Mandatory meetings for stressed students
The University of Alberta has made it mandatory for medical and dentistry students to meet with faculty advisors to help them cope with stress.
Dr. Verna Yiu of U of A started the program after a dentistry student committed suicide in 2002.
The biggest challenges students face can be grouped into five categories: personal, health, financial, academic and career-based, current program director Dr. Laurie Mereu of the U of A said in an e-mail.
US university bans Nerf guns
The same week Colorado State University voted to ban concealed firearms on campus, students at the University of Colorado found their school taking gun rights to a whole new level. Notices appeared warning students that Nerf-gun sightings will be treated like real-gun sightings, according to a statement issued by Joe E. Roy, chief of police at the University of Colorado Police Department.
This came as a result of campus security officials discovering that the colourful toys would be used for an upcoming game of humans vs. zombies.
Ontario urges students to ‘join the resistance’
The provincial government is spending roughly $650,000 on advertisements encouraging university and college students to attend H1N1 immunization clinics.
“University students are away from home for possibly the first time and away from their family’s influence,” said Kevin Finnerty, executive director of the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care communications and information branch.
Taking the ‘women’ out of women’s studies
The women’s studies department at Queen’s University is currently in the process of changing its name to “gender studies” as a way to open up the program to new possibilities. However, they are not the first to do so.
Since Nipissing University changed its women’s studies program to gender equality and social justice, enrolment in the program has increased a significant amount.
What’s up, doc?
Lack of space in Canadian medical schools is adding to the country’s doctor shortage. Every year thousands of eligible applicants are turned away from Canadian medical schools, despite our country’s shortage of working physicians.
“We need more seats,” said Dr. Evelyn Sutton, assistant dean of admissions at Dalhousie University. “We get excellent candidates every year, and every year a lot of them get turned down.”
