NEW PROGRAM HELPS POST-SECONDARY GRADS LAUNCH CAREERS
University of Victoria News Release
For many post-secondary graduates, making the transition from school to the workplace can be difficult. However, thanks to a $680,000 grant from The Counselling Foundation of Canada, UVic is offering a new career program that allows grads from UVic and other post-secondary institutions to receive the help they need to launch their professional careers.
The Applied Career Transitions (ACT) program offers three modules: career decision-making, career search skills, and supported career search with an optional internship. “While post-secondary graduates have education on their side, their transition to work is often hampered by limited work experience related to their interests and a lack of confidence in their ability to compete in a volatile labour market,” says Career Services Manager Jennifer Margison. “Our goal is to help grads develop career management skills and apply them in the real world. These are the kind of skills that grads will be able to use throughout their lives to not only find work but to create it too.”
While first preference is given to UVic grads, this free program is open to all recent post-secondary graduates who are permanent residents of Canada and who have little or no professional experience.
For more information call (205) 472-4274 or see: http://www.careerservices.uvic.ca/alumni/act.html
Source: http://communications.uvic.ca/releases/mr030416.html
GET MOVING OR GET SICK: UBC PROJECT TARGETS CHRONIC DISEASE FACTORS IN KIDS
UBC News Release
A new project led by UBC Human Kinetics Assoc. Prof. Heather McKay intends to get school-aged children moving and reduce chronic disease outcomes such as obesity, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.
“The ultimate costs of osteoporosis, diabetes, obesity, hypertension and heart disease will be unaffordable,” says McKay, principal investigator for the $1.5 million project, which includes research, program design and policy outcomes. “We are so far beyond talking about treatment. Our only answer is prevention.”
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Programs have classroom activities, scheduled physical education, family and community initiatives, extra-curricular opportunities, and school environment/spirit projects such as the “Walking School Bus,” whereby a designated adult supervisor “picks up” students, house by house, on foot and they walk as a group along a set route.
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McKay says while many physical activity programs have previously been introduced in schools, few have been evaluated for effectiveness.
The ultimate goal of the program is to make physical activity part of the culture in the elementary school system. All provincial schools, including those in rural areas as well as aboriginal communities, will be invited to participate by 2005:
For more information, visit the Action Schools! BC web site at http://www.actionschoolsbc.ca
http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/media/releases/2003/mr-03-35.html
THE UNIVERSITY OF WINNIPEG: A VIBRANT RESEARCH CLIMATE
University of Winnipeg Press Release
WINNIPEG “? Well known for its stellar faculty and award-winning students, The University of Winnipeg is also home to a vibrant research community. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SHHRC) recently recognized the achievements of University of Winnipeg researchers with nearly a half-million dollars in grants, the highest amount ever received by The University of Winnipeg.
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Ranked by Maclean’s magazine as one of Canada’s top four undergrad universities, UWinnipeg is home to more than 8,000 students [and] offers over 400 courses in 40 subject areas from filmmaking to forensics.
