Year: 2016

LA&PS Community Conversations launch gives voice to Portuguese-speaking communities

Community Conversations, a new initiative in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies within the Global and Community Engagement portfolio, is designed to encourage stimulating, inspiring and inclusive dialogue among different communities on local and global issues that matter most to them.

“This first event truly embodied our vision of Community Conversations. It created a space for the community to identify strengths, build awareness and identify strategies for positive change,” says Narda Razack, associate dean, global & community engagement in LA&PS. “We want to actively enhance public engagement on a wide range of topics and to create inclusive spaces to exchange ideas.”

Portuguese-speaking members of the Portuguese, Brazilian and Angolan communities gather at the first Community Conversations event
Portuguese-speaking members of the Portuguese, Brazilian and Angolan communities gather at the first Community Conversations event

Held on Nov. 25, the first conversation in the series was titled “Youth, Higher Education and Community Engagement in the Portuguese Community.” Lusophone members of the Portuguese, Brazilian and Angolan communities gathered for the event hosted by the Gallery of the Portuguese Pioneers, with the assistance of the Working Women Community Center (WWCC) and the Portuguese Canadian Walk of Fame. All these institutions are partners of York University’s Portuguese & Luso-Brazilian Studies Program, whose faculty members spearheaded the event.

“In conjunction with the two other community partners, holding this event in the gallery of the Portuguese Pioneers was significant because it is a space that connects us to our immigrant experience and cultural pioneers. This allows us to celebrate them and remember their struggles while acknowledging the many new and often unexpected paths of Portuguese-speaking immigrants in Canada,” says Professor Maria João Dodman from York’s Department of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics. Dodman and Professor Inês Cardoso, also from the same department, moderated the event.

From left, Member of Parliament for Davenport Julie Dzerowicz, Professor Inês Cardoso and Professor Maria João Dodman
From left, Member of Parliament for Davenport Julie Dzerowicz, Professor Inês Cardoso and Professor Maria João Dodman

“I am thrilled to learn about York University’s intentional and collaborative efforts to meaningfully engage and welcome Toronto’s students of Portuguese and other Lusophone ancestries into post-secondary education,” says David Pereira, a long-time tutor with the WWCC’s ON YOUR MARK tutoring program. York University students make up more than 50 per cent of the program’s 200 volunteer tutors.

“Working Women Community Centre is pleased to be working with York University in the delivery of ON YOUR MARK Mentoring and Tutoring Program for students of Portuguese ancestry.  The first community conversation provided an opportunity to celebrate the marked improvement of our high school drop-out rates, but I was particularly pleased that the conversation also addressed systemic issues that impact our student success,” says Marcie Ponte, WWCC executive director.

“In this conversation, we wanted to highlight the need, as a community, to be attentive to the educational paths pursued by youth, ensuring that knowledge is widely available to them, and to reflect critically on these paths without victimization or a defeatist attitude, but as active leaders aware of our rights and collective goals,” says Cardoso, who served as the event moderator.

The community conversation attracted teachers, students, tutors, volunteers, community leaders and alumni of York University and the University of Toronto. Also in attendance was the Member of Parliament for Davenport Julie Dzerowicz, as well as Portuguese-language media from OMNI Television and Camões Radio.

“Community members applauded York University for coming to the community and bringing a different energy to a safe and an emotional space that validates our experience as immigrants,” says Dodman. “The overall interest by those who attended to stay informed on future community conversations was overwhelmingly positive.”

The Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies invites faculty members and others to apply to host future Community Conversations. The formats of future conversations may vary and the Global and Community Engagement unit encourages moderators to share their innovative ideas.

Full house for media workshop hosted by the Faculty of Science

The Faculty of Science hosted a media workshop on Dec. 7 that aimed to inform and inspire York University researchers about how they can increase the reach and impact of their research by using social media, developing an online brand, and increasing their media coverage. The workshop was filled to capacity with faculty members, postdocs, graduate students and librarians from across the University.

