Concordia faculty, staff and alumni/æ pop up in the media more often than you might think!

Clarence S. Bayne, Director of the Graduate Diploma in Administration and Graduate Diploma in Sport Administration (DIA/DSA), and Ron Ferguson, Director of the MBA, were interviewed by Global Television on Feb. 26 about the sale of the naming rights of the Molson Centre to Bell for $5 million per year.

Norman Ravvin (Canadian Jewish Studies) was interviewed on Global TV on March 6 on the occasion of the launch of Not Quite Mainstream: Canadian Jewish Short Stories, which he edited. The book was launched that evening in Montreal with readings by two of the authors represented in the book, Elaine Kalman Naves and Claire Rothman. The book is published by Red Deer Press and the Concordia University Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies.

Françoise Sullivan (Studio Arts) was quoted in The Gazette when the great painter Jean-Paul Riopelle died recently. She said that when she announced his death in her class, the francophones knew who he was, but not the anglophone students.

François-Marc Gagnon (Canadian Art) told the National Post that he visited Jean-Paul Riopelle in Paris in the 1990s, and watched him holding court with admirers, talking furiously about “car racing, boxing, hunting — everything except art.” Gagnon said Riopelle showed that “a great artist should always compete in the world. He was an example at a time when we were too sheltered.”

Larry Prochner (Education) was quoted in The Gazette on the subject of choices of educational styles. He said that since one philosophy doesn’t suit every child, parents should read up on several methods and visit several classrooms.

Poet and alumnus Todd Swift wrote an affecting article about his father, Tom Swift, that was published in the National Post on March 2. Tom was a recording artist of great promise in the 1960s, but he also became director of admissions for Sir George Williams University when he was only 25, and gave up his singing career. His son Todd recounts how Tom lost the opportunity to record what became Frank Sinatra’s megahit My Way. Now retired from his full-time duties in the Office of the Registrar, Tom is an international recruiter for the John Molson School of Business.

Gary Kynoch (History) was one of three academics who wrote an essay for The Toronto Star in January on the Middle East conflict. “For peace to be truly possible,” they wrote, “Israeli authorities must confront Jewish settlers with the same determination they display toward Palestinians, forcing them to withdraw [from the West Bank and Gaza] into Israel proper. Until they do so, the political violence is not likely to end.”

Steven Appelbaum (Management) is often quoted in The Gazette. One recent contribution was about bullying bosses; another was on older employees, who he said are more flexible and show less absenteeism than their younger colleagues. A third article quoted him on career stability, less important now than job mobility. Finally, he was quoted in an article in Canadian Living magazine on spirituality in the workplace, which he said is another way of talking about corporate social responsibility.

Le Choc du numérique, by Hervé Fischer (Digital Image/Sound) was favourably reviewed by Frédérique David in the February issue of University Affairs.

As reported in the Mirror, Master’s of Fine Arts alumnus Kevin El-Ichi deForest will have a solo show at Ottawa’s Gallery 101 this spring, and will curate a show called Lovesexy at Montreal’s Gallery B-312. On the same page, there was a piece about MFA student Diyan Achjadi, who uses embroidery to subvert notions of femininity and gentility. She had a show at Articule, has exhibited in New York and Ottawa, and is working on a Web-related project with Studio XX.

Chengiah Ragaven, who taught sociology at Concordia for more than a decade, was often in the news then because he was the African National Congress’s representative in Montreal. In 1992, no longer an exile, he moved back to South Africa. He visited Montreal in December, and The Gazette’s Mark Abley reported that post-apartheid South Africa hasn’t progressed as far or as fast as Ragaven hoped.

Chantal Maillé (Simone de Beauvoir) was interviewed for an article in Métro, the newspaper distributed in Montreal Metro stations, about the fact that women are still under-represented in electoral politics. She was also interviewed by La Presse for a feature about the iconic power of the singer Madonna, and said approvingly that she is the embodiment of the “third wave” of feminism, girl power.