Intensive exercise science course challenges graduate students
Fifty-seven graduate students from as far away as Denmark, British Columbia, and Newfoundland flexed their academic muscle October 25 to 29 at Concordia for the first International Graduate Course in Exercise and Clinical Physiology.
For five days, the students met and learned from top-level experts in the fields of physiology, kinesiology, Exercise Science and biochemistry, earning credit toward their degrees in the process.
A unique partnership between Concordia and the University of Copenhagen’s Faculty of Health Sciences, the course welcomed 24 faculty members primarily from those two universities, but also from other universities including University of Western Ontario, University of Guelph, and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
“This was a huge opportunity to bring faculty members and grad students to Concordia to make connections and develop potential collaborations down the road,” says Dean of Graduate Studies Graham Carr, also noting the recruitment possibilities of the event.
Carr points out it is not every day a comprehensive university, such as ours, partners with a medical faculty.
“It’s critical to nurturing our aspirations to move more fully into health science research and training,” says Carr, linking the initiative to the PERFORM Centre (see related story this issue).
Key to the development of the course was former Exercise Science professor and Concordia Research Chair Robert Boushel, who joined Copenhagen’s Department of Biomedical Sciences after leaving Concordia in 2008.
Before relocating to Copenhagen, Boushel (who still holds an adjunct position at Concordia) pitched the idea for the course to Carr, who was then Arts and Science Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies. Carr in turn proposed it to Joanne Locke, who was Interim Dean of Arts and Science. Both agreed it was too good an opportunity to miss.
Carr says as the relationship matures, the partnership “may open doors to other networks we may not otherwise access.”
Related links:
• Concordia Department of Exercise Science
• University of Copenhagen