A large group sits in a room and listens to a speaker
A capacity crowd attended the Faculty of Science media workshop. Image: Professor Dawn Bazely

“It’s clear from the broad interest and participation in our media workshop that students and researchers at York appreciate the value of communicating their research and ideas more broadly and that they are eager to try new avenues and tools to do so,” said Dean of Science Ray Jayawardhan, “many thanks to our communications manager Margaret Mroziewicz for organizing the terrific event.”

The event opened with a panel titled “The Power of Social Media and Your Online Brand,” which included presentations by Professor Markus Giesler from the Schulich School of Business and Biology Professor Dawn Bazely from the Faculty of Science. Giesler spoke about the value of rethinking your own research expertise and brand as a venture, and he showcased how he has done this through the Big Design Lab. Bazely talked about the benefits of using social media in the classroom, to share research and ideas and to network and collaborate. A stimulating Q&A followed their presentations.

A second panel, “Getting Your Research into the Headlines,” featured talks by journalists Kate Lunau, editor of the web news site Motherboard, and Joseph Hall, a reporter at the Toronto Star, as well as Biology Professor Sapna Sharma from the Faculty of Science. Lunau and Hall shared their thoughts on what makes a science story great and what scientists and communications professionals can do to help get their research covered in the media. Sharma, who has received extensive media attention for her research in the last few years, spoke about her experience working with the media and how the increased attention has amplified the reach and impact of her research program. After the talks, the audience had the opportunity to ask questions.

The workshop ended with a Twitter 101 session that reviewed the basics of how to get started and use Twitter as researchers. The participants were encouraged to sign up to take over the @YorkUScientists Twitter account for a week.

Apply today for a York International global internship

Earth featured picture for YFile front page

As a global intern, York University students work and gain global experience with one of York International’s 40 partner organizations that include NGOs and research organizations that are located in 25 countries. Each day, global interns make a difference in the world while gaining valuable skills. You will work and gain global experience in one of York International 40 partner organizations, from NGOs to research institutions, located in 25 countries. Every day you will make a difference in the world while gaining valuable skills.

Most internships require English language skills. All interns receive funding through York International. Global interns learn how to connect theory and research with real-world and policy issues. Interns build professional networks, acquire intercultural skills, develop valuable global competencies and enhance their resumés.

Applications are due Wednesday, Dec. 14 by 11:59pm EST.

For more information, visit http://yorkinternational.yorku.ca/go-global/intern-abroad/ or email contact yiintern@yorku.ca.

What trade rules can Canada turn to if Trump rips up NAFTA?

Osgoode Hall Law School Professor Gus Van Harten was quoted in the Globe and Mail Dec. 13. Read full story.

Seventy years after the Holocaust, a Surinamese memorial for Caribbean victims
York University Professor Diana Cooper-Clark was quoted in the Times of Israel Dec. 13. Read full story.

Morning brief: Tuesday, Dec. 13
York University Professor Dennis Pilon was mentioned on ipolitics.ca Dec. 13. Read full story.

Lots of ideas, skepticism on Peel board’s We Rise Together plan
York University was mentioned in Mississauga News Dec. 12. Read full story.

Topical cream lessens pain in infants receiving vaccinations, study shows
York University was mentioned on sickkids.ca Dec. 12. Read full story.

Rights case between York University and sexually assaulted student settled
York University was mentioned in the Globe and Mail Dec. 12. Read full story.

Speaker’s corner: Rebalancing defamation law in an online age
York University was mentioned in Law Times Dec. 12. Read full story.

 

LA&PS announces 2016 Writing Prize winners

LA&PS Writing Prize Group
LA&PS Writing Prize Group

Seven students from across the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies (LA&PS) were recognized as winners of the annual LA&PS Writing Prize on Nov. 3. The students were honored for their outstanding work by Associate Dean (Students) Peter Avery during a recognition ceremony.

