your alumni association ramped up activities this past fall and winter as we returned to pre-pandemic levels of engagement. i hope we saw you at one of the many events highlighted below, but if not, i encourage you to join us this coming year.

blue jays university and college night
a wonderful collaboration between the gta chapter and the simcoe county chapter brought together lakehead alumni from across southern ontario to cheer on the jays at the annual university and college night on september 14. over 200 enthusiastic alumni and friends took part in the event, and our section was by far the most engaged.

homecoming orillia
this year's homecoming orillia was the first year to feature our lakehead celebrates— alumni honours evening, and the event and weekend were raging successes. approximately 90 alumni and friends attended lakehead celebrates to honour our award recipients and to induct two new honorary members. a pub games evening and an escape room challenge on campus rounded out the weekend's activities.

a day with the rt hon. david johnston

october 2 was a whirlwind day with canada's 28th governor general, the rt hon. david johnston (or just david, as he prefers). we started with a special lunch in lakehead president gillian siddall's office that was hosted by alumni association president yolanda wanakamik. attending the lunch were thunder bay mayor ken boshcoff, fort william first nation chief michele solomon, board of governors chair maria vasanelli, dean of education dr. wayne melville, dennis franklin cromarty high school principal (and alumna) sharon angeconeb, rideau hall foundation indigenous teacher education initiative director (and alumnus) rachel mishenene, lakehead indigenous initiatives vice-provost (and alumna) denise baxter, fellow of 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 vince mirabelli (honorary alumnus), and, of course, the rt hon. david johnston. in the afternoon, david and his group met with our indigenous initiatives staff, facilitators, educators, and 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 . and, finally, at 6:00 pm president yolanda wanakamik hosted david at an informal fireside chat in the agora with over 150 alumni and friends in attendance.

alumni varsity engagement kick-off
our first alumni varsity engagement event of the year saw around 100 alumni and friends take in the basketball game against toronto metropolitan university at the mattamy centre in toronto. we hosted 10 additional events throughout the term and closed out the regular varsity season with several engagement events throughout southern and eastern ontario—alumni cheered on lakehead athletes at hockey and basketball games in guelph, waterloo, hamilton, toronto, windsor, and ottawa. attendance has been phenomenal this year, especially in ottawa. at one game against the carleton ravens, we purchased 150 of the 250 available seats at their arena. the thunderwolves prevailed 3-0 against the ravens, in large part because of the fan participation.

wusc student bursary
the alumni association contributed an initial gift of $5,000 to establish a wusc (world university service canada) student bursary, which will benefit refugee 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 who come to lakehead through this program. this bursary is posted on our crowdfunding site at donate.lakeheadu.ca if you are interested in more information or would like to make a gift.
thank you for engaging, celebrating, and sharing as a lakehead alum! you are lakehead for life, and we look forward to seeing you in the months and years to come.

mark tilbury, executive director

yolanda wanakamik, president

creating economic prosperity

lakehead president dr. gillian siddall, research and innovation vp dr. andrew p. dean, and innovation development director ellen mackay celebrate lakehead's iep designation.

the association of public and land-grant universities (aplu) has named lakehead an innovation & economic prosperity (iep) university. lakehead is only the second canadian university to receive this international designation granted to north american public research universities working with public and private sector partners to support economic development through activities such as innovation and entrepreneurship, technology transfer, talent and workforce development, and community development. lakehead received the iep designation after an independent panel reviewed its application, including an internal review and analysis of its economic engagement activities conducted with outside stakeholder input. "from talent development to pathbreaking research to entrepreneurship and beyond, institutions have a central role to play in economic development," said aplu president mark becker. "we're pleased to recognize 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 for its commitment to engaging its community around these issues to advance regional economic development."

lakehead named top canadian research university

lakehead has been ranked the number three undergraduate research university in the country by research infosource. "we continually place among the top universities in the country for citations and research funding," said dr. andrew p. dean, lakehead's vice-president, research and innovation. "this ranking reflects our commitment to working with numerous partners across our regions as we address such current challenges as health-care inequities, food insecurity, housing access, and climate change. every year, research infosource—canada's source of research and development intelligence—releases its assessment of "canada's top 50 research universities" using a balanced scorecard of research inputs and outputs. between 2015 to 2019, lakehead was ranked in the top spot—the first time an institution in the undergraduate category was ranked research university of the year for five years in a row.

climate change education for a better planet
dr. ellen field, a lakehead orillia education professor, is helping accelerate the integration of climate change education into teacher education programs across canada. she is leading a two-year project in partnership with dr. hilary inwood from the ontario institute for studies in education (oise) at the university of toronto, which has received $449,000 from environment climate change canada (eccc).

dr. ellen field with lakehead 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 on the orillia campus.

 this project will support climate change education for pre-service teachers and faculty of education members as well as provide professional development opportunities for current teachers. dr. field believes that educators at all grade levels are well-positioned to lead the cultural shifts necessary for equitable, just, and sustainable forms of living on the earth. visit https://accelerating-cce.ca/ for more information about this project.

law school celebrates 10th anniversary

when lakehead's bora laskin faculty of law (blfl) welcomed its charter class in september 2013, it was the first new law school in ontario in 42 years. this accomplishment was only possible because of the strong support of indigenous leaders and the northwestern ontario legal community. together, they worked with lakehead to give northern ontarians access to justice by addressing the chronic shortage of lawyers in the region. the 2023-24 academic year marked the 10th anniversary of the law school, and the past few months have been a time to reflect upon the wide-ranging impact blfl has had since its establishment. "we were the first canadian law school to have an integrated practice curriculum," explains sarah macleod, blfl's manager of strategic initiatives and student engagement. in 2020, when the toronto metropolitan university opened their lincoln alexander school of law, they adopted lakehead's integrated practice model. "we've reframed what a law classroom looks like," mcleod says. the law school's bold vision extends not only to how 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 are taught, but what they are taught. its curriculum is centred around the pillars of indigenous and aboriginal law, environmental and natural resources law, and preparing 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 to practice in small towns and rural areas.

