March-April Ringers

Acting Director of the UVic Equity and Human Rights office Cassbreea Dewis has been named to a new federal advisory committee on the Framework to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence at Post-Secondary Institutions by Maryam Monsef, Canada’s Minister for Women and Gender Equality. The federal Framework takes the view that incidents of sexual assault on school, college and university campuses remain one of the most often reported types of violence in the #MeToo era, and therefore, a consistent approach—informed by representatives from student groups, colleges and universities, unions, community organizations, survivor advocates and front-line service workers—is required in order to achieve widespread, meaningful change. The committee will provide advice and feedback on the development, consultation and implementation of a new Canada-wide framework for consistent, comprehensive and sustainable approaches to preventing and addressing gender-based violence at post-secondary institutions.

School of Environmental Studies emeritus professor Nancy Turner has received the Distinguished Ethnobiologist Award from the Society of Ethnobiology for her outstanding contributions to the field of ethnobiology. Turner has worked for over 40 years with Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest to advance this field. In recognition of these contributions, Turner also received a lifetime honorary membership to the Society of Ethnobiology. The award will be presented to Turner at the annual conference in May.

A group of UVic’s CUPE 917 employees helped feed the hungry and provide warm winter clothing to Victoria’s vulnerable at a January event co-hosted by United Way Greater Victoria Labour Committee and the Victoria Labour Council. Members of the Facilities Management grounds maintenance and residence services teams—Jodi McLean, Nick Vagvolgyi, Brad Lockwood, Claude Champagne and Rosalyn Silletta—collected more than 200 blankets, jackets and clothing, and helped to serve food, clear tables and wash dishes. The teamtook home the coveted Golden Bean award for best-tasting chili.

Caroline Cameron (biochemistry and microbiology) has received the Genome BC Award for Scientific Excellence, as part of the 2019 LifeSciences BC Awards, for her work using advanced technologies to study the pathogen that causes syphilis. Cameron is one of the world’s leading experts on this sexually- and vertically-transmitted infection that has seen an alarming global resurgence in recent years, including within BC. The Cameron Lab is one of only a few labs in the world, and the only lab in Canada, that is working to understand the basic science of the pathogen that causes syphilis, Treponema pallidum. In the lab, Cameron and her trainees focus on development of novel vaccine candidates and diagnostic tests for syphilis. The LifeSciences BC Awards are presented annually and celebrate the full spectrum of life science research in BC from discovery to commercialization, recognizing individuals and companies who are successfully advancing health outcomes locally and on a global scale.

On April 1, geographer Chris Darimont and his PhD student, Erin Rechsteiner (who is also a Hakai Institute researcher), were honoured at the 24th annual Ocean Awards for marine science and conservation. The awards recognize invaluable contributions to understanding, conserving and communicating the diverse and irreplaceable aquatic ecosystems of western Canada and the species that inhabit them. Darimont received the Murray A. Newman Conservation Award for highly significant recent work and/or an entire career of important, field-leading contributions in ocean conservation, and Rechsteiner received the Michael A. Bigg Award for highly significant student research advancing knowledge related to the oceans. Darimont, who is recognized as one of the top large carnivore scientists in Canada and internationally, is the Science Director for the Raincoast Conservation Foundation and holds the Raincoast Chair in Applied Conservation Science at UVic. Trained broadly, Darimont and his research team use ecological, evolutionary and social sciences approaches to confront real-world conservation problems and opportunities. Collectively, his body of work is making significant contributions to coastal research, and the growing body of knowledge on the interface between species and habitats that bridge land and sea. Rechsteiner’s research on sea otters, their prey and relationship to humans is breaking new ground for its originality, breadth and striking findings. Capitalizing on 30 years of census information from the Central Coast and a natural experimental context of sea otter sites that range from one to 30 years of occupation time, Rechsteiner is asking questions about sea otter foraging that were not possible before.

Susan Duncan, director of UVic’s School of Nursing, and Kelli Stajduhar, nursing professor and researcher with UVic’s Institute on Aging and Lifelong Health, are recipients of Centenary Medals of Distinction from UBC’s School of Nursing. One hundred such awards will go to people who have brought high honour to the profession and to the school. Duncan and Stajduhar are UBC both nursing alum who have made profound contributions to the profession through research and public speaking, influencing policy change and public opinion, and advancing knowledge through collaboration and curriculum review.

Digital Scholarship Librarian Matt Huculak is part of a small editorial team that won the Association of American Publishers PROSE Award for Innovation in Journal Publishing, for work creating a hybrid model of publication that is online and open access while being fully subsidized by the print journal.  As the founding managing editor of the Modernism/modernity Print Plus platform hosted at Johns Hopkins University Press, Huculak was on the development and design team that oversaw the development of the first four journal volumes. Developed in 2013, the website allows scholars of modernism, who study the period of electronic media, to supplement their print work with relevant film, audio and other media clips, and provides forums for scholars to write peer-reviewed articles that are in conversation with one another.