University Receives Record Support

Murder and intrigue Only in Canada, eh? Education for all In Ukraine, politics can kill you. Students protest plans to ditch Canadian Studies A liberal arts education still counts. 5 in an era of globalization. 8 3 UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA Volume 38 Issue 14 MARCH 23, 2001 http://www.ualberta.ca/folio University receives record support AHFMR funds research in strokes, diabetes, health economics By Phoebe Dey Phoebe Dey Phoebe s baby Erika prepares to leave the hos- ceutical companies aren’t coming forward Apital after her miraculous recovery to offer financing for the trials, said from severe hypothermia, a University of Colbourne. Alberta researcher has received funding Clinical testing is vital to the research, to further investigate the role hypother- because if hypothermia is not induced mia may play in helping cure some properly, it can be harmful, he said. patients. Colbourne’s research is part of a long Dr. Fred Colbourne is one of 33 list of university projects funded by researchers at the AHFMR. Dr. Roger Smith, vice-president University of Alberta who (research) at the U of A, will share in a $25 million highlighted the range of pot awarded by the Alberta “The breadth of support provid areas that will be sup- Heritage Foundation for ed by the foundation is very ported by the announce- Medical Research ment. (AHFMR). The funding important.AHFMR has laid the “This is not only was part of a $53-million going to the Faculty of announcement given to a foundation to attracting some of Medicine and Dentistry total of 235 Alberta investi- but to people like Dr. gators. the best and brightest to this Colbourne in psychology, Colbourne, from the U university.” others in phys. ed and of A’s Department of recreation, law and Psychology, will receive —Dr.Roger Smith,vice-president rehab,” said Smith. approximately $200,000 (research) “The breadth of sup- over the next two years to port provided by the study how inducing hypothermia might foundation is very important. AHFMR be used to reduce cell and brain damage has laid the foundation to attracting some to stroke victims. During a campus press of the best and brightest to this universi- conference, Colbourne cited the now- ty.” famous case of little Erika Nordby, the AHFMR senior personnel awards are Edmonton toddler who received world- presented to researchers in annual com- wide attention after a miraculous recov- petitions. Applications are peer- ery from extreme hypothermia, as an reviewed by scientists from around the example of how his work can be applied. world and the highest international “Many of you will remember the standards of excellence must be met in case of Erika—she was basically saved order to be funded. because of hypothermia,” Colbourne The new funding announcement rep- said. “That’s why this funding is so resents the most money ever awarded important to stroke research. We want to for research in a competition year in be able to get a better understanding of AHFMR’s 21-year history, said Dr. why hypothermia is so essential to Matthew Spence, AHFMR president and reducing cell damage.” CEO. Colbourne has learned that, in “This is your money we are trying to rodents, a decrease in body temperature invest in support of bright, young Dr. Fred Colbourne has discovered that rodents who have had induced strokes, followed by hypothermia, persistently decreases the size of lesions researchers in Alberta and from around suffer decreased brain damage, including memory loss. New funding will help investigate the ways in the brain following a stroke. Although the world so you and your children’s hypothermia might help human stroke victims. evidence supports inducing hypothermia health will improve,” said Spence. in stroke patients, researchers are having “Fred Colbourne is an example of the include research in diabetes, cancer, heart, difficulty securing funding for clinical tri- bright ideas we like to invest in and this young Erika. This funding announcement population health and health economics. als. Unlike drug therapies, hypothermia work on hypothermia is very much in our is a harbinger of more to come.” The money will be awarded July 1.I can’t be patented, which means pharma- minds with the miraculous recovery of Other projects funded at the U of A Study on healthy aging earns hefty support SSHRC funding to trigger extensive survey of public policy and aging By Terese Brasen By Terese Brasen By Terese he University of Alberta’s Department you for” Fast explained. “It is common Fast added that departments like Tof Human Ecology has won $338,218 in sense, yet when it comes to public policy human ecology have difficulty competing Social Sciences and Humanities Research we don’t value those things.” for industry sponsors. “Our natural part- Council (SSHRC) funding. Fast said three of her human ecology ners are community agencies and policy “The competition is