Names in the News

Philip Abrami, director of the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance, was quoted in an article in The Gazette about the impact of computers on learning. He said they can improve the learning process: “Time on task, motivation and engagement are dramatically higher.” He added that schools have found ways to share computers efficiently in the classroom.

The CBC national news interviewed Marika Pruska-Carroll (Political Science) about the Russian oil giant Yukos. She said it’s a purely political crisis, and Russians seem to approve nationalizing industries seized by the post-Soviet oligarchs. Pruska-Carroll was also interviewed widely about the Beslan mass murder and the Chechyan issue, including CJAD, Global TV, CTV and a CBC radio phone-in.

Andrew Mambo, a political science graduate, was featured in The Gazette recently. He will be working in Zambia as part of the Kicking AIDS Out! Program, an international alliance of organizations that includes Commonwealth Games Canada and has as its mandate the promotion of sport as a way of addressing AIDS.

Pierre Gauthier and his geography students’ project on Griffintown got star treatment in The Gazette this summer. The students in his Advanced Urban Laboratory worked all year on ideas to revitalize a section of the old neighborhood near the Lachine Canal.

A show by Trevor Gould (Studio Arts) called Notes After Jean De La Hire at the Galerie Lilian Rodriguez was given a favourable review by The Gazette’s Henry Lehman. Gould, who grew up in South Africa, has an international reputation. His work often deals with the late colonial period, when big-game hunters sought to subjugate nature.

James Pfaus (CSBN) does research on sex impulses, and it has been reported widely. A mention even made its way into a satirical piece on Jon Stewart’s popular U.S. programThe Daily Show.

Karl Raudsepp (Music) was featured in The Gazette in an article on the fine art of tuning pipe organs.

Bill Reimer (Sociology/Anthropology) was the studio guest on Nancy Wood’s Radio Noon Phone-In (CBC) on the subject of the changing rural economy.

Global Television interviewed Lorne Switzer (Finance) about a Royal Bank computer glitch that disrupted customer service. He also appeared on CFCF-TV news to discuss the economic platforms of the political parties before the June federal election, and said a minority government would not be well received by the financial markets.

Jordan Le Bel (Marketing) is everywhere. Among other things, he was interviewed about the mistakes made by retailer Les Ailes de la Mode, and recent extension of shopping mall hours. He has talked about the way advertisers seduce us, and speculated on the challenge of updating Charlie Chaplin’s image.

Jean McGuire and Zied Guedri (Management) and Sandra Dow (Finance, UQAM) wrote an essay in La Presse that took issue with an editorial on the effectiveness of stock option programs.

Lawrence Kryzanowski was interviewed on CBC Newsworld Today and Canada Now regarding the early retirement package offered to the employees of Bell Canada.

Suresh Goyal (Decision Sciences) often writes letters to The Gazette. Recent missives have addressed offshore outsourcing of IT, and the desirability of giving tax breaks to blood donors.

Genocide scholar Frank Chalk (History) was interviewed by Jeff Sallot for an article in the Globe and Mail on the situation in Darfur, Sudan.

In The Mirror, Harold Simpkins (Marketing) discussed eConcordia’s new online course, Marketing Yourself, which applies traditional marketing theories to create a personal marketing strategy. You can learn more by going to www.marketingyourself.ca Simpkins also popped up in The Gazette, talking about how he teaches marketing by assigning real clients to his students, and he was on the CTV National News in mid-August, talking about the retail giant Target taking over the Hudson’s Bay Company.