(January 28, 2009 --Thunder Bay, ON) Northern British Columbia is rich in indigenous tourism experiences that showcase local First Nations' tradition and culture through celebrations, festivals, art, and everyday life. However, tourism has the potential to come at a cost and may ultimately contribute to a breakdown in the social structure of the community.

A public lecture by Dr. Pamela Wright, Associate Professor at the University of Northern British Columbia, entitled Examining the Feasibility, Benefits and Impacts of Indigenous Ecotourism for the Tl'azt'en Nation, will address these issues.

Dr. Wright's visit is made possible through collaboration between The Master's of Environmental Studies Speaker Series, the School of Outdoor Recreation, Parks and Tourism, the Alumni Association of Lakehead University, the Centre for Northern Studies, and the Outdoor Recreation Student Society.

According to Dr. Wright, a growing number of indigenous tourism opportunities provides visitors with a glimpse of indigenous culture through activities such as feasts, dances, artwork and interpretive tours. Wright says, "Indigenous tourism involves the promoting of cultural exchange; has the potential for cultural revitalization; and is typically thought of as an economic diversification opportunity within a community."

However, all that glitters is not gold. "Without adequate planning and monitoring, indigenous tourism can result in cultural erosion, loss of authenticity, commodification and commercialization of culture, and a general breakdown of the social structure within the community," says Wright.

During her lecture, Dr. Wright will discuss the feasibility, benefits, and impacts of indigenous ecotourism for the Tl'azt'en Nation of Northern British Columbia.

The talk takes place Friday, January 30, 2009 at 2:30 p.m. in the School of Nursing (SN2008). Seating is limited, so please arrive early. For questions or information please contact Kelsey Johansen at kmjohans@lakeheadu.ca

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Media: Dr. Wright is available for media interview. For more information, or to arrange interview times, please contact Lisa Pelot Communications Officer, 807-343-8177, commun@lakeheadu.ca


About Lakehead
Lakehead is a comprehensive university with a reputation for innovative programs and cutting-edge research. With a main campus located in Thunder Bay, Ontario and a campus in Orillia, Ontario, Lakehead has over 7,900 students and 2,250 faculty and staff, and is home to the west campus of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. In 2006, Research Infosource Inc. named Lakehead University Canada's Research University of the Year in the undergraduate category. For more information on Lakehead University, visit www.lakeheadu.ca

A message from Mr. Kevin Cleghorn, Chair of the Board of Governors, to Lakehead University faculty, staff, students, and alumni, and all stakeholders of the University.

Dr. Fred Gilbert's term as President will expire on May 31, 2010. Therefore, a Presidential Search Committee has been formed.

The membership of the Search Committee is as follows:

Chair: Mr. Kevin Cleghorn, Chair of the Board of Governors

Board Members: Mr. Colin Bruce, Ms. Vonnie Cheng, Mr. Kurt Dahl, Mr. Gil Labine, Ms. Maria Phipps

Senators: Dr. Andrew P. Dean, Dr. Azim Mallik, Dr. Alexander Serenko, Ms. Anna Wease

Vice-President: Mr. Michael Pawlowski, Vice-President (Administration & Finance)

AMC Representative: Mr. Tim Pile

Secretary: Ms. Patti Merriman, Secretary of the Board of Governors

During the early phase of the search, it is important that the Committee gain a clear understanding of what the University and all stakeholders of the University perceive as necessary qualifications, experience, and personal qualities in the next President. The Search Committee is interested in hearing the views and opinions of all members of the University Community, and stakeholders of the University. If you would like to share your ideas with the Committee, please write to me in care of the Board Secretariat, UC-2009, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, P7B 5E1, fax: 807-343-8075, e-mail: board.chair@lakeheadu.ca.

The Search Committee plans to spend the next several months, or as long as it takes, to find the best possible President for Lakehead University. We hope that you will assist in this endeavour by keeping in touch with us throughout the Search and offering your views and suggestions.

Thank you.

Kevin Cleghorn
Chair, Presidential Search Committee
Chair, Board of Governors

Eighty percent of students/young adults are not fully protected from the mumps. A risk of contracting the mumps virus has been identified for university and college students in Ontario. Mumps is a very contagious disease that can cause serious complications in young adults. Catch it, and you'll have to spend nine days in isolation.

Four out of five aren't fully protected against mumps. Postsecondary students and young adults who have not had the mumps, or have not received two doses of a mumps-containing vaccine should receive the MMR vaccine to best protect against contracting the mumps virus.

Get your mumps catch-up vaccination on campus in the Agora on January 29 from 12:00 noon to 5:30 p.m. For more information, call the Thunder Bay District Health Unit at 625-5971, or visit www.ontario.ca/mumps

(January 15, 2009 - Thunder Bay, ON) Lakehead University Professor Emeritus of Mathematics Dr. Som Naimpally received good news last August, on his 77th birthday. A book he had been working on for the past two years is being published this month in Germany.

Proximity Approach to Problems in Topology and Analysis contains research introduced about 100 years ago by the well-known Hungarian mathematician Frederick Riesz on the concept of "Near and Far"-- a concept so simple that even those not in mathematics can understand it, and so profound that it unifies and simplifies many results scattered in various Mathematics literature.

