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 Left to right, Odile Tessier, now of the Université de Sherbrooke, who was a post-doctoral fellow in the CRDH; and three former students, Pascale Lehoux, Susan Graham and Lorrie Sippola, all of whom have PhDs. |
Centre celebrates anniversary Members and alumni of Concordia’s Centre for Research in Human Development (CRDH, the French acronym) celebrated the unit’s 20th anniversary on Oct. 11 with an invited speaker and a reception. The Centre was founded in 1981 with an FCAR grant to Professors Lisa Serbin, Anna-Beth Doyle, Dolores Pushkar, Alex Schwartzman and the late Donna White. Over the years, they have tackled complex issues, such as social development, peer relations, aggression, and the influence of gender on development and mental health. Their work called for a multidisciplinary approach to theory, research design and methodology, and the researchers have studied both normal and atypical processes of development. The CRDH now includes 27 faculty members, 60 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, a group of dedicated staff members, and an expanding variety of research programs and projects, currently involving more than $2 million in annual funding. More than 85 scholars have earned PhDs at the CRDH; they work in basic and applied research in academic and clinical settings across Canada and internationally. |
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 Amin A. Mahmoud, Balbir Sahni and Rector Frederick Lowy Photo by Christian Fleury |
Signing with Jordanian university Amin A. Mahmoud, president of Al-Ahliyya Amman University in Jordan, visited Concordia recently to sign a letter of understanding. He is seen on the left, with Professor Balbir Sahni, director of Concordia’s Centre for International Academic Cooperation, and Rector Frederick Lowy. The agreement was aimed at developing linkages in business and engineering/computer science programs, particularly those delivered through higher technology. A similar agreement was signed recently with the Iran University of Science and Technology. |
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Zsolnay says The Suburban erred The weekly newspaper The Suburban reported last week that there had been a dramatic drop in donations to the university as a result of the controversy over the student agenda: “Donations from Concordia alumni have dropped from a monthly average of $1.5 million to $15,000, university sources tell The Suburban.” This is nonsense, said Tamás Zsolnay, Executive Director of Advancement. He wrote to the newspaper, saying, in part: “P.A. Sevigny’s reporting of the student reaction to the CSU’s handbook (CSU impeachment looms, Oct. 10) is generally informative and a fair reflection of what is happening on campus. However, I am compelled to write in response to statements in the fourth paragraph of his article. “As Concordia University’s chief fundraiser, I am very curious about which university sources told The Suburban that donations from alumni have dropped. In fact, total donations to the university this year are greater than they were at this time last year ($3.2 million vs. $2 million), and last year was the university’s best year ever, with $15.7 million in receipted donations. “In future, questions regarding fundraising at Concordia should be directed to me.” The most recent alumni event was the Loyola Club dinner, held Oct. 19. Paul Chesser, coordinator of telefundraising in Advancement, reports that out of 600 graduates reminded about the dinner, fewer than 10 complained about the controversy. “Some had questions about the current events, but most were friendly and polite,” he said. The telefundraising campaign, which is conducted by trained students, started last Sunday. |
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Memorial for alumni who died in WTC attack A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. on Oct. 28 at Temple Emanu-El-Beth Shalom for two Concordia alumni, Peter Fiedelberg and Merideth Ewart, who died on Sept. 11 in the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York. The information was kindly passed on to CTR by Frances Cartman, in the John Molson School of Business, who added, “Peter was a fraternity brother in Theta Sigma and a dear friend of my son Tom.” |
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 Michael Golden, Rick Stom and Julie Fowler at the gala. |
Another prize for Art Matters Art Matters, the arts festival organized last winter by fine arts students, won the Avenir Arts, lettres et culture prize at the Forces Avenir gala in Québec City on Oct. 11. Forces Avenir is a non-profit consortium of business and government that encourages young talent in Quebec. This is Concordia’s first-ever prize in this annual province-wide competition, which is now three years old. On hand for the gala were organizers Michael Golden, Julie Fowler (who flew all the way from Vancouver), representing the other two organizers, Ruth Sumiko Tabata and Yael Wand. Former CSU employee Rick Stom and Dean of Students Donald Boisvert also attended. The organizers won $4,000 and a Forces Avenir statuette. At spring convocation in June, the Art Matters organizers won Concordia’s First Graduating Class Award for their initiative. |
