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

Joanna White (Education) was quoted in the National Post on Jan. 17 about plans to close École Jacques-Labrie, a school with a second-language program where she has done research.

Roberto Materassi (BSc ‘93 , GDip ‘02), a recent graduate in the Graduate Diploma in Sport Administration (DSA) who is now working for the National Hockey League in Montreal, was interviewed by Robert Burnett of Hour about the legal case launched by the minority shareholders of the Montreal Expos against the majority owner.

Irene Tschernomor (BAdmin ‘85, GDip ‘91), a part-time instructor in the Graduate Diploma in Administration (DIA) health care option, and executive director and CEO of the Queen Elizabeth Health Complex (QEHC), was interviewed on Daybreak, the CBC Radio program, about the variety of services offered at the QEHC. She informed listeners that although some of the offices are private clinics or are staffed by private practitioners, many of them were covered by Medicare.

A feature on Concordia’s Community Lecture Series on HIV/AIDS and its organizer and founder Tom Waugh (Cinema) appeared in the Mirror of Jan. 23. On the 10th anniversary of the series, Waugh said that people ignore the continuing ravages of the disease, particularly since the introduction of new medications. “The scariest thing is that… the situation with AIDS has actually gotten worse... People are not waking up to this.”

Martin Martens and Marylène Gagné, both in the Department of Management, wrote an article in The Gazette. Under the headline “Catching it before it hits the fan,” they looked at “toxin handlers,” people who help their organizations function efficiently by helping workers who are undergoing emotional stress.

Jordan Le Bel (Marketing) was interviewed on CBC local television on Jan. 16 by business correspondent Shari Okeke about the lacklustre performance of the recently opened Les Ailes de la Mode store in downtown Montreal. Le Bel highlighted the fact that the company has made no major changes to its original concept since its opening and was quick to dismiss the importance of the arrival of the discount store Winners in nearby Place Montreal Trust.

Michel Magnan (Accountancy) was interviewed by La Presse on Jan. 17 under the headline “Parfum de conflits d’interet.” Magnan, who holds the Lawrence Bloomberg Chair in Accountancy, was questioning how a board of governors can impartially judge the management of a company when some members hold a personal interest in the company. In another La Presse article, he discussed the fact the top three executives at Gildan had obtained stock options as salary even though they were the principal stockholders of the company.

In The Gazette on Jan. 20, under the headline “Fine line between friendly and flirt,” Robert Soroka, a lecturer in organizational behaviour in the John Molson School of Business, discussed combining social and work interactions. He said that co-workers may cross into dangerous territory when flirting at the workplace, even if it is only intended as friendly conversation, because it may be interpreted as sexual harassment.

Alumnus and set designer Christine Jones made the front page of the January issue of Entertainment Design, a distinguished magazine in the field. The article focused on Jones’s unconventional style of set design for the current off-Broadway production Burn This, by Lanford Wilson. Her method consists of collecting written materials for inspiration—bits of dialogue, quotes, notes—before visual images. Jones studied English literature, but completed her undergraduate degree in Concordia’s Theatre Department, which she described as “phenomenal” in the profile. For the full article, see http://entertainmentdesignmag.com.

Lisa Walsh, a client of Concordia’s Centre for the Arts in Human Development, will sing in a fundraising concert at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall with jazz great Duke Ellington’s son and daughter. The 24 -year-old singer was featured in The Globe and Mail of Jan. 11 in an article about Williams syndrome, a rare neurogenetic disorder that fosters extraordinary musical talent but underdeveloped IQs and reasoning skills. The concert, which will take place in June, will benefit the Centre for the Arts in Human Development.

Loïc Tassé (Political Science) was invited to share his academic perspectives on several programs dealing with international current events last month. On Jan. 22, he appeared on RDI’s show Le Québec en Direct to discuss North Korea’s weapons possessions. The next day, he spoke on CJMF’s Franc-Parler about the economic ramifications on Canada in the case of a war with Iraq.

The Gazette interviewed former Executive Director of Advancement and Alumni relations Tamas Zsolnay, direct from Ethiopia, where he has been collaborating on a UN peacekeeping mission since September 2002. In the Jan. 3 article, Zsolnay admitted that he had mixed emotions: “I’ve seen... soldiers with guns who just looked like they wanted to go home and towns that were intentionally demolished by withdrawing forces. I’ve seen the most beautiful scenery imaginable. I’ve seen monkeys in the wild and every shape, size and colour of bird.”