‘Social entrepreneurs’ care more about causes than cash

Unlike many other bright and energetic business school graduates, Susanna Kislenko‘s current career goals do not include a six-figure salary, a pricey automobile or a corner office in a lofty downtown office tower, reported The Globe and Mail May 25. Since completing the international bachelor of business administration program at York University’s Schulich School of Business in 2004, Kislenko has worked full-time at a non-profit organization. There, she earns about a third of what many classmates are raking in at large, for-profit corporations. Like a growing number of college and university graduates, she is forgoing the high pay and perks of the corporate world to work at a not-for-profit business, where the priority is helping people in need rather than earning big bucks.

Kislenko and other graduates who have taken this route are known as “social entrepreneurs”, said the Globe. They’re motivated by the belief their skills are best used to help overcome a wide range of critical social problems, from poverty and physical abuse of women to hunger and lack of birth control use. “I can look at myself in the mirror and see that I made a difference; I can see that I’m really helping people, and that what I do every day is not making a bar of soap or building a car but actually changing peoples’ lives,” said Kislenko, 24, who works as client relations and marketing co-ordinator at the Toronto office of World Education Services, which evaluates foreign credentials for people educated outside of Canada.

York branding cream of the academic crop

York University is one of the best advertised universities in North America, according to the US-based Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), reported Marketing magazine May 25. York beat out big-name runners-up New York University and University of California at Berkeley for the overall grand gold award for advertising for its recent branding campaign. “It is always an honour to be acknowledged by one’s peers, especially in light of such formidable competition,” said Richard Fisher, York’s chief communications officer, in a news release. “Reputation campaigns are among the most difficult to do well and the challenge was also to emphasize how York’s interdisciplinary approach is so different from other universities.”

York also received a gold award in the best community/public relations program category for its public relations subway domination advertising campaign launch event. The campaign featured wall-to-wall advertising at one Toronto subway station, showcasing York’s new ads and York branding for a one-month period.

In the admissions category, York received a silver for its 2004-2005 admissions/recruitment book Enter Here, which highlighted the transformative nature of pursuing a university education.

Though the NHL lockout has silenced the Coach’s Corner segment on CBC’s hockey broadcasts, hockey commentator Don Cherry’s stature remains near or at the top of the list of Canadians sought by advertisers, alongside Wayne Gretzky and perhaps Celine Dion, reported Canadian Press in a story published May 25 by 14 newspapers about how he is promoting a health insurance program for dogs and cats. “Cherry does two things: he grabs attention right away, and either there is a strongly positive or strongly negative emotion associated with Cherry,” said Ashwin Joshi, a marketing professor at York University’s Schulich School of Business. “So he both captures attention and generates emotion in the mind of the viewer. What more can you want?” Despite his popularity, Joshi says companies have to be sure Cherry’s affiliation meets their marketing goals given that he’s not loved by all.

Education important to two hockey giants

In Pat Quinn‘s era, young players weren’t exactly encouraged to pursue an education, reported the National Post May 25 in a story about Vancouver Giant Gilbert Brule winning the Canadian Hockey League award as scholastic player of the year. Quinn, for example, was headed to Michigan Tech on a scholarship in the early ’60s when the Detroit Red Wings produced some manner of form which they claimed bound the young defenceman to their organization. The Red Wings also denied his request for a scholarship but, undeterred, Quinn started taking university-level courses when he graduated to the NHL, and 11 years later, he earned an economics (not a law) degree from York University. “Sometimes I think you stultify yourself when you only concentrate on hockey,” said Quinn. “I’d be happy if every kid challenged themselves like Gilbert.”

The risk of injury to children was reduced after playgrounds were retrofitted by the Toronto District School Board, a new study suggests, reported Canadian Press in a story published May 25 in the Cape Breton Post and broadcast May 24 on Global TV, CBC Newsworld and OMNI TV. Alison Macpherson, senior author of the study and a professor at York University’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science, was interviewed about the study on CFMJ’s “Mike Stafford Show” and CBC Radio’s “Ontario Morning.” The research, published in Monday’s edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, shows fewer school children suffered injuries after the school board replaced dangerous equipment with safer products in the school yard.

The University Women’s Club of North York recently presented educational bursaries to eight female York students, reported the North York Mirror May 20. Science scholarships worth $400 went to fourth-year kinesiology student Tatiana Krasner and second-year biology student Solmaz Shayan. Bursaries worth $400 for students with disabilities went to third-year sociology student Azure-Dee Janda and Kaliopi Tsimidis, a master’s student in social work. Other $400 bursaries went to fourth-year French and education student Stephanie Felgemacher, second-year writing and communication studies student Jennifer Sorlie, third-year sociology Krystle-Lee Vella and fourth-year nursing student Lorraine Wilson.

A hair stylist to the stars and accomplished artist can now add children’s author to her list of credentials, reported Metroland newspapers May 20. Katrin Clark-Citroen (formerly Clark) and her music producer husband have collaborated on a sing-a-long/colouring book for kids aged five to eight, called Louie The Way Out Cat. The German-born artist studied fine arts at York University from 1988 to 1993.

• Ian Greene, political ethics professor in York’s Faculty of Arts, discussed the news that the Bloc Québecois and NDP were calling for an investigation by RCMP into taped dealings between Tim Murphy, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, and Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal prior to the federal budget vote, on CBC Radio’s “The Current” May 24.