Avery congratulated the winners in front of a gathering of students’ family members and professors in York’s Chancellor’s Room. There, each student was recognized, and the adjudicators’ comments concerning their submission were read aloud.

writing-prize-groupThe 2016 winners featured finalists from both sides of the LA&PS ampersand, from the Humanities Department to the School of Social Work. Also noteworthy was a rare (but not unique) double winner, Val Muzik. Muzik won both the third- and fourth-year competitions, with two separate papers from two separate courses.

“The teams of adjudicators don’t consult with each other,” noted the competition’s co-ordinator Professor Jon Sufrin. “Ms. Muzik is to be congratulated for her remarkable achievement.”

In 2016, the winners were:
• First-Year Hon. Mention: Mariah Marcutti, “Deaf Children and Youth” from HUMA 1970, Worlds of Childhood, taught by Peter Cumming

• First-Year Winner: Keshra Hines, “Precarious Migrants: the Effect of Globalization and Neoliberalism” from SOSC 1190, International Migration, taught by Alina Marquez

• Second-Year Hon. Mention: Dayna M. Bernard, “Developing an Anti-discriminatory Approach to the Treatment of Injection Drug Users” from SOWK 2050A 6.0, Identity, Diversity and Anti-Discriminatory Practice, taught by Anne McConnell

• Second-Year Winner: Samir Janmohamed, “Ethiopia and Policy” from SOSC 2800, Development in Comparative and Historical Perspective, taught by Merouan Mekouar

• Third-Year Hon. Mention: Nicolas Hore, “Roman Bodies as Bodies of Romans: Corporeal Symbolism in Lucan’s Pharsalia” from HUMA 3107 6.00, Roman Republican Literature, taught by Sarah Blake

• Third-Year Winner: Val Muzik, “Stasis, Flow and the Political Production of Mental Disorders” from POLS 3070, Psychology and Politics, taught by Shannon Bell

• Fourth-Year Hon. Mention: Camila Acosta Varela, “Decolonizing the Nation-State: Indigenous Autonomy, Extractivism, and Consultation in Contemporary Bolivia” from SOSC 4607, Indigeneity and International Development, taught by Miguel Gonzalez

• Fourth-Year Winner: Val Muzik, “Do Words Speak Louder than Actions? Sovereignty Theatre in Canadian Arctic Policy” from POLS 4101, Canada and the Arctic, taught by Gabrielle Slowey

There were no entrants in the category of Major Research Project.

Both the winning essays and the adjudicators comments can be found online, in the YorkSpace Repository for the LA&PS Writing Prize. The winners also received transcript notations,  certificates and cash prizes.

Each year, the Faculty invites course directors to submit outstanding essays in any field but creative writing. The submissions are collected and organized by Writing Department staff into year levels (first to fourth year), with a special category for major research projects and undergraduate theses included.

Then, small teams of full-time writing faculty (each responsible for a category) review the submissions. Using criteria of originality, research, expression (style, structure etc.) and overall significance, the teams choose a winner and a runner-up for each level of the competition.

In 2016, the competition received over 50 entries written in many different styles and on a wide variety of topics. Some departments held their own internal competitions first, to nominate their strongest submissions to the Faculty-level competition.

The 2017 LA&PS Writing Competition, open to papers from summer 2016 to winter 2017 will open in April 2017.

Prof. Joel Katz editor-in-chief of new open access journal

York University Faculty of Health Professor Joel Katz will lead the editorial direction of the Canadian Journal of Pain, a newly minted open access journal that is a joint venture between The Canadian Pain Society (CPS) and Taylor & Francis.

Joel Katz
Joel Katz

Katz, who is also a Canada Research Chair in Health Psychology, was named inaugural editor-in-chief of the publication, which will focus on all aspects of pain research and cover basic science, multidisciplinary clinical research, and knowledge implementation science.

