Ask Us What's New

Volunteers and Student Services staff are getting ready at the University of Victoria to pin “Ask me!” buttons to their brightly coloured T-shirts and welcome thousands of new and returning students to campus. UVic greeters will also be stationed at the Victoria airport from Aug. 27 to Sept. 3. Student orientation activities take place from then until Sept. 16 including an outdoor campus concert on Sept. 9, the Indigenous Student Week of Welcome from Sept. 7 to 9, and new this year, a parent orientation program on Sept. 3. To find out more, visit http://transition.uvic.ca/orientation/.
       UVic expects to welcome over 20,000 students this year. Here is a small selection of what will await them.

Web for non-webbies: There are currently more mobile phones on this planet than there are computers, and in the past five years, there has been a huge increase in mobile emails and mobile web browsing on smartphones and tablets. A new course designed for undergraduate students who have little or no experience in using these technologies is being offered by the Department of Computer Science this fall, and is designed specifically for those who are interested in designing web applications for mobile devices. For more info, visit the SENG 130 blog at https://wordpress.csc.uvic.ca/seng130/. (Contact: Heather Croft at cscao@uvic.ca or 250-472-5854)

UVic Libraries go mobile: The UVic Libraries Mobile Web provides essential library information and services, anytime, anywhere, on your mobile device with an interface optimized for on-the-go access. The site automatically detects the device you’re using and delivers an experience optimized for it. UVic Libraries is also offering a trial service until Nov. 15. Students and other library users can send questions by SMS/text directly from their telephones and receive answering texts from reference librarians. This service will be monitored weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. (Contact: Susan Henderson at shenders@uvic.ca or 250-853-3612)

Mountain spirits and multicultural tricksters: UVic professor Christopher Teuton invites fourth-year students to explore worlds inhabited by mountain spirits, post-apocalyptic survivors and time-travelling descendants of slaves. Teuton, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, teaches this special studies course on how writers grounded in traditional belief systems—African, Native American, Chinese—can push the boundaries of reality, including by using the genre of graphic novels. (Contact: Christopher Teuton at cteuton@uvic.ca or 250-721-7269)

New smoking policy: As of Sept. 1, 2011, smoking on the UVic campus will only be permitted in designated areas outside Ring Road. These areas are all within a three-minute walk of any campus building. More information including a campus map outlining the designated areas is available at www.uvic.ca/smoking. (To provide feedback about the initiative, send an email to clearair@uvic.ca. For media queries contact Patty Pitts at ppitts@uvic.ca or 250-721-7656)
 

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