News

Rural Planning and Development graduate students Taylor Wellings and Jenn Burns have authored a blog post titled "Rural Planning:  Not just an Urban Thing" in the Ontario Provincial Planning Institute (OPPI) website.

The blog post is meant to facilitate an exchange of planning knowledge, best practices, and issues important to planners. OPPI wants to foster meaningful and respectful discussion about planning and the planning profession.  

Professor Harry Cummings with Rural Planning and Development graduate students, April Smith and Aimee Alderman from his EDRD*6690 Programme Evaluation class, are helping the Wellington Dufferin Guelph Public Health Unit in a healthy kids programme in North Wellington. The Health Unit and the community have identified childhood obesity as an issue. An international model, EPODE, ‘Ensemble Prévenons l'Obésité Des Enfants’, (Together Let's Prevent Childhood Obesity), developed in France to deal with the issue is being applied.

Master of Landscape Architecture student, Laura Williams, checks plants she is growing in order to test the performance and viability of lawn alternatives. As part of her MLA thesis research, Laura will survey visitors at Canada Blooms to determine their plant preferences. Canada Blooms will be held in Toronto from March 11 - 20th, 2016 at the Direct Energy Centre at Exhibition Place.

Capacity Development and Extension MSc student, Rachana Devkota and Rural Studies PhD alumnus, Dr. Silvia Sarapura publish their research in a new book entitled “Transforming Gender and Food Security in the Global South”, edited by Jemimah Njuki, John R. Parkins and Amy Kaler.

Abstract:

Congratulations to Scott Cafarella who received the Cullen Scholarship for 2015 in the amount of $2,000.  Scott is a third year Master of Landscape Architecture student in the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development.

Paul Brydges became the first practicing landscape architect to hold the position of president of Landscape Ontario, officially beginning his two-year mandate at the horticultural association’s annual general meeting January 13, 2016.  Brydges is a graduate of the University of Guelph’s bachelor of landscape architecture program and serves as the principal and senior architect at Brydges Landscape Architecture in Guelph.

The first round of the National Student Evaluation Case Competition, takes place this Saturday, February 6th, 2016 in the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development.  As some of you may know, Rural Planning and Development students from this department have a bit of a reputation for winning this competition (2009, 2002, 1999, & 1998). This annual Canadian competition has established a reputation as a dynamic, hands-on opportunity for post-secondary students to learn about evaluation.

Canada has a long history of accepting refugees from around the world, and many of these refugees have come together in communities that form the diverse backbone of the Canadian population. With them they have brought new foods to the Canadian dinner plate, and products such as okra, eggplant and bok choy are now grown in Canada and enjoyed by Canadians of all cultures.

“We share culture and richness through food,” shares Valencia Gaspard, a first year student in the Rural Studies PhD program. “Food can be used to build communities and bring people together.”

In December 2013, members of Wayne Caldwell’s and Jennifer Ball’s Community Engagement class became involved with a community revitalization strategy in Vanastra, Ontario. After a successful Business Retention and Expansion (BR+E) initiative, the task of the students was to explore more closely what some of these revitalization strategies might look like for the Village.

"Meet Alex, MLA Student" is a recent graduate student profile on Alex Waffle who is one of our current Master of Landscape Architecture students.  See the Ontario Agricultural College article here.