Sadness and Hope

It was with surprise and great sorrow that I read the email announcing Treena’s death. She was the creator and maintainer of this blog and many other initiatives to better integrate the faculty into the online world. She helped spice up the website, drew people’s attention to the fact that there was a blog with the monthly giveaways, and helped out whenever needed (integrating a poll into the blog and fixing some html issues to name a couple). My heart goes out to all her family and friends in light of this tribulation.

This leads me to today’s theme of help. During your time here, chances are you will go through a rough time of some manner or another. Be it a great tragedy like the death of a loved one; to running out of necessities like food or funds; to comparatively minor, though still important, things like being treated unfairly or needing serious help in one of your classes. Whatever your situation, the SU has services that can help.

Though I would like to review them all for you, there are a plethora of them and I do not wish to make this post too long. So I will highlight a few important ones and give you the link to the websites where you can find other services that want to help. There are two websites that list some of the services available:

http://www.su.ualberta.ca/services_and_businesses/services

http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/studentservices/

A couple important ones are:

Bursaries and Emergency Funding

There are various agencies here to help you if you are in a financial crisis during your semester. From bursaries to loans, there are many options available to students who find themselves short of cash.

http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/ubef/

Campus Food Bank

"We distribute emergency food hampers and toiletries to all members of the University community - students (graduate and undergraduate), staff (academic and non academic), alumni, and their families. We also provide referrals to other services that may be of use to our clients. Proper nutrition shouldn´t be a luxury item. If you are in need, please do not hesitate to utilize our confidential services." - Meaghan Goebel, Executive Director

http://www.ualberta.ca/~foodbank/index.html

Sexual Assault Center

Quoting their website: “The University of Alberta Sexual Assault Centre, as part of University Student Services, provides a safe place on campus where unconditional support, confidentiality, respect, and advocacy are available for those affected by sexual assault. The U of A Sexual Assault Centre strives for a campus community free of sexual violence.”

http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/SAC/

Student Distress Center

The student distress center’s mandate is to provide peer support services for students, or anyone who needs someone to talk to, in person or over the phone. If they are unequipped to help you they have an extensive referral list and community resources that can help you. As a student, I believe you are entitled to a handful of counseling sessions that the SDC can refer you to.

http://www.su.ualberta.ca/services_and_businesses/services/student_distress_centre

These are just a few of the services that students, some for faculty and support staff as well, have access to. As previously mentioned, you can check the two main websites for most of the services, or you can search with the search bar on the U of A homepage. There is a way for you to get through the tough times in life, we are here to help.

Treena’s Memorial

Treena's memorial was held today at ETLC solarium.

The event started with Dr. Forbes' speech followed by Sandra McFadyen's eulogy. Finally Amanda (fourth year materials engineering student) gave her memorial tribute and truly touched everyone's heart.

At the end, CME staff and students expressed their sympathy to Treena's lovely family who also attended the memorial and made it a beautiful and warm atmosphere. It was heartwarming for them to see how she was loved by both her co-workers and the students and how our lives are touched by her inspiration.

The CMEGSA did a fantastic job putting together the event. Thanks to anyone who showed up.

Let us keep her memory alive in CMEBlog.

In loving memory of Treena Ellen Fenniak

From: Sandra McFadyen [mailto:Sandy.McFadyen@ualberta.ca]
Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 8:03 AM
To: Faculty; Support Staff; Emeriti
Cc: 'Irwin, Katherine'; Compton, Mary-Ellen; Cairney, Richard
Subject: Treena Fenniak

It is with sadness I must let you know that our Communications Coordinator, Treena Fenniak, passed away last Friday.

Please see further details in the following obituary for her:

FENNIAK, Treena Ellen
On January 22, 2010 Treena Ellen Fenniak of Edmonton passed away at the age of 36 years. Treena will be lovingly remembered by her husband, Merle Elgert; daughter, Evelyn; father, Bill (Colleen); mother, Audrey; brother, Todd (Michelle); sister, Tracy (Dale), grandmother, Helen Simmons as well as numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends. A Celebration of Treena's life will be held on Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. at Connelly-McKinley Sherwood Park Chapel, 4820 Meridian Street, Edmonton. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made toward Cancer research or to the charity of one's choice. A trust fund will be established for Treena's daughter, Evelyn. To send condolences or for driving directions please visit www.connelly-mckinley.com Connelly-McKinley Funeral Homes Sherwood Park-Millwoods Chapel 780-468-2222

Sandra McFadyen| Administrative & Professional Officer | Chemical & Materials Engineering| University of Alberta


Thanks,

Believe It!

