Fall Term 2013
SCHOOL OF
ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY
TALKING
SENSE
www.usask.ca/sens
Talking SENSe
School of Environment and Sustainability
University of Saskatchewan
Kirk Hall, Room 323
117 Science Place
Saskatoon, SK S7N 5C8
Executive Director
Toddi Steelman, PhD
Assistant Director – Academic
Maureen Reed, PhD
Newsletter
Sharla Daviduik, MRM
On the cover: The South Saskatchewan River. Photo by Merci Rapolti,
a student in the MSEM program. Merci will be working with Chaplin
Tourism to develop ways for the community to be involved with longterm monitoring of the shore bird populations that visit Chaplin Lake
annually.
Above: The Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve. This photo was taken
by Katie Suek, a student in the MSEM program, during the ENVS 801
field trip this fall. Katie’s research project is with the Child Hunger and
Education Program; she will be studying urban agriculture as a means
of economic development for First Nations youth in Saskatoon.
Administrative Officer
Lesley Porter, BA
Communications Specialist
Please submit comments to
sens.info@usask.ca
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Executive Director’s Message
4
SENSSA Elects New Executive
4
SENS Receives Academic Priorities Funding
5
SENS Profiles
7
A SENS Staffer in Nashville: The 2013 AASHE Conference
8
Applying Traditional Knowledge: Eli Enns Visits SENS
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Fall Convocation 2013
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SENS Launches Year Two of Its Professional Skills Certificate
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Orientation: Another New Year Begins
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Upcoming Events
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Executive Director’s Message
Our climate is changing. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its most recent report in September and scientific evidence is more conclusive than ever about the human-based
drivers to rising temperatures. The Panel
proclaimed, “It is extremely likely that
human influence has been the dominant
cause of warming since the mid-20th
Century.” What can we expect from
these changes? The world will warm by
1.5-2.0°C by the end of the 21st century.
Sea level will rise 40-60 cm by late century and 1 metre by 2100, in worst case
scenarios. Sea ice could be gone in 50
years. We will see an increase in frequency and duration of high intensity
weather, like heat waves and precipitation, intensifying drought as well as tropical cyclones and hurricanes.
These are complex challenges. And they
demand a curricular focus within SENS
that can adequately prepare our students
to deal with these complexities. That
means our climate within SENS also has to
change. Most recently, SENS approved
extensive changes to our curriculum.
Beginning in the 2014/15 academic year,
we will feature new core classes. We
will introduce ENVS 806: Field Skills in
Environment and Sustainability—a weeklong intensive field course with a problem-oriented focus. ENVS 807: Sustainability in Theory and Practice will provide a
deep understanding of sustainability concepts and applications, while ENVS 808:
Tools and Applications for Sustainability
Problem-Solving will ground students in
the skills necessary for complex problemsolving. We have also introduced ENVS
809: PhD Seminar in Sustainability—a
new course for doctoral students only.
We will continue to offer ENVS 803: Research in Environment and Sustainability
and ENVS 805: Data Analysis and Management, as well as ENVS 990: Seminar in
Environment and Sustainability. The project requirement for MSEM students,
ENVS 992, will not change, nor will the
thesis requirements for MES and PhD
students. MSEM students will now be
required to take ENVS 805, 806, 807, 808,
990, and 992 plus 12 credits of electives.
MES students will be required to complete ENVS 803, 807 and 990 plus six
credit of electives and a thesis. PhD students will be required to complete ENVS
809 and 990 plus three credit units of
electives and their dissertation.
These curriculum changes, along with our
new graduate attributes, provide SENS
with a highly distinctive set of course
offerings that set us apart from any other
program in Canada. We are very excited
within the School to be able to offer these
courses and to see how they will enhance
SENS’ reputation as a path-breaking destination site for students seeking the best
possible education in addressing problemoriented, interdisciplinary environmental
and sustainability challenges.
Toddi Steelman, PhD
Executive Director
Beaver Creek, earlier this fall. Photo
taken by Raea Gooding, a student in
the MES program. Raea’s thesis
focuses on how an agricultural watershed is coping with excess nitrogen, particularly through the activity
of denitrifying bacteria, which can
remove some of this nitrogen from
the system.
