The Scoop: Dennis Raphael
Dennis Raphael
Month: December 2018
And the winners of the #MyExperienceYU contest are…
When York University students were challenged to capture their experiential education in a photograph and submit it to the #MyExperienceYU photo contest, they did so in droves and their photos tell stories of vibrant, exciting and interesting learning experiences.
More than 450 entries were submitted to the contest, which offered prizes of $2,000 awarded to each contest category winner. The winners in the three categories – classroom, community and workplace – have been decided. Entries were submitted from all of York University’s faculties and included international exchanges, events, placements and internships. More than 2,500 votes were cast before the contest closed.
The contest highlighted the breadth of experiential education offered to York University students and provided an opportunity for students to document their memorable learning journeys. The winners are:
Classroom category
- Sadie Cahill, a third-year student in the Dance (BFA) Program in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design.
Community category
- Carolyn Ewins, a fourth-year student in the Biology (BSc) Program in the Faculty of Science
Workplace category
- Leandro Evangelista, a fifth-year student in the Psychology (BA) Program in the Faculty of Health.
Each of the winners shared some of their thoughts on experiential education at York, and their contest entries.
Sadie Cahill
Sadie Cahill’s experiential education photo was taken during her second year of study in the Dance Program. The photograph, she says, offers a perfect representation of the traditional classroom boundaries she has pushed during her dance classes, which involve connecting her mind, body and soul. “Experiential learning has brought a new level of awareness to my education as I am able to physically feel movement and connect it to intellectually principles and emotional expression,” says Cahill, who notes that engaging in experiential learning offered in the Dance Program at York University has helped her not only to train and perfect her physical practice, but also to develop her artistry and individual expression within dance.
Carolyn Ewins
For her entry, Carolyn Ewins documented her experience during an international exchange to Monash University in Australia. Her #MyExperienceYU photograph was taken late in June 2018 during a 21-km hike in Tongariro National Park – New Zealand’s oldest national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The photo depicts the highest point of the Tongariro Crossing. “The hike was a grueling, full-day challenge, where we faced unexpectedly strong winds, blowing snow and sheets of ice,” says Ewins, who says the experience gave her a greater appreciation of the origins of the scientific studies and information that she learns in the classroom. “For centuries, scientists have endured extreme, inhospitable conditions to discover more about biology, and their work has allowed me to sit comfortably in a safe, heated YorkU lecture hall and learn about the things they found. It has also motivated me to pursue more international experiences and gain more field experience.”
Leandro Evangelista
Leandro Evangelista’s winning photo was taken in July 2018 during a trip to Radical Raptors bird rehabilitation facility in South Africa. Radical Raptors undertakes the rehabilitation of birds of prey allowing the injured birds to recover and return to the wild. Evangelista says he used the knowledge gained through this experience to enrich his internship with in the Nature’s Valley Trust (NVT) Birding Masters and Champions Program in South Africa. “Although I come from a psychology background, working with conservation and animals demonstrated to me how important our connection to our environment is,” he says. “I no longer look at psychology with an isolated, mind-dominated view.” He notes the theories and articles that he studied while in class have been animated by his internship experience.
LA&PS launches an open, deliberative community consultation for re-visioning its colleges
The Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) held its first open Town Hall in the Senate Chambers to help launch its Colleges Re-Visioning on Thursday, Dec. 6. In Canada, York University is one of a handful of universities with a unique college system, where all the institution’s undergraduate students are affiliated with a college. The other universities with college systems like York’s are Trent University in Peterborough and the University of Toronto. York’s college system is “bred in the bone” and has been part of the University since its founding in 1959. The York University college system was modelled on the college systems of two of the most successful and oldest universities in the world – the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge.
When LA&PS Interim Dean, JJ McMurtry, announced the Colleges Re-Visioning initiative for Founders, McLaughlin, Vanier and New Colleges on Nov. 29, he noted that, “Undertaking a future vision that re-invigorates our colleges is essential for maintaining their vitality, adapting to rapid societal change, while continually serving the needs of their community members.” Also noting that the re-visioning would be time-limited, he said it would be centred on trying to address a number of crucial questions that arose, in part, from the general Colleges Review that was done in 2016. How can York University’s colleges better serve the needs of their students? How can the colleges better serve their broader communities of staff, faculty, Fellows and alumni? How can the relationships between colleges and their affiliated programs be strengthened and enhanced? In order to better serve their respective college communities, how can the colleges better utilize their exterior and interior spaces?