$2 million for mineral exploration
 dr. peter hollings (left) and dr. noah phillips (right) have received over $2.1 million from the ontario ministry of colleges and universities ontario research fund – research excellence program. "the funding will allow us to continue to develop mineral deposit research at 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 , which in turn will establish us as an essential partner in the search for ontario's critical minerals and the training of the next generation of geoscientists," dr. hollings said. dr. hollings is the nohfc industrial research chair in mineral exploration and the director of lakehead's centre of excellence for sustainable mining and exploration. dr. phillips is an assistant geology professor. this research will develop more efficient exploration models for industry partners seeking new deposits to be developed into mines, in particular, nickel, copper, platinum, and gold. industrial collaborators include goldshore resources inc., wesdome gold mines ltd., romios gold resources inc., impala canada ltd., generation mining, clean air metals inc., and enersoft inc.

wetlands capture greenhouse gases
lakehead researchers are highlighting the vital role that freshwater wetlands play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. a recent study published in the journal of geophysical research: biogeosciences found that wetlands within the lake simcoe watershed were 50 per cent more effective at storing carbon than other wetland ecosystems, second only to salt marshes near temperate seas.

世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 and faculty install greenhouse gas monitoring equipment at a newly constructed wetland near newmarket, ontario, called cawthra mulock.

the research was conducted by lakehead sustainability sciences professors dr. florin pendea (the study's lead author), dr. nanda kanavillil, and dr. sree kurissery, along with dr. gail chmura of mcgill university. dr. pendea's team spent three years collecting and examining soil properties and carbon accumulation rates over the last 100 years in swamps and marshes in the lake simcoe watershed. "this means that wetland conservation, particularly preventing drainage of wetlands, is critical in maintaining the vital ecosystem services they provide, such as carbon storage," dr. pendea said.

improving northern ontario crop yields
the governments of canada and ontario are investing up to $1.65 million over five years to the 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 agricultural research station (luars) in thunder bay. the funding is being made through the sustainable canadian agricultural partnership (sustainable cap) and will be used to improve the viability and yield of crops in northern ontario, and to develop and diversify the agricultural industry.

left to right: luars director dr. tarlok sahota, lakehead research and innovation vp dr. andrew p. dean, lakehead president dr. gillian siddall, and thunder bay—atikokan mpp kevin holland at the november 2023 funding announcement. photo credit: michael nicin

"it supports research in critical areas such as soil health, environmental sustainability, and climate change, reflecting our government's strong commitment to advancing agricultural science and innovation," said thunder bay—rainy river mp marcus powlowski. the research will also focus on areas such as best management practices for northern agriculture as well as research and knowledge co-developed with indigenous researchers and communities. "agriculture in the north is growing, and the research at luars is becoming increasingly important as farmers expand their operations in the region," said ontario minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs lisa thompson.

meet lakehead's distinguished instructor
electrical engineering professor dr. mohammad nasir uddin received lakehead's highest teaching honour—the 2023 distinguished instructor award—for his contributions to teaching excellence, educational innovation, and leadership at lakehead. "dr. uddin is a tremendous teacher and academic leader who always puts his 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 first," said lakehead engineering dean dr. janusz koziński. dr. uddin teaches at georgian college's barrie campus and is the coordinator of the electrical engineering program offered through the lakehead-georgian partnership, which allows 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 to earn both a degree from lakehead and a diploma from georgian. lakehead's senate teaching and learning committee also noted dr. uddin's outstanding contribution to developing new undergraduate and graduate programs as well as his establishment of the renewable energy, power systems & drives research lab in barrie.

cleaning up the great lakes
protecting the great lakes is essential to the health and well-being of millions of canadians, natural ecosystems, and the economy. that's why the government of canada has awarded $663,500 through the freshwater action plan to support region-specific actions to restore the lakes' water quality and ecosystem health.

minister of indigenous services patty hajdu announces $663,500 in funding on behalf of minister of environment and climate change steven guilbeault. photo credit: environment and climate change canada.

阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 has received $230,000 for a project to restore riparian and coastal habitat for fish and wildlife in the thunder bay area of concern and to build features that will filter stormwater before it reaches lake superior. lakehead also received $108,500 to implement the thunder bay area of concern wildlife habitat strategy and to facilitate community engagement. these are two of 24 projects funded under the great lakes freshwater ecosystem initiative, part of the government of canada's freshwater action plan to protect and restore freshwater bodies of national significance.

can underwater robots swim like fish?
dr. khalid is studying how eels (see above) and fish like tuna and salmon use chemical odours for their navigation and propulsion. understanding how natural aquatic swimmers use chemical odours for navigation and propulsion is the subject of mechanical engineering professor dr. muhammad khalid's current research. he and dr. chengyu li from villanova university in pennsylvania have received a $25,000 alliance international catalyst grant from the national sciences and engineering research council of canada (nserc) for this joint project. "we will study how fish sense the presence of predators, prey, food, and mating partners through fluctuations in velocity and pressure in the surrounding water," dr. khalid said. "we want to learn how odour signatures and chemical cues help fish navigate in complex underwater environments." they hope to use their findings to create highly maneuverable underwater robots for purposes including subsea explorations for natural resources, securing borders, and search and rescue operations.

engineering student wins vanier scholarship
civil engineering phd student tristen brown has been awarded a $150,000 vanier canada graduate scholarship—a national award for doctoral 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 . the funding will be used to support his research developing housing solutions for indigenous communities contending with extreme climate conditions. "winning this prestigious award would not have been possible without the unwavering support and dedication of my phd supervisors in the faculty of engineering, and all my colleagues in the structural and wind engineering research laboratory at lakehead," brown said. across canada, 166 doctoral 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 will receive a total of $24.9 million in support through the vanier graduate scholarship that is jointly funded by the natural sciences and engineering research council, the canadian institutes of health research, and the social sciences and humanities research council.

imagine a cross-country road trip in 1953. three-year-old stephen low and his older brother sit in the backseat of the family sedan on the way from their montreal home to their grandfather's ranch in alberta.

it's a typical vacation, except that as eugénie and colin low and their two children navigate northwestern ontario's twisting roads, their toddler wears a snorkeling mask and flippers.

"my parents would have to let me out every five minutes so i could explore each lake we passed by," stephen says. "i loved lake superior even though it was freezing for a small child."

his fate seemed to be written in the stars, although at that point, stephen had no way of knowing that he'd become an explorer, a film visionary, and the director of more than 20 acclaimed imax movies.