Talking SENSe
SENSSA Elects New Executive
The School of Environment and Sustainability
Students’ Association, more commonly known as
SENSSA, continued its tradition of campus and
community engagement as the 2013/14 academic year began. The first order of business was the
election of a new executive on September 27.
MSEM student Manuel Chavez-Ortiz was elected
president; not only is Manuel the first MSEM
student to hold the position, he is also the first
international student to do so.
SENSSA partnered with the Saskatchewan Waste
Reduction Council to host three free waste reduction workshops in November. Another partnership, with the Global Institute for Water Security
Outreach Committee, the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union, and the U of S Office of
Sustainability, brought “Better Than Bottled”
events to campus, including a screening of the
film “The Story of Bottled Water.” The events
focused on reducing or eliminating bottled water
use and the promotion of Saskatoon’s water.
To learn more about SENSSA and its activities, be
sure to visit their facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/usasksenssa.
SENSSA’s 2013-2014 Executive, from left:
•
President Manuel Chavez-Ortiz (MSEM program)
•
Community Liaison Krystal Caldwell (MES program)
•
Social Coordinator Sarah Welter (MES program)
•
Secretary Edward Bam (PhD program)
•
Vice-President Janell Rempel (MES program)
•
Co-Academic Affairs Liaison Aimee Schmidt (MES program)
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Treasurer Noel Galuschik (MES program)
•
Co-Academic Affairs Liaison Badrul Masud (PhD program)
•
Missing: Campus Liaison Kelly Richardson (MSEM program)
SENS Receives Academic Priorities Funding
The Provost’s Committee on Integrated
Planning (PCIP) at the University of Saskatchewan recently committed $1-M in
term funding (for 2013/14 and 2014/15)
from the Academic Priorities Fund (APF) to
SENS. PCIP links the university’s academic
priorities with its business and budgetary
priorities. The APF, which represents less
than two per cent of the university’s operating budget, is one of the main resources
available to PCIP to provide funding. It was
created in 2002 to support major strategic
change initiatives resulting from integrated
planning.
As SENS has grown significantly over the
past few years, one of the top priorities for
the School’s APF funding allocation is to
hire a full-time, tenure-track faculty member to champion and coordinate the project-based Master of Sustainable Environmental Management (MSEM) program.
This position will be SENS’ first academic
programming appointment – this is a relatively new type of faculty appointment
at the University of Saskatchewan, with
more involvement in teaching and administration than faculty appointed under the
teacher-scholar model. This faculty search
is underway, with appointment anticipated
in 2014.
Other priorities for this funding include a
faculty position in risk management and
communication; increased clerical support;
and scholarships.
“This funding indicates that SENS continues
to be recognized as a priority,” says Executive Director Toddi Steelman. “These additional resources will help SENS to realize its
potential to connect different units across
campus.”
As an interdisciplinary school, SENS is
poised to be a campus‐wide “boundary
organization” that provides the intellectual
infrastructure, organizational connectivity,
and innovative spark to make connections
across campus as they relate to environ-
mental and sustainability scholarship.
“Strategic investments in interdisciplinary
endeavours will ensure that natural and
physical sciences research is socially relevant and accessible,” says Executive Director Steelman. “They will allow for spanning the boundary from thinking to doing.”
The investment also promotes innovation
in programs, and supports the institutional
goals in graduate education.
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Student Profile: Astri Buchanan, MES Program
Research interests: I want to provide a better understanding of problems I am passionate about and use this understanding to
provide solutions. My current project relates to indigenous community adaptation
to environmental, social and economic
changes in Sweden and gendered contributions to adaptive capacity. I hope to refocus
my research toward resource management
in Canada. I am particularly interested in the
role of tree planters in the forestry industry
and their potential contributions to industry
resilience in the face of major disturbances,
as well as gendered and indigenous contributions therein.
Place of birth: Oakville, ON
Most significant achievement: Planting
more than 500,000 trees over five summers
in Northern Ontario, BC and Alberta.
