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And the NSSE Champion Cup goes to…

For the second time in a row, Schulich School of Business can claim the bragging rights as the NSSE Champion Cup winner.

NSSE, or “Nessie”, is the National Survey of Student Engagement that seeks input from first- and fourth-year York University students. Through NSSE, students are able to contribute their insight and have input into York University’s future direction. The online survey ran Feb. 6 to March 31.

NSSE Champion Cup

Organizers at York U challenged individual Faculties (except the Faculty of Education and Osgoode Hall Law School) to encourage participation in the survey. The Faculty with the highest participation rate wins the NSSE Champion Cup and bragging rights until the next survey.

President and Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri was present to hand out the awards and shared a few thoughts on the importance of student input.

The survey plays a crucial role in steering the University toward a “better learning environment,” he said. He also noted the importance of student opinion with respect to government priorities in post-secondary education, such as funding.

Quick facts about this year’s NSSE:

• Student response rate tabulated at 33.6 per cent (increased from 27.8 per cent in 2014)
• Overall winner of the inter-faculty contest: Schulich School of Business
• Second place: Faculty of Science
• New award: Most improvement over 2014 NSSE: Faculty of Health
• New award: Most creative campaign: School of Arts, Media, Performance and Design (AMPD) with their version of a cute and cuddly blue NSSIE monster walking the halls of AMPD.
• Four participating students were drawn as winners of a $500 tuition waiver: Neekens Marcelin (first-year, biomedical science); Federico Jara (first-year, film production); Carol Singh (environmental studies; fourth-year); and Manal Rahim (law and society, fourth-year, absent from the ceremony)

The online survey, which takes about 15 minutes to complete, allows students in their first and final years of a four-year degree to offer their insight into what York U does well and what it could improve. It will be used to determine how much time and effort students put into educationally rewarding activities and to what degree York University facilitates this involvement.

President-designate Rhonda Lenton shares vision for York at community cafe

Members of the York University community converged on April 4 to attend Community Cafés for York University’s next President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton. The events were held in the morning at the Glendon campus and in the afternoon at the Keele campus.

The event was open to faculty, staff and students, and offered an informal setting to hear reflections from outgoing President and Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri, as well as thoughts from President-designate Lenton on the future of York University.
Community café to welcome York’s next president, Rhonda Lenton

“I believe it has been a decade of impact,” said Shoukri to a capacity audience.

Shoukri outlined for students, staff and faculty the victories and achievements over the past 10 years. Among them were York’s commitments to academic excellence (building up social sciences, humanities and the arts, for example), to become a more comprehensive community (expansion in the Faculty of Science, for example, and the first undergraduate degree in global health) and to make York a more research-intensive university (realized, for example, through increasing York’s share in Canada Research Chairs and its success with the VISTA funding).

Shoukri also highlighted York’s successes in areas of social justice, global and local impact, community engagement, and leadership and sustainability.

“When I began as president,” he said, “I saw a university with so much potential. Ten years later, I am excited about the direction we are headed in and the progress that we made.

“The future is bright for York University and, I must say, I can think of no better person to be trusted with that bright future of York University than President-designate Rhonda Lenton.”

Lenton addressed the crowd and acknowledged that there are areas where York has made progress and other areas where it “may be important to shift direction.”

She described York as a success story with a distinct identity and outlined the importance for York to fully realize its vision to be an engaged university and what that means.

“York is a university that cares about impact,” she said, adding that the University focuses on not just teaching, but learning; not just research, but discovery and innovation; not just service, but citizenship.

The challenge ahead, she said, is in “consolidating that vision to both strengthen our reputation as a research-intensive university, while at the same time remaining one of the most accessible higher education institutions in the country.”

Nurturing York’s diversity and international opportunities will also play a role in achieving that vision, she said.

The second goal of her presidency is strengthening connectedness through opportunities such as the Markham Centre Campus, the new subway, the Ontario government’s partial designation of Glendon as a French language service provider, and staying connected to alumni.

