News

WHITEHORSE—All Yukon College campuses will be participating in a planned lockdown exercise on Thursday, November 30, 2017 between 11:30 a.m. and 11:45 a.m.

The scheduled drill is part of the College’s new “Safety Months” initiative, aimed at increasing awareness of safety protocols at Yukon College. The initiative includes monthly safety information reminders and practice exercises focusing on a different topic from the College’s Emergency Response Plan.

TESLIN—Yukon College launches a series of community meetings about the transition to Yukon University this week with a feast and discussion in Teslin.

Whitehorse – Partners for Children (PFC) has a new home. Moving forward, the Network for Healthy Early Human Development (NHEHD) will host the program, instead of Yukon College.

NHEHD is a local non-profit organization dedicated to improving outcomes for children by providing workshops and resources to Yukoners who work with kids, personally or professionally.

“Under Yukon College, this has become a hugely successful program. It has created a real community for early childhood development in the Yukon,” said Tanja Westland, Vice-President of NHEHD. “It’s a great fit for us to take on because it fulfills our mandate and because we have partnered with PFC through the College in the past.”

WHITEHORSE—Yukon College ranked 2nd out of comparable smaller colleges in Canada for the number of paid student researchers according to the newly released Canada’s Top 50 Research Colleges by Research Infosource Inc.

WHITEHORSE—Local is Smart, a new mobile app aimed at connecting customers to Yukon businesses launches today as part of Yukoner Appreciation Day.

WHITEHORSE―Dr. Bronwyn Hancock, Associate Vice President of Research Development at Yukon College, has been appointed to the Expert Panel on Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Results.

WHITEHORSE―When Yukon artist Misha Donohoe discovered the vibrant blooms of the purple pea plant (Vicia cracca) in the industrial area of downtown Whitehorse, she was enchanted.

“It was interesting to me because it is an introduced species that attracts many native pollinators, and because it’s gorgeous,” she said. “I was struck by the delicate, sweeping beauty of its vines and tendrils.”

WHITEHORSE—“If this is power, I don’t want anything to do with it.”

Growing up in a home where she experienced physical and emotional abuse, Magi Cooper sought to distance herself from what she saw as a destructive energy.

“I saw power as a dangerous thing,” said Cooper. “My father held all the power, and I felt like I had none.”

Early in her career as a counsellor and therapist, Cooper worked with women and children who had similarly experienced the misuse of power. She expanded her practice to include men after an important realization.

“I wanted to stop the intergenerational cycle of family abuse, and I realized that unless we begin to work with the people—mostly men—who are perpetuating this violence, we will not be able to facilitate change.”

WHITEHORSE—Since 2015, Jen Jones—a Trudeau Foundation Scholar, PhD candidate and long-time Yukon resident—has been working alongside Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation (LSCFN) to research how major development projects, such as mines, impact the health and wellbeing of LSCFN citizens.

“We’re in a real period of flux—Carmacks is known as the hub of the Yukon, and there appears to be a lot of interest in resource development around us,” said Alan Steel, LSCFN Executive Director. “Our citizens want to make sure the resources are used with respect, and they want to minimize negative effects on our community.”

Through the course of her research Jones has spent considerable time in Carmacks, attending community events and hosting training and knowledge-sharing workshops. She has also hired citizens to collaborate in developing and conducting surveys.

WHITEHORSE— A few years ago, Finnish scientist Ville Kuittinen and his team at the Karelia University of Applied Sciences in Finland were sitting in the dark during a power outage.

“We thought: ‘This is silly,’” he said. “As researchers studying sustainable energy generation, we were so often left without power. That’s when we started exploring the potential of biomass to create electricity in small scale.”

Biomass is an industry term for producing heat or energy, or both, by burning natural materials, such as plants or woodchips. Using woodchips is more efficient than burning whole logs because the feed of combustible material can be controlled to create a constant stream of heat or energy.

WHITEHORSE—How can a solar energy system remain stable in a place where the sun shines all day during the summer and barely rises above the horizon in winter? This is the question a team of young researchers at Yukon College have sought to answer over the past few months.

The team—led by Michael Ross, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Industrial Research Chair in Northern Energy Innovation—is made up of nine students and early career professionals in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and physics. Since January they have been collaborating on a Northern Energy Innovation Project that explores how renewable energy sources can be integrated into northern communities.

Yukon College and Vancouver Island University to increase enrollment and completion rates of Indigenous learners

NANAIMO, B.C.— In the spirit of reconciliation, a new learning partnership for Indigenous youth at Vancouver Island University (VIU) and Yukon College is being announced today.

Building from the guidance of Elders and the aspirations of Indigenous youth, VIU will join Yukon College in a collaboration supported by the Rideau Hall Foundation and Mastercard Foundation that creates opportunities for Indigenous learners to be full partners in their education.