"stephen is a trailblazer in the giant screen world," says alex low, stephen's younger brother and a talented film producer, writer, and distributor of large-format films. "he's found ways to tell stories in a very visual and a very challenging medium," he adds.

stephen with a submersible that he will using on an upcoming imax film project.

stephen was made a member of the academy of motion picture arts and sciences (otherwise known as the oscars) for his exceptional accomplishments in theatrical motion pictures and is an honorary member of the director's guild of canada. he's also received a lifetime achievement kodak vision award from the large format cinema association, as well as many other awards, including a 2005 alumni honour award and a 2023 honorary doctor of letters from 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 .

but this story really begins with stephen's instinctive attraction to the things he's most scared of.

"i've always been drawn to high-risk exploring," he says. "on my grandfather's farm, my friends and i would go into grain silos and pretend that we were travelling to the moon or the bottom of the ocean."

a family of filmmakers

movies are in stephen's blood. his father colin low was a pioneering canadian documentary filmmaker with the national film board of canada (nfb) and an imax film innovator. often called the "gentleman genius," his work influenced directors such as ken burns and stanley kubrick.

stephen and his father had a close relationship and, as a youngster, stephen spent a lot of time on the sets of his father's stop-frame documentary movies.

"creating the special effects was painstaking, which meant hundreds of hours of boredom for me," stephen says. "but i was fascinated by the real people my father got to meet—gold miners, cowboys, hutterites."

the slowness of the filmmaking process initially made stephen reject the idea of becoming a filmmaker himself. instead, he chose to study political science at 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 .
"political science and philosophy are incredibly important. they focus on understanding fundamental human relations because we still don't understand ourselves—we go to war instead of solving our problems."

it was the annual road trips to see his grandfather that steered stephen to lakehead.

"i hated cities, but i loved thunder bay—all the industries in the city were very visual. you could watch ships being unloaded and trains being marshalled in huge yards. and if you look at a map, lakehead is one of the most remote universities in canada. i wanted to explore lake superior and ski, swim, sail, and learn to scuba dive, which i did."

"and for the first time," stephen continues, "i got teachers that i could debate with like i'd always done with my father at the dinner table. lakehead freed me from the dogma of high school and was a great launching pad."

"i remember stephen coming home from university on the train one winter," alex says. "it was during a snowstorm, so we had to take a toboggan to pick him and his luggage up at the station."

trains, in fact, are a longstanding obsession of stephen's—and one that he was able to pursue while a lakehead student. he worked as a brakeman for the canadian pacific railway (cpr) in the summers, as well as after receiving his degree in 1974. during his post-lakehead period, he also helped build housing in first nations communities across northern ontario and manitoba while contemplating what he wanted to do with his life.

eight-year-old stephen is entranced by a locomotive in southern alberta. photo credit: colin low

bo derek and the killer whale

when he was 24, the pull of cinema became too strong for stephen to resist. he hitchhiked to newfoundland and found work on the 1977 hollywood film orca the killer whale—a jaws-inspired thriller.

"they needed a scuba diver to work with full-size hydraulic whales. each whale could do a different thing—like move laterally or clap their flippers. i positioned them in the water and moved them around. it was very cold work, especially since i didn't have a proper drysuit, just my worn-out wetsuit."

he also had a second job bringing actors to the filming location. "bo derek was one of the people i drove around."

the actress, who was 20 at the time, played a fishing boat crew member whose leg is bitten off by a vengeful killer whale.

"she wasn't famous then, she was just another gal on the set," stephen says of the woman who would become an international sex symbol in the 1980s. "her husband john derek followed her around everywhere in a motorhome. i had to drive slowly enough so that he could keep up with us—he didn't let her out of his sight."

not long after orca, stephen found work as a driver and a movie stills photographer on director terrence malick's 1978 masterpiece days of heaven where future hollywood stars brooke adams, richard gere, and sam shepherd got their big break.

"one night, i found myself having beers with the three of them in a dive bar in lethbridge, alberta," stephen recalls.

gradually, though, stephen realized that documentary filmmakers have more control over their movies, and they don't have to deal with hollywood-sized egos.

"documentary filmmaking became my ticket into any part of the world that i wanted to go—plane cockpits, trains, submarines. i gravitated to imax because, like my dad's films, it made heroes out of real people. they also make something that is rare, possible: theatrical non-fiction movies projected on a giant screen."

stephen's golden opportunity as a filmmaker came after imax co-creator roman kroiter produced stephen's first film, created for the nfb, about the development of canada's challenger jet. kroiter was so impressed that he asked stephen to direct an imax movie about birds, called skyward, for japan's 1985 world fair.

in one of his many imax innovations, stephen trained canada geese to fly beside speed boats and filmed them using ultralight planes.

"led by naturalist bill carrick, we were the first production to film birds like that, and it helped cement my filmmaking reputation," stephen says.

the success of skyward prompted a japanese power company to ask stephen to make a film about nuclear energy, but stephen had other ideas.

"i convinced them that an imax film about the life of a family of beavers would be much more interesting for families touring their new imax visitors' centre. it's a miracle the company bought that argument. beavers is still playing there to this day."

"because imax's wide-angle lens camera has no depth of field, you can't magnify things very much," stephen says, "so when we made beavers, we needed the animals to come to us. we got the beavers to build a dam by starting to cut down trees and then they joined us."

once they had everything in place, stephen and his crew headed off into the forest in kananaskis, alberta, with giant lights and cameras so huge, four people were needed to carry just one.

"he's got this warrior thing that directors have," says pietro serapiglia, stephen's producer, vice-president, and manager of distribution. "if he wants a shot, he will demand that we go out and make it happen—like getting a 200-foot construction crane to kananaskis by five in the morning to film beavers. and we want to do it because we know that it will make the film incredible."

"beavers allowed people to get close to animals in a way that had never been done before," alex says. "it started a whole industry in the sense that it proved that you could do imax natural history films, despite the cumbersome cameras."

stephen says that the movie was helped by the fact that the hand-reared beavers ignored the cameras, even when they were an inch away from them. "they were highly social animals who liked having humans around."

beavers set records as the most popular canadian film ever made and spurred the building of imax theatres around the world. it also convinced the rolling stones that they wanted to be featured in an imax concert film.

"mick jagger saw beavers and loved it," pietro says. "he said, 'if stephen can make those critters look that good, he'll make me look fantastic!'"

