SCOOP: Associate Professor Christine Jonas-Simpson co-developed a series of short research-based videos on grief in youth
Christine Jonas-Simpson
Year: 2019
McLaughlin College welcomes January students with matriculation ceremony and common read
Keele Campus entrance
Every year, York University welcomes thousands of new students as part of its January intake of first-year and transfer students. While the number of new students who arrive in January is only a fraction of those who arrive in the Fall term, York University offers an especially warm welcome during the frosty cold Canadian winter. Winter term orientation activities are equally as exciting and fun, relevant and important, as activities for the Fall term orientation students.
McLaughlin College will welcome its new student January admits with its “Matriculation Ceremonies and Common Read” event on Jan. 7, 2020, in its Junior Common Room, 014 McLaughlin College, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The program for the matriculation ceremonies includes a welcome from the College Head, James C. Simeon, and introductions and welcome from the college student leaders: Alec Pichelli, president of the McLaughlin College Council; Gil Segev, peer mentor network coordinator; and, Sebastian Moreno, the McLaughlin College Community Choir director.
McLaughlin College student club representatives will be in attendance from the more than 20 student clubs based at the college. Professor Thomas Klassen, author of this year’s common read, How to Succeed at University (and get a great job), co-authored with John Dwyer, will be present to lead January first-year students on a lesson that covers the critical skills necessary to be able to succeed at university. The first-year experience for new students transitioning to the rigors and demands of university studies is generally considered to be the most challenging. (The book is available as a free download).
As part of the McLaughlin College Matriculation Ceremonies, new first-year students are invited to sign the College Register. By doing so students are welcomed as part of the McLaughlin College community within York University.
“Our College Register is a record of all of those students who are enrolled in our affiliated college schools and departments and their programs: politics (Global Political Studies); sociology; social science (Criminology; Law and Society; Interdisciplinary Studies; Work and Labour Studies); and, public policy and administration,” said Simeon. “When our students sign the College Register they become part of the history of our college and part of the body of current and past students, and, now alumni, of our great college and university. They are welcomed to participate fully in all events and activities at our College and to contribute to the enrichment of College life at McLaughlin.”
The college provides the full panoply of student supports to help ensure that our students make a successful transition during their first-year of university studies through its peer mentor program, critical skills workshops and a full range of co-curricular and extra-curricular activities at the college.
Klassen, one of the foremost authorities on student transitions and studying abroad, said many first-year students who are part of the January intake are international students who will be experiencing the additional challenge of adapting to a new society and learning environment.
“I will be incorporating a number of key messages and points to assist all our new international students who will be joining us at McLaughlin College at the start of the Winter term in my presentation on Jan. 7,” said Klassen, who is the co-author of a recent publication, The Essential Guide to Studying Abroad: From Success in the Classroom to a Fulfilling Career, with Christine Menges.
“The McLaughlin College ‘Matriculation Ceremonies and Common Read’ is a wonderful way to welcome our January admits to our college and it is the right way to start off the new year and the new Winter term,” said Simeon. “It is the time of new beginnings for all and, especially, those new students who will be joining us in the pursuit of their university studies, in preparation for their highly successful learning careers, at McLaughlin College and York University.”
For more information on the “Matriculation Ceremonies and Common Read” event visit the McLaughlin College website.
Passings: Professor Emeritus John Caldwell
York University Professor Emeritus John Caldwell died on Dec. 12 at the age of 75 after a lengthy illness. Caldwell was a professor of astronomy, with expertise in space and planetary astronomy and extra-solar planets, in the Faculty of Science.
Caldwell came to York in 1986 after serving in the Royal Canadian Navy, and earning a PhD in astronomy from the University of Madison (Wisconsin). During his career, he also taught at Princeton University and State University of NY at Stony Brook.
He was well known for his extensive collaborations with NASA’s Ames Research Centre, where he worked with a team of scientists to develop the Kepler mission to discover Earth-like planets around other stars. He also made observations of Mars with the Hubble Space Telescope and focussed efforts on searching for possible volcanic emissions with his students and collaborators.
