How David Hoe fought his way to university

Monday, 14 April 2014

The Sunday Times

This was a feature on Mr David Hoe, who is an undergraduate from the Department of Economics at NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Mr Hoe shared about the challenges he had faced in his educational journey from the Normal (Technical) stream to undergraduate studies at NUS. Today, he is a well-respected youth and student leader, who has a teaching scholarship from the Ministry of Education.

At the Tembusu College at NUS, Mr Hoe has rallied students for several projects, such as a mentoring programme with New Town Secondary School and an initiative where university students read newspapers with beneficiaries of The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund. It was mentioned in the report that he will be speaking at The Straits Times Education Forum on 4 May.

Click here to read the full article.

Digging the history of Jalan Kubor

Monday, 14 April 2014

Berita Harian

This was a report on a project by the National Heritage Board (NHB) to document Singapore’s oldest Malay cemetery at Jalan Kubor.  The project team comprises Assistant Professor Imran bin Tajudeen from the Department of Architecture at NUS School of Design and Environment; Dr Mohamed Effendy bin Abdul Hamid, a Postdoctoral Fellow and Dr Muhammad Arafat bin Mohamad, a teaching assistant from the Department of Southeast Asian Studies at NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences; and Mr Muhammad Yazid bin Ninsalam, a researcher at the Singapore ETH Centre.

Click here to read the full article in Malay.

Trekking for a good cause

Friday, 11 April 2014

tabla!

It was reported that Mr Ashokan Ashik, a second-year Communications and New Media student at NUS, and Mr Ashok Kumar, a second-year Business student at SIM, will be trekking up the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal to raise awareness and funds for the Society for the Physically Disabled (SPD) in commemoration of its 50th anniversary. The two have created a campaign called “Heart2Climb” through which they aim to raise donations for the SPD, which caters to 4,600 people with disabilities.

Click here to read the full article.

FASS Mentorship Programme 2014/2015

Dear FASS students, if you are planning to graduate in 2015, this is for you!

FASS Mentorship Programme 2014/15 (FASSMP)

In this programme, you will be matched with a FASS Alumni Mentor who can lend a Helping Hand in your Transition fromUniversity to Working Life. Each student will be matched with a mentor who can provide you with career and personal development guidance over the period of 1 year (August 2014 till July 2015 – during which at least four meetings are encouraged). It is up to mentors and their mentees to decide how best to engage each other in the exchange of ideas, and sharing of experiences and knowledge; whether over a meal, involvement in seminars and event management, or office visits to understand the working environment etc. In 2013/14, 86 FASS students were enrolled in the programme.

More information about the FASSMP can be found at our website:http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/studentlife/mentorship.html

call for mentees poster_new deadline_25 april

NUS team wins Pitch It! digital ad contest

Sunday, 6 April 2014

The Sunday Times

It was reported that a team of four NUS students from the NUS Business School and Department of Communications and New Media at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences – who called themselves team “Envision” – beat 17 other teams from NUS, NTU and SMU to win the second annual Pitch It! competition on 5 April.

Each team was given $5,000 to carry out a 12-day campaign to advertise The Straits Times digital subscriptions to student peers. Envision launched its effort using e-mail and Facebook and was praised by judges for displaying an effective strategy.

Pitch It! is organised by the NUS Department of Communications and New Media and sponsored by Singapore Press Holdings, ad agency Bates CHI & Partners and media agency m/Six. Members of the winning team will get the opportunity to work as interns at the agencies sponsoring the contest.

Click here to read the full article.

Ask: NUS Economists: Traffic congestion affects commuting costs which impact on housing prices

Thursday, 3 April 2014

The Straits Times

This was an article contribution on the impact of traffic congestion on housing prices, by Dr Eric Fesselmeyer, Senior Lecturer, and Associate Professor Liu Haoming from the Department of Economics at NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. A study conducted by the authors using data from 2002 to 2012 show that the average peak-hour expressway speed, a measure of traffic congestion, does have a sizeable effect on the location premium.

