Above: Jason Young (left), 2014-15 FLAS Fellow in Inuktitut and Isaac Stockdale (right), UW’s first Corbett Canada-US Fellow (01/15).
The Pacific Northwest Canadian Studies Consortium (PNWCSC) held its annual meeting at the Canadian Consulate in downtown Seattle on Friday, February 6th, 2015. The program featured three affiliated students in Canadian Studies who presented their research and study-in-Canada experiences.
Erica Escajeda, a master’s candidate in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, gave a presentation on her research on polar bears in Canada’s Baffin Bay entitled, “Timing is everything: Identifying shifts in maternity den chronology of polar bears in Baffin Bay.” Of the world’s 20,000 to 25,000 polar bear population, 60% are in Canada. Erica is attempting to determine whether climate change is having an impact of the duration of time the female bears spend overwintering.
Isaac Stockdale, UW’s first Corbett Canada-U.S. Fellow, is spending this academic year at the University of British Columbia (UBC) where he is majoring in political science and art history. Isaac gave an inspiring talk concerning his observations about the differences between Canada and the United States. He described what he called the “dynamism” of Canadian society and the natural incorporation of Indigenous studies into all course content. Isaac has been taking classes with the Canadian Studies Centre at UBC.
Jason Young, a doctoral candidate in geography and a current Canadian Studies Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellow in Inuktitut, discussed the complexity of the Inuit language in Canada and shared his experience studying Inuktitut in Igoolik, Nunavut, Canada this past summer. Jason noted that the University of Washington is the only institution in the country where students can study the Canadian Inuit language.
Professor Ross Burkhart, Executive Director of the Consortium from Boise State University, and Morna McEachern, Manager, hosted the day including a discussion on future directions for the Consortium.
PNWCSC website: http://www.jsis.washington.edu/pnwcsc/
The Pacific Northwest Canadian Studies Consortium (PNWCSC) mission is to facilitate the development of Canadian Studies at institutions of higher education in the Pacific Northwest, and to enhance cooperation, joint programming, and information sharing among Canadian Studies programs and faculty in the Pacific region. The Canadian Studies Center serves as secretariat for the Consortium.