He is also remembered for his passion for softball, and playing on campus during the summer months with grad students.
John achieved great professional success and was highly respected in his field. Raising his three children, as he would say, was his greatest accomplishment and spending time with his children and grandchildren was his favourite thing to do.
He leaves behind his daughter, Devon (Neil), and his sons, David (Lisa) and Garrett (Candice). He was the adored “Du” of nine grandchildren: Tim (Salina), Bryanna, Madison, Abigail, Sophia, Riley, James, Reagen and Emma. He will be missed by his twin sister, Joan, and her family.
MPPAL students publish articles in ‘Canadian Government Executive’ magazine
Articles by 11 master of public policy, administration and law (MPPAL) students from York University are being showcased in Canadian Government Executive (CGE) magazine in 2019 and 2020.
MPPAL students in the School of Public Policy and Administration wrote original articles as part of public management coursework that began in Fall 2018. Their articles offer insights on the prospects for public sector development from the upcoming generation of public service leaders.
“We are excited to announce … a new section called the Millennial Outlook. This section will feature students and young professionals in the public sector sharing issues they are dealing with to help us anticipate what the future of public service will be like,” said CGE Managing Editor Marcello Sukhdeo.
Professor John Wilkins, adjunct faculty member with the School of Public Policy and Administration, who coached student writing efforts, introduced the series in an overview entitled “People first, policy second.” In it, he highlights students’ preoccupation with people and capacity issues as precursors to excellence in public policy, and says: “Good people who are good leaders make good policy for good governance … an honourable legacy to which millennials can aspire.”
The six MPPAL students featured in CGE magazine in 2019 include:
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- Yunus Jawaheer
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- Lauren Inouye
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- Kiran Hamid (no photo)
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- Andres Urrutia Bustos
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- Antoinette Sarpong
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- Monica Mann
Yunus Jawaheer – When corporate culture hinders talent management
• The nature, scope and quality of corporate culture influence whether individuals decide to stay or leave their job. Institutionalizing change in corporate culture is a daunting undertaking. Leaders ought to recognize the transformative challenges and commit to consolidating incremental changes over time.
Lauren Inouye – Want to retain staff? Let them leave
• Fostering exchange, collaboration and innovation will enable the OPS [Ontario Public Service] to serve Ontarians better. It will also sustain institutional relevance and develop the capacity to lead and grow. Staff may leave in the short term, but they will thrive … and they will always come home.
Kiran Hamid – Mental health: the blind spot in the public service
• Managers must champion mental health exercises that are applicable to their workplace. Examples include managing stress in a fast-paced call centre or managing high workload volumes in a high-demand workplace. Employers need to lead the fight against mental health and be a beacon of hope in the workplace.
Andres Urrutia Bustos – The middle manager’s edifice for success
• Instead of gambling, middle managers try to minimize negative outcomes while simultaneously trying to leverage better outcomes. Fluid, honest communication with senior management is capital, so that everyone understands the calculated risk and executes actions to maximize the chances of success.
Antoinette Sarpong – Let’s get physical
• Fortunately, the key to Millennial retention transcends borders. It’s simply about management supporting the four drives that motivate employees and, by extension, offering more flexibility that shifts organizational culture. Organizations that do this will attract future thought leaders while ensuring that the brightest young minds stay in the public service once they get there.
Monica Mann – Besting the private sector at its own game
• Canada has one of the top public services in the world, so governments must be doing something right. But this does not mean that the public sector can become complacent or ignore emerging data. It must continue to evaluate and track employment trends to understand how to attract and retain the best and brightest.
Five more articles are scheduled for publication in the magazine, and this year’s MPPAL students drafted articles in the Fall 2019 term to augment the body of work. The aim, over time, is to discern trends in public service careers, to track issues in public management, and to offer CGE readers valuable insights from the frontier.
