Concordia's Thursday Report

Heather Markgraf

Kudos for theatre department’s students and grads

Concordia’s Department of Theatre won a number of awards recently from the Montreal English Critics Circle Association (MECCA).

Recent graduate Joe Cobden took the award for best actor, male, for his performance in After the Dance, a production by the Montreal Young Company at th Saidye Bronfman Centre. He’s one of several Concordia theatre grads in the company.

Congratulations to Heather Markgraf (Facilities, Theatre Department), who won an award for “special distinction” for her remarkable achievement over eight years in building the Village Theatre, in Hudson, Que. (We profiled Heather in the Thursday Report last June.)

Robin A. Paterson, an alumnus of the department, won the MECCA award for best lights in the design category, for his work on Repercussion’s production of Twelfth Night.

The best ensemble award went to Soulfishing, which is comprised of Concordia theatre students, for their performance of Judith Thompson’s gritty drama The Crackwalker at Geordie Space last year.

The best new play was This I Know, by recent grad John Mountsteven. It was performed at the Montreal Fringe Festival.

Adi Saadé applies for a job at the job fair

Adi Saadé, a student in mechanical engineering, applies for a job at CAE, the leading manufacturer of flight simulators in the world. He was one of many students who attended a job fair organized by the Engineering and Computer Science Students Association on Sept. 21.

Photo by Andrew Dobrowolskyj

Job fairs and fairness

Adi Saadé, a student in mechanical engineering, was one of many students who attended a job fair organized by the Engineering and Computer Science Students Association on Sept. 21.

A job fair was also held by students in the John Molson School of Business on Sept. 13. CASA president Cristelle Basmaji said that despite last-minute withdrawals by two big companies in the wake of reaction to the CSU handbook, the job fair was “the most successful in a long time. We went into classes and told students that the CSU is trying to sabotage this event, so show up.”

Basmaji also urged business students to turn out at a general assembly called for Sept. 26 by the CSU. “It’s about time [business] students took an interest in student politics, because it’s affecting them.”

Meningitis C vaccinations offered by Health Services

Angie Trubiano, clinical coordinator in Concordia’s Health Service, says that the Quebec government is initiating a free mass vaccination campaign for meningitis C.

“The reason for this campaign is that this year in Quebec, the number of people affected by this serious disease has increased considerably.

“The number is abnormally high among people under 20 years of age, especially adolescents,” she said. “Experts predict that there will be a steady increase in the number of cases of meningococal infection. A large proportion of these cases involve serogroup C, which is the most virulent strain.”

Those at highest risk are those between the ages of two months to 20 years of age. Health Services holds a vaccination campaign from October to December.

For those who wish to be immunized but do not fall within the age group for free immunization, Health Services will purchase and offer at cost price.

Please make an appointment by calling Health Services at 848- 3565 (LOY) or 848-3575 (SGW).

Art Matters up for a prize

Congratulations to the organizers of Art Matters, an ambitious and successful student-organized arts festival held at Concordia last winter.

It won a special award for initiative at university convocation last spring. Now Art Matters is up for another prize, from Forces Avenir, a consortium of government and business that encourages young talent in Quebec.

Prizes will be announced at a banquet in Quebec City on October 11, and we wish the Concordia entrants the best of luck.

Concordia soccer player named Canadian athlete of the week

Congratulations to Kelly Hemsley, of the Concordia Stingers women’s soccer team, who was one of two students named Athlete of the Week by Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), for the week ending Sept. 16.

Kelly is a second-year education student from St. Bruno. She helped the Concordia Stingers vault into first place in the Quebec Conference of CIS women’s soccer with three goals and three assists in two victories that week. The Stingers are in first place in the QSSF, with an undefeated score of 2-0.

The other athlete of the week named is another soccer player, Damir Jesic, of the University of Alberta Golden Bears. He’s a fourth-year student originally from Sarajevo, Bosnia.