Uganda Alison Lawton will be at Douglas College to speak about the plight of child soldiers and social entrepreneurship following a screening of her award- winning 2006 documentary Uganda Rising on April 9. Lawton’s acclaimed film documents the devastation in Northern Uganda resulting from two decades of war between President Yoweri Museveni’s government forces and rebel group The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA has abducted more than 25,000 children. Many are forced commit atrocities, sometimes against their own families and then fight in armed combat. These children make up more than 80 percent of the LRA. The UN has called the situation in Uganda “the world’s worst neglected humanitarian crisis.” Sadly, Northern Uganda is not the only place in the world with child soldiers, ising screening at Douglas College Uganda Rising explores what the UN has called ‘the world’s worst neglected humanitarian crisis.’ says Community Social Service Worker instructor and organizer John Fox. Researcher in Residence Marina Niks is a friend indeed to faculty wanting to conduct research or incorporate it into their curricula Alysia MacGrotty was sworn in as a student member of the Douglas College Board on March 20. She won a by-election and a subsequent regular election that will see her serve on the Board until August 31, 2009. Hailing Board News from New Westminster, MacGrotty graduates this June with a diploma in Business Management Administration. She plans to continue her studies at Douglas College this fall in pursuit of an Associate of Arts degree. Uganda Rising gives viewers the opportunity to learn about the global issues at hand in Northern Uganda. Uganda Rising screens April 9 at 7pm in the Laura C. Muir Performing Arts Theatre, New Westminster Campus. Admission is by donation with all proceeds going to the Douglas College Uganda Endowment Fund. New Researcher in Residence a ‘friendly ear’ Marina Niks has joined Douglas College as a Researcher in Residence to help faculty with everything from grant applications to incorporating research into their curricula. “If youre writing a grant application or have a research project and need a friendly ear to listen, that’s what I’m here for,” says Niks, who is in the early stages of projects with the Faculty of Child, Family and Community Studies and the Faculty of Health Sciences. Niks’ focus is community- based research (CBR), in which schools work with partners to conduct joint research. “It’s about serving for faculty the needs of the community,” she says. Niks is also helping organize the Conversations on Community Based Research: Engaging Communities with College Faculty and Students symposium which takes place May 8-9 at the David Lam Campus. “Tt makes sense for instructors to incorporate CBR into their programs to introduce students to the community organizations they will likely encounter in the workforce,” says Niks. She will work with instructors One-on-one or give presentations to and assist departments en Masse. Originally from Argentina, Niks studied at UBC where she earned her Masters and PhD in Adult Education. She then did her Post Doctorate in Health Promotion, also at UBC. She comes to Douglas College with nine years of experience working in the adult literacy field assisting practitioners as a “research friend.” Niks has been working on the New Westminster Campus part-time since February 1 and is here through December. She can be reached at 604-527-5778 or niksm@douglas.be.ca College archeologist challenges prevailing scientific theory Douglas College archeology instructor Michael Wilson has co-authored several new studies indicating the first humans arrived on the Pacific Coast much earlier than originally thought. The studies by Wilson with US archeologists Steve Kenady and Randall Schalk detail bison bones found on Vancouver Island, one of which has been held at the Royal BC Museum since it was discovered a century ago. Recent reexaminations of the bones indicate bison may have been butchered by humans some 14,000 years ago — at least 1,000 years earlier than the prevailing scientific theory gauges the arrival of humans in North America.