“Thanks to the CPS Board of Directors and their tireless efforts, we’re delighted to have found a new home with Taylor & Francis,” Katz said. “The new Canadian Pain Society journal will give our members a trustworthy, high-quality outlet for their research and, at the same time, allow the journal to showcase the research of our many talented members.”

The journal welcomes manuscripts from all over the world and has waived publication fees for the first year of publication.

“Dr. Katz’s vision and energy will no doubt make this venture a great success,” said Director Jeffrey Mogil, on behalf of the Canadian Pain Society. “We encourage all Canadian Pain Society members to congratulate Dr. Katz, and submit their work to what we predict will be a first-class venue for the publication of the latest and greatest in pain research and treatment.”

The open access journal, said Katz, aims to publish cutting-edge information about new developments in the field of pain in a timely manner so authors can expect a “quick, streamlined review process from submission to publication”.

The first issue of the Canadian Journal of Pain is set to publish in early 2017. To learn more about the journal, visit www.tandfonline.com/UCJP.

Our growing fascination with boredom

York University Professor John Eastwood was quoted in UniversityAffairs.ca on Dec. 7. Read full story.

New dean of Arts and Science announced
York Unviersity Dean of Graduate Studies Barbara Crow was mentioned in Queen’s Gazette on Dec. 7. Read full story.

Argonauts sign former York University lineman
York University was mentioned in CTV News on Dec. 7. Read full story.

A look back at universities at the time of Canada’s centennial through the pages of UA
York University was mentioned in UniversityAffairs.ca on Dec. 7. Read full story.

Polar bears scavenging more orca-killed bowhead whales: study
York University Professor Gregory Thiemann was quoted in CTV News on Dec. 8. Read full story.

New Labour Board chairwoman appointed
York University was mentioned in the Herald News on Dec. 8. Read full story.

TFC fans feeling betrayed by MLS Cup ticket sales
York University was mentioned in BTToronto.ca on Dec. 9. Read full story.

The last of the Mercury Seven
York University Professor Paul Delaney was featured in TheLoop.ca on Dec. 9. Read full story.

Pickering track athlete Brooke Oldfin ready to make her mark at Robert Morris University
York University was mentioned in the Pickering News Advertiser on Dec. 9. Read full story.

Solar energy workshop highlights York-led developments

As part of the York’s Faculty of Environmental Studies’ (FES) Sustainable Energy Initiative (SEI), Professor Jose Etcheverry hosted a solar energy workshop to highlight exciting developments in mobile solar energy.

The Dec. 2  workshop was an extension of a previous SEI project that resulted in the construction of a solar charging station for electric bicycles on York University’s Keele campus.

Jose Etcheverry
Jose Etcheverry

“The workshop [provides] unique opportunities to learn how to develop a solar charging station for electric vehicles and also policy strategies to help mainstream this innovative transportation solution,” said Etcheverry.

The workshop’s focus was the design and engineering groundwork for an upcoming collaborative project in Algeria that will bring together York University’s SEI and engineering students from Algeria’s École Nationale Supérieure de Technologies (ENST).

“Before we start doing anything, we need to develop a number of design parameters that guide our work,” said Etcheverry.

In addition to students from ENST, the workshop hosted international students from  Switzerland, Chile and Costa Rica, as well as community members and industry professionals.

“We have made sure that we have partnered with the best people in the world, and bring together the best students in the world,” said Etcheverry.

The project will culminate with the construction of a solar charging station for electric vehicles at the ENST campus, similar to the one already existing at York. However, as Etcheverry explained, the project is part of a much broader mission.

“We want all of ENST to be 100 per cent solar, [so that perhaps] we can help convince Algeria to be the first Islamic country to commit to going 100 per cent renewable,” he said.

Etcheverry also emphasized the crucial role community collaboration plays in the success of projects like this, and fits into his own educational philosophy of ‘learning by doing’.

“If we do not focus on the community, then the engineering is useless,” he said, adding that efforts like these can help build toward the global campaign for 100 per cent renewable energy.

For a photo gallery of the event, visit here.