There is an open invitation to prospective authors to contribute articles. CGE has a domestic and international readership of more than 65,000 senior public executives.
York faculty earns Distinguished Contributions Award for service to TESL Ontario
York University’s TESOL Program Coordinator and Associate Professor Antonella Valeo has been recognized by TESL Ontario with the Distinguished Contributions Award.
The TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) program is a certificate program at York University open to current York students and university graduates. TESL (Teachers of English as a Second Language) Ontario, is a non-profit organization serving the needs of teachers of English as a second language and English literacy development. It is the professional voice and accrediting body for ESL instructors and TESOL programs in Ontario.
Valeo was honoured with the award during the TESL Ontario annual conference, Dec. 5 and 6, and was recognized for her many years of service with TESL. Her many roles have included affiliate president, local co-chair for the TESOL Convention, and research committee Chair. In addition, she contributed to the early establishment of the current institutional accreditation model and the creation of a model for additional qualifications available to ESL instructors.
Her work with TESL Ontario continues to connect York’s TESOL Certificate Program, and university graduates, with the professional community.
The TESOL Certificate Program at York adheres to the standards of TESL Ontario, ensuring a standard of quality for both faculty teaching in the program and graduates preparing to teaching adult English language learners across Canada. It is the only accredited concurrent TESOL university program in Ontario, open to both current undergraduates and post-graduate applicants. A critical component of this program is the teaching practicum in which York students are placed in TESL Ontario-accredited programs and work alongside experienced teachers to gain experience in the classroom.
Valeo has been working with ESL learners and teachers for more than 25 years and is currently an associate professor at York University where she teaches graduate courses in applied linguistics, TESOL, and ESL to undergraduate students. As a researcher, her interests are embedded within the ESL classroom and include a focus on classroom interaction and language teacher development. Over the years, her work with TESL Ontario has both inspired and reflected these interests.
The synopsis of the 462nd meeting of the Board of Governors is now available
The synopsis of the 462nd meeting of the Board of Governors, which took place on Dec. 13, is now available at https://secretariat.info.yorku.ca/files/Board-synopsis-20191213-FINAL.pdf.
Spray Days pest control treatments scheduled for Dec. 20 to 22
Ants on a board
The next spray days on the Keele and Glendon campuses will begin on Friday, Dec. 20 at 5 p.m. and end on Sunday, Dec. 22 at 5 p.m.
Work is undertaken using accepted practices and approved materials. Professional PCO Services holds an Eco Green Ergonomic Extermination certificate from the Ministry of the Environment. A work permit/notification has been submitted and approved by York University’s Health, Safety & Employee Well-Being office.
For further information, contact Tim Haagsma, manager of grounds, fleet and waste management, Facilities Services, at ext. 20303 or thaagsma@fbo.yorku.ca; or Tom Watt, director of Food Services, Ancillary Services, at ext. 55517 or watttm@yorku.ca.
Cultural ecosystems in peril as inland lakes and rivers fail to freeze: York U study
Melting glaciers and rising sea levels receive a lot of attention, but there has been far less research on how a warmer world affects people who rely on freshwater ice on lakes and rivers. What is known is that ice cover for freshwaters in the northern hemisphere has steadily declined for the last 150 years, putting people’s cultural and spiritual practices at risk, and potentially their livelihoods, report York University biologist Sapna Sharma and colleagues.
Researchers note that in recent decades, most of the lakes and rivers in the world’s cooler climates freeze later in the season and thaw earlier, or do not freeze at all anymore.
“The loss of ice currently affects 14,800 lakes and impacts cultural ecosystem services in all those surrounding communities, including food subsistence, transportation, religious ceremonies and recreational opportunities,” said Sharma, an associate professor in the Faculty of Science and co-author of a recent study on the cultural impacts of ice loss on inland lakes and rivers in Limnology and Oceanography Letters. “Cultural ecosystem services are an underappreciated resource directly affected by climate change and that is impacting communities that rely on freshwater ice now.”
