DECEMBER 3, 2003 NEWS 4 Crash Boom Bang! The Northern Medical Building Goes Up Construction on the new medical building zooms ahead at UNBC. Settlers Effects A Historical Extravaganza By Carolynne Burkholder Being University Students, having a research tool that is fun, interesting, and easy to read, seems like a dream come true. This dream becomes a reality with a website created by Prince George’s Exploration Place regarding the effects of settlers in the local area from 1805 until 1972. The main focus of the research is on the environmental, cultural, ‘and social impacts of the local settlers. The site discusses the impacts of developing life in four areas, Prince George, McBride, Mackenzie, and Valemount. It comes complete with in-depth history and photographic evi- dence. The photos themselves feature thorougn captions and information about the time and the area in which they were ‘taken. One of the aspects of this web- site that I found the most inter- esting was about law enforce- ment in the Prince George area, as this is an area of particular _ interest to me. I found it very fas- cinating that some unlucky Prince George resident thought it a smart idea to smuggle whiskey inside of pig skins, charging patrons a mere $10 a bottle. Unfortunately, this unlucky soul was caught and charged with smuggling (before posing for a picture) way back in 1913. How would a person find out such interesting information if it was- n't for tools like this website? "Settler’s Effects” is chock-full of interesting facts such as this one. This resource is also a very useful tool for, doing genealogy searches if your family originates from the Prince George area, as many of the photo captions have names associated with them. Just think about what a claim to fame it would be if are you are fortu- nate enough to be kin to a con- victed whiskey smuggler who found very creative uses for pig carcasses! As UNBC has a uniquely northern focus, many classes require students to write papers on local aspects of life. I know that I have been required to do this time and time again, and research is always a difficult task if you don’t actually want to con- duct the primary research your- Photo by Dana Schwehr self. I would not recommend this undertaking, as exams are com- ing up and primary research is always a substantive process. So what is the solution to this conundrum? Why the “Settler’s Effects” website of course! This website is an excellent tool for students writing papers for sub- jects such as History, Resource- Based Tourism, and Geography, ' as it provides very in-depth and accurate research ‘local to the British Columbia North-Central region. On ‘top of this it is also very easy to use and very. aes- thetically pleasing. {Prettiness gets two thumbs way, way up in the book of Carolynne). This excellent, informative tool can be accessed http://www.settlersef- fects.ca/. Go there now! What are you waiting for? There are so many things waiting to be dis- covered!!! Are you still reading this? Hello!!! Obviously YOU should have been “held back” to hear the kindergarten message one more time if you can’t even follow a simple direction!!! Go! GO GO GO!!! By Maggie Gilbert and Elizabeth Fyles Just like a baby, as UNBC gets older, it gets bigger. The campus seems to be seeping into the sur- rounding area and slowly filling up more space. New buildings, like the Northern Sciences Health Building, are emerging all the time. The Northern Sciences Health Building is a creation of 6000 Northern BC residences who are concerned about the insufficient health care in Northern BC. Studies show that doctors are like- ly to practice health care in the area where they get their educa- tion. So in a joint effort, titled BC’s Medical School, UNBC and UVIC will both be developing medical education options. The Northern Medical Program is due to be open for students in the fall of 2004. At that point 24 students will be admitted for the first year of program. BC has the lowest number of medical gradu- ates per capita in Canada. Between UBC, UNBC and UVIC the BC Medical School program hopes to double the number of spaces available for medical stu- dents by 2010. This will encourage graduates to stay in BC and help ease the shortages of rural docto’ in Northern BC. : The building has been under- way since July 4th, although in the months prior to that the school and construction company were busy with tendering and contracts. The building is set to be completed sometime in August and so far, as there has been no _ building mishaps or setbacks, it will proba- bly be completed on time. The 40,000 square foot building will be built mostly of wood to exhibit the The building has been underway since July 4th, although in the months prior fo that the schoo! and con- struction company were busy with tendering and contracts. The building is set to be com- pleted sometime in August and so far, as there has been no building mishaps or set- backs, it wilf probably be completed on time. exquisite British Columbian resources. The Northern Sciences Health Building, for the future Northern Health Sciences program, is being built by Wayne Watson Construction Ltd. Wayne Watson Construction is also responsible for the lab building, the forestry building, and one of the residence buildings. Another building soon to be built is the Axor-centre, how- ever, this building is not being built by Wayne Watson Construction. Northern BC Graduate Student Society gets The Graduate Student Society (GSS) of Northern BC is now a proud associate member of the Graduate Students’ Association of Canada (GSAC). -GSAC believes that graduate students have inter- ests that are unique within the post-secondary system and need to be voiced. GSAC is a national organization that is exclusively run by graduate student volun- teers and is dedicated to pursing the interests of all graduate stu- dents in Canada. As an associate member, the GSS has adopted GSAC’s Graduate Student's Bill of Rights. There are approximately 80,000 graduate students in Canada currently. Graduate stu- dents are the backbone of research national recognition and provide very valuable “human capital,” GSAC is:current- ly lobbying the. federal govern- ment to provide more funding to support this research as the need for graduates with advanced lev- els of education becomes more apparent. As an associate member, the Northern BC GSS will have access to all of GSAC’s resources, but will not be able to vote on the Board. The GSS hopes to gain full membership by next year.