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Ideal candidates at risk of missing out on civic engagement project. Click here for more York U in the news

Brenda Spotton Visano, professor at the School of Public Policy and Administration, contributed to the Toronto Star April 28. Read full story.

Private healthcare in a pandemic is a nightmare: experts
Claudia Chaufan, graduate program director and associate professor at the School of Health Policy & Management, was quoted in the Edmonton Journal April 28. Read full story.

Southwestern Ontario lab seeks rare permission to make, study psychedelic drugs
York University was mentioned in CBC News April 28. Read full story.

Constitutional and health law experts weigh in on Federal Court’s hotel isolation decision
Osgoode Hall Law School Professor Allan C. Hutchinson was quoted in Law Times April 28. Read full story.

Study: Anti-Chinese Racism Up at Companies Despite DEI Initiatives
York University’s Schulich School of Business was mentioned in Next Gen April 28. Read full story.

Who owns your customers?
David Pullara, instructor at the Schulich School of Business Executive Education Centre, published an article in The Message April 28. Read full story.

Honey Bees Have a Dirty Secret
Sheila Colla, assistant professor at the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, was quoted in Natural Awakenings April 28. Read full story.

Education experts raise alarms; “Our children are going to suffer!”
Faculty of Education Associate Professor Sarah Barrett was quoted in Toronto Caribbean Newspaper April 28. Read full story.

Resident isolation, staffing remain significant concerns in Ontario long-term care centres
Department of Sociology Professor Pat Armstrong was quoted in CBC News April 30. Read full story.

Death due to COVID-19 parties could lead to manslaughter charges: experts
Osgoode Hall Law School Associate Professor Lisa Dufraimont was quoted in CTV News April 30. Read full story.

Does Facebook restrict free speech? What should the government do?
Jung-Chin Shen, assistant professor at the School of Administrative Studies, published an article in Apple Daily April 29. Read full story.

Covid-19 vaccine does not make people dangerous to others
Dasantila Golemi-Kotra, assistant professor in the Department of Biology, was quoted in AFP Fact Check April 29. Read full story.

Hungry in Canada
York University was mentioned in Country Guide April 30. Read full story.

How teachers remember their own childhoods affects how they challenge school inequities
Faculty of Education Associate Professor Lisa Farley co-authored an article in The Conversation April 27. Read full story.

John Greyson documentary channels songbirds, Zoom, to explore Egyptian prison and LGBTQ activism. Click here for more York U in the news

John Greyson, associate professor in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design, was profiled in the Toronto Star April 27. Read full story.

These Ontario high school teachers are calling on their union to go beyond ‘lip service’ and dismantle anti-Black racism within the organization
Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community & Diaspora and Professor in the Faculty of Education Carl James was quoted in the Toronto Star April 28. Read full story.

Could Delaying The Second Dose Of Covid-19 Vaccines Help In Avoiding More Infections & Hospitalizations?
Seyed Moghadas, graduate program director and professor in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics, was mentioned in Forbes April 27. Read full story.

How Ontario can recover from Doug Ford’s COVID-19 governance disaster
Mark Winfield, professor in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, published an article in The Conversation April 27. Read full story.

US school bars vaccinated teachers, falsely citing risk to students
Faculty of Science Associate Professor Dasantila Golemi-Kotra was quoted in Digital Journal April 27. Read full story.

‘There is no neutral ground’: Advocates say community must step up after ‘White Lives Matter’ posters found in Wilmot
Winny Shen, associate professor in the Schulich School of Business, was quoted in the New Hamburg Independent April 26. Read full story.

32-storey student residence at York University Markham campus ‘critical piece’ of puzzle
York University was mentioned in YorkRegion.com April 28. Read full story.

‘Convergences’ graduate history conference addresses crises and inequality in history

Woman laptop computer FEATURED

In collaboration with the University of Toronto, York University’s Department of History is  hosting “Convergences,” an inaugural graduate history conference that will confront crises of race, religion, and otherness throughout history and showcase the work and research of graduate students. The virtual conference takes place from April 28 to 30.

The annual conferences of York University and University of Toronto’s graduate history departments were converged in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The decision to collaborate is one that transcends inter-departmental and inter-university boundaries as an effort to promote academic discourse in spite of the hardships of 2020.