The first open and deliberative consultative Town Hall meeting, moderated by the two College Heads tasked to undertake the College Re-Visioning, Professors Pablo Idahosa of Founders College, and James C. Simeon of McLaughlin College, focused on the how to undertake the consultative process and began the discussion on some of the substantive concerns that currently confront York University’s colleges. A number of possible consultative ways and means were outlined and a consensus emerged that a designated website, a series of College Town Halls, surveys, focus groups and stakeholder meetings would be essential for an open and deliberative consultative process to take place where everyone who might be affected by a new vision for the colleges affiliated with LA&PS would have a say in what the new vision ought to be. Likewise, there was consensus that a number of core issues should be addressed thematically as part of the consultative process. It was also agreed that social media and the use of the most modern modes of communication should be fully incorporated into the consultative process. The focus of the deliberations would converge on a key question: “How can we provide our students with the best higher educational experience possible at York University’s colleges?”
Building on this highly successful first open general dialogue on the LA&PS Colleges Re-Visioning, a new interactive website has been launched that incorporates all the essential elements for these open and deliberative consultations, which would ineluctably lead to a new vision for the colleges. At each of the four Colleges Town Hall meetings, interwoven with focus groups, stakeholder meetings, as well as surveys, will inform the new vision necessary to ensure that the colleges maintain their vitality, relevance and currency in a rapidly changing societal and globalized environment. The vision can identify how the LA&PS Colleges can ensure their mission of delivering the “best higher educational experience possible.”
The new interactive LA&PS Colleges Re-Visioning website can be found at https://colleges-revisioning.laps.yorku.ca/. All are welcome to provide their views, ideas and reflections, either by sending a message at the designated Colleges Re-Visioning consultation address, lapscolleges@yorku.ca or by completing the online feedback form that is found at the new website. Online messages have the option available of being sent anonymously.
Everyone will have an opportunity to attend the Town Hall meetings to provide their voice in helping shape a new vision for LA&PS Colleges. The schedule of College Town Halls has been set for the following dates and times:
- Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2019, from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Senior Commons Room, 305 Founders College;
- Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Junior Common Room, 014 McLaughlin College;
- Wednesday, March 6, from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Renaissance Room, 001 Vanier College;
- Wednesday, April 3, from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Harry Crowe Room, 109 New College.
The LA&PS College Re-Visioning is an exciting venture in open and deliberative consultative decision-making that will provide an opportunity to realize a new vision for all those who are affiliated with Founders, McLaughlin, Vanier or New Colleges.
New online portal details how climate change will impact Ontario
York University’s Laboratory of Mathematical Parallel Systems (LAMPS) is exploring how climate change will affect Ontario in a new online portal containing hundreds of thousands of data points, maps, graphs and predictions.
The Ontario Climate Data Portal (OCDP), led by Huaiping Zhu, a professor of mathematics and statistics and director of LAMPS in the Faculty of Science, based calculations on the greenhouse gas concentration trajectories adopted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The portal – which was referenced in early December in the Ontario government’s “Preserving and Protecting our Environment for Future Generations: A Made-In-Ontario Environment Plan” – includes more than 10 terabytes of data that researchers can use to do their own analyses. It is also available to the public.
Some of what the OCDP’s researchers found is hotter, wetter days with fewer days when the temperatures dip below freezing. Although warmer weather may sound good, LAMPS has other data available on what those rising temperatures and more precipitation could mean for the breeding mosquitoes and increases in West Nile virus and other mosquito-borne diseases such as Zika.
“Under the IPCC’s business-as-usual emission scenario, we found the annual average temperature over Ontario could be 3.3 C higher by the 2050s and 5.7 C higher by the 2080s than the 1990s,” said Zhu.
The number of summer days may increase by about 27 days by the 2050s and 50 days by the 2080s. Precipitation may increase by about 70 millimetres by the 2050s and 112 millimetres by the 2080s. At the same time, frost days are expected to decrease by 28 days in about 30 years, and 48 days in about 60 years.
The OCDP includes a set of probabilistic projections for both long-term averages and extreme climate indices for the province, 50 regions and 150 municipalities for the periods of 2040-69 and 2070-99.