The article is part of a monthly series “Ask: NUS Economists” by the NUS Department of Economics. Each month, a panel will address a topical issue.

Day of Fun and Excitement to Celebrate Faculties’ 85th Anniversary

In commemoration of their 85th anniversary, the Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences, Dentistry and Science, jointly organised the 85th Anniversary Resilience Run on Saturday, 29 March. Comprising a fund raising campaign to help the disabled community in NUS, the Run symbolises the resilience and determination of the three faculties as well as special guest Dr William Tan in overcoming various challenges over the years to become the success stories they are today. The Guest of Honour was NUS Provost Prof Tan Eng Chye.

Dr William Tan, Faculty of Science alumnus and NUS Distinguished Alumni Service Award recipient was an inspiration to everyone who attended the run that day. Starting at six-thirty in the morning, Dr Tan proceeded on his plege to do an 85-kilometer run over five gruelling hours, largely under the hot morning sun, in his specially-equipped paraplegic tricycle. That was actually an astounding 213 rounds on the running track!

Run1Dr William Tan completing his 85km run

More than 500 participants took part in the run while another 300 staff, students, alumni and their family members turned up to cheer for them from the grandstands. The carnival ambience to the event was unmistaken – the live emceeing coupled with music, food vendors, photo booth, balloon sculpting and face painting was a delight for the young and old alike.

Run2Deans of the three Faculties running together

A highlight of the run was when the three Deans from the three faculties ran together with the flags bearing their respective anniversary logos. Staff, students and alumni also came together to join the run and root for their Deans as the flags came running by.

Run 3a(From left to right) Prof Brenda Yeoh, Assoc Prof Shirlena Huang and Assoc Prof T/C Chang cheering for the runners

The excitement level reached a climax towards the end with the relay fun run. Each of the three faculties fielded a team comprising faculty members, students and alumni, to run the symbolic 8.5km relay, or 21 rounds on the running track. They were joined by teams from Geography (Mangrove Lab), Biological Sciences Department and the Food and Science Technology Programme. It was an inspirational moment when all the relay teams, including Guest of Honour Prof Tan who gamely joined the relay, ran alongside Dr Tan on his paraplegic tricycle towards the finishing line amid all the cheering from their friends and families.

Run3Prof Brenda Yeoh and A/P TC Chang sharing a moment with Prof Tan Eng Chye (right)

“It was not only a fun and exciting day for runners, families and friends, but a meaningful way to mark our Faculties’ anniversary” said Assoc Prof TC Chang, FASS Vice Dean (Student Life) and co-chair of the event. “More importantly, the event helped to create greater awareness and support for the special-needs student community in NUS.”

All proceeds from the run will go towards the NUS Enablers, a non-profit student-interest group aimed at helping special needs students to integrate into campus life through an extensive range of activities and projects.

To find out more about NUS Enablers, please go to their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NUS.Enablers

You can also read NUS News’ coverage of the event here (http://news.nus.edu.sg/highlights/7530-strong-show-of-support-by-the-nus-community-for-two-special-runs).

For more pictures, check out the FASS Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/nusfass

Run4Some of the FASS team members pose in front of the wish board where participants penned their hopes and dreams in commemoration of the Faculties’ 85 years

Run5FASS Deanery, Faculty members, students, alumni, Provost Prof Tan Eng Chye and Dr William Tan – all giving thumbs up!

Run6Batman joined the run too!

Stronger social support ‘needed to boost health of lower-income elderly’

Tuesday, 1 April 2014

TODAY

In today’s edition of TODAY, it was reported that an ongoing study by NUS researchers has shown that lower-income elderly have weaker social support and are, therefore, less likely to attend health screenings. The three-year study, which was shared during the Symposium on Successful Ageing organised by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at NUS, found that having close friends and family members is important as they are the ones who would encourage the elderly to go for blood tests for diabetes and cholesterol. Led by Associate Professor Paulin Straughan, Deputy Head of the Department of Sociology at the Faculty, the study which involved 1,540 respondents aged between 50 and 69 will conclude in May 2014.

Click here to read the full article.