news Friday, JUly 29, 2022 EbEnEzEr15 USA college, UCU solar partnership venture takes off Faculty of Engineering, Design and Technology By Kefa Senoga (This article was condensed from an early July 2022 published version) In one week, the Uganda Christian University (UCU) kitchen uses 10 tons of firewood, which cost sh1.5million (about $400). In a year, Ekadu Richard, the head of Royal Hospitality, the company that offers catering services at the UCU Dining Hall, says the university spends a minimum of sh63million (about $16,700) on firewood. Two decades ago, the university was spending 10 times less on the same amount of firewood. To put an end to the high expenditure and take better care of the earth’s resources in trees, faculty and students of UCU and those of the Dartmouth College in the USA state of New Hampshire came up with a solution. The two parties focused on using solar energy as a substitute for charcoal and wood. American Richard Ranger, an affiliate of the Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders (SAMS) who introduced this idea to UCU, said the project seeks to construct a solar thermal system that is able to preheat water up to 700C (158 degrees Fahrenheit) as it passes through tubes before it gets to the kitchen, to reduce on the amount of firewood used for heating it. The exact option for heating water at UCU is one question the teams from Dartmouth and UCU dealt with in the project. Firewood is the primary source of heat for cooking meals for the university community. Of the 10 firewood cookers in the kitchen, six are reserved primarily for heating water, which is used for cooking and washing utensils in the kitchen. Rodgers Tayebwa, the head of the Department of Engineering and Environment in the Faculty of Engineering, Design and Technology at UCU, says that the project falls within the UCU engineering department’s strategic plan. School of Education By Patty Huston-Holm (This article was edited from the May 2022 published version) The Uganda Christian University (UCU) journey to better writing is decades long. Like most universities, writing at UCU has been taught in foundation (general education) courses and seminars and strongly emphasized in research and lectures about avoiding plagiarism. But a centre? That trek was accelerated with late summer 2021 arrival the of Prof. Tom Deans, American Fulbright Scholar in Uganda and Director of the University of Connecticut (USA) writing centre. In collaboration with UCU academic staff, he drafted a plan. The five-page plan talks about a “hub” where students and staff can get peer coaching. While reinforcing the value of all types of writing for various purposes, Deans commented that “students won’t grow as researchers unless they are writing papers that involve sustained research.” In early April 2022, a budget for computers, tables and chairs was approved, but money was not allocated. That budget did not include funding to pay the centre’s coordinator and tutors. In midApril, a $10,000 donation, contingent on a matching $10,000 from UCU, and from the Muriel Lile Trust of Fenton, Michigan, USA, through the Uganda Partners NGO appeared to seal the deal. On April 25, a letter from Fact Uganda Christian University was “As a department, we are looking at enhancing the capacity of students and staff, and also looking at practical solutions to the existing challenge, especially starting with our campus here at UCU,” he said. “In most of the work we do, we involve students because the idea is to skill them through practical hands-on experience.” Daniel Tumusiime, a UCU engineering student on the project, said, “As engineering students, there’s nothing as exciting as seeing something we’ve done on paper coming into real life.” Tayebwa additionally emphasised the danger of firewood overuse to the kitchen staff, noting that renewable energy could be the magic bullet for safety and saving money. Vincent Kisenyi, the Dean of the School of Business at UCU, says the collaboration exposes faculty to applying theory to practice and could involve UCU students going to the United States to “look at interventions at Dartmouth.” To listen to the podcast focused on understanding the technological innovation, visit https:// player.captivate.fm/episode/25e498e06de2-4acb-944c-1110abf3a02e closed twice during the Covid-19 outbreak, both government-ordered lockdowns. UCU School of Medicine Medical student aspires to save lives with faith in Christ ‘dedicate more funds to research’ By Muduku Derrick Brian (This article was edited from the May 2022 published version) When I watched Mercy Bikala, 19, enthusiastically lead community worship at the School of Medicine of Uganda Christian University (UCU), I imagined she was a full-time musician. Her eloquent voice, delivered with confidence and enthusiasm, encouraged everybody, including me, to sing along to the hymns and praises. Shortly after the service, I confirmed that Bikala does music as a part-time activity while passionately aspiring to become a doctor. She is a second-year student pursuing a Bachelors of Medicine and Bachelors in Surgery. She says that spirituality, including that expressed through music, is vital to her today as she studies, and tomorrow as she works. “I turn to God when my energy is low,” Bikala said. “My faith in Christ is what fuels me to study and it makes the whole process