Zhu and his team recently published “A Look at Ontario’s Climate of the Future with the Ontario Climate Data Portal” in the newest edition of the Bulletin of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society. Data on the portal has been quoted by many papers and reports, including Ontario’s latest plan. The Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation & Parks provided funding for the development of the portal and data.
York PhD candidate Jennifer Bethune earns award for research in education
Faculty of Education PhD candidate Jennifer Bethune has won the American Educational Studies Association (AESA) Taylor & Francis Past President’s Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Research for her paper “Meeting the Citizens of the Future in the Present: A Case for Disagreeing.”
Bethune was presented with the award at AESA’s annual conference in Greenville, S.C., in November. The AESA Taylor & Francis Past President’s Award for Outstanding Graduate Research recognizes emerging scholars in the broad field of educational studies by supporting advanced graduate students in their dissertation writing and professional development.
The paper was part of a panel at the conference titled Ethical Dilemmas in Researching and Representing Young People, which included three York Graduate Program in Education alumni: Michelle Miller, Julia Sinclair-Palm and Alanna Goldstein.
In her paper, Bethune makes the claim that qualitative research with young people often does not take disagreement seriously and that by downplaying the possibility that we might disagree with our young research subjects, researchers foreclose an important ethical discussion: what can we make of these moments of disagreement? And how is disagreement with a child somehow different from other kinds of disagreement?
Bethune contends that the reticence to entertain the possibility of disagreement, particularly with child participants, is a symptom of a relational dynamic between the researcher and the child research participant that is characterized by projective fantasies about the political futurity of the child.
The paper is related to Bethune’s doctoral research at York, titled Citizens of Tomorrow, Today: Citizenship, Democracy, and the Political Futurity of Youth, a year-long ethnography of a high-school student council. The project explores the forms of citizenship and democracy offered to young people through educational policy and programming, including the tensions that underlie practices and discourses of youth citizenship.
“One of the greatest strengths of this study is how Jennifer is able to trace how larger political discourses weave their way through the everyday experiences of students and teachers walking the hallways of the school,” said Professor Jen Gilbert, Bethune’s dissertation supervisor. “She renders the life of the school with a careful, patient precision. It is a beautiful study.
“Jennifer’s work is very deserving of the recognition the Taylor & Francis Past President’s Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Research has conferred,” added Gilbert. “We congratulate her on this achievement.”
York University strengthens commitment to Black studies with new programs
York University has launched five new programs and research initiatives that reinforce its dedication to Black studies in Canada.
These programs and initiatives include the Black Canadian Studies Certificate; the Black Studies & Theories of Race & Racism graduate stream in the Graduate Program in Social & Political Thought; the Black Child & Youth Studies Network; the Network for the Advancement of Black Communities; and the Jean Augustine, Inez Elliston and Beverly Salmon library fonds.
“At York, we believe that our diversity deeply enriches our community, and we are committed to expanding collaborative research and programming that is relevant to the historical, cultural and creative productions of Black and other racialized communities,” said York University President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton. “The launch of these programs is an important milestone in a continuing process that addresses the need to foster stronger connections with Black youth, families and communities at York and beyond.”
The Black Canadian Studies Certificate was born, in part, from student advocacy for a more diverse curriculum. The program, housed in the Department of Humanities in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS), combines approaches from the humanities and fine arts, and examines the historical, cultural and various expressive productions of people of African descent in the Americas.
The Black Studies & Theories of Race & Racism stream, in the LA&PS graduate program in Social & Political Thought, will prepare students to develop innovative scholarship that explores and analyzes the distinct contributions of Black intellectual, political and cultural productions, as well as to critically investigate and develop new methods and theories of interdisciplinary scholarship on race and racism.
The Black Child & Youth Studies Network brings together faculty and postdoctoral fellows from five Ontario universities – York, McMaster University, University of Toronto, University of Ottawa and University of Windsor – to conduct research that is relevant and responsive to the needs of Black communities and that will inform work in education for Black youth from middle school through to university and the work force. The network is led by the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora, currently filled by Faculty of Education Professor Carl E. James.
The Network for the Advancement of Black Communities, also led by the Jean Augustine Chair, consists of more than 70 programs that provide services for Black children, youth and families. Funded by the Ministry of Child & Youth Services, the network seeks support from governance and data collection to inform systemic changes to improve the social, educational and employment conditions of Black peoples.
