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 Left to right: Helen Lam, Matthew Chen, Yuk-Shan Wong, Dr. Sahni, Diana Ying and Roderick Wong Photo by Andrew Dobrowolskyj |
Visitors from Hong Kong Five members of the City University of Hong Kong recently visited Concordia, and are seen above in downtown Montreal with Professor Balbir Sahni, director of the Centre for International Academic Cooperation. Provost and Vice-Rector Research Jack Lightstone and his counterpart, Dr. Yuk-Shan Wong, signed a general agreement of academic cooperation. It is hoped that this will lead to a bilateral exchange of students, with Concordians taking advantage of the new Ministry of Education Mobility Bursary, and collaborative research, starting with the Faculties of Arts & Science and Engineering & Computer Science. |
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Lynne Prendergast leaves the helm of Registrar’s Registrar Lynne Prendergast will leave Concordia this week after a career spanning more than 37 years at the university. She began her career at Sir George Williams University in 1964 as a secretary in the admissions office, and became Registrar in 1996. Lynne earned three degrees at Concordia: her BSc in 1975, BA (Honours English) in 1981, and her MBA in 1989. She also got the Royal Bank Award for outstanding academic performance, and became a part-time teacher in Decision Sciences/MIS. Lynne’s career will be celebrated in January. She will be replaced on an interim basis by Linda Healey. |
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 Applied Human Sciences Professor Bluma Litner, Finance Professor Arshad Ahmad and Communication Studies Professor William Gilsdorf |
3M retreat has a Concordia flavour Finance Professor Arshad Ahmad won a 3M Teaching Fellowship in 1992, and it’s probably fair to say his life has never been the same since. His intense interest in teaching developed into a PhD from McGill in education, and he is now the coordinator of the national 3M Teaching Fellowship Program. The 3M Fellowship is Canada’s most prestigious teaching award. Every year, 10 fellows are selected, and after 17 years, there is now a community of 117 3M fellows — two generations of teachers in a wide variety of disciplines, as Arshad likes to point out. One of the perks of being selected is that the 10 new fellows enjoy a three-day retreat, always at Château Montebello, in western Quebec, where they can discuss teaching strategies and philosophies. For this year’s retreat, held Nov. 4 to 6, the facilitators chosen to lead the discussion were both Concordians — Applied Human Sciences Professor Bluma Litner, who became a 3M fellow in 1996, and retired Communication Studies Professor William Gilsdorf, who became a fellow in 1990. “This year, the group conceived a plan to create, test and disseminate guidelines for evaluating teaching portfolios,” Arshad said. “These guidelines will be helpful to all tenure and promotion committees as well as to individuals preparing dossiers, given the absence of standards across Canadian institutions. The 3M Teaching Fellowship is open to any person at a Canadian university regardless of discipline or level of appointment. For more information, visit www.johnmolson.concordia.ca/stlhe/. |
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Art Matters gears up for another year For the second year, the student-run festival Art Matters will showcase works from rising Concordia artists. There was a great turnout for an information session and party at Reggie’s on Nov. 28, according to film studies student Katharine Harris, the festival coordinator. The two-week festival began last year as part of the 25th anniversary of the Faculty of Fine Arts. It was a huge success, attracting some 400 participants and encouraging inter-Faculty projects such as the “Teach Engineers to Paint” workshop. Harris would like to see greater participation by creative writers this year, such as poets and fiction writers. Students in the translation program have also been contacted in order to make the festival as bilingual as possible. Art Matters is scheduled for March 1-15. Submission proposal forms are available in VA-250 or can be obtained by emailing artmatters@canada.com. The deadline for proposals is Jan. 15. Festival organizers are also looking for volunteers to fill various positions. Anyone interested should send an email to the above address. —Anna Bratulic |
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Keefer-Marouf case thrown out of court The university was successful Nov. 22 in its motion to have the injunction proceedings against the university instituted by Tom Keefer and Laith Marouf thrown out. The pair had requested an injunction against the university because they were excluded from Concordia as the result of an altercation with security guards in the summer. Preliminary sessions to hear arguments for and against the injunction were held Oct. 10 and Oct. 25, and the pair were granted limited access to the university to fulfill their CSU duties while the case was ongoing. In a decision rendered on Nov. 22, the judge accepted the university’s argument that Keefer and Marouf had not exhausted their internal recourses at the university (i.e., an appeal to the Board of Governors), and that therefore their request for an injunction before the courts should be dismissed. They have 30 days to appeal this decision to the Court of Appeal. In a separate incident, Laith Marouf called a news conference in the lobby of the Hall Building on Nov. 26 to announce that he was bringing a complaint before the Quebec Human Rights Commission against the university, B’nai Brith and The Suburban, based on his claim that he had been singled out for criticism for his political views. Since he has been excluded from university premises since Aug. 20, the police were called, and he was escorted from the building. Keefer initially headed one of the slates running in last week’s CSU election, but he dropped out. |
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Pitching in for U.S. public broadcasting In the spirit of Canadians’ continued support for their southern neighbours, four Concordia journalism students and their teacher piled into a Volvo and headed to Plattsburgh, NY, on Dec. 2 to help with the Mountain Lake PBS pledge drive. The students were inspired to volunteer after the director of programming for the station, John Flanzer, visited their broadcasting class and suggested that they help out. (They admit may also have been motivated by the fact that anyone who went was guaranteed a spot on television.) They met at Vendome metro station, where teacher Barry Lazar picked them up. At the station, at 1 Sesame St., they were given a brief training session and took their places on the set to man the phones. They competed to see who would get the most pledges, and could be glimpsed during the pledge breaks, between tapes of a Bee Gees concert and singing teenager Charlotte Church. —Carine Karam |
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Registration via the Web at Concordia It is now possible for undergraduate program, visiting and independent students to register online for Concordia. Students can access the new system from the Quick Links section on Concordia’s main Web site. Assistant Registrar Terry Too added that undergraduate students, visiting and independent students will still be able to register via CARL. |
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Food drive ends on December 19 The Birks Student Service Centre, LB-185, has been added to the drop-off points for contributions to the food/clothing/toy drive for Chez Doris and Benedict Labre House. While the drive doesn’t end until Dec. 19, the organizers hope as much material as possible is donated by Dec. 17, so that it can be delivered by the last day of the drive. Many thanks to everyone who has generously contributed, and to the men in Distribution Services, who did their bit by collecting donation boxes from offices. |
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A virtual peek at the new buildings We invite you take a virtual look at the buildings being constructed and planned for Concordia. A video representation of the new Loyola Science Complex and downtown homes for Engineering and Computer Science, Fine Arts and the John Molson School of Business is now available on the Building Concordia’s Future site at: http://buildings.concordia.ca. |
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Hockey players help shelter The Stinger men’s hockey team, along with coach Kevin Figsby, helped with a fundraiser for a shelter recently, unloading a tractor-trailer full of 40-lb. boxes of oranges. The shelter, L’Abri en ville, found that their usual helpers weren’t available, and sent out a call for help. The players readily agreed, and spent the morning, including some of their usual practice time, unloading the fruit at St. Andrew’s Dominion Douglas Church. |