"mick asked me at dinner, 'which are you, steve? a beatles guy or a rolling stones guy? i thought he was kidding so i said, 'beatles.' he wasn't joking. but he was correct to ask me. if you aren't passionate about something, don't do it, was his message. i've never done a film i wasn't nuts about."

ultimately, stephen ended up leaving the project to work on his 1992 imax film titanica.

descent to the titanic

stephen needed two submersibles to create his film titanica. one submersible was used to shoot the footage and one was used to light the wreck, which was an area the size of a football field.

titanica began in 1985 after oceanographer bob ballard and a joint french-american expedition discovered the wreckage of the titanic ocean liner. the ship had been lost since 1912 when it struck an iceberg, killing at least 1,500 passengers and crew members.

"bob was planning to go out again with alvin, an american submersible, to visit the ship and i convinced him to make it an imax film," stephen says. "but after fitting the imax camera in alvin, i decided there wouldn't be enough power and light. we eventually went to the russians who had two new subs with vastly more power to run big lights."

"it had different kinds of impossible to it," alex explains. "it was near the end of the cold war, and we had russians, americans, and canadians collaborating to take imax cameras two-and-a-half miles down to the bottom of the atlantic."

bringing giant cameras to the ocean floor wasn't the only logistical problem.

"it's such a dangerous wreck and the opportunity to kill yourself is unlimited," stephen says. "the ship is rotting and covered in a great tangle of iron cables that once secured the smokestacks and masts."

stephen inside a mir deep-sea submersible with russian pilot evgeny "genya" cherniev. "we did 20-hour dives in the submersible and the air would get really foul," stephen recalls.

stephen was trapped on the titanic several times during filming—including almost four hours in the ship's engine room after one of the runners underneath his submersible caught on a cable. "the pilot had to back up extremely carefully multiple times in case the cable pulled the ship down on top of us," stephen says.

the completed movie alternates between the story of the scientists using submersibles to explore the wreck and an interview with titanic survivor eva hart who was just seven years old when she lost her entire family in the tragedy. among the people invited to the film's premiere in 1992 was hollywood director james cameron and, after viewing it, he was inspired to make the movie titanic starring kate winslet and leonardo dicaprio.

uncovering the wonders of the universe

titanica also gave birth to another undersea film—stephen's spectacular 2003 movie volcanoes of the deep sea about the discovery of hydrothermal vents in the atlantic. "we did some dives with the russian research scientists on the way to the titanic and they showed us these giant mountains seething with tube worms, which really captured my imagination," stephen says.

he's now working on a film about how microbial larvae from these ocean volcanoes travel around the world looking for new thermal vents.

"these are the biggest migrations in the world," stephen says. "even after 200 years, humans aren't the masters and commanders of the ocean, it's these tiny living submarines."

stephen's adventures extend well beyond the nautical realm. his body of work encompasses movies about f15 fighter jets, indy 500 cars, aircraft carriers, the large hadron collider particle accelerator, and mark twain. the film he's most proud of, however, is rocky mountain express—the tale of a restored steam engine that runs along the canadian pacific railway.

"stephen has risked his life to get shots—like being in a helicopter flying extremely close to a moving train—so that people could see things they would never have otherwise seen," says stephen's producer pietro serapiglia.

"the building of the cpr is a simple yet profound story," stephen says. "although it was almost impossible to construct and killed many men, this transcontinental railway was crucial to canada's success or failure as a country. if it hadn't been built, the americans would have taken british columbia."

stephen's sweeping vision and ability to mesmerize, delight, and tell us truths about our world makes him a master storyteller.

"his filmmaking contributions are immense," pietro says. "people like tom cruise and the directors christopher nolan and james cameron admire stephen's work—and millions upon millions have seen his movies."

click here to watch the trailer for rocky mountain express and visit stephen's website to find out where you can watch his movies: https://www.stephenlow.com/where-to-see-it/

"my whole life i've gravitated towards working with children outside the typical school system," says whitney glage, the owner of tiny forest academy.

located in tiny township in simcoe county, ontario, it's what is known as a forest school—an outdoor academy that offers supplemental alternative and holistic learning for children.

"if the kids want to spend five hours building a fort, they can do that," whitney says. "and during that time, they'll be doing math, problem solving, and working together with their peers. there's a million different ways you can pull in academic curriculum under the guise of 'we're just building a fort.'"

whitney grew up in midland, ontario, and the large network of families and community members she got to know over the years helped get her business off the ground. whitney's work ethic has also been crucial to the school's success. "she teaches, plows snow, repairs infrastructure, and manages the endless administrative work involved in running an independent school," says school educator kait byrick.

her vision is to provide a space for children to figure out who they are and to foster soft skills like communication, self-regulation, and collaboration. it's open to 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 enrolled in the public and private school systems as well as homeschooled 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 and 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 doing pod-style learning.

to ensure rich learning experiences, the school's staff includes certified teachers, farmers, naturalists, coaches, artists, and musicians, and there's a 5:1 ratio of 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 to educators. forest schools like whitney's have been growing in popularity in canada, but whitney drew inspiration from her family background.

"my dad and many of my relatives are from germany, where outdoor kindergartens are common," she says. "they come to school prepared to get muddy and dirty."

at tiny forest academy, the 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 range in age from infants accompanied by parents to eighth graders. during the school year, children come one day a week and can attend summer camps offered in july and august.

whitney's background in education and entrepreneurship began when she and her best friend developed a children's summer day camp while they were still in university. she's also worked at other summer camps and—after getting an english degree at the university of guelph—whitney ran children's functional movement programs and summer camps at a crossfit gym owned by her brother.

"i discovered that i really like being able to make change as soon as i see a need for it. i get really frustrated when i'm stifled by bureaucracy and red tape."

in 2016, whitney began a bachelor of education at lakehead orillia with the goal of offering alternative education for children. she graduated in april 2018 and by june 2018, she'd started tiny forest academy.

"a lightbulb often turns on for kids at the forest school," whitney says. "they learn confidence and respect for themselves and for others. our goal is to foster a love of learning, if we aren't doing that, then we're not doing our job."

seeing the way her 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 come alive in this new environment has reaffirmed her career vocation. "we have a lot of kids who struggle in the standard classroom setting where they sit at desks for hours at a time, but who thrive at forest school."

most mornings begin with educators asking the kids what they want to do. one group might want to look for animal tracks and another group might want to sit in a hammock and read a story.

