Names in the News

Concordia faculty, staff and alumni/¾ pop up in the media more often than you might think!

Georgios Vatistas (Mechanical Engineering) was interviewed by Michael Tellidis of CFMB Radio during the station's Greek community programming segment about the then upcoming Concordia University Open House. Because of the great response from listeners, Dr. Vatistas has been invited to join the host at a future date to discuss other academic issues.

An article in CTR about the research of James Pfaus (CSBN/Psychology) on rats' sexual behaviour generated great interest across Canada. Indications are that sexual satisfaction increases female rats' chances of getting pregnant. An article in The Gazette was picked up by the National Post and newspapers from coast to coast.

Another CTR article about research on the "thinness" hormone, leptin, supervised by Peter Shizgal (CSBN/Psychology) was reported in many newspapers, from Victoria to Halifax.

The Gazette published an essay on January 31 by Jaleel Ahmad (Economics) on child labour. He said that trade sanctions are "a crude instrument" to deal with a deep-rooted social problem in the Third World. The solution lies in raising parents' wages and encouraging them to send their children to school, not by selectively opposing the liberalization of trade, as did protesters at the recent World Trade Organization talks in Seattle.

Stephen Scheinberg (History) has long been active with B'nai Brith and is often asked to comment on instances of anti-Semitism. He was interviewed about the rise of Austrian politician Joerg Haider on Radio Noon (local CBC), Canada AM (CTV network) and CBC's Ottawa Morning Show. Parts of an address he gave to a protest gathering in Ottawa were included in national newscasts.

Horst Hutter (Political Science) was also interviewed several times about Haider's popularity in Austria. Hutter is a native of that country.

Bala Ashtakala (Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering) appeared on Global TV news on January 13. He was asked about a proposal that traffic congestion from the South Shore could be alleviated with a monorail on an existing ice bridge over the St. Lawrence River. He said that this would not be safe. Interviewed the next day on another Global program, he said that a new bridge to carry north-south traffic from the South Shore to Montreal would be a better alternative, and he liked the idea of constructing two new bridges in the Vaudreuil/Dorion area to connect Highways 20 and 40 with an extension of Highway 30. Ashtakala was also interviewed on CBC Radio about new ways of clearing snow.

Dan Otchere (Economics) was interviewed on CJAD about rising fuel prices, and the Quebec government's efforts to provide relief for transport operators under its jurisdiction.

Rector Frederick Lowy was interviewed on CJAD about plans to renovate and construct new buildings on Concordia's Loyola Campus.

Michael Kenneally, who teaches Irish literature in the English Department, was interviewed on CJAD about the protracted difficulties surrounding disarmament in Northern Ireland.

Mike Gasher (Journalism) appeared on Global television with CEOs Ted Rogers (Rogers) and Claude Gagnon (Vidˇotron) to talk about their recent merger of Internet and telephone services.

Jim Kass (Applied Human Sciences) told CBC Daybreak listeners that teamwork among astronauts is as dicey as a marriage.