The Leonard and Bina Ellen Gallery showcases the best in student art

The annual exhibition of work by Fine Arts undergraduate students is on now at the Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery, on the downtown campus. It’s a wonderfully vital, eclectic showcase of the best in student art, and here is just one example.

At left, a detail from Sans Titre, by Véronique la Perrière Marcoux. This mixed-media piece features delicately coloured butterflies affixed to the wall. There are plaster casts of two lower legs—feet and shins—among them, and two magnifying glasses.

Marketing Personality of the Year

Congratulations to Professor Michel Laroche, who was named Marketing Personality of the Year in the category of “marketing consultant and professor” at a gala held recently by l’Association de marketing de Montréal, affiliated with the American Marketing Association. He is the first academic to be so named.

Dr. Laroche was recently named Royal Bank Distinguished Professor of Marketing in Concordia’s John Molson School of Business. A member of the Royal Society of Canada, he is currently a visiting professor at IAE-Aix en Provence, in France. Dr. Laroche will be awarded an honorary degree at the University of Guelph this October.

A new voice for the Faculty of Arts and Science

There’s a new publication making its debut this week. Panorama is the official newsletter of the Faculty of Arts and Science.

The first edition is eight pages long and includes articles on the popularity of Internet courses, the Faculty’s student recruitment efforts and undergraduate research awards. There is also a profile of new Exercise Science professor Robert Boushel.

Panorama is available on both campuses and will be distributed to 34,000 Arts and Science alumni with the June issue of Concordia Magazine. Panorama was written and edited by Derek Cassoff, the Faculty’s Communications Coordinator, and designed by Christine Daviault, from the Faculty’s Academic Technology unit.

Free lectures on Canadian painting and art history

François-Marc Gagnon, who holds Concordia’s Chair in Canadian Art History, has launched a series of free public lectures on Wednesday evenings at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

The lectures are given in English from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Maxwell Cummings Auditorium, accessed from the north side of Sherbrooke St. The first lecture, on the significance of trees in the work of the Group of Seven, was held last night.

Here is the schedule for the remainder of the series:

May 16: The Power of the North: Lawren Harris’s Pictures
May 23: David Milne and Goodridge Roberts: The Non-Sublime Landscape
May 30: Stanley Cosgrove, Marian D. Scott and The Essence of Landscape
June 6: Jean-Paul Lemieux’s Metaphysical Paintings
June 13: Paul-Émile Borduas’s Inscapes

The series will be given in French in the fall.

Washroom being renovated for wheelchairs

Barrier-free facilities to accommodate staff and students using wheelchairs are being constructed in H-592-1 of the Hall Building. A current men’s washroom is being transformed to into a unisex washroom for the use of students and staff with disabilities.

Leo Bissonnette, Coordinator of Services for Disabled Students, reports, “Washroom accessibility for people with disabilities has been on the agenda at Concordia for over 10 years.

“Funding proposals have been made to the government for access projects, including a major proposal in 1993. While most of Concordia’s buildings do have accessible washrooms, the issue of access surfaced again in 1999, when a student complained that he needed to go to the Library Building to use the washroom because the accessible washrooms in the Hall Building were too small for his larger-than-standard wheelchair,” he said.

Bissonnette added that since Fall 1999, as Concordia witnessed an increase in the student population with similar needs, Services for Disabled Students has been working with Facilities Planning to make at least one washroom on the Hall Building’s fifth floor accessible for larger wheelchairs.”

Last month, the office of the Vice-Rector, Services, provided funds. The renovations started Monday and will likely be finished by the end of the month. During construction, those who usually use that washroom should go instead to the fourth or sixth floor.

“I hope that you will understand our efforts to meet the special needs of a growing number of members of the Concordia community,” said Bissonnette. He is available for more information at 848-3518 and bissonn@vax2.concordia.ca.

Workshop on Web access for disabled students

The Canadian Association of Disability Service Providers in Post-Secondary Education (CADSPPE) will hold a workshop on Sunday June 17, from 9 a.m. to noon at McGill University under the title Ensuring Access to the Web access for disabled students with Disabilities: Introduction to Advocacy and Implementation.

The workshop will be held in conjunction with the annual conference of the Canadian Association of College and University Student Services (CACUSS).

Information on the conference is available at the CACUSS Web site, at http://www.cacuss.ca.

Royal power struggle at D.B. Clarke

Geordie Theatre Productions, the city’s best youth theatre troupe, will present A Man for All Seasons, Robert Bolt’s magisterial play about the clash of wills between Henry VIII and Sir Thomas More, as a benefit.

Many people are familiar with the Academy-Award-winning film version, made in 1966 and starring Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole. This production will feature lawyer Peter Blaikie as More, Westmount mayor Peter Trent as Henry VIII, Philip Johnston as Thomas Cromwell and former Centaur artist director Maurice Podbrey as The Common Man. The cast also includes Judge William Fraiberg, Bishop Andrew Hutchison, Tracey McKee, Brian Hammond, Brian Riordan and Rémi Lafrenière.

Performances are Tuesday, May 29, and Wednesday, May 30, both at 8 o’clock at the D.B. Clarke Theatre, in the Henry F. Hall Building. Tickets are $100, with a tax receipt for $75, and may be reserved by calling the Geordie box office, at 845-1955.