"the beauty of being outdoors is that children get what they need, whether it's quiet time or climbing trees," whitney says. "my favourite thing is saying, 'look at all the learning that happened today,' and the kids respond, 'we didn't learn anything.' i love it because they think it was just a fun day outside."

kait byrick enrolled her children in tiny forest academy, and she was so impressed by what she saw that she now works as an educator at the school. "imagine walking into a conventional schoolyard and seeing kids climbing trees, using saws, and building a fire," kait says. "hard to imagine, right? despite overwhelming research detailing the importance of risky play," she adds, "our education system is unfortunately not designed to support this type of learning in conventional schools."

learn more about forest schools by watching the interview with whitney posted below.

reflect on your early days at lakehead or stepping into your first role after graduation. now, picture having access to a network of seasoned professionals to guide you through those pivotal transitions. today's lakehead 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 and recent grads are in a similar position—eager and full of potential, but seeking direction.

that's where you come in. lakehead is thrilled to partner with ten thousand coffees to offer lakeheadconnect, a dynamic platform designed to bridge the gap between alumni like you and our student body. join our network today.

already a member? activate your introductions by selecting the 'turn on my introductions' button on the right-side panel of the homepage.

how it works:
• monthly, we'll match you with a student whose interests and queries resonate with your expertise and career journey.
• arrange a meet-up—be it a casual coffee, a phone call, or a virtual chat.
• enhance your cv and linkedin profile with your mentorship role at lakehead, showcasing your commitment to giving back.

benefits of participating:
• influence future professionals by sharing your insights and career experiences.
• hone your networking and leadership skills through meaningful interactions.
• contribute to the lakehead legacy by guiding the next generation.
we look forward to seeing the powerful connections and mentoring relationships that you will build through lakeheadconnect.

join lakeheadconnect now.

for more info, click here to watch the video ten thousand coffees (10kc) - how it works.

believers in extraterrestrial life were over the moon when mexico's congress invited them to speak at a hearing entitled the "public assembly for the regulation of unidentified anomalous aerial phenomena (uap)." if the term "uap" seems a little unfamiliar, it's an abbreviation that's gradually replacing the older term "ufo's" (or unidentified flying objects).

at the september 2023 hearing, controversial ufo crusader jaime maussan announced that dna testing carried out by several laboratories had confirmed the incredible—the remains of bodies unearthed near nazca, peru, were those of 1,000-year-old aliens.

the powerpoint presentation behind maussan displayed the logos of facilities that had analyzed the purported alien samples, and one of them was 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 's paleo-dna laboratory.

had the paleo-dna lab proven that aliens have walked among us?

brain matter and bone/tissue samples sent to the paleo-dna lab for analysis.

invasion of the body snatchers

the story of the alien corpses began when mummified bodies and skulls, as well as organs such as hearts, were discovered at an underground archaeological site near nazca in 2017.

this led a company connected with the discovery to contact the paleo-dna lab about assessing one of the bodies, which they described as a non-human biological entity (for confidentiality reasons, the paleo-dna lab can't release the company's name). their decision to reach out to the paleo-dna lab was likely based on the lab's international reputation in the field of ancient and degraded dna. some of its celebrated cases include identifying the titanic's unknown child and a crew member of the doomed 19th-century franklin expedition in the high arctic. their work has also helped crack notorious unsolved murders.

when the client in possession of the nazca corpses got in touch with the paleo-dna lab, they told lab technical manager stephen fratpietro that the remains had already been examined by archaeologists, biologists, anthropologists, doctors, and anatomists and that none of them had been able to determine if they were human.

"when someone approaches us about something they think might be alien," fratpietro explains, "i tell them that we analyze samples as if they're human or animal. if something is a bit odd, we would note that. so far, we've never worked on a sample that hasn't been identified as human or animal."

stephen fratpietro (bsc'97/hbsc'98/msc'01/bed'01) is also a lakehead alum with several degrees.

to conduct the analysis, the paleo-dna lab was given a bone fragment and brain matter that fratpietro says looked like chunky dirt. in addition, they were sent a photo of a body and a photo of two elongated skulls with enormous eye sockets—but not the actual bodies or skulls.

"the body in the photo had a tiny rib cage with elongated arms and an exceptionally long three-fingered hand—it looked like the typical alien you see in older sci-fi movies. there was also a bit of dried skin on the body resembling something you'd find on crocodiles. the photos were among the weirdest things i've ever seen, and this is one of the strangest cases we've ever been involved in."

for both the brain and bone samples, the lab took a small amount of each specimen, crushed them up, and put them in a solution that chemically broke them down into their biological components and then isolated the dna from the rest of the solution. once this was done, they performed a polymerase chain reaction (pcr) to copy specific areas of the dna and generate a dna sequence. the resulting sequence was compared to a dna database.

"we used a universal identification test and compared the results to a database that gives you a percentage result," fratpietro says. "both samples gave us a 99-100% match to homo sapiens, which means that it was identified as human and not out of the ordinary. if the percentage was only 80% or 90% human, it would have been something else."

they also ran a sex identification analysis and found that the samples were male.

the truth is out there

in its examination, the paleo-dna lab discovered something else significant—both samples were very damaged and may have been contaminated with modern dna, probably while they were being excavated, stored, or shipped.

"handling samples can definitely contaminate them," fratpietro says. "when we get bone samples, we try to remove surface contamination, however, we can't always do this completely and we can't decontaminate brain samples."

there is a second possible reason for the contaminated dna. "the samples could have been a hoax," fratpietro says. in fact, maussan and his followers have previously been accused of combining human and animal bones to construct creatures they claim are alien or supernatural, such as the "demon fairy" they brought to the public's attention in 2016.

after the paleo-dna lab submitted their results to their client in 2017, they heard nothing about the nazca case until it went public at the uap meeting in 2023.

"i was surprised that they referenced our lab at the conference because our results showed that it was human dna," fratpietro says.

the scientific community has expressed frustration at maussan's insistence that the remains are alien and pointed out that the bodies are almost certainly mummies from the nazca civilization—a pre-columbian culture that flourished between c. 100 bc and 650 ad. the nazca people were responsible for creating massive drawings, called the nazca lines, of animals and geometric designs that they etched into the ground of the arid desert. they also mummified people after their deaths and wrapped their bodies in cloth. moreover, one of the characteristics of the remains that maussan and others cite as proof of alien life—the shape of the skulls—can be explained by the nazca's practice of bandaging children's heads to give them an elongated shape.

the mexican congress hearing has caused fallout because of a perceived lack of respect in the handling of the bodies and the dig site. according to the alpha biolabs laboratory, the peruvian world congress on mummy studies has called for an official inquiry into whether archaeological crimes were committed.

although the paleo-dna lab didn't find proof of extraterrestrial life, fratpietro says he's seen a lot of things in the sky that he couldn't explain. but does that mean that he believes in aliens?

