Dear Grad Students – you are invited!

The LFS holiday party will be held Tuesday, December 9th from 3:00 -5:00 pm in Agora Cafe.  Our gathering will have festive food and drink, along with music and good fellowship!

• Food Bank Donations – bring cash or non-perishable food donations as we will be collecting for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.
• There will be lots of Door Prizes and a 50/50 draw for United Way.
• Karaoke Karoling (sing-a-long)
• This party will also celebrate the Faculty’s December birthdays.
• We will be presenting the Shynkaryk and Richards Service Awards.
• Please bring your own plate, cup and cutlery to reduce waste

We need to know how many people will be attending, so please RSVP by Friday, December 5 to rsvp@landfood.ubc.ca

Coyote Safety Message from Campus Security

Seen a coyote roaming campus lately? It’s normal.

Co-existing with coyotes is a reality for the UBC community. Many coyotes live in nearby wooded areas and are active at all times of year, during the day and night.

About coyotes

• They feed primarily on mice and rodents.
• They are naturally afraid of people and rarely pose a danger.
• They will learn to be comfortable with humans when they aren’t treated like wildlife.
• Like all wildlife, coyotes can be aggressive when people get too close.

If you see a coyote

• Do not approach it.  And never feed a wild animal.
• Make loud noises, wave your arms to try and appear as big as possible and back away slowly.
• Give the animals a wide berth and do not run.
• Do not feed coyotes. It’s dangerous and illegal.

You may have heard this before: a fed coyote is a dead coyote. A coyote that becomes dependent on humans for food may become too bold, bite someone, and will need to be destroyed. Feeding coyotes is prohibited by the Provincial Wildlife Act and carries a $345 fine. This fine is enforceable by UBC Security.

Aggressive coyotes

Conflict between coyotes and humans in B.C. is extremely rare. If you encounter an aggressive coyote:

•      Stand up and be as big, mean and loud as possible.
•      Wave your arms and throw objects at the animal (not food).
•      Do not run or turn your back.

More information

Call UBC Security at 604.822.2222 if you see someone feeding a coyote illegally or have a concern about wildlife at UBC.

Call 9-1-1 if you believe you are facing a life-threatening situation involving wildlife.

pdce.educ.ubc.ca/HEE3

This interdisciplinary program allows you to earn your master¹s degree online through part-time study, with a small cohort of professionals in similar fields.

We want to meet you. During our online information sessions, the program coordinator and colleagues will answer your questions about the program, and applying to become a UBC graduate student.

Human Ecology & Everyday Life This M.Ed. in Home Economics Education with a focus on Human Ecology and Everyday Life is a unique graduate program, offered fully online, for teachers of home economics, human ecology, family studies, and family and consumer science. It will also be of interest to professionals involved in educational programs that focus on health and nutrition, the environment and sustainability, and related projects such as school gardens. The online learning environment makes it accessible anywhere in the world.

This M.Ed. in Home Economics Education explores underlying themes of interdisciplinary inquiry, human-environment interactions, local and global communities, ecological sustainability, researching practice, and social responsibility.

Online Info Sessions | December 9 & January 15 | 4pm Pacific Time

Apply by March 2 Begins September 2015
2 years, part-time ONLINE

pdce.educ.ubc.ca/HEE3

Pro-D Newsletter

We¹re here to support you in your professional development goals. Have more opportunities delivered to your inbox: pdce.educ.ubc.ca/newsletter

Dear Graduate Students,
We ask you to consider coming to our Special General Meeting on December 11th. Your presence could mark a fundamental shift towards efficacy and efficiency within our organization. We want to be better. Help us out; it will be short and sweet, and after we’ll feed you!

You may now check out the latest escapades of Carter the Coyote, plan to have breakfast with us at our Polar Express Party next week, and even consider participating in our very own GSS Video Clip Competition! A Happy Thanksgiving to the Americans among you, and a warm Congratulations to UBC’s newest graduates! You made it!

