Giving Tuesday at VIU
Giving Tuesday began in the heart of New York to encourage people to become more engaged in their communities and spread more kindness into the world. The annual global movement takes place on the Tuesday after Black Friday and has a simple goal: to practice generosity. This can be through charitable donations, helping a stranger, … Continued
Owl Banding At VIU
I’ve always been fascinated by owls. Their eyes look like two annular solar eclipses, rings bursting with a golden flame, lighting their way through the night. I have nothing but my cellphone to light my way through the thick dark forest at the end of Galloway Gulch Road, Nanaimo—just off Jingle Pot Road behind the … Continued
The Fight for Fairness
The province of BC has opened its doors for international students to access education in the province, with former Premier Christy Clark pushing to increase international student enrollment in BC by 50 percent back in 2011. The quality and expense of that education has recently been in the spotlight, however. The BC Federation of Students … Continued
Eliot White-Hill:
The Vancouver Island University Library has become a home away from home for generations of students throughout their educational journey. It is the go-to place for researching topics ranging from ancient history to modern medicine, using the library’s printer to shoot out dozens of essays, or to lay on the floor and stare at the … Continued
The Hauntings of Building Two
The halls of VIU have long been haunted by student debt, late assignments, and bad grades, but the Student Residences have an extra guest that continues to haunt the hollow halls. Every year, first-year students moving into Student Residences are told the urban legend of a ghost who haunts the halls of one of the … Continued
The Bee’s Knees
Thanks to the VIU Eco Club, those looking to help out their local pollinators can get some native wildflower seeds for free at the VIUSU Pub. “[We] wanted to give wildflower seeds out, but just didn’t know how to get them to people,” Haley Andersen, event coordinator for the Eco Club, said in an interview. … Continued
Seeing Light at the End of the Tunnel
Exactly one year ago, on March 15, 2020, VIU’s University Relations team sent every VIU student an email with a subject line reading, “COVID-19 UPDATE: VIU transitioning to alternate course delivery and assessment.” VIU, along with other post-secondary institutions around the province, had finally decided that, for the safety of students, staff, and faculty, all … Continued
Measuring the Impact of Women in STEM at VIU
From Roberta Bondar, the first Canadian woman to travel to space, to Nobel Prize recipient Donna Strickland, women have always been on the front lines of great discoveries and groundbreaking works of science. While studies repeatedly report that STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) are predominantly male dominated, there has been a rise … Continued
Global Citizens Week
From February 8 to February 12 you’ll be able to see the world and learn about many different cultures from the comfort of your own home. VIU will be exploring topics of systemic racism and unconscious bias during this year’s Global Citizens Week, a week devoted to exploring issues of global development. This year’s theme … Continued
A Steep Climb to Accessibility
A VIU press release announced that the Nanaimo campus and the Cowichan Trades Centre will be seeing new upgrades for greater accessibility. The Rick Hansen Foundation recently granted the VIU Foundation $240,000 for improving VIU’s 12 least accessible buildings. VIU’s Universal Access Committee Chair Dr. Linda Derksen explains that the money comes from the BC … Continued
Together Alone
The fall semester will soon come to a close as VIU students complete their first full semester of online schooling. Although many students have returned to school, they have not returned to the normalcy of what they expected or what they wanted—they have returned to something many are calling a waste of time, a waste … Continued
What is the Future You Want to See for VIU?
From November 2–November 27, VIU is inviting students, staff, and alumni to have a say in the changes they want to see for the university. Between March and July of this year, over 1000 people shared their thoughts and opinions about VIU and their hopes for the future, which the campus captured in its What … Continued