"anything is possible," he responds. "i like to keep an open mind."

lori idlout (ba'97) had a sense of the larger world around her even as a young child. "when my mother asked me what i wanted to be when i grew up, i said, 'the first inuk prime minister of canada.'"

as the new democratic party member of parliament for nunavut since 2021, lori is a passionate advocate in ottawa for her constituents on priorities including nunavut's infrastructure and housing crises.

growing up in the town of igloolik in nunavut (formerly the northwest territories), lori's academic journey was shaped by her community and family.

"my dad committed suicide when i was around seven years old," she says. "i have uncles who died by suicide, and it's not well known, but the assumption is that my dad's dad died by suicide. i was always interested in how to understand that."

 when considering postsecondary options, lori's guidance counsellor suggested 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 . "he explained that the environment would be more familiar compared to a large urban centre like toronto, and that there were other indigenous 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 there."

lori pursued studies in psychology, and she credits her time at lakehead and the friendships she made there with helping fuel her political career.

"i've always been thankful for the indigenous 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 i met and the 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 native 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 association (lunsa). they were the ones who helped me understand my history as an inuk in canada and what canada had been doing to indigenous peoples. that really helped me understand the challenges my dad would have experienced."

after graduating with a bachelor of arts in psychology in 1997, lori returned home as preparations for the creation of the territory of nunavut were intensifying.

lori's devotion to her constituents, and to nunavut communities, drives her work as a politician. in an april 2, 2024, article in the nunavut news, lori wrote, "some homes are keeping cracking floors together with nothing more than duct tape. tuberculosis persists in our communities, even though it has been practically eradicated in the rest of canada. we pay the highest prices for groceries, despite programs like nutrition north that are supposed to make things more affordable."

she applied to a senior management training program and went to yellowknife to study government, then to the department of health before moving to iqaluit. she worked as a policy analyst and was responsible for creating some of the policies that the nunavut government would use to develop programs. lori also worked in the non-profit sector including as the executive director of the nunavut embrace life council, which works with communities to take a life-affirming approach to wellbeing.

"i didn't want youth to experience what i had—suicides and being in the foster care system," lori says.

a return to the arctic

in 2018, lori graduated with a juris doctor from the university of ottawa and began practicing law in iqaluit with her firm, qusagaq law.

currently, as a politician, lori wants to make sure that she is engaging youth and helping them understand the importance of voting.

"i encourage them to use their voice, because when there are more of us talking, we can fight for more and not put up with injustice," she says.

when lori was sworn in as an mp in 2021, it was important to her that the ceremony be conducted in inuktitut, her mother tongue.

"because of residential schools, a lot of nunavummiut don't speak their language or practice their culture," she says. "the education system doesn't adequately support inuktitut in our communities. but we can make small changes."

lori believes that education has a key role to play in truth and reconciliation, and that reconciliation is not just about events in this country's past.

"we are two polarized societies that are not meeting—reconciliation needs to encompass every canadian. canada has committed an injustice to all of its citizens by keeping that history hidden, but now canadians are learning how canada treated indigenous people."

"too many schools do not include that history. if we had a better curriculum, there would be less ignorance and systemic racism. if more canadians realized why there is intergenerational trauma, we would have a more compassionate canada."

addressing the needs of seniors is especially important to lori. currently, many nunavut communities do not have long-term care facilities or seniors' homes, forcing community members to leave. lori raised this issue in the house of parliament in 2021 saying, "...our elders in nunavut are being exiled from their families, from their homeland and from their communities because they cannot access care in the territory."

despite the atrocities experienced by indigenous people, lori says that nunavummiut continue to demonstrate their strength: they are speaking inuktitut, using dog teams to hunt, wearing traditional clothing, and continuing cultural practices like throat singing. "we are still here," she says.

but, she adds, colonization has not disappeared, and the harms faced by nunavut communities persist. "the government continues to perpetuate poverty, to criminalize indigenous people for protecting lands, and to keep us marginalized by not investing in housing."

with a federal election scheduled for 2025, lori says she has a lot of work to do before then, especially given the urgent crises the north is grappling with.

"the focus for the rest of my term is advocating for more investments," lori says. "there are too many gaps in services, overcrowded housing, toxic mould in buildings, and not enough infrastructure."

"inuit leaders before me had a dream to create nunavut," she says. "those dreams were given to me, and, as an mp, i can share that more widely, and we can keep that dream going for our grandchildren and future generations."

in some ways, lloyed lobo's unconventional path to success began at the age of 10, when his family fled their home in kuwait in the wake of the 1990 persian gulf war. lloyed (beng'05) travelled with his parents—his mother grew up in the slums of mumbai and his father was a farmer—before the family immigrated to canada when he was a teenager.

watching his father rise from being a dishwasher to a celebrated chef and benefiting from his mother's insistence that he pursue his education, lloyed developed the determination, grit, and persistence that helped him become a successful entrepreneur, wall street journal bestselling author, and community builder.

"luck and risk are two sides of the same coin," lloyed says. "the ones that get lucky are the ones that never stop flipping risk."

taking a leap of faith at lakehead

describing himself as a smart but rebellious kid, lloyed admits to neglecting his high school studies, but once the family arrived in canada, his mother insisted he apply to colleges and universities. with a computer engineering technology diploma from toronto's humber college in hand, lloyed chose to attend lakehead after learning it had one of the country's only accredited software engineering programs.

lloyed appreciated the small class sizes and easy access to his professors, but he knew that he didn't want to sit behind a desk from 9 to 5 writing code.

"i wanted to get into software because i felt that software would control the world. software is its own engineering discipline because you learn to design, develop, and launch it," he explains.

lloyed believes the relationships you build in university can be more important than anything you learn in class. and he met someone at lakehead—classmate alex popa (beng'05)—who ultimately changed the course of his life.

