Concordia's Thursday Report

Job search is on

Undergraduates looking for summer work will be interested in a series of job-search workshops run by the Career Centre. These comprise resumé-writing (March 4), interview skills (March 5), networking skills (March 11), résumé writing (March 12).

The Career Centre is located in GM-1001. Although it is run by the John Molson School of Business, all Concordia students and graduates are eligible for its services.

On campus, the Summer Career Placements Program is available once again. This program offers subsidies to employers on campus who create full-time career-related summer jobs for students. Applicants should contact Francine Salinitri at CAPS (SGW-EN 109) for more details. The deadline is March 26.

André Gagnon, coordinator of the university’s Careers and Placement Service, says that this summer is shaping up to be a challenge for summer job-seekers, but CAPS is there to provide students with stategies.

“We help them decide on their next best step, and support them through the process. We also remind them that 80 per cent of available jobs are not advertised.

CAPS is located at 2070 Mackay St. and the Web site is caps.concordia.ca.

New corporate card

Concordia has entered into an agreement with U.S Bank Canada for the use of a Royal Bank Visa Corporate Card. Use of the card is for university-related expenses approved by department heads. For more information contact Rod Parsons, Manager, Accounts Payable, at parsons@alcor.concordia.ca.

Readings of short stories, with klezmer

The Concordia Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies will launch Not Quite Mainstream: Canadian Jewish Short Stories, on March 6, at La Sala Rossa, 4848 St. Laurent Blvd., between Villeneuve and St. Joseph Sts., second floor, starting at 8 p.m. This is a collection of Jewish Canadian fiction ranging from the early works of Chava Rosenfarb and Mordecai Richler to contemporary writers Robyn Sarah and Ken Sherman. It is published by Red Deer Press and edited by Norman Ravvin. The evening includes klezmer music and readings by Elaine Kalman Naves and Claire Rothman.

The Graduate, published by the graduate Student Association

Graduate students launch magazine

Concordia’s Graduate Student Association has just published the first issue of a new monthly called The Graduate.

There are three feature articles. The first is on the origins of graduate studies at Concordia, which began in 1965 at Sir George Williams University with 11 students and two programs, an MA in English and an MA in art education. The first Dean of Graduate Studies was Stanley French, now a professor emeritus who is still doing research on gender politics.

The second article is about TAG (Tolerance, Acceptance and Growth), a project undertaken by current GSA president Rocci Luppicini and GSA vice-president Nisha Sajnani, and the third is about The People’s Potato, the student-run soup kitchen that has grown into a major meal provider in partnership with the Muslim Students Association.

Luppicini is listed as both the editor and designer of The Graduate. His editorial is a spirited defence of Concordia in response to its last-place ranking in Maclean’s. His essay was also published by University Affairs magazine.

Several alumni win Quebec film awards

André Turpin (BFA 89), described by Professor Peter Rist as “one of our best-ever cinema students,” personally won three Jutras (Quebec industry awards) for directing, cinematography and screenplay on Un Crabe Dans la Tête, and his film won a total of seven awards.

The Gazette, in its coverage of the Jutras, called Un Crabe a “masterful romantic comedy about love and commitment.” The awards ceremony took place Feb. 17 at a televised gala in Montreal.

One of these awards was also won by another graduate of what is now the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, Sophie Leblond, for editing.

In addition, a former film instructor at Concordia, Isabel Raynaud won the Jutra for best documentary for Le Minot D’Or. Isabel is currently also working with Katie Russell and Rosanna Maule, two Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema faculty members, on an FCAR grant.

For Rist, the Jutras were a vindication for Quebec film and for Concordia: “I watched the Genies a week ago, and it was a very embarrasing affair for someone who teaches Canadian film — very Toronto-centric, and only noteworthy for all the awards going to Zacharias Kanuk’s film Atanarjuat.

“Quebec films were almost shut out, which was unforgiveable, because the Quebec film industry is in so much better shape right now than its English-Canadian equivalents,” he said in an e-mail.

“Toronto and Vancouver get a lot of Hollywood productions, but the Canadian fiction feature scene is pretty dismal right now outside Quebec. The Jutra Awards were an indication of how central Concordia teaching is to the current Quebec film scene.”

Media expert to speak at Concordia

Jerry McIntosh will speak to Barry Lazar’s journalism class on March 12 about the importance of point of view in documentary filmmaking. Jerry is best known as the man behind Rough Cuts, the major documentary showcase on CBC’s Newsworld, but he has just been appointed director of what CBC calls an “integrated documentary unit.”

This unit will commission independent productions for CBC’s documentary series and specials, part of the public broadcaster’s move away from expensive in-house production. The class meets in DL-200 from 9:15 to 11 a.m. There is room for about 50 more people.