Favourite music: Whatever makes me feel
awesome!
Influences: Imagine standing in a swamp,
soaking wet, in freezing rain, covered in bug
bites from head to toe, carrying 50 lbs on
your hips, thinking about how the tent you
have to go home to at the end of the day is
probably flooded. You're hundreds of kilometres from the nearest town and thousands of kilometres from home. The only
comfort you can think of is that, after 12
hours of this, you'll be having dinner surrounded by the most interesting people you
will ever meet. This is tree planting. It forced
me to learn a lot about myself. It was the
single most formative and influential experience of my life.
What impact do you hope your research
will have? I hope my research causes people
Astri was in Sweden earlier this year for her MES
research. This photo was taken near Kittelfjäll,
when reindeer were being marked by their herders.
to look at problems in new ways and makes
something better for someone, somewhere.
How do you define sustainability? I define
sustainability as seeking a balance between
the desires of the current generation and the
needs of those to come.
Faculty Profile: Phil Loring, PhD
Research interests: I am interested generally in food systems and security, and how
locally-scaled food production and distribution systems can contribute to regional
food security. These questions allow me to
examine interrelations between social and
ecological sustainability. Lately that research has focused on small-scale fisheries
in Alaska, but I am also interested in agricultural systems.
Place of birth: I was born in Salem, Massachusetts, but grew up in southern Maine
and continue to call it home.
Most significant achievement: I think my
most significant achievement has been the
graduation of my first graduate student.
Hannah Harrison received an MS in Environmental Ethnography from University of
Alaska Fairbanks last May, working on sustainability of Alaska's salmon fisheries. I
knew, in the abstract sense, that teaching
the next generation is probably the most
important contribution we can make to a
sustainability revolution, but witnessing her
growth as a scholar and seeing her with a
professional position in the conservation
sector has been revealing and rewarding.
Favourite music: I listen to many kinds of
music. Among my favorites are the Barenaked Ladies (noted here because they are
Canadian!). My absolute favorite group,
however, is Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. They are hard to classify in terms of
style, with a southwestern/Americana/
mariachi/rock style. I describe their early
work as a soundtrack for Cormac McCarthy's
Border Trilogy.
Influences: I attribute my career path to the
author Daniel Quinn, whose "Ishmael" and
subsequent works provide the scaffolding for
my current approach to sustainability. My
academic advisor and close friend Craig Gerlach has had the most influence on my intellectual and professional development. Anthropologists Gregory Bateson and John
Bennett round out my primary academic
influences. Spiritually, I find much insight in
the Tao, and creatively I am captivated by
the art of Keith Harring.
What impact do you hope your research
will have? I do this work in order to help
people achieve community and livelihood
security. While I am encouraged by the
boom of sustainability research and practice,
I am concerned by its technocratic tone and
hope to help point people in the direction of
solutions that are simple rather than complex. Part and parcel to this is helping people
to rediscover that it is not human nature to
act unsustainably, but rather that we can be
valuable participants in natural ecosystems.
How do you define sustainability? I prefer
to think of sustainability as a side effect rather than an explicit goal. I believe that if we
find ways to attend to social and environmental justice that the behaviors and resource management regimes that result will
prove both sustainable and resilient. As
such, I argue that current sustainability challenges are primarily social and cultural rather than technological.
Assistant Professor Phil Loring is the newest
member of the SENS faculty. His research
focuses on food systems and security.
Bram Noble, professor in Geography and
Planning and SENS, was recently named
SSHRC Leader at the University of Saskatchewan. During this two-year appointment through the Office of the VicePresident Research, Dr. Noble will mentor
researchers in the social sciences, the humanities, and the fine arts, while at the
same time fostering research collaborations
in strategic areas.