have meaning.” Bikala adds that the Christian virtues of honesty, righteousness, sympathy, stewardship and the like are pillars that make a doctor complete and wholesome in his/her duties. For example, one dishonest practice she observed during Covid-19 was some medical practitioners increasing prices for already hard-pressed patients and benefitting from the excess funds. Bikala, who hails from Bududa District in eastern Uganda, says that she wants some improvements made by the government to aid the work of medical practitioners in Uganda. “More funds should be put into medical research,” she said. “Why import vaccines and yet we could have been able to make our own from within?” Bikala says that she was excited to hear that she was accepted into UCU because of its reputation as a Christ-centered institution. “Here, there is Community worship twice a week,” she said, referring to the medical school on the Mengo Hospital site. “I feel revitalized when I engage in this activity. I get the energy to continue with my endeavors of becoming a medical doctor.” Scientists have often tried to create a David Mugawe, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Finance and Administration, confirmed the UCU $10,000 match. The writing centre, under the UCU School of Education, has a $20,000 budget for 2022-2023. Deans and Lilian Lyavaala, acting coordinator of UCU’s new writing centre, talked about Hub of the UCU writing centre, located inside Hamu Mukasa Library on the Mukono Campus. ‘Transform minds of students’ “There is a big gap in writing practices,” Lyavaala, a long-time teacher of writing, says. “Students in secondary (high school) are only taught to pass their exams. The university should overhaul this mindset and strike a balance. It’s important to transform minds to let students know how they can and should use writing in all careers.” the centre, which is the first for any university in Uganda, while being interviewed in a late February podcast through In the UCU School of Journalism, Media and Communication. that interview, they described such centres as “welcoming places to uCu launches first writing centre in uganda centre, said that the door for writing tutor applications and student/faculty users of the tutors is open. “We are grateful that we have come this far and are hopeful,” he said. Across the different faculties and schools Lyavaala teaches or has taught, she finds the best writers students why writing is important,” she says of her teaching method in the UCU foundation program. “Then, I take them through the whole writing process. Writing is not spontaneous, but gradual. One has to think of what one wants to write, gather information, draft it, make the necessary changes and then come up with the final draft, while focusing on the audience. At this stage, the students also get the opportunity to unlearn what they learned wrong.” For Lyavaala, reading and writing were her passions since childhood. Her parents said she was spelling out words at an early age. She would sit for hours, listening to her grandmother tell stories. In primary, teachers had her lead reading classes. Her love of language helped her attain her master’s degree in Literature in 2018 at UCU, where she also had earlier attained her bachelor’s Lilian Lyavaala, left, acting coordinator of UCU’s new writing centre, with student, Gelda Nassozi, outside the Foundation Studies building on the Mukono campus. Scan this QR code to hear a February 25, 2022, UCU podcast about the writing centre. meet students wherever they are'' and writing as the “core of human learning.” Dr. degree in English Language and Literature. “You don’t have to be as passionate about writing as I am to be a good writer,” she says. She echoed what Deans asserted James Busimba, head of UCU’s Department of Languages and Literature under the School of Education, which is the umbrella for the writing during his time on campus in that the tutors don’t necessarily have to be perfect writers but “capable and care about writing.” “Everybody can write,” she said. “It’s time we stopped saying otherwise.” from all, but especially students studying law, medicine and engineering. “I begin my classes by telling my clear distinction between Christianity and science. However, Bikala says that there are things in nature that even science has failed to explain. “Science is attempting to explain things that God has done,” she said. “There is a limit because there are things scientists have failed to get answers to.” She urges fellow medical students to become knowledgeable medical personnel who are sensitive and spiritually mature so as to engage in works that uphold the name and glory of Christ. Bikala says that she ventured into medical school because she wants that value addition to the nation. “I want to attain skills that will enable me save lives of our people in society,” she said. “For me, that is where I shall derive my happiness.” UCU having a well stocked laboratory has made it easy for Bikala to explore more about aspects in her medical field. She says that she has been able to utilize the various equipment like the microscopes and slides to enrich her medical knowledge. “The microscopes aid me in learning more about micro-organisms like bacteria and fungi, which I study under micro biology,” she said.
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