The Jean Augustine, Inez Elliston and Beverly Salmon library fonds are special collections of records that document Augustine’s public service and advocacy in women’s rights, in urban education and with Black youth; Elliston’s work as an educator, community development leader, researcher and writer who specialized in intercultural education and anti-racism training and practice; and Salmon’s experience as a nurse and the first Black female municipal councillor.
In recognition and celebration of these five initiatives, a two-day launch was held on Oct. 18 and 19. The launch’s opening night featured greetings from Canadian Senator Wanda Elaine Thomas Bernard and MPP Mitzie Hunter from Scarborough-Guildwood, performances by the York University Gospel Choir, jazz soloist Kavya Rajith and spoken word artist Kareem Bennett, and the keynote lecture “Still Here” by humanities Professor Christina Sharpe.
“Black studies has a long tradition at York. But tonight, we pause, gather as community and friends to reaffirm our commitment to this ongoing work,” said Professor Andrea Davis, Chair of the Department of Humanities, to those who gathered on day one of the launch.
Together, these programs and initiatives signal York’s importance as a leader in Black Canadian Studies, both in research concentration and in the education of a new generation of scholars and graduates who can respond thoughtfully and purposefully to the rapidly changing world in which we live and ask critical questions to find bold solutions for the social and political problems of our time, she said.
“Black artists, writers, scholars, activists and Black people just trying to live in the world all over the Black diaspora insist Black being into the present and the future,” said Sharpe in her keynote. “They say, yes, we are still here. They think and make and work and live and imagine from Black.”
The second day of the launch, titled Engaged Scholarship: Struggles and Possibilities of Black Studies, consisted of panels that addressed Black women’s experience in the academy, tensions and conflicts doing research with and for the community, and navigating the academy.
“In the 40-plus years since I was a student in university, this was something that I’ve hoped for, something that I’ve worked for, something that I’ve prayed for, to have Black studies – research, scholarship and teaching in Black studies – seriously taken up by universities, to have our place in this country,” said Sen. Bernard, adding that this can create opportunity for both students and faculty. “I want to thank York University for its leadership.”
The Launch of New Programs and Research in Black Studies at York event was funded by the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design, the Faculty of Education, the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies and Founders College.
York graduate student leads first-of-its-kind project at Sinai Health System
A York University graduate student led a project at Sinai Health System that is the first of its kind to be implemented in Canada.
Reshma Prashad, a student in the Faculty of Health’s Health Informatics program, led a project to implement infusion data flow from a pump to an electronic health record (EHR) in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The project enhances the quality of data used for timely clinical decision-making in a department that provides care for approximately 1,000 preterm babies per year.
The project, which launched on Nov. 27, decreases the potential for documentation errors that may contribute to patient safety risks. It will support faster clinical decision-making, and promote greater pharmacy and nursing communication and collaboration in the management of infusions.
Prashad successfully implemented the program in three months, and says previous attempts were unsuccessful for a period of more than five years.
She attributes her success to the great foundation and preparation offered through the Health Informatics program at York University.
“I would like to convey (to York Health Studies students) that it is still possible to make significant and meaningful contributions to the field if they (the students) take the time and effort needed to learn the important, fundamental concepts,” she said.
Prashad said she is extremely grateful for the opportunity that Sinai Health System provided her to lead this project to successful completion, in collaboration with the technical and clinical teams.
“It is a very exciting project for the NICU that will help to reduce redundancies in charting and potentially decrease errors,” said Elena Nikolsky, nursing unit administrator of the NICU. “It will also help to increase the safety of our infants by providing the most up-to-date information to support timely decision-making regarding patient status.”
York-CAMH Collaborative opens dedicated space for research
Partners in the York-CAMH Collaborative celebrated the opening of dedicated space at the Queen Street site of the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health (CAMH) on Dec. 12.
The York-CAMH Collaborative brings education and service together to develop knowledge and skills for promoting mental health locally, nationally and globally. This unique partnership enables the partners to conduct leading research, education, practice and system improvement, benefiting mental health promotion, health care, safety and patient outcomes.
The new space includes an office for the director and a room with four fully equipped stations for research assistants, research volunteers and other York University Faculty of Health researchers. Catherine Zahn, CEO of CAMH, and Paul McDonald, dean of York University’s Faculty of Health, made opening remarks at the event.
