At a Glance

 

Congratulations to Hany Moustapha, adjunct professor in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and moving spirit behind CIADI, the Concordia Institute for Aeronautical Design and Innovation, who was given an honorary degree by Ryerson University this spring.

Hugh J. McQueen, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (right), was made a fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada at a ceremony in Ottawa in March. A graduate of Loyola, McGill and University of Notre Dame, he joined Sir George Williams University in 1968. Over his career, he researched the hot workability of metals, alloys, composites and stainless steels, and was fascinated by the history of Quebec’s metal bridges over the St. Lawrence River. He was particularly proud of Concordia’s Social Aspects of Engineering program, which he founded in 1971 as a requirement for all engineering students in their final year. He continues to teach a course for research students.

Lionel Sanders (CMLL) presented a paper, “Ephorus and the Syracusan Revolution,” at the annual meeting of the Israel Classical Association at the University of Haifa, Israel, on June 8.

Congratulations to staff members Laura Stanbra, Debbie Dankoff and Paul Chesser, who have qualified as Certified Fund Raising Executives (CFRE) and joined the 4,652 members of the National Society of Fundraising Executives (NSFRE). In June, the three, all senior members of the Department of University Advancement and Alumni Relations, passed an exam for which the first-time pass rate is only 50 per cent. Director of Development Marcel Dupuis extends his congratulations on behalf of his colleagues.

Kudos to Elaine Arsenault (Career Services), whose children’s book, Le grand rêve de Passepoil, won the Tatoulu literary prize in France in the Grand Section Maternelle category. The prize was presented to Elaine and the illustrator, Fanny, in Paris in May. Tatoulu gives 25,000 French schoolchildren the chance to debate the merits of new books over a six-month period, and then vote on their favourites. Passepoil, the hero of Elaine’s book, is a charming little dog whose ambition is to be adopted by a dress designer.

Distinguished Professor Emeritus Ragai Ibrahim (left) was awarded the Canadian Society of Plant Physiologists (CSPP) Gold Medal for his research contributions to the area of flavonoid biochemistry over the past 45 years, the major part of which was spent in Concordia’s Department of Biology. The presentation was made at the society’s annual meeting in Edmonton in June. Subsequently, Professor Ibrahim gave the Gold Medal Lecture to the delegates.

Karin Doerr (Simone de Beauvoir Institute, Classics, Modern Languages and Linguistics) and Gary Evans (Communication Studies) travelled to the Communication University of China at Beijing for an international symposium jointly organized in the city of Nanjing in August, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. Evans spoke on “Asian Themes in Canadian and American Information Films During World War II,” and Doerr on “Postwar Perspectives on Nazi Terror: Women’s Responses in Film, Language and Art.”

In May, Doerr took part in 60th anniversary commemorative events in Germany and Austria organized by historian Anna Rosmus (known through the film The Nasty Girl). The event, titled “Bridging the Past: Liberators and Camp Survivors Return,” included a dedication ceremony of a memorial for the children who died in the displaced persons camp near Passau, Bavaria, and an international event at Mauthausen, a former concentration camp in Austria.

Elana Trager (Marketing Communications) has been appointed to the Board of the Universities and Colleges Designers Association (UCDA) for a four-year term starting January 06. For more information please go to http://ucda.com