China trip is an opportunity to foster academic cooperation

Canada, perhaps more than any other country, has played a pivotal role in the development of China’s system of higher education, wrote Concordia University political scientist Kimberley Manning in an opinion piece in The Gazette (Montreal) Feb. 7. Manning cited the research of Qiang Zha, a professor in York’s Faculty of Education, who says the Canadian International Development Agency has invested more than $250 million in higher education since the early 1980s, an amount surpassed only by investments made by the World Bank during the same period. Much of this early funding went toward the development of basic capacity-building in professional studies, including a highly successful program to build Chinese management education. Read full story.

Teen hockey player dies
Parents should not panic and pull their kids from sports, said Prof. Frances Flint of York’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health, in an interview with CBC Television Feb. 7. Flint was commenting for a story about the sudden death of a 15-year-old hockey player during a game near Ottawa. “It’s something that we need to be aware of so that we can try and prevent problems when they do occur,” she said. See video.

Canadian company is image-maker to the stars
Many Canadian small businesses are reluctant to attempt to break in to tight, highly competitive markets because of the high risks and tremendous challenges of figuring out how to stand out, said Theodoros Peridis, a professor of strategic management and international business at York’s Schulich School of Business, in The Globe and Mail Feb. 6. “But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. You have to know what it is you can bring to the table.” Read full story.

McGuinty has more to lose than Harper in EMD closure
Ever since the Electro-Motive Canada lockout began, accusations have been directed against London’s three Conservative MPs and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, wrote James Ede, a York graduate student in political science, in the Woodstock Sentinel-Review Feb. 7. Premier Dalton McGuinty has largely escaped the anger directed toward Harper but Queen’s Park cannot escape the fallout if the Electro-Motive Canada lockout and closure becomes the new norm for labour relations in Ontario. Read full story.

Mark Doucet
Mark Doucet, 46,  a former York staff member (2002-2009) who last worked in York’s Institute for Social Research, died on Saturday, Feb. 4, at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital, Sydney, surrounded by his loving family, reported the Cape Breton Post Feb. 7. Doucet was from Grand Etang, NS. Read full story.