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  FINALLY mailchimp let me put a dog gif in =] 

Hello everyone! Here was the list of pitches I went through today. Just a reminder that if this is the first news story you're doing for me, speak to me first in person so I could better discuss some section basics!Ok here they are!

1. Come to council Tuesday night! An important part of what we do in The Gateway’s news section is to cover student politics and what the student reps we elect every year accomplish. A good chunk of that happens at Students’ Council and the next meeting is tomorrow! If you wanted to check it out to see what it’s like, or even take a story, volunteers are welcome to join! The agenda was just released and it looks like a PACKED meeting so we could use all the help we can get. But just some of the things that will be covered include

A. A vote on the new capital plan. For those who have been following Adam’s coverage, the SU is hoping to raise a new fee that would go towards a fund for renovating spaces across campus (they originally teased $8 to $36 per term!). Tomorrow, council will discuss the ACTUAL referendum question that students will vote on later in March, a vote that will determine if that fee gets created or not. Since this involves student fees, THIS IS BIG NEWS so we’ll need an article for if and when the referendum question is approved.

B. Back in November or so, students in HUB submitted a proposal to the university to increase the amount of security in HUB due to the large amount of trespassing and other security incidents that happen there. Well, it looks like the university has reviewed the proposal and might be responding to it in a presentation at Students’ Council. I’m not entirely sure if this will result in a story, but it might and if someone wants to tackle it, let me know!

2. Interview a student who wrote a guide on how to study. This is something we got via a Facebook message. A student wrote a six-page document that's publically shared on Google docs filled with tips for people who need new studying tips (he added in his Facebook post that he's tried to contact professional psychologists but had no luck, but whoever takes this could hit up the psych dept to get a second opinion!) As for the study's author, Max Kang, set up an interview with him via Facebook messenger!3. A new, groundbreaking tool for visualizing neural activity has implications for understanding brain functions and disorders, according to new research by University of Alberta scientists and a team of international collaborators. The tool, named NIR-GECO1, identifies when an individual neuron is active by monitoring for the presence or absence of calcium ions. Interview Robert Campbell, professor in the Department of Chemistry and lead author of the study.

4. Cannabis study on athletes. There’ve been a few posters around campus asking for people to participate in the study. If anyone’s interested, they can interview the researchers about what they’re doing and why. The poster said you should contact Alec Skillings at [email protected]

5. Did you know that students had access to the USRIs students fill out about their classes every semester? Well, neither did I! And Akanksha Bhatnagar, the vice-president (academic) of the Students’ Union is hoping to change that. Set up an interview with her and find out what she hopes to do on this, as well as grab an interview with the chair of the university committee that looks at USRIs

6. Peter Lougheed Leadership College classes to be made more accessible to students not in the certificate program. For those who maybe weren’t here when the PLLC was first being set up, one of the big criticisms of the program was that it was too exclusive and elite and that being able to learn about leadership should be more accessible. In light of that, this development is also PRETTY BIG. Set up an interview with the college’s president, Lois Harder, as well as Akanksha Bhatnagar, the vice-president (academic) of the Students’ Union, for a student perspective.

7. The bachelor of design grad class is doing a professional headshot day on Jan 31 as a fundraiser for the graduation show in the fall. Sofia suggested I could ask you about doing a story about it as the more students we reach the better. It is open for all students on campus along with other Edmontonians, you get 3 edited headshot photos for $30 to use for professional resumes, LinkedIn’s, etc etc. If anyone is interested in this, let me know and I’ll set you up with one of the organizers.

8. Preview international week, an annual event about making a better world, with a week full of events and guest speakers. Interview the organizer and talk about what they’re doing for this year’s iteration of the event.

Actually, one of the keynotes on Monday, Feb 4 is with guest speaker Lila Abu Lughod, where she will discuss “Is the War on Muslims a War on Rights?” as part of the Visiting Lectureship in Human Rights. The description says “Abu Lughod will address understanding the effects of military invasions in the name of defending Muslim women’s rights by asking, how should we think about competing forms of rights?” So someone could try to interview her BEFORE the event. Another option, of course, is to go to it on Feb 4 and write on it!9. A chemistry professor believes that silicon could be the solution to prolonging battery life in electronics. This one is a leftover from last week. Interview Jillian Buriak, professor in the Department of Chemistry, or Jonathan Veinot, professor of Chemistry and co-author on the study.

10. Massive Open Online Course on black holes (Astro 101: Black Holes). This one is also an older one but it’s still good if anyone was interested. We’ve covered a few other MOOCs before in the news section so someone can write about another class that the U of A offers online for free, which goes all in about black holes and stuff. Interview Sharon Morsink, the class’s instructor.