Year: 2013

The Schulich Executive Education Centre to offer programs in China

Dean Deszö J. Horváth chats with Huai Jin Peng, President of Beihang University

The Schulich Executive Education Centre (SEEC) and China’s Beihang University (BUAA) have signed an agreement to offer executive education programs in China beginning in 2014.

Deszö Horváth, dean of the Schulich School of Business, Huai Jin Peng, president of Beihang University, and Wang Hui Wen, dean of Beihang University School of Economics & Management, signed an article of association to establish the Sino-Canadian Joint Center for Executive Education at the BUAA campus in Beijing, Nov. 6. The agreement will allow SEEC to offer open enrolment and custom education executive programs in China.

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Deszö Horváth chats with Huai Jin Peng, president of Beihang University
Deszö Horváth chats with Huai Jin Peng, president of Beihang University

“We are proud to partner with Beihang University to deliver world-class executive education programming in China,” said Horváth. “We know China and we know the Chinese corporate community. We have established a successful track record over the past decade providing relevant and real-world learning to Chinese executives from a wide range of organizations and companies.”

The agreement builds on SEEC’s experience in running custom executive training programs for numerous companies from China in Canada over the last decade. Together with the Asian Business Management program (ABMP) partner at York University, SEEC has been offering programs to top Chinese organizations, but, without a partner, it has been restrained from offering these programs in China.

Clients attending programs at SEEC in Toronto in recent years have included the Agriculture Bank of China, Bank of China, Bank of Shanghai, Beijing Television, China Aviation (COMAC), China Life Insurance, China Orient Asset Management Corporation, China Resources, CINDA Asset Management Corporation, EXIM Import-Export Bank of China, Great Wall Asset Management Corporation, the ICBC Bank and the Shanghai Organizational Development Department.

BUAA President Huai Jin Peng and Deszö Horváth
BUAA President Huai Jin Peng and Deszö Horváth

SEEC opened its first China office in Beijing in 2003 and established a second office in Shanghai in 2006.

Beihang University is one of China’s top-ranked universities, with 13 disciplines listed among the top 10 programs in the country. The School of Economics & Management is famous for its management science & engineering program which was ranked sixth nationally by China’s ministry of education in 2012. Beihang University is also among the top-100 in the Academic Ranking of World Universities published by the Center for World-Class Universities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Call for nominations for the President’s University-Wide Teaching Awards

students gathered for convocation

The President’s University-Wide Teaching Awards (UWTA) honour those individuals who, through innovation and commitment, have significantly enhanced the quality of learning for York students. Four awards are offered each year in the following categories:

  • Full-time faculty with 10 or more years of teaching experience;
  • Full-time faculty (tenured, tenure-stream, contractually limited appointments) with less than 10 years of experience;
  • Contract and adjunct faculty;
  • Teaching assistants.

The purpose of these awards is to provide significant recognition for excellence in teaching, to encourage its pursuit, to publicize such excellence when achieved across the University and in the wider community, and to promote informed discussion of teaching and its improvement. The awards demonstrate the value York University attaches to teaching.

Recipients of the awards, selected by the Senate Committee on Awards, receive $3,000, have their names engraved on the University-Wide Teaching Awards plaques in Vari Hall and are recognized at convocation ceremonies. Nominations can be submitted by faculty, students or alumni.

The deadline for the 2014 President’s UWTA is Feb. 7, 2014. Nominations may only be submitted online.

A PDF download of the President’s UWTA criteria and online nomination form are available from the Awards webpage.

TEDxYorkU opens speaker applications for ‘Combustion’

A photo of books that highlight York University

A photo of books that highlight York UniversityIdeas will ignite and sparks will fly as part of York University’s fourth annual TEDxYorkU conference set for March 4, 2014, in the Sandra Faire & Ivan Fecan Theatre on the Keele campus.

The theme of this year’s event is Combustion, the exhilarating – and sometimes terrifying – point of no return, where nothing will ever be the same again.

TEDxYorkU is looking for dynamic members of the York community with an interesting story or unique perspective to share. Chosen speakers are paired up with a speaker relations team member to assist with developing the talk and presentation, ensuring the best possible delivery and exposure. This process has helped TEDxYorkU become York’s most-viewed video series.

Past events have included the following speakers:

Prospective speakers can apply online until Jan. 9, 2014. Those interested in attending the event as an audience member will have the chance to apply online early in the new year.