GSS Social & Recreational

Winter is here! Join us on Saturday, December 6th from 9-11am for the GSS Polar Express Party, a pancake breakfast brimming with Christmas cheer at Acadia Park’s Activity Room! There shall be some craft making, Santa may even show! The event is Free! Bring donations for the AMS Student Food Bank though, so we can spread some cheer. Bring friends, bring all your kids!!

Enter the Inaugural GSS Video Clip Competition! It’s an opportunity to showcase aspects of your country and culture with your UBC Community. We can’t wait to see what you can do! The task is to create a 3-10minute video, made up of photographs and music from home. There’s tons of room for interpretation, and we’ve got useful guidelines and resources on our website to get you going! Participate! Nothing is too familiar, nowhere too distant. Do it by January, 2015, for therapy, because you like to win. WOOT!

*Artwork created at a GSS Art Class 🙂

GSS Catchup

The GSS coffee social is back, off campus, and just in time to help you unwind as you settle down for your end of term exams and papers, and/or holiday preparations! See you Tuesday, December 2nd, from 4:00pm-5:30pm at the BC Cancer Research Centre, on 675 West 10th Avenue. We’ll be in the lunchroom on the ground floor (turn right after the reception and walk to the end of the hallway). 🙂

Out & About

UBC’s Philippine Studies Series invites you to join them on Monday, December 1st, between 5-6pm at the Liu Institute for Global Issues, as they reflect on the super typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan, which ravaged through the Philippines one year ago and cost many their lives and sense of wholeness. The event is called WALANG-WALA/ Point.Zero.

Also, The Faraday Show is UBC’s annual science lecture, designed for children (and the young at heart), presented by the Department of Physics & Astronomy. It promises the best fun. Go! It’s on Sunday, December 7th 2-3:30pm, at the UBC Hebb Theatre. Just bring non-perishable food items for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank!

#GivingTuesdayCA is December 2nd. What special thing will you do?

– Ngwatilo, for your GSS

SUBJECT: Free Statistical Analyses — UBC Department of Statistics

Department of Statistics

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STAT 450, Case Studies in Statistics

STAT 550 (Techniques of Statistical Consulting)

TERM 2 of 2014-2015

Research projects from all UBC-affiliated units and all levels of researchers (but particularly undergraduate and graduate students) are welcome.  Research projects requiring primarily advice on appropriate methods of statistical analysis are ideally suited for STAT 450 (Case Studies in Statistics) and STAT 550 (Techniques of Statistical Consulting). Well-focused projects with one or two specific questions to be addressed are most suitable.

If you are uncertain about how best to carry out the statistical analyses for some question arising in your research project and are willing to have others explore your data relevant to that question, you likely have a suitable project for STAT 450/STAT 550. Throughout the academic term, STAT 450 students will identify appropriate approaches to the analysis, carry these out, provide a report interpreting their results, and prepare a poster to summarize their work. STAT 550 students will mentor, supervise, and review undergraduates’ work.

To give the students the opportunity to practice and enhance their communication skills, we require a representative of your project to meet with the STAT 450 class 3 times to describe your research project in more detail, to answer questions the students may have in the course of their work, and/or to provide feedback on preliminary results. We expect that this will, to your advantage, result in a better final product.

To take advantage of this unique opportunity, please submit your project description to us before January 15th, 2015 (by e-mail to gcohen@stat.ubc.ca). A submission of at most one page (as a separate WORD file) is preferred. Your submission should consist of a concise description of your research problem in non-specialist language, clearly indicating the specific questions for which statistical analyses are desired.  Supplementary material, if essential, can also be provided.  Once your project is approved for STAT 450, you will need to provide the data set as an .xls, .txt, or .csv, with all the variables, including units and coding where relevant, clearly identified. The data will be treated with confidentiality within the course.

If you know others who might be interested in this opportunity, please pass on this information.  Thanks in advance for submitting interesting projects for the students enrolled in STAT 450 and STAT 550 this term.

Gabriela Cohen Freue

Rick White

Department of Statistics