{"id":207,"date":"2013-12-12T17:48:05","date_gmt":"2013-12-12T17:48:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/science\/?p=207"},"modified":"2013-12-12T17:48:05","modified_gmt":"2013-12-12T17:48:05","slug":"penny-parks-mission-to-enhance-science-awareness-nets-honorary-degree-from-ufv-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/science\/2013\/12\/12\/penny-parks-mission-to-enhance-science-awareness-nets-honorary-degree-from-ufv-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Penny Park\u2019s mission to enhance science awareness nets honorary degree from UFV (2013)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Archived from UFV Today, June 4 2013. <\/a>Original post by Anne Russell.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Science<\/a>
Science educator and 2013 UFV honorary degree recipient Penny Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Saying Penny Park\u2019s work is sometimes out of this world might seem cliched.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s true \u2014 and Canada\u2019s better because of it.<\/p>\n

As a child, Park wanted to be either a journalist or veterinarian. After studying linguistics at the University of New Brunswick (and taking a turn at the university\u2019s radio station), the world of cats and dogs kept calling, so she headed to the University of Guelph, graduating with a BSc (honours) in biology.<\/p>\n

But instead caring for animals, Park\u2019s passions were put to good use as producer and senior producer with Quirks and Quarks<\/i>, the award-winning weekly science program on CBC Radio.<\/p>\n

Following that, she worked for the Discovery Channel, helping develop the show Daily Planet<\/i>, the world\u2019s first nightly TV magazine show about science and technology.<\/p>\n

Sitting through board meetings with other properties owned by Discovery\u2019s parent company Bell Media (ranging from the Globe and Mail<\/i> to TSN), Park recognized the importance of providing accurate information across the wide spectrum of categories touched by science.<\/p>\n

Which includes, basically, everything.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, with more being asked of fewer journalists, the quality of reporting wasn\u2019t what many felt the Canadian public deserved.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday it\u2019s a 24\/7 news cycle,\u201d Park says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s less time to report on increasingly complex stories, many of which have science at their core \u2013 and yet most journalists come from a political science or arts background with little knowledge of science and how science is done.\u201d<\/p>\n

So in 2010 she changed careers again, becoming executive director of the newly minted Science Media Centre of Canada, a non-profit charitable organization with a variety of services geared to ensure Canadians receive better information and reporting.<\/p>\n

\u201cJournalists are increasingly under the gun,\u201d she says, pointing out how some cover city hall in the morning before switching gears, and beats, to the oil sands, fisheries, climate change, concussions, or the components of a hockey stick \u2014 all of which are related to science.<\/p>\n

To help, the SMC finds experts to talk on a one-on-one basis in addition to providing weekly e-mail alerts that highlight Canadian stories and offering regular webinars.<\/p>\n

Funding comes from universities, research institutions, governments, granting councils and other avenues, though no more than 10 per cent can be provided by any one organization to ensure the SMC continues to operate \u2014 and continues to be perceived as operating \u2014 as an unbiased organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to communicate effectively and tell stories to help people understand difficult matters is essential,\u201d Park says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is important and I\u2019m proud to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Montreal native now living in Toronto is ecstatic to be receiving an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the University of the Fraser Valley.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m deeply honoured and truly appreciative of this recognition, not just for myself but for the SMCC and what we do. Ultimately more informed journalism contributes to a well informed public, and a well informed public is essential to a healthy democracy. In today\u2019s world so much of what we need to consider when making decisions involves the evidence we get from scientific pursuits.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Archived from UFV Today, June 4 2013. Original post by Anne Russell. Saying Penny Park\u2019s work is sometimes out of this world might seem cliched. But it\u2019s true \u2014 and Canada\u2019s better because of it. As a child, Park wanted to be either a journalist or veterinarian. After studying linguistics at the University of New … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deans-office"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":323,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207\/revisions\/323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}