For additional information and updates, visit TEDxYorkU’s website, Facebook Page or Twitter feed.

Osgoode grad student receives prestigious Endeavour Research Fellowship

Queensland, Australia, an area subject to fracking

Osgoode PhD student Estair Van Wagner has been selected to receive a prestigious 2014 Endeavour Research Fellowship.  It is an internationally competitive award and comes with a $24,000 stipend that will enable Van Wagner to spend four to six months at the Faculty of Law at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) carrying out a portion of her doctoral research and working with property and environmental law Professor Nicole Graham.

Estair Van Wagner
Estair Van Wagner and her son Henry

Van Wagner’s research examines the conflicts that arise in land use planning disputes about resource extraction. She is interested in the ways in which people make claims to land that fall outside the traditional property ownership framework, particularly assertions of relationship to a particular place that demonstrate the complex overlapping relations we have with property.

“Here in Ontario I study recent disputes about quarry development in Southwestern Ontario,” Van Wagner said.  “In Australia, I will be examining recent disputes about coal seam gas extraction (what we call fracking), in which similar issues about how the law deals with competing claims to land have arisen in the peri-urban regions around Sydney.”

Van Wagner, who will start her fellowship in November 2014, said she is “honoured … and delighted” to have been chosen an Endeavour Research Fellow.  “I know the Fellowship will strengthen my doctoral research as I now have the support of both my supervisor (Osgoode Professor) Roxanne Mykitiuk and my fantastic committee at Osgoode, and will benefit from the expertise of Dr. Graham and the resources of the Faculty of Law at UTS.”

Peter Victor argues for a green economy at local level

Cover of the Green Economy at Community Scale book by Peter Victor

In a new report, Green Economy at Community Scale, a York professor suggests that a green economy could be the Green Economy at Community Scale reportsolution to some environmental and economic challenges.

Co-authors of the report, Peter Victor, an environmental studies professor at York, and Tim Jackson, a sustainable development professor at Surrey University, explain how local communities can function better in economic, social and environmental terms and provide real prosperity by applying the principles of ecological economics.

The report was released in November by the Toronto-based Metcalf Foundation as part of the foundation’s Prosperity in Balance initiative.

Ecological economics examines the interaction between human economies and natural ecosystems, especially in the context of sustainability and prosperity. The perspective is usually national and global, but Victor and Jackson are focusing on a local perspective.

Peter Victor
Peter Victor

The goal of the green economy is to enable individuals and communities to prosper, flourish and thrive. In this report, the authors look at the importance of local-level investment in green initiatives, the role of work and employment, the concept of the money economy and the steps towards creating a local green economy. They also present an analysis of the conceptual framework for sustainable community-based economic activities, as well as evidence that supports the successful implementation of these activities.

Victor is the founding president of the Canadian Society for Ecological Economics. His most recent books are The Costs of Economic Growth (Edward Elgar, 2013) and Managing without Growth: Slower by Design, not Disaster (Edward Elgar, 2008).

Demeter Press releases debut story collection

Cover of a new book by Demeter Press

Demeter Press has recently published What We Hold in Our Hands, 10 stories in a debut collection by Kim Aubrey.

What We Hold in Our HandsThe stories explore the difficult choices inherent in caring for children, siblings and partners, and the limits and limitlessness of love. They are about a teen mom longing for a different kind of life, a divorced dad struggling to come to terms with his ex-wife’s involvement in their son’s life, a woman caring for a dying younger sister and a granddaughter wondering about the man her grandmother killed.

“Kim Aubrey writes deftly orchestrated stories of domestic surfaces disturbed by memories, dreams and unspoken impulses,” writes Governor General’s Award-winning novelist Douglas Glover in an endorsement. “Aubrey’s narrators are sharply observant and observed yet often haunted by unexpressed desires. A brave first collection.”

“This is a book for grownups,” writes author K.D. Miller in another endorsement. “It contains not a shred of sentimentality. Its joys are hard-won and its smiles tinged with sadness. That said, the writing is beautifully sensuous, giving the reader exact shades of colour and subtleties of fragrance and sound. These stories are all about difficulty of loving, and the even greater difficulty of being loved.”

Demeter Press is an independent feminist press committed to publishing peer-reviewed scholarly work, fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction by and about mothers, mothering and family issues. It is the publishing arm of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement, founded and directed by York women’s studies Professor Andrea O’Reilly.

