In brief

 

JMSB cleans up awards

Two MBA students finished second at the Ivey National Business Plan Competition, held at the University of Western Ontario on March 25-26 in London. Second-year MBA students Alec Komashchenko and Rachel Reid were the runners-up at this year’s competition and received a trophy and $3,000 for their efforts.

Their company, Algorithm Marketing Technologies Inc., was founded by Alec to produce and market his state-of-the-art ultraviolet detectors, which he invented doing his PhD studies in semiconductor electronics. These detectors represent a significant improvement over those currently being used for fire detection, skin cancer prevention, missile homing systems, and ozone and pollution monitoring.

Alec wrote the business plan for his MBA Entrepreneurship class under Professor A.B. Ibrahim’s guidance. Rachel, who works in the Small Business Consulting Bureau, assisted with devising a marketing and fund-raising strategy and putting the presentation together.

Professor Bakr Ibrahim, the Director of the Centre, and fellow coach Jose Lam will continue to work with them through the Dobson Mentorship Program to build the business.

The event is an excellent opportunity to learn more about starting a business and to network with fellow students, successful entrepreneurs, consultants, and venture capitalists. The top 10 business plans submitted earn their authors a two-day trip to London, where the entrepreneurs present their business concepts to a panel of judges.

This year marks the third year in a row that JMSB students have either won or been runners-up in the Ivey Business Plan Competition.

Marketing Happening for undergrads

Marketing Happening 2004 is the biggest undergraduate marketing competition in Eastern Canada. This year it took place March 19-21 at Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, and students in the John Molson School of Business brought the cup back for the second year in a row.

The JMSB sent 28 delegates to compete with 350 participants from 11 other Eastern Canadian universities in academic, sports and social events.

Alexis Robin, Beth Thouin, Lana Bukvic and Rajiv Uttamchandani took gold in the Integrated Marketing and Communication case competition. Another gold award was won in Marketing en Herbes, a game-show quiz on marketing lore, by Jennifer Potvin, Andrew Cambridge and Harold Fortin. The team in the Direct Response Marketing case won silver, and another team won a bronze in the Construction event, which was a social competition.

Undergrad case in Victoria

A team of four JMSB students brought a bronze medal home from Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC, after the International Undergraduate Case Competition took place there March 17-20. Talal Alameddine, Vic Arora, Salma Awwad and Eric Blanchette spent hours preparing for the contest under their coaches, Tim Field, Mark Haber and Noor Shawwa. They were up against 10 other schools. First place went to the British Columbia Institute of Technology; Queen’s University took the silver medal.

Sociology book launch

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology held a multiple book launch on the sixth floor of the J.W. McConnell building on March 24 to celebrate its prolific faculty members:

Vered Amit edited a book, Biographical Dictionary of Social and Cultural Anthropology.

David Howes wrote a book, Sensual Relations: Engaging the Senses in Culture and Social Theory. Constance Classen, David Howes and Anthony Synnott celebrated the Korean edition of their 1994 book Aroma: The Cultural History of Smell.

Dominique Legros wrote a book, L’histoire du corbeau et M. McGinty: Un Indien athapaskan tutchone du Yukon raconte la création du monde.

Marie-Nathalie LeBlanc, with Dierdre Meintel, edited a special edition of Anthropoologie et Société called Religion en mouvement. Bart Simon, with Jill Dudur and Teresa Heffernan, edited a special issue of Cultural Critique on posthumanism.

Spectacle dans la rue

Le colloque international Le spectacle politique dans la rue: événements, rituels et récits, qui a eu lieu à l’Édifice Samuel Bronfman du 1er au 3 avril 2004, a été l’hôte d’une centaine de spécialistes canadiens et internationaux, ainsi que des étudiants des universités montréalaises et ontariennes.

Ce colloque interdisciplinaire couvrait les périodes du XVIe au XXIe siècle. It était organisé par les professeures Marie-France Wagner de l’Université Concordia et Catherine Mavrikakis de l’Université de Montréal, en collaboration avec le Groupe de recherches sur les entrées solennelles (GRES).

Il proposait une réflexion sur les liens entre le pouvoir et le spectacle de rue, selon trois axes: la rue festive comme forme urbaine transfigurée par l’événement politique, la rue investie par le pouvoir comme dispositif où se trouvent à l’œuvre des dialectiques et finalement le récit de la rue comme mode de circulations des discours politiques, mémoriels, utopiques. Le colloque fut organisé grâce au soutien du CRSH/ SSHRC, du Consulat général de France à Québec, de l’Université Concordia (Études françaises) et de l’Université de Montréal (Faculté des études supérieures).