“My vision for the university is a vision of purpose,” she said, “one that involves connecting our academic and research excellence with our accessibility agenda, our diversity with our inclusivity, and ultimately to seize this opportunity to think about how by building both … we can be the model for the connected university in a 21st-century global knowledge economy.”

Realizing her vision includes a commitment to engage the entire community in a discussion about the future of the university, she said.

 

Glendon’s Andrew Dawson awarded Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Grant

Why are some societies consistently more violent than others?

Andrew Dawson

Glendon College Assistant Professor Andrew Dawson has been awarded $24,517 US to study just that. The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation will fund Dawson’s project, which compares historical homicide rate trajectories in Canada and the United States in order to identify factors that caused the rates in the two countries to diverge. Dawson, a faculty member in Glendon’s Department of Sociology, plans to examine the influence of socioeconomic and political cultural variables in accounting for the difference in homicide rates in the two countries in order to better understand why murder is more prevalent in some societies than in others.

“In answering this research question, this project is poised to make a meaningful impact both within and beyond academia,” says Dawson.”The analyses will provide a valuable contribution to the ongoing debate of the significance of political culture and political economy in explaining differences in levels of homicide between Canada and the United States. In addition, this project will inform public policy by expanding our knowledge of the structural and cultural factors affecting homicide rates over time and across regions.”

The United States is considered the most violent of the Western industrialized countries and has a homicide rate of three times that of Canada’s. This has not always been the case. Prior to the mid-1800s, homicide rates in the Canada and US were similar. What changed to cause these homicide rates to diverge so significantly? Dawson hopes to find out.

Using court archives, coroners’ reports, censuses, newspapers, and various secondary sources, Dawson will collect homicide data for Ontario, Nova Scotia and comparable American regions. The project will compile the first continuous (or near-continuous), long-term historical trend in homicide rates for the provinces of Ontario and Nova Scotia, beginning in the latter half of the 18th Century until the present.

He also plans to investigate corresponding measures of state legitimacy, economic inequality and economic development in each region, in addition to an inductive analysis of the historical events related to long-term changes in homicide rates. Subsequently, he will conduct comparative analyses in order to highlight factors which caused the homicide rates in each country to diverge.

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation was established by Harry Guggenheim to support research on violence, aggression and dominance. Dawson’s project was one of ten proposals funded from a pool of 320 applications.

For more information, contact Dawson at adawson@glendon.yorku.ca.

Update on the Open Access and Open Data Steering Committee

The new campus-wide Open Access an Open Data Steering Committee, co-chaired by Joy Kirchner, University librarian, and Sushanta Mitra, associate vice-president research & innovation, began its work in fall 2016 with the goal of coordinating campus-wide education on open access and data management, particularly in light of Tri-Agency Open Access Policy requirements and the Tri-Agency Statement of Principles on Digital Data Management.

Specific objectives include: an articulation of a framework and coordinated service models that support faculty with these requirements and to create a wider forum for discussion and consideration of changes to the system of scholarship; sustainability of current economic models of scholarship, access to publicly funded research, issues surrounding authors’ and users’ rights in the digital age; and new scholarly distribution systems and other connected open movements.

Two working groups have been formed with the following titles: “Research Data Infrastructure” and “Open Access Policy and Implementation.” The terms of reference for the steering committee and the working groups were finalized and are available on the Open Access & Open Data Steering Committee website at library.yorku.ca/web/open.

A road map and roadshow are being developed to raise awareness and encourage discussion about open access publication and dissemination models, and research data management at York. These materials will also address related topics, such as authors’ and users’ rights; methods for enhancing the visibility of research; supports for managing research data; and the Tri-Agency guidelines regarding open access publication and data. The intention is to bring the roadshows to Faculty Councils, Associate Deans of Research (ADR) and Organized Research Units (ORU) and Senate.

Faculty Council meetings are being scheduled in April and May to inform faculty of the work of the Steering Committee. Specific roadshows to Faculty Councils, ADRs and ORUs are being developed to address concerns from faculty members, graduate students and postdoctoral Fellows on matters associated with open access, author’s rights, and data management planning. A Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) section on the website will document questions and answers that will arise from meetings with the broader York community.