Talking SENSe
Alumni Profile: Lisa White, Class of 2013
Lisa White came to SENS because she wanted to focus on higher-level
environmental and sustainability decision-making. With an academic
background in engineering and work experience with an engineering
consulting firm, Lisa was interested in studying how more environmentally sustainable government policies and programs can be developed and adopted to shape the focus and type of future development projects. This led her to complete a doctorate with Professor
Bram Noble, an expert in environmental impact assessment. Lisa’s
dissertation was entitled “Sustainable Energy Futures: Toward an
Integrated Strategic Environmental Assessment Process for Energy
Planning.” She is now the regional office manager in Edmonton for
Clifton Associates Ltd., a consulting engineering company. In this
role, Lisa procures and manages work in Northern Alberta for geotechnical engineering, environmental assessment, and materials
testing projects for a variety of clients, including industrial and construction firms and municipal and provincial governments.
SENS’ interdisciplinary approach was appealing to Lisa, and she found
this modelled in her classes. “I was exposed to a number of different
people with various backgrounds, philosophies and opinions about
the environment and sustainability,” she reflects. Now, as an alumna, she has remained actively engaged with the School, taking a lead
role in the planning for a sustainability networking conference, organized by SENS, the Association of Professional Engineering and Geoscientists – Saskatchewan, and the City of Saskatoon. “I would never
have had the opportunity to work on something like this had I not
been enrolled in SENS for my program.”
Lisa’s advice to SENS students is this: “Try to make sure your education is as broad as possible so that you have the ability to take advantage of opportunities that may come your way in the future (in
terms of employment). It's often those unexpected opportunities
that you learn the most from and that are the most enjoyable! Even if
you're focused on a particular area of research for your degree, I
think there are many different ways to apply what you learn from
your program.”
Lisa agrees with other alumni that those studying in the environmental and sustainability field will have many career prospects. “Environmental standards and policies are only going to become more
prevalent and stringent in the coming years, so we need bright, forward-thinking people to meet the challenge of decreasing our environmental impact on this earth!”
Lisa continues to be engaged with SENS, even though she has completed her
studies. She is playing a lead role in the coordination of the Sustainability
Networking Conference, which will take place on January 24, 2014. Another
SENS alumna, Shannon Dyck, is also on the conference planning committee.
Come to SENS; we have cookies: SENS staff began the
tradition of bringing homemade Christmas baking for
students and faculty in 2009. This year’s “Baking Extravaganza” featured contributions from the kitchens of
Toddi Steelman, Maureen Reed, Tracey McHardy, Lesley
Porter, Charlotte Hampton, Irene Schwalm, Nicole
Michel, and Sharla Daviduik.
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A SENS Staffer in Nashville: the 2013 AASHE Conference
By: Sharla Daviduik, Administrative Officer
Sharla holds a BSc in Land Use and Environmental Studies from the University of Saskatchewan and a Master of Natural Resources Management degree from Simon
Fraser University. She has been at SENS since
2007.
After stumbling half-asleep onto a 5:45 am
flight in near-freezing temperatures in Saskatoon, I wasn’t prepared for the bright sunshine and 30 degree heat in Nashville, Tennessee. But I was excited to be in “Music
City,” the site of the 2013 AASHE Conference
and Expo: Resilience and Adaptation.
AASHE, the Association for the Advancement
of Sustainability in Higher Education, has a
mission “to empower higher education to
lead the sustainability transformation.”
The organization has grown tremendously
since I first attended its annual conference in
Denver in 2010; eight-hundred and sixtythree post-secondary institutions in the United States and Canada now hold memberships
(see www.aashe.org). AASHE conferences
are huge gatherings, with students, staff,
faculty and senior administrators involved in
governance, education, research, and operations attending. For someone like me, with
academic training in environmental studies
and natural resources management, and a
staff position at SENS, an AASHE conference
is the best professional development opportunity one could want.
The prevailing mood at an AASHE conference
could be bleak, given the overwhelming nature of the issues at hand, climate change
being the most urgent. But the atmosphere
is positive, the enthusiasm infectious. Most
sustainability professionals in higher education work in small units, or they may be the
only person on campus who works with sustainability issues – being among 1,700 of your
peers can be inspiring!