The theme of the event is “Confronting Crisis: Writing History in Uncertain Times.” As societies around the globe experience unprecedented ambiguity regarding the future, there is both academic merit and solace to examining how actors in the past have confronted crises. We are not the first and will not be the last humans to survive troubling times. As a result, we can learn from the construction of a historiography that not only commemorates achievement in the face of adversity but explores how to consolidate these achievements into lessons for future generations.

Natasha Henry
Natasha Henry

Funké Aladejebi, a professor at the University of Toronto specializing in Black Canadian history in the twentieth century, Black Canadian women’s history, and transnationalism, will deliver a keynote address to attendees. In addition, the conference will feature a Keynote Panel with historians Monica Green (independent scholar), Kate Brown (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Natasha Henry, president of the Ontario Black History Society and PhD student at York University.

In accordance with this year’s theme of “Confronting Crisis,” it is important for the conference to promote direct, material support for our communities in this time of crisis. As part of this goal, the conference committee, with the support of both York and University of Toronto History departments, is donating $1,000 to Second Harvest, and all attendees who are able to contribute are invited to do so in lieu of conference fees. Donations can be made through the Second Harvest website.

The conference committee would like to thank York Associate Professor of Humanities Andrea Davis, who is also the special advisor to the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies’ Anti-Black Racism Strategy at York University.

Register for the conference here.

LA&PS honours Professor Emeritus Brayton Polka’s 55 years of service

Vari Hall

The Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) is recognizing the contributions of Professor Emeritus Brayton Polka, one of York University’s longest serving professors with 55 years of dedicated service to the University.

Polka joined York University in 1966 with an initial appointment as an assistant professor of history and humanities. He served as a professor until his retirement in 2002, and now teaches part-time at York. His research and teachings have focused on European philosophy, religion, literature and the arts.

“I sincerely wish to congratulate Prof. Brayton Polka on his commendable 55 years of service to the Faculty of LA&PS,” said LA&PS Dean J.J. McMurtry. “It is indeed a moment of pride for the University to have such dedicated mentors giving students the opportunity to pursue their academic interests with excellence.”

Brayton Polka
Brayton Polka

Polka, who is now 84, has always been committed to the development of students. Drawing from Kant’s Enlightenment call: Sapere aude: “Dare to think,” Polka encourages his students to think critically, independently and truthfully.

“It has always been for me truly an honor, a privilege, and a blessing to be in the position of helping students learn to embody in their work and thinking, in their lives, the hermeneutical imperative: do unto others what you want others to do unto you,” says Polka.

Lexington Books recently published his latest book, titled Paradox and Contradiction in the Biblical Traditions. He sees the book as another step along the way of life through which we learn to distinguish between paradox in the biblical tradition and contradiction in the tradition of ancient Greeks. “As you measure life, so are you measured by life. As you interpret others, so are you interpreted by others,” observes Polka.

Polka’s research interests have centered on the fundamental questions of hermeneutics – on what it means to interpret the text. His work on the relationship of philosophy and theology, specifically the relationship of the secular and the religious in modernity, has led to the publication of numerous books and articles. An additional new book, On Poetry and Philosophy: Thinking Metaphorically with Wordsworth and Kant, is soon to be published by Wipf and Stock.

Currently serving as professor emeritus of humanities and senior scholar at York University, his everyday motivation is, to recall Nietzsche, “to become the person I am and to be the person I become.”

At present, Polka teaches in two graduate programs: Social and Political Thought (of which he was the founding director in the early 1970s) and Humanities (he also chaired the committee that set up the HUMA graduate program) by teaching courses and directing the master’s research papers and the PhD dissertations of students.

Among 11 published books, eight grants to date and countless other achievements, his colleagues and LA&PS honour Professor Polka’s commendable contributions and association with the University and congratulates him on his recent publication.

New Gold’s cryptic description of COVID-19 outbreak faces scrutiny. Click here for more York U in the news

Richard Leblanc, graduate program director and professor at York University’s School of Administrative Studies, was quoted in the Globe and Mail April 23. Read full story.

The tragic story of the founder of weather forecasting in Victorian England
Katharine Anderson, professor in the Department of Humanities, was quoted in the Washington Post April 25. Read full story.

Screw the ‘Model Minority’ Myth: Why It’s Time for Asians to Fight Back
Casey Mecija, assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Media Studies, was featured in Rolling Stone April 23. Read full story.