Passings: York’s longest-serving orator, Professor Emeritus Maurice Elliott, dies

Maurice Elliott, a distinguished long-serving professor emeritus at York University, died peacefully on Dec. 8 with his wife Carole at his side.

Maurice Elliott
Maurice Elliott

Elliott was a professor of English at York University from 1966 to 2002, and also served York University as Master of Winter’s College (1980 to 1987); Chair of the Department of English (1993 to 1999); Chair of Senate (1998 to 1999) and as a member of York’s Board of Governors.

In 1996, he was awarded his University Professorship. His research and teaching focus was primarily on the poetry of the Romantic period, in addition to Irish writing in English.

Elliott was the University’s longest-standing orator, from 1987 to 2004, and contributed a body of work that includes over 170 citations honouring the installation and farewell of chancellors and presidents, honorary degree recipients, University and Distinguished Research Professors and more.

His contributions were acknowledged in 2009 during York’s Spring Convocation ceremonies with a newly-published, 231-page volume of his citations – a brilliant red and gold book simply titled, Citations: Maurice Slater Elliott. It has been said he elevated the delivery of citations to a memorable art form.

Elliott was born in England, and in 1961 immigrated to Canada after graduating from Cambridge University, and later earned his PhD from the University of Toronto.

He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Carole; children, Adam, Giles, Lucy and John (Valleau); six grandchildren, Ginger, Maxwell, Sam, Slater, Carolyn, and Jack; and many friends.

Funeral services are planned for Thursday, Dec. 15 at the United Church in Stouffville at 11am, with a reception to follow at O’Neill Funeral Home.

Online condolences can be made at oneillfuneral.ca.

New volume explores relationship between social media and universities

Cover of the volume titled Social Media Implications for the University

Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies Professors Roberta Iannacito-Provenzano and Jana Vizmuller-Zocco, of the Department of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics, have co-edited a new volume titled Social Media:  Implications for the University published by Aracne Editrice in Rome, Italy as part of the series on Social Theory, Communication and Media Studies.

Jana Vizmuller-Zocco
Jana Vizmuller-Zocco

The objective of the volume is to offer a balanced critical reflection on the role of social media in the workings of the engaged university by analyzing, critiquing and exploring the rich ideological and pragmatic relationships ensuing from the intersection between social media and academic life. Using both established methodologies of scientific research and novel approaches, the content highlights the ways in which social media may be applied to research, teaching, and university administration (in particular recruitment and retention).

Roberta Iannacito-Provenzano,
Roberta Iannacito-Provenzano,

The book is the result of completely revised and reworked papers presented at the First Annual International Conference titled “Social Media: Implications for the University” held at York University from May 3 to 5, 2013. The contributions reflect common themes, dealing with the intersection between social media and the university taking account of a wide range of academic and theoretical perspectives.

The most distinctive features of the volume are the following:

  • It deals critically with social media and university research, teaching and administration, focusing overwhelmingly on the Canadian perspective.
  • Its contributions challenge received definitions of knowledge production and reception.
  • Its theoretical impact is focused in the fact that it treats head-on the challenges implicit in the use of digital economy in academic life and offers balanced analyses.
  • The contribution to scholarship is not only theoretical but also practical in that the volume offers feasible, innovative solutions to questions of pedagogy as they relate to social media.

The volume contains contributions by the following faculty:

  • Roberta Iannacito-Provenzano and Jana Vizmuller-Zocco  (York University)
  • David Toews (York University)
  • Bob Hanke (York University)
  • Roger Ulrich (Dartmouth College)
  • Aleksandar Lukac (York University)
  • Amy Thurlow and Brent King (Mount Saint Vincent University)
  • Mike Nantais and Jackie Kirk  (Brandon University)
  • Mark Bauerlein (Emory University)
  • Heather Lotherington, Mary Pat O’Meara and Krista Jensen (York University)
  • Laura D’Amelio (York University)

The research backing the book was supported by a Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada Connection Grant.