But the problems are beyond serious. The
very name of the conference, Resilience and
Adaptation, acknowledged that we can no
longer avoid (or deny) the effects of climate
change. According to one of the plenary
speakers, Stephen Mulkey from Unity College, adaptation to climate change is
critical, as vital resource sectors such as agriculture, forestry, and fisheries are all changing rapidly. Dr. Mulkey stated that educators
have an ethical obligation to prepare students for this challenge. He spoke about the
integration of disciplines through an experiential, problem-solving, solution-focused
approach to post-secondary education. Our
Executive Director, Toddi Steelman, has said
that SENS is a microcosm of AASHE, and Dr.
Mulkey’s talk drove that point home. The
approach to learning he described is the one
that SENS aspires to practice. Dr. Mulkey
also spoke about the critical role of the humanities and social sciences – the skills
learned through study in these areas teaches
students to be good citizens. Another parallel can be drawn with SENS, which was designed to be interdisciplinary from its beginning – the social sciences have always had a
place in everything SENS does.
While many people equate sustainability with
environmental conservation, AASHE takes a
more holistic view, and the emphasis on social sustainability has been growing. Many
sessions I attended discussed the flaws inherent with using GDP as the main indicator
of economic growth – GDP cannot infinitely
grow on a finite planet. Some argued that
relying on technological innovation to solve
sustainability challenges was foolhardy; others said that we already have the technology,
we just don’t have the willingness. I suspect
reality lies somewhere in between those two
viewpoints.
I don’t often think about the larger picture
during my day-to-day work at SENS. For me,
going to an AASHE conference is an opportunity to take a step back from e-mails and
meetings, and to remind myself why I chose
to major in environmental studies in the first
place, to be inspired by the work other people involved in sustainability in higher education are doing. And, I’m given the opportunity to see that the progress SENS has made
over the last six years holds up very well
when compared to other AASHE member
institutions. I’m already looking forward to
next year’s conference in Portland, Oregon.
Out and about in Nashville: The Ryman Auditorium, the original home of the Grand Ole
Opry, and RCA Studio B, where rock ‘n’ roll
legends the Everly Brothers and Elvis Presley
recorded some of their biggest hits. Photos
courtesy Sharla Daviduik.
Talking SENSe
Applying Traditional Knowledge: Eli Enns Visits SENS
Dutch Nuu-chah-nulth Canadian political scientist Eli Enns drove from
Victoria to Saskatoon during November’s cold snap to share his
knowledge and experiences of sustaining livelihoods and ecosystems
with faculty and students from SENS, the College of Law, the International Centre for Northern Governance and Development, and the
Global Institute for Water Security. The Regional Coordinator for
North America at the Indigenous Peoples’ and Community Conserved
Territories and Areas (ICCAs) Consortium, Eli also serves on the Canadian Commission for UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) National
Committee, a committee to which Dr. Maureen Reed, Assistant Director – Academic at SENS, also belongs. “I first met Eli when I was conducting a periodic review of the Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve,”
Maureen says. “He joined the MAB Committee last year. Eli has constructive suggestions about how indigenous peoples and biosphere
reserves can better work together. He brings ideas about how to
apply indigenous ways of knowing, and I thought that SENS and other
units on campus would benefit from learning about Eli’s perspective.”
Indeed, although blockades and protests have been common tactics in
the fraught relationship between First Nations and resource extraction companies, Eli’s accomplishments show that other ways are possible.
Eli’s experiences as co-founder of the Ha’uukmin Tribal Park in
Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island were particularly valuable to
SENS and Global Institute for Water Security Postdoctoral Fellow Jay
Sagin. “People from Cumberland House, in my research area, the
Saskatchewan River Delta, may benefit from cooperation with Eli,” he
commented. The website tribalparks.ca explains the tribal parks concept: “a park is usually a protected area which excludes most human
activities apart from recreation. A tribal park integrates human activities while caring for the ecosystem at the same time.” This is in keeping with traditional First Nations practice, which successfully and sustainably managed resources for generations.
The concept of the tribal park emerged from the Meares Island blockade in the mid-1980s, when the Nuu-chah-nulth people protested
MacMillan Bloedel’s intention to log the trees on the island. Meares
Island was subsequently named a tribal park by the hereditary chiefs
(see tribalparks.ca for more information).