"alex is my best friend and my business partner," lloyed says. "he's a phenomenal engineer and finance person, but he's not into public speaking, marketing, and selling—which, for some reason, is easy for me. we were partners in every project including our 2005 lakehead undergrad thesis on collision avoidance in real-time vehicles—a simulation of self-driving cars. alex built it and i presented it."

 in 2014, lloyed co-founded traction, a community that empowers more than 100,000 innovators through connections, content, and capital. his traction conference (above) gathers influential founders and thought leaders to share how they built their organizations.

honing his sales skills on the road to success

intent on becoming an entrepreneur, lloyed worked with a series of startups—doing everything from cold calling to product management, sales, and marketing.

when alex called in 2011 to suggest they team up to launch boast capital—a consulting firm to help small businesses access research and development (r & d) tax credits and funding in canada and the united states—lloyed jumped at the chance.

"i quit my job and moved into alex's apartment in calgary, and the rest is history," he recalls.

together, they built a sizable company with offices in toronto, calgary, vancouver, and san francisco, and they did so without any outside investment. in 2017, boast capital became boast.al, a fintech platform that uses scalable intelligent software to help innovative companies get money more quickly and with less risk.

"each year, governments provide billions of dollars to fund businesses, but it's a cumbersome application process. it's prone to frustrating audits, and getting the money takes a long time; boast uses artificial intelligence to automate that," explains lloyed, who received an outstanding young alumni award from lakehead in 2017.

"last year, we gave out several hundred million dollars to businesses to develop new products or improve existing products. innovation drives the world—every dollar spent on innovation returns $20 to the economy. vaccines, robots, and clean drinking water were all a function of innovation, yet 90% of innovations die on the vine. our purpose was to change that situation."

giving back and paying it forward

lloyed has always believed in providing a leg up for other young entrepreneurs, so he wrote a book last fall, from grassroots to greatness: 13 rules to build iconic brands with community led growth, which became a wall street journal bestseller.
he encourages 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 and aspiring innovators to approach entrepreneurship through the lens of what he calls the five c's: communication, community, creation, commerce, and consistency.

"after graduating from lakehead, i asked other entrepreneurs: what's the best skill you need as an entrepreneur? and they told me it's communication—this is what you do all day, convincing customers when you barely have anything functioning, convincing employees to work for you, convincing investors—it's all communication."
developing a community is the next step in building an iconic brand. "your companions matter—hang out with five entrepreneurs, and you'll be the sixth one," he says.

lloyed urges young entrepreneurs to take on creative side projects, and constantly apply what they've learned. successful businesspeople also need to learn about commerce and selling.

"but even though you may be the best communicator with the best community and be the best creator who knows everything about commerce, without consistency, you have nothing. consistency is the secret ingredient that turns small actions into big outcomes. overnight success is nothing but compound interest on consistency over a long period of time."

family, frailty, and the art of reinvention

lloyed and his wife vivi with their children. "success is a long journey," lloyed says, "and when you're an entrepreneur, work-life balance doesn't exist, so think deeply about work-life integration."

lloyed credits his parents and his wife vivi, a physician, as the driving forces in his life.

"when i married vivi, nobody thought i'd amount to anything, but i said, 'don't worry, i'm going to retire at 40'," he says.

two weeks before lloyed's 40th birthday, a private growth equity firm bought half of his and alex's shares of boast, making his financial dreams a reality. however, soon after, in january 2021, lloyd caught covid pneumonia and spent weeks in the hospital.

while recovering, he realized if he were to die, his only regret would be that he hadn't spent more time with his wife and kids. money, business, accolades didn't matter. a few months later, lloyed decided to leave the day-to-day operations of boast and stay on as a board member of the company.

"i'd turned into a workaholic, neglecting my wife, my kids, and my family to chase this dream. after i left boast, however, i felt i'd lost my identity, but vivi helped me see that my glass was half full."

lloyed now spends summers in san francisco and the rest of the year in dubai. he sits on the boards of several companies and enjoys spending more time with his family.

"prioritize your well-being and the things that bring you joy. business is a marathon, not a sprint, so brace yourself for that journey."

"education promotes gender equality and lifts women out of poverty," says roline maconachie. "and the more i see, the more i realize that greater action is needed. women today still earn only 82 cents to the dollar compared to men."

roline is a member of cfuw, a non-partisan advocacy group that promotes education for women, and the president and chair of the cfuw orillia education foundation. cfuw has been a force for women's equality since it was founded more than 100 years ago as the canadian federation of university women and began offering university scholarships to female 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 .

"at the time women had almost no voice in society and it was rare for women to have a university education," roline explains.

 left to right: orillia interim principal dr. linda rodenburg, humanities 101 graduate lynn beaton, and cfuw orillia education foundation president roline maconachie celebrate at the 2024 humanities 101 graduation ceremony. since 1974, cfuw's orillia club has awarded $403,975 in scholarships to 749 young women pursuing postsecondary education. cfuw also works internationally and has a special consultative status with the united nations economic and social council.

currently, cfuw's national, provincial, and local branches lobby different levels of government on issues such as maternal health care and ending violence against women. they've also recently broadened their membership rules. any woman who supports cfuw's goals can join—members no longer need to be university graduates.

in orillia, one of the ways that cfuw has been transforming women's lives is through gifts to humanities 101—a lakehead program that gives community members facing social or financial barriers a taste of the university experience.

"it enables people from all walks of life to gain confidence as lifelong learners," says lakehead orillia interim principal dr. linda rodenburg, who is also the director of the office of community engagement and lifelong learning, which oversees the humanities 101 program.

humanities 101 is a free 12-week non-credit evening course that introduces 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 to a cross-section of areas of study—with classes in everything from english and psychology to environmental education and chemistry. the 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 receive school supplies, transit passes, dinner each week, and, if needed, child- or elder-care. the course empowers them to consider the many options available to them in their community.

"humanities 101 opened my eyes to possibilities i'd never dreamed of before," says shannon jervis, a program graduate. "it made me realize i could go back to school as a mature student, and i did."

shannon enrolled in lakehead orillia's honours bachelor of social work program and, after completing her degree in 2022, became a registered social worker.

"i then realized i wanted more," shannon says, "so i went back for my master of social work and just graduated this april. humanities 101 gave me the information and the courage to believe i could do anything!"

since 2018, cfuw's generosity has allowed five 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 to participate in humanities 101.

