This column welcomes the submissions of all Concordia faculty and staff to promote and encourage individual and group activities in teaching and research, and to encourage work-related achievements.

Nabil Bissada, Concordia’s Hazardous Materials Safety Officer (Environmental Health and Safety), was quoted as part of a community forum about health care on Global News Sunday on Feb. 9. The piece was a vox populi of Montrealers’ views on the dangers and costs of building a superhospital on contaminated grounds.

Peter Downie (Journalism) contributed his expertise to a discussion on the media’s portrayals of tragedies on the CBC TV’s Inside Media on Feb. 6. The topic is hot in the aftermath of the Columbia shuttle crash and the avalanche that killed seven teenagers in British Columbia.

Isabelle Dostaler (Management) affirmed that Air Canada’s $428 million loss for 2002 did not surprise her on SRC’s La Tribune du Québec on Feb. 6. She said that the company’s structural renovation caused the losses and was designed to please the airline’s shareholders.

William Bukowski (Psychology, Centre for Research in Human Development) was quoted in the February issue of Today’s Parent about the love/hate relationship between boys and girls during childhood. He explained that children identify strongly with members of their sex but are drawn to the opposite sex at the same time. “They have to deal with this problem—how can I have dealings with a boy but still think of myself as a girl?” he said.

Isabelle Lemay, a graduate of Concordia’s Design for the Theatre program, was featured in Journal de Montréal on Feb. 8 in an article on the booming video game and 3D animation industries in California. Lemay moved to Silicon Valley two years ago, where she works for a video game company called Crystal Dynamics. She said that the company’s multicultural staff “contribue à créer un univers stimulant et la communion des différentes ideologies est à la source de l’originalité et du success des produits de la compagnie.”

Fine arts graduate Jana Sterbak was profiled in the Toronto Star recently on the occasion of her current exhibition at the Musée d’Art contemporain. The show includes work that the Montreal artist will present as Canada’s delegate to the 50th annual Venice Biennale Exhibition of Art in June. Her provocative portfolio includes Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorexic, a dress made of 22 kilograms of flank steak that was exhibited at the National Gallery of Ottawa in 2001.

Stéphane Brutus (Management) was quoted in an article in an article titled “Vos collègues sont-ils plus crédibles que votre patron?” in Les Affaires of Feb. 20. He said that he was not surprised by survey results showing that 48 per cent of Quebecers have more confidence in information that comes from colleagues than from management.

Susan Palmer (Religion) was quoted in two recent articles about Raelianism, a spiritual movement that revolves around belief in extraterrestrials and whose members claimed to have cloned a human being. In the National Post of Jan. 13, Palmer highlighted the commercial aspect of the movement and the fact that the Raelians “crave media attention.” In a profile of Ottawa’s chief Raelian, Pierre-Paul Bourque, Palmer explained to the Ottawa Citizen that genuine belief in Rael’s message is central to the movement’s continued existence.

Guy Lachapelle (Political Science) appeared on RDI’s Le Québec en Direct on Feb. 26 and commented on the Parti Québécois’s rise in popularity in recent polls.

James Pfaus (Psychology) and Amelie Woehrling, a research assistant, were on Montréal Ce Soir on CBFT TV last month as part of a panel of local sexologists. Montreal will host the 17th annual international symposium on sexology in 2004.

Hugh Hazelton (CMLL), who teaches Spanish literature and culture at Concordia, runs a small press out of his home that published a book of poems by children. Called Sunflower: Poems by Children of the Americas, the book was favorably reviewed by Jeff Heinrich of The Gazette, and the article made its way into newspapers in Regina and Sydney, N.S., among others.