‘I Can’ benefit concert will feature Lisa Walsh

Two years ago, we told you about a musical production by Concordia’s Centre for the Arts in Human Development that had an unusually talented star, Lisa Walsh. Like the other participants in this Centre’s highly successful outreach program of arts activities, Lisa has developmental challenges.

Now she is going to star in a benefit jazz concert for the Centre, under the title “I Can: A Celebration of the Arts . . . and Ability.” She’ll be joined on stage at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall by the Savoy Ellingtons (vocalists, and the son and daughter of Duke Ellington), tapdancer Travis Knights and others. The host will be CJAD morning man Andrew Carter.

Lisa, 24, has been attending the Berkshire Hills Music Academy in Massachusetts, which trains persons with developmental disabilities to become performers. The Centre for the Arts in Human Development is linked to Concordia’s creative arts therapies program, which sees students working with participants from the wider community.

Over the past seven years, the Centre has produced lively musical shows based on well-known stories, including The Wizard of Oz, Aladdin, and Alice in Wonderland, but reworked around the particular abilities of the participants.

The results are not only delightful for audiences, but truly inspiring for the participants and their families and friends. Quebec’s lieutenant-governor, Lise Thibault, was enraptured when she attended a production of And Alice Dreams...

The Centre has been supported in part by the Birks Family Foundation, which is also providing assistance at a daylong open house on Friday, May 9, to showcase the Centre’s work.

The Centre has been selling a compact disc made up of original musical numbers from several past productions, also called I Can.

The I Can concert will take place at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall on June 5. General admission, $30. Tickets available at Admissions, 790-1245, or the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall box office, 848-4848.

Gold medal for Christopher Gruden

Christopher Gruden (left) was a multiple winner when the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering handed out awards on April 11. Gruden won the CSME Gold Medal (above), one of the Silas Katz Memorial Scholarships, and a merit award for extracurricular activities.

Felix Vazquez also won a Silas Katz Scholarship. The Richard Cheng Design Award, which is the first prize for the capstone design project, was won by Aldo Camapanelli, Michael Cicoria and Antonio Romano for their “Multi-Image Display,” and second prize went to Miroslav Samija and Tomislav Galovic, for their “Juicer.”

The CSIE award for teaching excellence was presented to Professor Nadia Bhuiyan. Other award winners were Ibrahi Hassan (faculty, teaching), Chun-Yi Su (faculty, research), Charlene Wald (administrative staff), John Elliott (technical staff), Joe Hulet (professional staff). Certificates of appreciation were presented to staff members Juan Alfara and Arlene Zimmerman, who each had 15 years’ service.

In addition to Gruden, the following students won certificates of merit for undergraduate student involvement: Hussein Madi, Shashank Venugopal, Tanya Potoreyko and Paul Slack. Sheng Luo won the Norman Herbert Award, and doctoral candidates Dongpu Cao and Young Kap Son were given graduate fellowships.

Four students were also awarded international tuition fee remissions.

ENCS thanks to staff

A presentation was made April 23 by Dean Nabil Esmail (pictured at left, centre) to two deserving winners of the annual Staff Excellence Awards in the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science. In the office support category, the recipient is Marcelle Trotman, and in the technical support category, Guy Gosselin.

Marcelle has had a long career at Concordia, and is currently Assistant, Enrolment and Retention, in the Student Affairs Office. She is always ready for new challenges at work, and lends a helping hand wherever it’s needed.

An employee for more than 20 years, Guy has played a key role as Technical Officer in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He has earned everyone’s respect and admiration for his dedication, leadership and appreciation of others.

Web showcases virtual publishers, journalists

For about a dozen years, Simon Dardick has been teaching English 413 (Editing, Publishing & Creative Research) in Concordia’s creative writing unit — and for just as long, he writes, “I’ve wanted people to see the wonderful work the students have done in the publishing simulation part of the course.

“This is now possible through a recently-created Web site at www.vehiculepress.com/concordia.html.”

The students choose by lots what type of publisher they will be, and where.

Each group must create a name, mission statement, new and backlist titles, cover mockups, catalogue and promotional items, and then conduct a sales meeting outlining promotional and marketing plans.

The 14 students in this year’s class have done a professional job of organizing and describing their “publishing houses” as they worked towards their big sales meeting at the end of the term.
Their creations were Ferry Boat Press (children’s literature), Openface Books (“the largest publishing company in Canada”) and Pariah Press (a literary press in Winnipeg).

Students in Concordia’s Journalism Diploma program also launched their own Web site this year. InDIPendent INK is the name of “an unaffiliated, feisty Montreal-based alternative news publication,” and it can be found at www.dipink.com.