Thompson Road closure Dec. 11

Construction sign

Due to necessary utility work related to the Pan Am Stadium construction, the east arm of Thompson Road running along the east side of the Life Sciences Building will be restricted to emergency vehicle use only from 7am until 5:30pm on Wednesday, Dec. 11.

Only emergency vehicles will be able access the Petrie Science Building and Life Sciences Building beyond the excavation site at the bend in the road northeast of the Life Sciences Building. Access to Tait McKenzie, the West Office Building and Bethune College will not be affected.

When travelling throughout the construction zone, please watch for and obey all traffic signs and traffic control personnel for your safety and convenience.

The contractor performing the work will be available at all times to assist emergency personnel, including York Security.

Exam shuttle bus will run nightly until the end of the exam period

York U Shuttle bus

York’s Exam Express Shuttle between Vari Hall and Calumet Circle (across from the Rexall Centre) starts Dec. 10 and continues every night until Dec. 22. The Dec. 23 shuttle will operate from 4:15 to 5:30pm only. There are no evening exams scheduled for Dec. 23, but if an exam make-up day is required, the schedule will be adjusted.

The full exam shuttle is available as a PDF download from the Transportation Shuttle Services website.

The shuttle will start at the Rexall Centre at 4:15pm. The last shuttle will leave the Rexall Centre at 10:45pm. It will be a continuous loop, running around every half hour.

The Keele-Glendon Shuttle will run Dec. 9 to 23, Jan. 2 and 3, 2014. The full shuttle schedule is available as a PDF download from the Transportation Shuttle Services website.

All other shuttles, including the Village Express, the Village East Shuttle and the Village West Shuttles, will operate as usual. For more information, visit the Transportation Shuttle Services website.

York University pays tribute to the late Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela. Image: Wikimedia Commons

York University pays tribute to the late Nelson Mandela as an inspiration in striving toward justice, peace and equality for all citizens of the world.  In 1989, York was privileged to confer on Dr. Mandela in absentia an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree, in recognition of his profound contribution to humanity and the creation of a more just society.

Mamdouh Shoukri
President and Vice-Chancellor, York University

Professor’s contributions to York community celebrated

an Greene and James Simeon

Daniel Cohn Ian Greene and James SimeonCelebration was in the air at McLaughlin College as Professor Emeritus Ian Greene was fêted at the School of Public Policy & Administration’s annual alumni, student and community recognition awards on Nov. 28.

From left, Daniel Cohn, graduate program director, Master of Public Policy, Administration & Law; Professor Emeritus Ian Greene; and James Simeon, director of the School of Public Policy & Administration

More than 65 invited guests from the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) and the community attended a dinner and awards in Greene’s honour.

Daniel Cohn, Corey Davidson and James SimeonFrom left, Daniel Cohn, student award winner Corey Davidson and James Simeon

Newly retired, Greene has had an extraordinary and impactful career at York, where he has taught public policy and administration since 1985. At the awards ceremony students, faculty and staff reflected on how they had been touched by Greene’s forward-thinking approach and generosity of spirit in his numerous appointments at York. He is the founding director of York’s master’s program in public policy, administration and law; past chair of the University Senate; and a former associate dean in the previous Faculty of Arts, among other notable roles.

Daniel Cohn, Frank Belluardo and James SimeonFrom left, Daniel Cohn, alumni award winner Frank Belluardo and James Simeon

Alongside Greene, several other guests were celebrated for their meaningful accomplishments and contributions to the public policy and administration program. Corey Davidson, a business development advisor at ServiceOntario; Frank Belluardo, former senior policy advisor in the Ministry of Transportation; and Claudio De Rose, director of partnerships and business development branch at ServiceOntario, all took home awards for their involvement and dedication to public service.

Daniel Cohn, Claudio De Rose and James SimeonFrom left, Daniel Cohn, practicum honouree Claudio De Rose and James Simeon

The evening also kicked off a fundraising campaign for renovations to the McLaughlin College Junior Common Room. While master of McLaughlin College, one of Greene’s priorities was to renovate and improve the Junior Common Room. He persuaded one of the Fellows of the College, an architect, to design initial plans for the renovation. To honour Greene, the Ian Greene Fund has been established within the Division of Advancement to raise the funds necessary to implement this vision, and bring the new Junior Common Room to reality.

Those interested in donating can do so online through the Division of Advancement’s Make a Gift web page by designating their gift to the “Ian Greene Fund” or by calling 416-650-8210.