Today, Ha’uukmin Tribal Park has a small-scale hydro development,
some logging, ecotourism, and sustainable housing developments. A
regional waste water management plan for the area is being developed. The livelihoods generated within the park support a broad view
of sustainability and ecosystem conservation. Eli’s work also supports
his conviction that sustainability will emerge from efforts that support
dignity and self-determination for all peoples.
“I really enjoyed getting to know about Eli and hearing about his accomplishments. Twenty years ago I worked in the area he’s from, and
back then we couldn’t have imagined something like a tribal park,”
comments Doug Clark, Centennial Chair. “I was truly inspired by how
much innovation he and his collaborators have brought about.”
Eli also spoke to the ENVS 802 class and presented in the ENVS 990
seminar series during his visit. In ENVS 990, he addressed ecological
economics, environmental security, and the human desire for selfdetermination, tying together key concepts related to sustainability.
“Environmental security is connected to human security,” he said,
continuing to comment that very few countries protect their own
people adequately, even though international law stipulates that they
Eli Enns visited SENS during the third week of November. His wealth of knowledge about innovative
ways to apply indigenous ways of knowing within the
context of sustainability impressed many of the people he met during his visit. Photo courtesy the ICCA
Consortium.
do so. “This has implications for the democratic rule of law,
equitable access to resources, and poverty alleviation.”
“We like to be able to quantify economic development,” Eli
reflected. “We associate it with the macroeconomic system” –
with the implication that more economic growth is always desirable. “But the word ‘economy’ really means ‘good maintenance of our domain,’ if you translate it from the Greek.” If one
thinks about the economy in this way, sustainable livelihoods fit
well within that concept. The environment and the economy
don’t need to be in opposition, as they are so often determined
to be – another innovative way that Eli Enns sees the world.
Eli quoted Confucius during his presentation in ENVS
990, to demonstrate how values and beliefs become
manifested as physical realities:
“To put the world in order, we must
first put the nation in order; to put
the nation in order, we must first
put the family in order; to put the
family in order; we must first
cultivate our personal life; we must
first set our hearts right.”
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Paul Hawthorne, Master of Sustainable Environmental Management: Renewable Energy Policy in Saskatchewan. Advisor: Ken
Belcher
Fall Convocation 2013
SENS was pleased to honour thirteen graduates at Fall Convocation
on October 26, 2013. Receiving degrees were:
Jean Kayira, Doctor of Philosophy: Re-Learning our Roots: Youth
Participatory Research, Indigenous Knowledge, and Sustainability
through Agriculture. Supervisor: Marcia McKenzie
Nargiz Rahimova, Master of Environment and Sustainability: Markets for Water Quantity and Quality: Addressing Water Scarcity and
Pollution in Southern Alberta. Supervisor: Hayley Hesseln
Iryna Zamchevska, Master of Environment and Sustainability:
Sustainable Development Principles in a Community Setting: A Case
Study of O.U.R. Ecovillage, British Columbia, Canada. Supervisor:
Aloysius Newenham-Kahindi
Adedoyinsola Adesokan, Master of Sustainable Environmental
Management: Assessing the Impacts of Urban Development on the
Peak Flow of Opimihaw Creek, Wanuskewin Heritage Park. Advisor:
Charles Maulé
Ramota Balogun, Master of Sustainable Environmental Management: Sustainable Management of Recreational Facilities: Bridging
the Data Gap in Pike Lake Provincial Park, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Advisor: Mehdi Nemati
Nicholas Howitt, Master of Sustainable Environmental Management: Assessing the Status of Sensitive Plant Species Prairie Crocus
(Pulsatilla patens L.) in Response to Fragmentation in the Northeast
Swale, Saskatoon. Advisor: Vladimir Kricsfalusy
Shweta Jarial, Master of Sustainable Environmental Management:
Climate Change, Water Resources and Agriculture. Advisor: MJ Barrett
Meghan Kelly, Master of Sustainable Environmental Management:
Exotic Invasive Species Survey of the Northeast Swale. Advisor: Vladimir Kricsfalusy
Xiaoxue Li, Master of Sustainable Environmental Management:
Assessing Trail Damage in Wanuskewin Heritage Park. Advisor:
Charles Maulé
Liam Mulhall, Master of Sustainable Environmental Management:
Lake Diefenbaker: A Case Study Analysis of Lakeshore Development.
