, given that it was one globe-spanning body of water with little to no landmasses emerging above it. By about 3 billion years ago, rock formations began poking through the water as the first continents gained relief. Eventually, by about two and half billion years ago, the authors infer that continents similar in size to modern ones had been established. To reach this conclusion, the authors have analysed a global database of published ages for a mineral called zircon, and have developed a working theory of how dry ground came to be on this world.

We congratulate Drs. Ielpi, Reimink, and Davies on their work, a testament to their strengths as individual researchers as well as a testament to inter-institutional cooperation even amid the current pandemic.

QUOTE
"The collaborative work with Drs. Reimink and Davies is one of the most exciting aspects of my current research. It is great to see how the study of surface processes on early Earth can be integrated with statistical analyses of large, independent datasets. To understand the emergence of modern-style continents in the planet's past is indeed a key goal in geology". Alessandro Ielpi,  Assistant Professor of Sedimentology in the Harquail School of Earth Sciences of Laurentian University

"This discovery by Dr. lelpi and collaborators is truly remarkable and demonstrates the power of curiosity, and ingenuity when passionate researchers with experiences from around the world come together to solve problems." Tammy Eger, Vice-President of Research, Laurentian University
 

Laurentian University Professor Awarded NSERC funding to advance science communication training

Laurentian University Professor Awarded NSERC funding to advance science communication training

Dr. Chantal Barriault to provide science communication training to Northern Ontario STEM faculty and researchers

(November 23, 2020) Laurentian University is pleased to congratulate Dr. Chantal Barriault, who received $20,000 from the Federal Government in Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). This grant is intended to help skilled communicators share their knowledge with  faculty, researchers, and graduate students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), to improve their skills to effectively communicate their work with public audiences. 

The Science Communication Skills pilot grant was awarded to Dr. Barriault along with 20 other chosen recipients out of more than a hundred applicants across the country. The grant will aid the Northern Ontario STEM community in contributing to science literacy and counteract science-related misinformation.

As supported by the grant, Laurentian University will deliver, in partnership with Science North, essential training in science communication through virtual and in-person interactive workshops. Fundinging will be allocated to creating a model for science communication training that can be scaled up and delivered beyond Northern Ontario, in both English and French. Dr. Barriault hopes to demonstrate proof of concept through this pilot project to secure further funding in the future. Click here to read Dr. Barriault’s proposal.

QUOTE
“This award demonstrates that Laurentian delivers a world-leading graduate program in science communication and that we are trusted to empower researchers and science faculty all over Northern Ontario to communicate their work effectively.” Dr. Chantal Barriault - Director, Science Communication Graduate Program
 

Laurentian University added to Immigration Canada's Designated Learning Institution List

Laurentian University added to Immigration Canada's Designated Learning Institution List

Laurentian University added to Immigration Canada's Designated Learning Institution List

(November 18, 2020) Laurentian University is proud to announce that it has been added to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada's Designated Learning Institution List. The list names all Canadian colleges and universities with federally approved COVID-19 readiness plans. This paves the way for the arrival of international students to Laurentian.

This announcement follows weeks of productive discussions with our partners at the provincial and federal levels of government, and would not have been possible without the combined efforts of many departments within the university to keep our community safe. 

Laurentian University's International Student Services and Residence teams continue to support international students with their arrival and quarantine plans. Currently, Laurentian welcomes 602 international students from 75 countries, studying remotely from their home countries or in Canada.

LU researcher gets federal grant to amp up the fight against the coronavirus

LU researcher gets federal grant to amp up the fight against the coronavirus

Stefan Siemann, professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, gets $200,000 from the CFI for a key piece of equipment

(November 13, 2020) Laurentian University is excited to announce that one of our researchers will get a  boost from the federal government in his effort to fight the coronavirus. 

Stefan Siemann, a professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, is already deeply entrenched in efforts to tame the virus; he is part of a global network of experts using 3-D imaging technology to find potential weaknesses in the cell structure of SARS-Cov-2, the virus responsible for the current pandemic. This week, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) announced that Dr. Siemann will receive $200,000 for two pieces of equipment which will bring his efforts to the next level. 