Renseignements complémentaires aux le site: http://GRES.concordia.ca.

- Audrey Nanot, Assistante de recherches au GRES

Online terminology bank

Translation Services is happy to announce the launch of the updated Concordia French-English online lexicon.

This terminology bank now boasts nearly 3,500 entries, which encompass the vocabulary commonly in use at Concordia (position titles, service and department names, research centres).

It is far from exhaustive, but is nevertheless a precious tool. To use it, go to web2.concordia.ca/ translation. Feel free to contact us if you see any errors or missing information.

Thanks to IITS, Marketing Communications and Internal Relations & Communications for their co-operation.

- Dina Azuelos, Co-ordinator, Translation Services

Claire Morris president of AUCC

The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada has named Claire Morris as president and CEO, effective April 5.

She comes to AUCC from a post as deputy minister of intergovernmental affairs in the Privy Council Office, where she provided policy advice on federal-provincial relations.

She succeeds Robert J. Giroux, who is retiring after leading AUCC since December 1995.

New Evolution wins vote

The New Evolution slate pulled off a convincing win in the Concordia Student Union (CSU) elections, held March 23-25.

The runners-up, Concordians in Action, garnered 1,664 votes to New Evolution's 2,336.

Brent Farrington, who is Vice-President, Student Environment, for the current slate, Evolution not Revolution, headed the New Evolution slate.

The CSU executive for the 2004-05 academic year will be as follows: Brent Farrington, President; Alison Beck, Vice-President Academic; Melissa Gruber, Vice-President Internal Relations; Farouk Janmohamed, Vice-President Clubs and Services; Ayaz Kassam, Vice-President Logistics: Arielle Reid, Vice-President External; Peter Shiefke, Vice-President Student Life; and Lauren Teblum, Vice-President Finance.

Regarding the referendum questions, the CSU fee combination and the Frigo Vert fee change passed. However, the QPIRG fee increase failed.

Plant a Seed…Help Us Grow: Staff Appeal

The 2003-04 Staff Appeal, part of the Concordia University Community Campaign, kicked off April 2 with a lunch for volunteer fundraisers and senior administrators in the downtown faculty club. Maria Piccioni, co-ordinator of Faculty & Staff Giving, explains:

As with the Faculty & Libraries Campaign, the Staff Appeal is the largest person-to-person fundraising effort since the new Millennium Campaign.

Staff members have enthusiastically responded to the invitation to help raise funds for student support and other university priorities. In fact, close to 100 faculty and staff volunteers are actively working in these two campaigns.

This internal community campaign is a critical part of Concordia's Annual Campaign, which is a vital source of funding for the university.

Urgent needs include student support, library resources, faculty development (academic initiatives and special projects), and recreation and athletics facilities. within a faculty, school or department.

Staff members can designate how their contributions will be spent. This campaign will also give them the opportunity to create new scholarships and bursaries. Over the years, more than 50 scholarships and bursaries have been funded through the efforts of the Concordia community.

At our kickoff luncheon last week, David Thirlwall and Faye Corbin talked about the new bursary they've created, the Library Staff in Support of Students Bursary, and Design Art student Roman Lifshitz talked about what winning the Faculty of Fine Arts Development Fund Scholarship has meant to him.

One of our goals this year is to increase number of new donors and bring our participation rate up to 33 per cent. Don’t forget that our support gibrd Concordia incredible leverage in seeking support from the larger community.

This is why internal giving is critical: it is a barometer for fundraising success, an endorsement of the university that sends a strong signal that those who work inside the institution believe in the work it does and the mission it fulfills.

The campaign’s motto, “Plant a Seed…Watch Our Garden Grow,” is about nurturing growth, creating bright futures, and all the possibilities our support can bring. The bright faces of the children used the campaign symbolize this optimism and investment in our future.

The campaign will run through to May 31, under the leadership of chair Irvin Dudeck and the Staff Appeal Steering Committee. Please be generous when one of your colleagues approaches you in the coming weeks.

Members of evaluation and search committees

At the Board of Governors meeting on March 18, Rector Frederick Lowy (chair), Jonathan Wener (community-at-large) and Dean Christopher Jackson (senior administration) were named to the Evaluation Committee for the Vice-Rector, Services.

Graham Maisonneuve (staff), Adam Slater (undergraduate), Lucie Lequin and Christopher Ross (full-time faculty) were elected as members of the Advisory Search Committee for Vice-Rector Advancement and Alumni Affairs. The profile for the position was also approved.