Advisor: Ken Belcher
Kurtis Trefry, Master of Sustainable Environmental Management:
Sustainable Housing: Opportunities for Improved Energy Efficient
Home Construction by Habitat for Humanity in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Advisor: Bob Patrick
Xing Wu, Master of Sustainable Environmental Management: Assessing Waste Management Strategies within Corporations of Varied
Size: Purpose, Waste System and Stakeholder Relationship. Advisor:
Aloysius Newenham-Kahindi
Congratulations to the newest SENS alumni!
SENS Launches Year Two of Its Professional Skills Certificate
The SENS Professional Skills Certificate of Attendance, which enables students to enhance their transferable skills in a number of areas key to the
environmental and sustainability labour market, kicked off on October 25 with a module about project management. Other modules for this year
include writing for a public audience/communications; statistical literacy; CVs, resumes and cover letters; responding to a request for proposal;
and, financial and budget management. The workshops are facilitated by professionals working in the field, including SENS faculty and staff, as
well as the School’s practitioner-in-residence and staff from the Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching Effectiveness. Twenty-seven students from
ten academic units registered for the certificate workshops, as compared to last year’s nineteen participants from three academic units.
SENS Post-doctoral Fellow Nicole Michel attended the writing for a public audience/communications workshop. “As a scientist, I’m accustomed
to writing for a technical audience. The workshop helped me improve my ability to communicate my research to the general public. Thank you
for this opportunity!”
SENS Students Receive Awards
PhD candidate Arcadio Viveros-Guzman was
recently awarded a Founding Chairs Fellowship
with the Canadian Centre for Health and Safety
in Agriculture, and Janell Rempel, MES student,
received a Master’s Scholarship from the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada.
Congratulations, Arcadio and Janell!
SENS’ Kirk Hall home. Photo
by Min Jia, MSEM student.
Min’s ENVS 992 project is
with Federated Co-op; she
will be studying the minimization of food waste and the
food supply chain.
Talking SENSe
Orientation: Another New Year Begins
SENS’ annual new student orientation was held on
September 6, 2013. The entire SENS community met
for a picnic lunch in front of Kirk Hall, before Executive
Director Toddi Steelman, Graduate Chair Ken Belcher,
incoming Graduate Chair Markus Hecker, and Graduate Secretary Irene Schwalm met with the new students to provide them with information about the
School and about navigating graduate studies.
Lots of smiles at orientation, clockwise from left: Associate Professor
Hayley Hesseln; MSEM student Katie Suek; Incoming Graduate Chair and
Associate Professor Markus Hecker; Financial and Administrative Assistant Charlotte Hampton, and MSEM student Davida Bentham and MES
student Lorelei Ford.
Upcoming Events
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Wednesday, December 4, 2013 – last day of classes
Thursday, January 2, 2014 – classes resume!
Friday, January 24, 2014 – “Urban Transportation and Design: Getting Where We Need to Go” conference, sponsored by the School of
Environment and Sustainability, the Association of Professional Engineering and Geoscientists – Saskatchewan, and the City of Saskatoon.
Visit www.facebook.com/urbantransportation for more information.
Friday, February 7, 2014 – Delta Day – featuring invited speakers from the Slave River Delta, NWT, where SENS faculty are collaborating
with communities to create a long-term environmental monitoring program. More details to come.
Friday, March 14, 2014 – SENS Student Symposium. More details to come.
In Memoriam
SENS is saddened to note the passing of Liu Cao, MSEM
alumna. Liu’s project was entitled “Oil Sands Development and Strategic Adjustment in Northwestern
Saskatchewan” and she graduated in 2012.