“The limited resource is space, so everyone is against everyone else, if you will. It is not a situation that ideally makes for cooperative, feel-good behaviour,” said York University psychology Professor David Wiesenthal in the Toronto Star Oct. 10. In 1999, Wiesenthal researched stress levels of highway drivers, and found that everyone was stressed in congested traffic, but people with higher levels of baseline stress reacted more intensely to slow moving traffic, by honking, shouting and making obscene gestures….Wiesenthal said drivers who selected their own music and engaged in deep breathing were less stressed in the car. Read full story.
London Business School tops list of the best two-year international MBA programs
Canada’s top-ranked school this year is York University’s Schulich School of Business, reported Forbes Oct. 9. Salaries for grads rose from $39,000 to $115,000, resulting in a five-year gain of $54,400. The school focuses on international business and draws most of its students from outside of Canada. Scotiabank, headquartered in Toronto, hired more Schulich grads than any other company last year. Read full story.
The all-important graduate student-supervisor relationship
As part of this new accountability, universities have set up workshops for junior faculty on best practices in supervision. Many have published guidelines for faculty and students on their rights and responsibilities in the supervisory relationship….The work that graduate school Faculties are doing to identify problems and address them through guidelines and training “is definitely a good step,” said Carolyn Hibbs, president of the York University Graduate Students’ Association and a rep with the Canadian Federation of Students, in University Affairs Oct. 9. But she believes universities need to be more proactive in ensuring those guidelines are adhered to, because “the impact of a breakdown of the supervisor-student relationship falls disproportionately on the student.” Read full story.
Shutdown science: Furloughed workers feel the burden of boredom
Until recently, scientists hadn’t even settled on a definition of boredom that went beyond simply describing the feeling. Boredom hadn’t been an especially hot topic in psychology, said John Eastwood, a psychologist at York University in Toronto who researches the emotion. “I’ve talked with a fair number of people about the research on boredom, and there’s always kind of the awkward, lame jokes about studying boredom people have to make,” Eastwood told LiveScience Oct. 9. Boredom is also both common and culturally disdained, he added – it’s seen as a character flaw and is perhaps less compelling for research as a result.” Read full story.
New tech could transform search for intelligent alien life, SETI says
Whatever method aliens use to communicate, scientists at the Toronto Science Festival on Sept. 29 said they want to be ready for it. Staying ready means keeping on top of new technologies as they are introduced….”This development in astronomy, where we may be able to look at a planet far away and say that looks alive, with it will come a challenge,” said York University anthropologist Kathryn Denning in Space.com Oct. 9. “We won’t be able to send direct instrumentation to go there and look at and see that particular life forms are there. We’ll just be able to look at the planet and say it looks alive.” Read full story.
An eastern interest on western production
Jeff Zelem, owner of Kent Kreek Berries, along with his wife Paula, played host to a group of individuals from various organizations in China on their Highway 3 farm Tuesday afternoon. The group is in Canada to learn more about blueberry production. “We usually organize training programs with Chinese officials or Chinese professors or experts in different topics,” explained tour organizer Elena Caprioni, director of training with the Asian Business and Management Program at York University, in the Simcoe Reformer Oct. 9. Read full story.
Miss India-Canada awarded Chevy Spark
Harleen Malhans, 23, a recent York University communications graduate, just landed her first professional job at Canada Protection Plan. In August, she was crowned Miss India-Canada 2013 in her first-ever pageant bid. She won a round-trip ticket to India, her first journey there in a decade, reported the Etobicoke Guardian Oct. 9. Malhans also won a white, two-door 2013 Chevrolet Spark courtesy of Chevrolet Canada, Miss India-Canada 2013’s sponsor. Read full story.
Name dropping requires touch of humour
“The name I was accused of ‘dropping’ was Jack Granatstein, formerly the grand pooh-bah at the [Canadian War] Museum,” wrote John Watkinson in the Peterborough Examiner Oct. 10. “Before Jack became a distinguished historian, he was a young professor at York University and my neighbor in downtown Toronto, just over my back fence. I’ve followed his career since, with great admiration. But if I were to drop a name in order to impress people, it wouldn’t be his. In fact, it hadn’t occurred to me that he’d acquired the status where his name was “droppable.” He’s just a person I knew and always liked and respected. This incident made me wonder if some individuals who criticize name-dropping do so from envy, because they haven’t crossed paths with many interesting people themselves.” Read full story.
Toronto muggles to battle for Triwizard Cup
A Triwizard Tournament, the highlight of the novel Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is coming to Toronto Oct. 18, reported the Charlatan Oct. 9. Toronto’s major campuses – York University (Keele and Glendon), the University of Toronto (St. George, Scarborough, and Mississauga campuses) and Ryerson University – have banded together to mimic one of the fiercest battles in the history of the Harry Potter series. The captain of York’s Quidditch team, Adam Palmer, is the main coordinator of the event. Read full story.