Funding awarded for small cities research

NEWS/ TRU — An Aid to Small Universities grant will provide $87,556 for development of a Research Centre for Community and Cultural Engagement at Thompson Rivers University.

The funding, announced today, will be used in two research areas: traditional knowledge, language and cultural resource management in small cities and rural settings, and homelessness in small cities.

The projects will involve 12 TRU faculty, five faculty from partnering universities, and eight community research partners including the Thompson Nicola Cariboo United Way and the City of Kamloops.

It will provide training opportunities for 21 undergraduate and graduate students.

There were 51 applications for the grant.

“The research that our faculty and students produce has been recognized as some of the best in the country and that’s wonderfully encouraging for all,” said Will Garrett-Petts, associate vice president of research and graduate studies at TRU.

“This ranking more than illustrates why the development of research capacity has been identified as one of TRU’s five strategic priorities.”

Projects funded through the grant include the participation of the Northern Secwepemc people in an archeological and anthropological field school.

Another venture funded by the grant is No Straight Lines: The Homeless Play Project, which involves the creation and performance of a play by people who have experienced homelessness.

The project has been approved as part of the City’s Homelessness Action Plan (HAP), and involves TRU faculty in the theatre, English and sociology departments along with partners with the United Way, ASK, the Elizabeth Fry Society and the City.

“The idea is that people come away with a new, deep understanding of what it is to be homeless and what causes homelessness,” said HAP coordinator Tangie Genshorek. The performance will run over four nights in August.

TRU Faculty funded through the ASU grant are: Tesh Dagne and Nicole Schabus (Law);  Beth Bedard (Anthropology) and Nan McBlane (Sociology);  Gloria Ramirez, Patrick Walton (Education), and  Haytham El Miligi (Computer Science);  Ehsan Latif (Economics); Robin Nichol, Heidi Verwey (Theatre), Ginny Ratsoy (English), and Dawn Farough (Sociology).