"we used to have a strict policy of awarding scholarships solely to graduating high school 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 about to enter university," roline says, "but then linda rodenburg approached us."

dr. rodenburg gave a presentation explaining how humanities 101's mission dovetails with cfuw's emphasis on human rights and social justice—prompting cfuw to offer scholarships to female adult education 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 who may not necessarily go on to college or university.

"we can't let society slip backwards," roline says. "i don't want young women to be worse off than we were. that's why i'm so passionate about cfuw and humanities 101."

if you'd like to donate to humanities 101 and help a community member who needs a hand, please contact external relations associate jacquie kent at jkent@lakeheadu.ca or at 705-330-4010 ext. 2080.

"nobody chooses to be an addict, nobody chooses to spend time in jail, these are things that happened because early childhood trauma has never been dealt with, and so many other contributing factors," says a prison chaplain.

prison chaplains are spiritual-care practitioners who provide emotional and spiritual support to meet the religious needs of prisoners during their incarceration—and a recent research paper has found that they are struggling.

"it's a complex and difficult duty in a multicultural and multi-faith country like canada," explains dr. davut akca, a criminology professor at 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 's orillia campus. dr. akca is also the lead author of a 2023 article about the obstacles faced by provincial chaplains called, "joy, compassion, and job satisfaction: insights into the canadian prison chaplaincy."

dr. akca has been deeply invested in understanding criminal justice matters for much of his adult life. he spent five years as a deputy inspector and inspector with the turkish national police in istanbul and ankara before earning a master of criminology and a phd in forensic psychology at ontario tech university in oshawa.

"i was always passionate about helping people live in a safe country and i was interested in criminological issues, which eventually prompted me to broaden my perspective and go into academia," dr. akca says.

he's now part of a research team that includes two senior researchers with decades of research experience in corrections—dr. nawal ammar from rowan university and dr. carla cesaroni from ontario tech university. the team also includes dr. brad shoemaker, a former chaplain and current adjunct professor at the university of toronto, and research assistant michael ouellet, a doctoral candidate at ontario tech university.

some of the ways that chaplains help prisoners include counselling, group worship, one-on-one prayers, and the provision of religious materials such as books, rosaries, and prayer mats. dr. akca (above) and his research team, however, found that some religious communities were unwilling to provide chaplains with support and religious materials because of the stigma surrounding incarceration.

their 2023 article is part of a larger research project being conducted in partnership with the canadian association for spiritual care (casc) and is funded by a partnership engage grant from the social sciences and humanities research council (sshrc).

using surveys and focus groups, dr. akca's research team gathered information from 55 chaplains about the state of prison chaplaincy in canada. the chaplains were primarily christian, but muslim, jewish, and buddhist chaplains shared their perspectives, too. it was essential to get the views of non-christian chaplains because religious diversity in canada is growing and ethnic minorities are overrepresented in canada's prison population.

one critical finding that emerged from the work led by dr. akca, as well as from previous research studies, is that chaplains' non-judgmental approach helps humanize correctional facilities.

"inmates view chaplains as compassionate and they want to talk to chaplains because they don't have an agenda, unlike regular prison staff. their approach helps diffuse tension and anxiety in prisons," dr. akca says. "and for chaplains, witnessing inmates' healing journeys brings them joy and satisfaction."

in fact, more than two-thirds of chaplains who were interviewed said that because of chaplaincy services, inmates became more engaged with others, were less likely to violate prison rules, and had fewer conflicts with fellow inmates. even more impressively, the positive influence of chaplains was found to continue after prisoners were released and began reintegrating into society.

"more than two-thirds of chaplains also agreed that prisoners developed better relationships with their families, had more pro-social lives, and were more engaged with society because of chaplaincy services," dr. akca says. "this can help prevent and reduce rates of reoffending."

one chaplain who participated in dr. akca's research project pointed out that many prisoners are depressed and that it's important that they have someone "to just spend time with them and to bring them to the place where they can know they are loved, that their lives matter, that they have hope, and there's a future for them."

prisoners are yearning for spiritual care

the importance of chaplains is recognized in international agreements, and the canadian charter of rights and freedoms guarantees prisoners' rights to religious accommodation. despite the constitutional protections afforded to prisoners and the incredibly valuable work that chaplains do, the team research conducted by dr. akca paints a bleak picture of what it's like to be a prison chaplain today.

"the top challenge confronting chaplains is being undervalued and unrecognized—something that results in poor working conditions," dr. akca says.

it begins with prisons' frequent lack of chapels, prayer spaces, and rooms for proper programming and is compounded by stringent security measures, recurring lockdowns, and covid outbreaks that prevent chaplains from visiting prisons as much as is necessary.

related to the problem of being undervalued is the low ratio of chaplains to inmates. dr. akca's research found that, on average, just one chaplain serves approximately 179 prisoners and that there are usually only one or two chaplains in every prison. in addition, numerous federal penitentiaries subcontract the recruitment of their chaplains to a private firm exclusively staffed by christian chaplains, depriving prisoners of non-christian faiths of pastoral care. it's for this reason that dr. akca recommends hiring more chaplains, and chaplains of diverse faiths, as well as mandating that chaplains receive standardized training.

not surprisingly, trauma caused by working with prisoners with complex needs in a stressful—and often violent—environment is another challenge that chaplains are contending with. their distress, unfortunately, is being made worse because the minimal support currently offered to chaplains to help with their recovery is not a priority for prisons.

the team research spearheaded by dr. akca reveals that the indifference of the prison system to creating better working conditions for chaplains stems from the fact that "their role is not understood well and because they are providing a faith-based service in a secular institution."

and in a society that increasingly demands evidence-based approaches to assess the value of things, dr. akca says that "it's hard to measure performance because chaplains provide an intangible service. that's why more research is needed to measure the impact of chaplaincy on things like improved rehabilitation, reduction in tension, and reduced recidivism."

dr. akca and his team of researchers aim to play a part in rectifying this gap.

the "joy, compassion, and job satisfaction" article is the first of four papers focusing on prison chaplaincy, and in upcoming papers the research team will seek out the perspectives of prisoners, staff members, and ex-prisoners to get a fuller picture of the impact that chaplains have.

as dr. akca notes in his article, "the work of chaplains in humanizing the prison environment, their ability to alleviate tension and anxiety, their provision of compassionate care and fleeting hope, and the potential of faith-based interventions in changing prisoners' behaviors are all crucial and valuable components of the experience of incarceration that should not be overlooked or dismissed."