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 An image from Emilie Goulet’s final project as a student in Concordia’s animation program. Now a BFA, she is working for the big Montreal animation studio Ciné-Group and enjoying it, but she’s also continuing to do her own projects. |
Animators converge on Concordia The 13th conference of the Society for Animation Studies (SAS) is taking place all this week at Concordia, apart from Monday, which was spent at a National Film Board open house, and several presentations at the Cinémateque Québécoise. Workshops are being given by scholars from the U.S., England, Iran, Japan, New Zealand, China, Australia and Canada, including presenters from Concordia. Their topics range from the history of animation to where animation education should go in the future. The SAS was founded in 1987 and has members all over the world. It supports animation scholarship in a variety of ways, including an annual conference (last year, it was in Norway), Web sites (http://asifa.net/sas and http://www.awn.com/sas) and an e-newsletter. The Society also fosters research and writing focused on animation with several competitions, including the Norman McLaren – Evelyn Lambert Award for best scholarly book or monograph, and a student essay contest. |
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Discourse on design art and politics Declarations of [Inter]dependence and the Im[media]cy of Design is taking place over the next three days, Oct. 25-28, under the auspices of the Department of Design Art. Among the speakers are No Logo author and activist Naomi Klein, who addresses delegates on Saturday morning. Some sample titles of presentations will give the flavour of the conference: “The Autonomy of Design in the Information Society,” “Liberated Spaces: The Politics of Fanzines and Alternative Comics,” “Design as A Cultural Force in Civic Dialogue,” “Considering the Role of the Designer in an Age of Uncrazymadness.” For information, please call Michael Longford or Amy Reid at 848-4249, or longford@alcor.concordia.ca. |
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GSA seeking accreditation The Graduate Students Association is holding a referendum to seek members’ approval of a request from the Quebec government for accreditation. This status would make it easier for the GSA to books space for activities and events, advertise for them and set up information booths on campus. There are 4,140 graduate students eligible to vote. Twenty-five per cent must vote in the referendum. A simple majority (50 per cent plus 1) is needed to apply for accreditation. To give members the best possibly opportunity to vote, there will be mail-in ballots for off-site interns and co-op students, and classes will be canvassed by the polling officers. The polling stations are in the lobby of the Administration Building at Loyola, from Oct. 22-23, 1 to 6 p.m., and in the atrium of the McConnell library complex downtown, Oct. 24-26, from 1 to 6 p.m.. |
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O’Driscoll stages Yeats in the park An undergraduate student is directing a performance of W.B. Yeats’ rarely performed play The Player Queen, in Lafontaine Park. Declan O’Driscoll is a recipient of one of the Renaud Undergraduate Entrance Scholarships and president of the Faculty of Arts and Science Associations students group. He is currently in the playwrighting program. The Player Queen is described as “a fantastical farce, incorporating music and poetry to tell the confusing tale of a group of players, the unicorn, and a queen who would rather be a nun.” The production started Oct. 18, and continues until Sunday at the Calixa Lavalée Cultural Centre, 3819 Calixa-Lavalée St. |
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Business School bakes up a storm Under the leadership of Associate Dean Danielle Morin, the bakers of the John Molson School of Business have doubled last year’s takings in their now-annual bake sale for Centraide. The homemade goodies, supplemented by some crafts, brought in $1,486.15 at the sale, held Oct. 17. Reportedly, even the rector went over to the GM building to buy some falafel made by Danielle and her husband. Professor Morin, who is also a co-chair of the Concordia campaign, sent her heartfelt congratulations “to the bakers, artisans and many volunteers who gave their time, energy and good spirit — and thanks to all the buyers!” Special thanks go to dynamic bake sale coordinator Murielle Salari. The second annual Squeegee Day took place Oct. 19 at the downtown parking lot under the J.W. McConnell complex. Centraide committee co-chair Patricia Posius, who is the energetic person behind this event, extended her thanks to fellow early risers Allyson Noftall, Steven Zulkarnian, Frances Weller and Lorraine Toscano. Washing windshields of arriving cars earned $280 for Centraide. In the administration offices of Bishop Court, Shelagh Peden and Lise Brault delivered home-baked muffins and other breakfast goodies one morning, raising about $150. See Centraide raffle winners |