For example, ice roads serve 31 remote Indigenous communities in northern Ontario and 18 in Manitoba, often connecting communities in the north to those in the south. Across northern Canada, the opening of ice roads has been delayed at times by as much as three weeks, yet winter ice roads are crucial for social, mental health and financial reasons.
As places across the northern hemisphere deal with warmer winters, events that are socio-economically and culturally important to local communities, like ice fishing tournaments, cross-country skiing and ice-skating races, are increasingly cancelled.
The impacts of ice loss aren’t limited to culturally important activities in Canada. Since the 15th century, Catholic priests in Germany carried a statue of John the Apostle across a frozen Lake Constance to a church in Switzerland as a sign of friendship. Lake Constance last froze in 1963 and with it the last procession between the two countries.
In Japan, Shinto priests have collected lake ice records for centuries and have celebrated the “crossing of the gods,” an event commemorating the annual formation of ice cover, since 1443. Since 1988, the lake only freezes twice every decade.
“While each of these issues may seem like only a local concern, for the millions of people living in places where winter ice is in retreat, they add up to a major shift in their relationship to winter,” said Sharma. “It is time freshwater ice loss is included in the list of major climate change impacts.”
Announcement of independent external review of Nov. 20 incident
Vari Hall
The following is an announcement to the York University community from President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton:
Over the past few weeks we have provided our community with a number of updates regarding actions we are taking as a result of the troubling verbal and physical altercations that occurred on our Keele Campus on Nov. 20 during a student event and a related protest.
York University deeply values diversity and inclusion and is committed to promoting free speech in a safe and respectful environment. As a critical aspect of our overall work to advance these values, we are undertaking an independent external review. I am pleased to announce that the Honourable Thomas A. Cromwell C.C. has been engaged to conduct an independent review to make findings and recommendations with respect to the following:
- the University’s role in relation to the planning for the event on Nov. 20;
- the preparations and security arrangements for the event;
- the University’s policies, procedures and practices governing provision of University space for student events;
- the University’s policies governing freedom of speech on campus; and
- York’s policies, procedures and practices relevant to the safety of all those who attend student events on campus.
Work will commence in early January 2020 and is expected to finish no later than March 30, 2020.
York is fortunate to have Mr. Cromwell conducting this review. Mr. Cromwell was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Canada in 2008 and retired from Canada’s highest Court on Sept. 21, 2016. He received law degrees from Queen’s and Oxford, practiced law in Kingston and Toronto and taught law at Dalhousie University. During his time at Dalhousie, he served as Chair of the Law Faculty Council and vice-chair of the University Senate.
He is currently a director of the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice and of Access Pro Bono British Columbia. In 2017, Mr. Cromwell was named a Companion of the Order of Canada for his “illustrious service as a Supreme Court justice, and for his leadership in improving access to justice for all Canadians.”
Mr. Cromwell will have the full support of the University as he undertakes this important review. When concluded, his recommendations will be shared with the York University community. This engagement, the latest among many actions in response to Nov. 20, demonstrates our commitment to protecting the safety and rights of students, faculty and staff and to ensuring that every member of our community has the full ability to express their views in a safe campus environment.
View the complete Terms of Reference for the Honourable Thomas Cromwell’s engagement.
For the latest information about our actions, please visit the President’s Initiative on Open & Respectful Dialogue.
Bullying lawsuit highlights lack of oversight for Ontario’s private schools
York University Professor Debra Pepler was mentioned in MSN.com Dec. 17. Read full story.
Ryerson appoints dean for new Faculty of Law
York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School was mentioned in The Eyeopener Dec. 16. Read full story.
Alleged feces thrower returns to court
York University was mentioned in 680 News Dec. 18. Read full story.
Oilsands Firms ‘Morally Responsible’ for Deaths and Destruction from Climate Disasters
York University was mentioned in The Tyee Dec. 18. Read full story.