In the Community

Student club promotes healthy food supply

September 11, 2009

Christine LoScerbo is a student who walks the talk. Merging her interests in urban planning, sustainability, and urban agriculture, this third-year Vancouver Island University (VIU) Geography student recently published her first article in Plan Canada, the official publication of the Canadian Institute of Planners.  Along with co-author Dr. Pamela Shaw from VIU’s Geography Department, LoScerbo... Read more


VIU opens pathways to learning

September 10, 2009

  Doris Sagutch will tell you it’s never too late to change careers. After many years working as a cook in a Snuneymuxw First Nations daycare, arthritis set in and she started getting sore hands. Sagutch could have collected long term disability “but I didn’t feel disabled,” she said. Instead, she headed back to school. Now she wants to teach younger generations the Coast Salish language.... Read more


MBA students study Vancouver Island University’s economic impact

September 8, 2009

What is Vancouver Island University’s direct and indirect economic impact on the communities it serves and on the island as a whole? VIU Master of Business Administration students will answer these questions in a major study led by faculty researcher Dr. Rosmy Jean Louis. As part of their MBA internship program, the students have surveyed 2,000 students and 250 staff and faculty to assess... Read more


VIU grad wins Canada Graduate Scholarship

September 4, 2009

The national spotlight continues to shine on Vancouver Island University graduates. Laura Booi, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction as a Psychology major last June, received  a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada valued at $17,500. She will study aging in the Health Psychology graduate... Read more


VIU breaks ground on new $26.6 million Cowichan campus

September 4, 2009

DUNCAN – Construction is set to begin on Vancouver Island University’s new $26.6-million Cowichan Place campus in Duncan, following an official groundbreaking today by provincial, federal and college officials. The project will create up to 170 direct jobs. “This is another exciting milestone for Vancouver Island University as it continues to grow into its new status as a fully accredited... Read more


Adult Basic Education helps student launch nursing career

September 1, 2009

Imagine living in a city that has a population bigger than the entire country of Canada.  Now imagine moving to a small island far from home with a population of less than 1200  – and not one person speaks your language. That’s what happened to Cuiping Li when she moved from Leizhou, China, to Texada Island four years ago. Sophie, the name she now uses, used to cry a lot. Feeling isolated,... Read more


VIU researcher studies impact of fly fishing on breast cancer survivors

September 1, 2009

Fly fishing isn’t usually a sport one associates with breast cancer survivors, but a team of volunteers and professionals hope to change that. They are hosting Divas on the Fly, a weekend fly fishing retreat for women diagnosed with breast cancer on Vancouver Island and throughout BC at Tamagawa Centre in Cedar, BC (near Nanaimo) September 18 to 20. “This event is part of a pilot research... Read more


MBA students complete internship in Arctic Circle

August 28, 2009

Four Master of Business Administration (MBA) students from Vancouver Island University are working in the Arctic Circle on a nationally funded research project to help one of Canada’s oldest First Nations communities improve living and working conditions and stimulate the economy. The students are in Aklavik, located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories on an MBA internship. “We’... Read more


VIU grad hopes to inspire business students

August 28, 2009

Meet Alex (Mrinal) Casewa. He represents a new breed of business leaders. A recent graduate of Vancouver Island University’s Bachelor of Business Administration program (BBA) Casewa is making a name for himself importing and selling a new bio-degradable product called Earthens. The environmentally friendly product consists of dinner plates and bowls of various sizes made with fallen palm... Read more


Students volunteer time in community

August 21, 2009

The Canadian Red Cross office recently got a helping hand with some renovations thanks to a volunteer framing crew from Vancouver Island University.  “The students framed an unfinished space to create a meeting room and volunteer area,” said Diane Marwick, Health Equipment Loan Program (HELP) Coordinator, who added that the office has been in its current location since July 2008. “It was a big... Read more