pretty stiff,” said a colleagues, Dr. Donna Dawsman and assis- shops that don’t have any money. It is dif- beaming Dr. Janet Fast, a U of A human tants Jacquie Eales and Sherry Anne ficult to find an industry partner to sup- ecology professor whose project Chapman, will use the SSHRC funding to port research on family violence, for exam- Productive Activity in Later Life was one conduct a three-year study of how produc- ple.” of just five Canadian university projects to tive activity changes as one ages and In this case, the human ecology depart- receive funding under SSHRC’s new approaches retirement. ment is partnering with Human Resources Rethinking Productivity program. The project will decipher time-use and Development Canada, the National “SSHRC challenged the research com- diary data from 1981 to the most recently Advisory Council on Aging and the munity to think differently about produc- available (1998) statistics. In one year, Pembina Institute, an independent, citizen- tivity,” Fast said. “In traditional econom- Statistics Canada contacts between 10,000 based think tank interested in the value of ics, productive activity is anything that and 12,000 Canadians, gathering detailed unpaid work. one gets paid for; and yet, people partici- information on our daily activities, health “We want to inform policy and prac- pate in a lot of unpaid activities that are and quality of life. “We have at least three, tice,” explained Fast. “Our partners will valuable to themselves and society. possibly four waves of Statistics Canada use the information to develop programs Traditionally, these unpaid activities aren’t data, so we can do comparisons over for seniors or policy that facilitates suc- counted as productive.” time,” Fast said. cessful aging.” Fast’s project will study how produc- The U of A human ecology team will While SSHRC dollars allow Fast and tivity is tied to health and successful collaborate with Dr. Anne Gauthier, from her colleagues to engage in research that Dr. Janet Fast is studying the ways public policy aging. Recent literature on aging suggests the University of Calgary’s Department of may change federal policy and shift atti- affects our productivity as we age. staying productive is key to staying Sociology and with researchers from tudes towards aging and unpaid work, healthy. “It is feeling needed, doing some- Syracuse University to access similar time- Fast believes the research dollars also thing that other people value and look to use data from 25 to 30 countries. Russia, make the classroom more relevant. Out of the five SSHRC rethinking pro- for example, has been collecting such “One of the major advantages of an ductivity grants, two went to the U of A.. information for more than a century, education at a research institution is pro- Dr. Alice Nakamura of the U of A School longer than any other country has. The fessors teach and do research. I bring the of Business Department of Finance and team will compare, cross-tabulate and look most recent research results into the class- Management Science will receive $411,782 for patterns that explain the link between room and show how policy may change as from SSHRC to develop new ways to Volume 38 Number 14 public policy and productivity in later life. a result of some of the work I do.” measure labour productivity.I OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, 400 ATHABASCA HALL UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA, EDMONTON, ALBERTA T6G 2E8 LEE ELLIOTT: Director, Office of Public Affairs RICHARD CAIRNEY: Editor Gunman sparked flurry of subscriptions GEOFF MCMASTER: Assistant Editor CONTRIBUTORS: Teresa Brasen, Richard Cairney, Phoebe Dey, to Campus Alert Geoff McMaster, Ryan Smith GRAPHIC DESIGN: Campus-wide e-mail system helped avert disaster Elise Almeida, Tim Hoffpauir, Penny Waite By Richard Cairney Folio’s mandate is to serve as a credible news source for the University community by communicating accurate and timely information hen staff at the University of Alberta’s it sparked a flurry of requests to subscribe on some circumstances we’ve had, like about issues, programs, people and events and by WCampus Patrol Services found out to the Campus Alert service. ‘there have been thefts from one of the serving as a forum for discussion and debate. Folio is published 21 times per year. March 7 that a disgruntled former student “In the first afternoon (following the libraries, so keep an eye on your personal The editor reserves the right to limit, select, edit had armed himself and returned to cam- arrest of the gunman) I probably received 20 effects,’ or reports of suspicious persons and position submitted copy and advertisements. pus, they fired out a campus-wide e-mail e-mail subscriptions,” says CPS Sgt. Jim on campus.” Views expressed in Folio do not necessarily reflect message to warn students, faculty and University policy.

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