According to Naimpally, "Near and Far is one of the rare concepts in the whole of Mathematics that is at once intuitive, and which can be made rigorous with little, or practically no effort. Mathematicians from all over the world have worked on this topic because the problems are interesting, challenging, and beautiful."

Naimpally is in good company in viewing the subject of Mathematics with some degree of reverence. Sixteenth century physicist, astronomer, and mathematician Galileo Galilei is reported to have said, "Mathematics is the language with which God wrote the universe," and 20th century philosopher Bertrand Russell believed that Mathematics possesses not only truth, but "supreme beauty."

"The book is a culmination of my lifelong research in Mathematics. I am especially excited that some of my results have been used to explain a paper on general relativity by the famous physicist Steven Hawking."

Another book by Naimpally entitled Proximity Spaces, which was first published in 1970 by Cambridge University Press, has been reprinted and is available from Cambridge University Press. This book provides a compact introduction to the theory of proximity spaces and their generalizations, making the subject accessible to readers having a basic knowledge of topological and uniform spaces, such as can be found in standard textbooks.
Proximity Approach to Problems in Topology and Analysis will be available from Oldenbourg in January 2009.

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Media: Dr. Som Naimpally is available for media interview by calling 416-588-8612. For more information, contact Lisa Pelot, Communications Officer, at 343-8177, or commun@lakeheadu.ca.

About Lakehead
Lakehead is a comprehensive university with a reputation for innovative programs and cutting-edge research. With a main campus located in Thunder Bay, Ontario and a campus in Orillia, Ontario, Lakehead has over 7,900 students and 2,250 faculty and staff, and is home to the west campus of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. In 2006, Research Infosource Inc. named Lakehead University Canada's Research University of the Year in the undergraduate category. For more information on Lakehead University, visit www.lakeheadu.ca

Lakehead University's Centre for Health Care Ethics will be bestowing its first "Bioethics Leadership Award" today, to Dr. Peter Singer. Dr. Singer has a long-standing relationship with Lakehead University, having helped to establish its Centre for Health Care Ethics (CHCE) more than 10 years ago.

Invited to Thunder Bay for the first time 10 years ago, the then newly appointed Director of the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto addressed ethical issues in the health care at the end of life to the local Bioethics Interest Group. Dr. Singer met with Lakehead's senior administration to comment on a proposal to establish a centre for health care ethics. The administration approved the proposal for the Centre after hearing Singer's strong case in favour of it in 1998.

Vice-President (Academic) and Provost Dr. Laurie Hayes will present the Bioethics Leadership Award to Dr. Singer at 7:30 p.m. tonight in ATAC 1001, after which he will give a presentation entitled "From Lab to Village: Bioethics and Global Health." Everyone is welcome to attend.

(January 9, 2009 - Thunder Bay, ON) Lakehead University's Orientation Office is kicking off second semester with a celebration of winter.

As students return to classes amid frigid weather conditions, the Orientation Office has arranged a one-day event of winter activities called WinterLUde, featuring the first ever appearance of a dog sledding team on campus, outdoor boot hockey, indoor 'mini-stick' hockey, curling, snow shoeing, and more.

Brendan Hughes, New Student Orientation and Commuter Services Officer at Lakehead explains, "Some of our students have never experienced a Thunder Bay winter before, and we wanted to give them a taste of what can be done in the north as well as some activities inside, in case the weather is a little low on the centigrade."

Participants will have the chance to learn how to build a quinzhee. Built with loose snow, a quinzhee is an alternative to an igloo, which is constructed out of blocks of snow. A quinzhee will keep you cozy in the brutal cold, freezing wind, and heavy snow.

Joey Welsh, a second-year forestry student and a Student Ambassador who helped to organize WinterLUde 2009 says, "Last year I was able to snow shoe 10 kilometres out of town and build a quinzhee to sleep in that night, and I was very comfortable. We thought it would be neat to show others how to make them."

All Lakehead University students are welcome to participate in WinterLUde 2009.

Activities will run from 12:00 noon to 7:00 p.m., all starting from the Agora in the University Centre. For more information, and a description of program times, visit the Orientation website.


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Media: Brendan Hughes is available for media interview by calling 766-7290 or 251-6333. For more information, contact Lisa Pelot, Communications Officer, at 343-8177, or commun@lakeheadu.ca.

About Lakehead
Lakehead is a comprehensive university with a reputation for innovative programs and cutting-edge research. With a main campus located in Thunder Bay, Ontario and a campus in Orillia, Ontario, Lakehead has over 7,900 students and 2,250 faculty and staff, and is home to the west campus of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. In 2006, Research Infosource Inc. named Lakehead University Canada's Research University of the Year in the undergraduate category. For more information on Lakehead University, visit www.lakeheadu.ca

The Heather Saaltink Memorial Award has been established, and is now accepting donations.

On December 17, 2008, Saaltink was killed when her family's car was struck by an alleged impaired driver in Cornwall, Ontario. She was a First Class Honours student in Philosophy, and a former athlete. Heather Saaltink was 22 years old.

Donations to the Heather Saaltink Memorial Award may be made payable to Lakehead University, and sent to the Office of University Advancement.