The equipment, a fluorometer and a microplate reader system, will prove essential to helping Dr. Siemann and his team investigate an enzyme called Mpro. Vital in the replication of the virus, the researchers' end game is to find a compound that will block Mpro from replicating more cells of SARS-Cov-2. This will, in theory, halt or diminish the spread of the virus. 

This grant is one of 79 projects being funded through the CFI's Exceptional Opportunities Fund. Announced recently, the funding includes $28 million for similar projects at 52 institutions across Canada, as part of the federal government's larger commitment to bring the devastating effects of the pandemic to heel. 
 
QUOTE
"The research infrastructure funding announced by the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry could not have come at a better time for scientists in Canada including Laurentian’s Dr. Stefan Siemann.  We are incredibly proud of Dr. Siemann and his research collaborators who are using advanced scientific tools and novel methods in the fight against COVID-19." Tammy Eger, Vice-President, Research, Laurentian University

LU Announces New Bursary For Youth in Extended Society Care

LU Announces New Bursary For Youth in Extended Society Care

Desiderata Entrance Bursary funded by donor who aims to pay it forward'

(November 5, 2020) Laurentian University is proud to announce the creation of the Desiderata Entrance Bursary, thanks to a donation by Catherine Gravely. The bursary, worth a total of $120,000, will be granted annually to three Laurentian students who have spent time in society care as youths in Ontario. This is a first in the province, and builds on the university's announcement last year of waiving tuition for Ontario students who spent time in care.

The name of the award is a tribute to the poem Desiderata by Max Ehrmann, which gave strength and comfort to Catherine. "Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself," the poem says. "You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here."

The bursaries will defray costs for books and living expenses for students primarily entering the first year of any program. In selecting the recipients of the bursaries, priority will be given to first year students entering Laurentian University who fulfilled the eligibility criteria. Valued at $10,000 per year, this award is renewable for four years.

QUOTES
"I am delighted that you have already been able to increase the funding and am happy to do more. My goal was to send a message to youth or former youth coming from care that there are people who ‘have their back’, even if they don’t know them at all. There is an unseen cheering section that wants these youth to succeed, and I am only one of those. Life is partially hard work, but much of it is also “luck” - both good and bad. I would like to be the creator of some good fortune for those who have experienced undeserved bad fortune - in part ‘to right the scales’, and in part to demonstrate that more unexpected good things will come for them, and that there will be times ahead when life will be much brighter." Catherine Gravely, donor

"What a wonderful opportunity to help our students build their futures thanks to the support of such a generous heart. This bursary will serve as a reminder during their studies that a giving spirit is an important quality. It helps promote the construction of a more unified world." Marie-Josée Berger, Provost and Vice-President, Academic, Laurentian University

LU launches new app to increase campus safety

LU launches new app to increase campus safety

SecurLU-UL gives users access to a suite of handy tools to streamline safety-related communications

(November 4, 2020) Laurentian University is proud to announce the launch of SecurLU-UL, the official safety app for our community. It is the only app that integrates with Laurentian University's safety and security systems.

Our Campus Safety team has worked to develop a unique app that provides students, faculty and staff with added safety on the Laurentian University campus. The app will send you important safety alerts and provide instant access to campus safety resources.

SecurLU-UL features include:

  • Emergency Contacts: Contact the correct services for the Laurentian University area in case of an emergency or a non-emergency concern
  • Mobile Bluelight: Send your location to Laurentian University security in real-time in case of a crisis
  • WorkAlone: Use the app to "check in" with you periodically while working alone or during late hours. If you don't respond, the app will alert Campus Security.
  • Friend Walk: Send your location to a friend through email or SMS on your device. Once the friend accepts the Friend Walk request, the user picks their destination and their friend tracks their location in real time; they can keep an eye on them to make sure they make it safely to their destination.
  • Emergency Plans: Campus emergency documentation that can prepare you for disasters or emergencies. This can be accessed even when users aren’t connected to Wi-Fi or cellular data.
  • Virtual WalkHome: Allow Campus Security to monitor a user’s walk. If a user feels unsafe when walking on campus, they can request a Virtual WalkHome and a dispatcher on the other end will monitor their journey until they reach their destination.
  • Safety Toolbox: Enhance your safety with the set of tools provided in one convenient app.
  • Support Resources: Access support resources in one convenient app to enjoy a successful experience at Laurentian University

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