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On Monday, August 31, from 8:30 am to 4 pm, employees and students of Thompson Rivers University will be donating their time, expertise and enthusiasm for a Day of Caring at the Boys and Girls Club facilities on McArthur Island.

The motivated crew of 30 volunteers from TRU will include President and Vice-Chancellor Kathleen Scherf, who has been a passionate supporter of the United Way since her arrival to Kamloops
a year ago.

“The TRU community didn’t hesitate to come forward and use a day’s vacation so they could pitch in and help the Boys and Girls Club with painting and improving the playground,” Scherf said. “I am exited to be able to spend the day volunteering along side members from CUPE, our Faculty Association, the TRU Student Union, trade students and so many others from the university that support the United Way.”

Besides painting several rooms inside the building – recreation areas as well as storage space, tables and cabinets, TRU volunteers will be picking up larger projects outside the facility. They will build a pergola as TRU Trades students erect a storage shed that has been donated by the TRU School of Trades and Technology.

Day of Caring is a community initiative designed to foster a sense of caring through volunteerism. It is not a fund-raising event, but an opportunity for businesses and their employees to undertake worthwhile projects for non-profit organizations. Not only do the non-profit organizations benefit from valuable assistance in completing a much
needed project that would not have been done otherwise, but the employee groups are given the opportunity to see first hand what valuable services are being provided by annual contributions to the United Way.

In 2008 President Scherf led TRU’s United Way employee campaign, raising over $63,000. TRU also earned the 2008 Community Spirit Large Organization award, which recognized TRU’s encouragement of staff to learn about and contribute to their community through
United Way involvement.

from http://www.tru.ca/marketing/mediareleases/2009/united_way_day_of_caring.html

PREMIER GORDON CAMPBELL OPENS $12.3-MILLION OPEN LEARNING CENTRE

Premier Gordon Campbell officially opened the $12.3-million B.C. Centre for Open Learning, a state-of-the-art building at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops that is a base to deliver programs for students to complete a post-secondary education throughout the province.

Premier Gordon Campbell at the grand opening of the $12.3-million B.C. Centre for Open Learning in Kamloops, which will support students throughout B.C. taking open learning courses and programs either online or by traditional print-based distance methods.

Premier Gordon Campbell was joined by Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell, Kamloops MLAs Kevin Krueger and Claude Richmond, and staff and faculty of Thompson Rivers University to open the $12.3-million B.C. Centre for Open Learning.

from BC Government News – November 2, 2007

The summer is moving on and we’re starting to think about the fall term and students returning to campus. An area that always has our attention is “Scent Reduction”. This year in particular we have a student who is coming to TRU that has extreme multiple chemical sensitivities. While we do not want to single out any one person, we feel it is important to do our ‘due diligence’ and continue to make the campus aware of this issue. We will be continuing to promote a “scent reduction” environment through other communiques but would appreciate if you could share the attached with your staff and underline the significance of this issue.
Thanks for your attention to this. See you soon.

Why:

We generally think that it is a personal choice to use fragrances; however, fragrance chemicals are by their very nature shared. The chemicals vaporize into the air and are easily inhaled by those around us. Today’s scented products are made up of a complex mixture of chemicals, many of which are synthetic compounds derived from petroleum products. These fragrance chemicals, classified as volatile organic compounds, can contribute to indoor air quality problems and cause health problems.

Susceptible individuals can experience a variety of symptoms, including headache, sore throat, runny nose, sinus congestion, wheezing, shortness of breath, dizziness, anxiety, anger, nausea, fatigue, mental confusion and an inability to concentrate. Some of these fragrance chemicals are known to be skin sensitizers. Some are also respiratory tract irritants, and can trigger asthma and breathing difficulties. Asthmatics commonly cite fragrances as initiating or exacerbating their asthma. Fragrances are also implicated in vascular changes that can trigger migraines in susceptible individuals. Individuals with chemical sensitivities can experience symptoms at very low levels in the air, far below those known to cause harmful effects in the general population.

Scent-Free Spaces

A growing number of people experience symptoms when exposed to perfume, after-shave and other scented personal care products. Commonly reported symptoms include:

• Headaches
• Dizziness
• Fatigue
• Watery eyes
• Stuffy nose or sinusitis
• Coughing, tightness in the chest
• Wheezing, shortness of breath

It’s Not the Smell, It’s the Chemicals

There can be up to 500 chemicals in one perfume. In most modern fragrances, up to 95 percent of these chemicals are petroleum-based.

Many of the chemicals used in fragrances are known respiratory and skin irritants. Some of the chemicals used in fragrances have been linked with long-term health problems, such as cancer, birth defects and nervous system disorders, when used in larger amounts.

From http://www.womenshealthmatters.ca/Centres/environmental/Healthy-Environments/Scent-Free.html

TRU Orientation 2009

For more info go to http://www.tru.ca/staffairs/orientation.html

Orientation is open to all new TRU students!

Date: September 8, 2009
Registration Deadline: September 4, 2009

Register now

Event Schedule

New PLIRC website created – TRUopen.ca/plirc

About PLIRC (Prior Learning International Research Centre)

Thompson Rivers University (TRU) through its Open Learning (OL) Division has launched an initiative to develop a new Prior Learning International Research Centre (PLIRC). The vision for the Centre, helmed by Dr. Christine Wihak, Director of PLAR (Prior Learning Assessment & Recognition), TRU-OL, is to stimulate innovative and provocative research concerning prior learning and the theory, policy and practice of its assessment and/or recognition and/or validation. PLIRC will provide an international forum for the networking amongst scholars in this field and actively promote dissemination of research findings to practitioners and policy makers alike.

“Prior learning assessment and recognition is an important component of Open Learning at TRU,” Murray said. “We believe in and support the creation and advancement of knowledge in this field, along with the development of best practices and international standards.”

TRU-OL held an inaugural Steering Committee meeting in July 2009. Academic researchers from Australia, Scotland, South Africa, England, Canada, the US and the European Union were invited to present on PLAR research activity in their respective countries and their personal research. Attendees discussed current research activities, developed a basic governance structure for PLIRC and decided on initial collaborative activities required to move the PLIRC agenda forward.

With a view to scoping an international research agenda, the scholars attending PLIRC’s inaugural meeting made presentations on the state of prior learning research in their own countries/regions and/or their own personal research in the area. As its first research initiative, the PLIRC board members agreed to assemble these presentations in the form of a monograph, with Mignonne Breier and Judy Harris acting as editors. The intention is to publish the monograph in 2010. In the meantime, the scholars have agreed to our posting their Powerpoint presentations on the web site.

Small but growing forest fire about three miles north of Lillooet BC in summer of 2007, we have the same this summer -  from http://www.flickr.com/photos/canadagood/3445101597

Thompson Rivers University is assisting in housing the people of Lillooet who have been evacuated from their homes, due to the fire in the area.

As of this morning, we now have 140 people in our residences and we are ready to house them in the gym if needed. TRU is also providing food services, in coordination with Emergency Social Services.

Forestry officials, TNRD, RCMP, City of Kamloops Mayor, Lillooet Mayor and the MLA for the area held an information session in the Clock Tower Theatre last night. They said that the people could be out of their homes until the weekend….they stressed the serious nature of the fires.

Our thanks to the quick response of On-Campus Housing, Mark Woloski and his team and TRU Residence and Conference Center, Michael Ching’anada and his team and Gerard Hayes and the Food Service staff.

Any inquiries can be directed to the main entrance to the gym, where an Emergency Social Services desk has been set up. If you are concerned about the whereabouts of a particular evacuee – you can call 1-877-865-3606.