Increasing Gap Between Doses of COVID-19 Vaccines Could Reduce New Infections, Hospitalisations: Research
Mathematics & Statistics Professor Seyed Moghadas was quoted in The Weather Channel news April 23. Read full story.

Boredom Could Help You Understand What It’s Like to Have ADHD
Associate Professor of Psychology John Eastwood co-authored an article in Psychology Today April 24. Read full story.

Globe multimedia project awarded by Amnesty International
York University was mentioned in the Globe and Mail April 23. Read full story.

Supreme Court ruling grants constitutional rights for Indigenous peoples outside Canada with ties to the land
Osgoode Hall Law School Professor Emeritus Kent McNeil was quoted in the Globe and Mail April 23. Read full story.

Toronto’s natural drainage systems, its ravines, get a makeover
Jennifer Bonnell, associate professor in the Department of History, was quoted in the Globe and Mail April 24. Read full story.

From a constitutional perspective, many pandemic responses are on shaky ground
Allan C. Hutchinson, distinguished research professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, contributed to the Hamilton Spectator April 25. Read full story.

Ottawa hospital to set up transitional care unit inside long-term care home
Professor of Sociology Pat Armstrong was quoted in the Ottawa Sun April 23. Read full story.

How producing videos on TikTok is impacting teaching
Kate Tilleczek, Canada Research Chair and professor in the Faculty of Education, was quoted in University Affairs April 22. Read full story.

Proposed new Toronto-area highway comes at a high cost to environment and personal health, say critics
Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change Professor Mark Winfield was quoted in CBC News April 23. Read full story.

“I guess you could say it’s become an obsession”: Meet Bea Serdon, a.k.a. Batman, who’s booked more than 120 vaccine appointments for friends, family and total strangers
York University was mentioned in Toronto Life April 23. Read full story.

Naseem Mithoowani appointed an adjudicator on the Human Rights Tribunal of Canada
Naseem Mithoowani, adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, was profiled in Law Times April 26. Read full story.

York alumni shortlisted for prestigious Griffin Poetry Prize

Canadian poets and York University alumni Canisia Lubrin and Yusuf Saadi have been shortlisted for the $65,000 Griffin Poetry Prize. Widely considered the most prestigious poetry award in Canada, the Griffin family gives out two prizes annually: one to a Canadian poet and one to an international poet.

Lubrin and Saadi are graduates of York’s Creative Writing program in the Department of English, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.

“The Griffin Poetry Prize is one of the most prestigious in Canada. We are so pleased to see not one, but two graduates of the York Creative Writing program represented among the Canadian finalists,” said David Goldstein, associate professor and coordinator of York’s Creative Writing Program. “The work of both poets is exquisite and has been since they were students here. This is a well-deserved honour.”

Canisia Lubrin
Canisia Lubrin. Photo: The Donald Windham-Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prizes

Yusuf Saadi
Yusuf Saadi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lubrin is nominated for her book The Dyzgraphxst (Penguin/Random House, 2020), a long poem that both examines the idea of selfhood while exploring issues of race, oppression and colonialism. Last month, Lubrin was one of eight international authors to receive the $165,000 U.S. American Windham-Campbell Prize.

Born and raised in Saint Lucia, Lubrin completed a BA in creative writing at York University and an MFA at the University of Guelph. She teaches creative writing at OCAD University and poetry at the University of Toronto and is also incoming poetry editor at the literary press McClelland & Stewart.

Saadi is nominated for Pluviophile (Nightwood Editions, 2020), a combination of longer sonnets and shorter meditations. He was previously awarded the Malahat Review’s 2016 Far Horizons Award for Poetry for the poem “The Place Words Go to Die,” which is included in Pluviophile. Yusuf holds an MA from the University of Victoria and currently resides in Montreal. Pluviophile is his debut collection.

The winners will be announced on June 23.

ELLA Entrepreneurial Insights event discusses the humanization of KPIs

laptop webinar computer virtual

How do you select, understand and leverage KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that truly drive growth in your business?

On April 28, join ELLA for an engaging conversation with digital marketing expert and e-commerce specialist Lipsio Carvalho, who will break down the process of humanizing KPIs. Learn who is behind those KPIs and how to better communicate with them. Imagine being able to clearly define your people in the numbers and pivot on a dime to serve their immediate needs. Carvalho will discuss lifetime value, customer acquisition cost, return on ad spend, and conversion rate for digital platforms, all critical KPIs when accelerating your business.