Two projects already funded through the collaboration include Nursing Care for Persons with Developmental Disabilities, under the leadership of Nazilla Khanlou, Chair in Women’s Mental Health at York University; and Understanding Compassion in Mental Health Care from the Perspectives of Culturally Diverse Patients and Families, led by Elsabeth Jensen, director of the York-CAMH Collaborative and associate professor with the School of Nursing at York University.
Student earns award for academic success in Portuguese & Luso-Brazilian Studies
York University undergraduate student Vanda Mota has been named the 2017-18 recipient of the Dark Stones: The Azorean Spirit Award, presented annually by Portuguese & Luso-Brazilian Studies.
Mota is working toward a major in history and an honours minor in Portuguese & Luso-Brazilian Studies. This award is sponsored by Banco Santander Totta’s Toronto representative office, and it recognizes and celebrates Mota as the most accomplished student of the 2017-18 academic year.
The Dark Stones: The Azorean Spirit Award, established in 2014, recognizes the academic achievements of students enrolled in the Portuguese & Luso-Brazilian Studies program at York University. This award is only open to full-time students enrolled in the program who have completed at least 12 credits in Portuguese courses and who have obtained an overall grade point average of at least 7.0. The award also recognizes students’ co-curricular and extracurricular involvement.
In addition to her studies, Mota has been an active volunteer and attendant of the Expressions of Lusofonia international conference at York. She is of Portuguese descent and is taking courses in the Portuguese & Luso-Brazilian Studies program, and she says these courses give her the opportunity to meet other Portuguese-Canadian students and students from other lusophone and non-lusophone backgrounds. It also gives her the opportunity to learn more about Portugueseness or lusofonia.
“I started studying Portuguese in my second year at York University,” said Mota. “Although I had some knowledge – both my parents are Portuguese and speak the language – my goal for the year was to better my oral and writing skills. I learned not only those skills, but I also had the chance to learn about the different cultures and ways Portuguese is used in the world. Throughout the remaining years in the program, I engaged with fellow classmates and developed great friendships with people who were also interested in Portuguese and Luso-Brazilian Studies. We all came from different backgrounds, yet we were able to come together and help each other learn, as each of us had something to contribute.”
Thanks to ongoing support from educators at York University, Mota decided to pursue a minor in Portuguese studies in addition to her history major. In particular, she said, Professors Inês Cardoso and Maria João Dodman showed her the joys of learning more about her culture and the lusophone world, while also teaching her how to improve and engage with the language, its cultures and literature in meaningful ways.
“This award has been a wonderful surprise, and I would like to thank those involved in the process of creation and supporting this award,” said Mota. “Special thanks to my professors and Ms. Gabriela Cavaco, the manager of Banco Santander Totta, for providing me with this opportunity in the program of Portuguese & Luso-Brazilian Studies. You are inspiring and supporting deserving students like myself to excel in the program.”
The official award ceremony is tentatively scheduled to take place in February 2019.
For more information about this and other awards and scholarships in Portuguese, visit portuguese.dlll.laps.yorku.ca/students/program-awards.
About the Dark Stones: The Azorean Spirit Award
This award honours José Dias de Melo, author of the seminal novel Dark Stones (1964), an important Portuguese writer from the Azores. He is popularly known as the writer of the whales due to his extensive work regarding the whaling industry and the saga of the Azorean people. A staunch defender of equality, dignity, social justice and freedom, Dias de Melo’s works have emphasized the plight of poverty, injustice and systemic exploitation inflicted on the Azorean people. His many works, which include some available in translation, are especially poignant to Azoreans, including a large community in the Greater Toronto Area. In addition, due to York University’s commitment to social justice, diversity and the global community, this award also speaks to the University’s mission and priorities.
About Banco Santander Totta
Banco Santander Totta is a leading Portuguese banking institution and one of the largest banks in Portugal. With representation worldwide, Banco Santander Totta is also a prominent contributor to community through cultural and educational development and support.
Synopsis of the most recent Board of Governors meeting is now available
The synopsis of the 457th meeting of the Board of Governors of York University, held on Dec. 14, is now available.
A PDF copy of the synopsis is available at https://secretariat.info.yorku.ca/files/Board-synopsis-20181214.pdf.