I hope this semester is treating you kindly so far and that classes (or research) is moving along smoothly. It's odd, I am only taking one course this semester and thought “Hey, that means I will have a lot of free time right?” Well apparently one of the requirements of being a student is that no matter what, you do not have enough time. (Though this is probably more a symptom common to most people, but I can’t help but wonder if we students feel it more aptly, any comments from the faculty?) My last post was about time management but it seems that I should be taking some of my own advice.

Today’s post will be Chris’s Believe it or Not! Focusing on some of the old stories that I have heard of about the campus, from Engineering Princesses that fought to be queens to The Dank Tunnels that interconnect all buildings on campus.

The first and easiest oddity is simply Bio Sci. Have you ever walked through it? Try going in there and coming out the way you came in. I have also heard 2 interesting things, first that there is a classroom that you have to go through a closet to reach and secondly that if you count the windows from the inside (that you can find) and from the outside, they don’t match(secret rooms anyone?).

If you were lucky enough to be here when the faculty were located on the 6^th floor of CME, you might have noticed that some years of the graduation pictures had a ‘Engineering Queen’ (or Princess) on them. Ever wonder what that meant? Apparently way back when, every engineering department chose a girl from a different faculty and then these ‘Engineering Princesses’ battled to be the Queen of !

And finally, for all of you who abhor the outside weather this time of year, did you know that all the buildings are connected underground? Yes, there are kilometers of tunnels running underneath our feet, but they were closed down due to some tragic incidents.

And there you have it, Chris’s Believe it or Not! Who knows whether these Tales of Interest are real or not? Does anyone else have any good rumors about campus?

I will leave you with a nice picture of Quad I took with my phone

UA Libraries Offers Mobile Version of Our Web Site

.: Hello everyone. The University of Alberta Libraries has launched the mobile version of its web site. The mobile version of the site features several services optimized for mobile devices. Highlights include:

- Library Location information including integration with Google Maps
- Library Hours
- Mobile e-services – currently mobile friendly versions of Academic Search Complete, Pubmed and Refworks
- My Account
- Ask Us – including integration with our current chat software and email

Mobile users will be automatically directed to the mobile site when accessing our main library domain. Alternatively, users can access the mobile friendly site at http://m.library.ualberta.ca

At any time, users can access our full complement of services and collections on the main library web site by selecting the “full site” link

Some additional information:

- Although the mobile friendly site will look best on newer smart phones, the site itself will still function on a variety of older phones. We’ve built the site using the latest recommended mobile standards, and our mobile site itself validates at a score of 99/100 (that is good!)

- Ezproxy will only work on modern mobile devices (iPhone/iTouch, Android, etc.) It requires javascript and many of the older mobile phone browsers simply do not support it. The Opera mini browser is a free application that can be installed on many mobile devices (including Blackberry) and can be used to access our licensed resources via Ezproxy. See http://www.opera.com/mini/features/ for more information.

- We will continue to grow this site as new mobile friendly vendor collections and services are released.

- We still do not yet have a mobile optimized catalogue search. Both SirsiDynix and OCLC have announced upcoming products on this front and we are exploring the possibility of a “bare bones” version of our current catalogue in the near future. Until that happens, users will need to select the “full site” link to access the catalogue.

- Randy

The Return of the Librarian in Residence

.: Yes, I know, that sounds much more dramatic than it really is. But Happy New Year to all, just wanted to let you know I will resume the Librarian in Residence service beginning on next Tuesday, 12 January 2010, from 13:00-15:00. Please stop by during those hours with your questions and library-related concerns, or just to introduce yourself and/or say hello.

A reminder that the Chemical Engineering and Materials Engineering Lib Guides are available for your use at any time.

- Randy

Happy new year!

Is it just me or did this decade fly incredibly fast?

Man, it's been a long time I haven't posted anything here, I feel like kind of a stranger here! Well, it's too much to be silent about; let's face it: I got engaged and got married right after that and spent our honeymoon in Rarotonga (the Cook Islands) which is like the perfect escape from the cold of Edmonton. I have been with my girlfriend for 6 years now. And now that I think about it I feel like the whole experience was a very appropriate coda to the third decade of my life.
More on my trip to the tropical places in next posts.

I wish CME people the best of everything in 2010.