The first part of the session will be a moderated conversation followed by audience Q-and-A.

Humanizing KPIs promo

Carvalho is an e-commerce specialist and digital marketing professional who has combined a love for technology with experience as an executive creative director in ad agencies all over North America and South America for the past 20 years. Carvalho is currently leading the team of Beatnik & Sons, an ethical DTC fashion brand that manufactures luxury leather backpacks with offices in Brazil and Canada, as well as a team of creatives at Paso, a creative boutique specializing in brand-building and creative executions based out of Brazil.

He also worked as creative director at several in-house agencies as well as in top-tier agencies in Brazil and the U.S. Creativity was always crucial to his work as a marketing director and manager, building strong brands in the tech, blockchain, finance, news media, and education industries. He has shared his stories and experiences with over 1,200 students for the past 12 years, as he worked part-time as a university professor on design, marketing and advertising courses.

“The Humanization of KPIs” takes place at 12 p.m. via Zoom. Register for the event here.

Vietnam defied the experts and sealed its border to keep COVID-19 out. It worked. Click here for more York U in the news

Professor Steven Hoffman, Dahdaleh Distinguished Chair and director of the Global Strategy Lab, was quoted in Vox April 23. Read full story.

Earth Day 2021: Canada’s latest budget falls dangerously short on climate action
Bruce Campbell, adjunct professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies and Urban Change, published an article in The Conversation April 22. Read full story.

Ping-pong, free food, beer on tap — but no support for Black employees. Tech companies are rushing to create new policies, but are they willing to do the real work?
Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community & Diaspora and Professor in the Faculty of Education Carl James was quoted in the Toronto Star April 22. Read full story.

Doug Ford’s flip-flops: A dangerous failure of risk communication in COVID-19 third wave
Jack L. Rozdilsky, associate professor of disaster and emergency management, published an article in The Conversation April 22. Read full story.

‘Hurrah, it’s leprosy!’ How a conservator and a historian are decoding the grisly tales in Canterbury Cathedral’s stained-glass windows
Associate Professor of History Rachel Koopmans was quoted in the Art Newspaper April 23. Read full story.

Toronto mobilizes parks ambassadors to clear encampments
Osgoode Hall Law School’s Environmental Justice and Sustainability Clinic was mentioned in NOW Magazine April 22. Read full story.

Long-awaited ‘reforms’ fail to address realities of environmental injustice
Peter Hillson, student at Osgoode Hall and candidate in the master’s program in Environmental Studies, published an article in Canadian Dimension April 22. Read full story.

English professor brings worldly perspective to classroom
York University was mentioned in the Good Five Cent Cigar April 22. Read full story.

Self-Compassion Is Key To Survive Working From Home
York University was mentioned in Forbes April 22. Read full story.

Orangeville resident inspires York University’s Plastic Pickup Challenge
Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change Contract Faculty Mark Terry was quoted in the Orangeville Citizen April 22. Read full story.

More scientists now believe COVID-19 spreads primarily through the air. Click here for more York U in the news

Marina Freire-Gormaly, assistant professor in the Lassonde School of Engineering, was quoted in CTV News April 21. Read full story.

The erosion of personal ownership
Schulich School of Business Professor Russell Belk was quoted in Vox April 21. Read full story.

Episode 13: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Jonathan Warren, associate professor in the Department of English, was a guest on Literate podcast April 22. Listen to the full episode.

Federal budget 2021: 7 actions to ensure Canada’s ‘child-care plan’ is about education
Cristina Delgado Vintimilla, assistant professor in York University’s Faculty of Education, co-authored an article in The Conversation April 21. Read full story.

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter flight on Mars opens up new frontiers in space exploration
Faculty of Science Assistant Professor Jesse Rogerson published an article in The Conversation April 21. Read full story.

What It’s Like to Have Face Blindness during the Pandemic
York University was mentioned in Scientific American April 21. Read full story.

George Fallis: It’s a housing bubble in Toronto, not a supply squeeze
George Fallis, professor in the Department of Social Science, contributed to the Financial Post April 21. Read full story.

Virtual theatre from Whitby group
Mark Terry, contract faculty in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, was quoted in Whitby This Week April 20. Read full story.

Annuity measures announced in 2019 get nod in federal budget
Schulich School of Business Professor Moshe Milevsky was quoted in Advisor’s Edge April 21. Read full story.