The Open Access Policy and Implementation Working Group members are in the process of working on a communications roadmap, an FAQ, and an open access policy in consultation with the Steering Group.

The Research Data Management and Infrastructure Working Group is in the process of compiling a list of supports available on campus and beyond for research data management, and identifying areas where additional supports are required. A website is in development, and the community will be invited to share their feedback and concerns.

Upcoming events

Charles Humphrey of the Canadian Portage Network will be invited to campus in early May to discuss developments in creating a community of practice for research data and fostering Canada’s national research data culture.

For past stories on the committee, visit yfile.news.yorku.ca/2016/09/11/open-access-open-data-steering-committee-to-support-york-community/.

Celebrate Sustainability Week at York University, March 20 to 24

Stong Pond
Stong Pond

Sustainability@York, Regenesis York and Make it Natural invite faculty, staff and students to celebrate Sustainability Week from March 20 to 24. Each day of the week will engage students with activities that promote sustainability on York University’s campuses.

The week will kick off on Monday, March 20 with a Soap Science Demo hosted by Make it Natural. Tuesday, March 21 will feature a lantern walk at Glendon College and a bike clinic on Keele campus. On Wednesday, March 22, Regenesis York is hosting a pop-up FreeStore in Vari Hall. On Thursday, March 23, the YUM Farmers’ Market in the TEL Building will offer a workshop on growing your own vegetables, and there will be free mug giveaways in Central Square as part of Red & White Day.

The week will culminate on Friday, March 24 with a number of events, including the Annual Sustainability Fair. The fair takes place in the Vari Hall rotunda and the Ross Link. It is hosted by Sustainability@York and students from the Business and Sustainability Course taught by Professor Jose Etcheverry. For the last two years, students in the course have organized the fair to celebrate sustainability and to raise awareness of sustainable businesses, student clubs and other organizations on and off campus.

After the Sustainability Fair, Regenesis York will be hosting a lantern walk and music & poetry night on Friday evening. The lantern walk will begin in Vari Hall at 4:30pm and will lead to the HNES building, where students are welcome to share music and poetry.

Sustainability Week is taking place at a perfect time since Earth Hour lands on March 25. Earth Hour is a global event that unites people and businesses around the world to raise awareness on climate change, by reminding everyone to switch off their lights and electronics for one hour.

To learn more about the schedule of events for Sustainability Week please view the event poster, or find more information on social media on the following pages:

Facebook:

  • @EarthHourYU
  • @york.university.sustainability
  • @regenesisyorku
  • @rethinkdirty

For more information on Sustainability at York U, visit the sustainability website at www.sustainability.info.yorku.ca or on Twitter at @YUSustain.

Glendon hosts bilingual Innovation at Glendon Research Colloquium and Principal’s Awards Reception

Glendon Manor FEATURED image
Glendon Manor

Glendon College will host the Innovation@Glendon Research Colloquium on Linguistic Diversity and Principal’s Awards Reception on Monday, April 3 at 1pm in the BMO Conference Centre.

The reception will take place at 3pm in the Canadian Language Museum next door (former Glendon Gallery) in Glendon Hall.

The half-day event begins with a bilingual colloquium and panel discussion on linguistic diversity, a dynamic topic explored by many Glendon faculty members.

Following opening remarks from Principal Donald Ipperciel, guests will hear from:
• Guillaume Bernardi (Drama Studies), “From Past to present: Performing Baroque Opera for Canada”;
• Lyse Hébert (School of Translation), “Notes toward a Canadian translation policy”;
• Ian Martin (English and Linguistics & Language Studies), “Reconciling Indigenous and Settler Language interests in the Wake of the TRC Report”;
• Gertrude Mianda (Gender & Women’s Studies), “Bilinguisme: un atout? L’expérience d’intégration des immigrants » francophones originaires de l’Afrique sub-saharienne en contexte minoritaire-Toronto”; and
• Muriel Péguret (French Studies and Faculty of Education), “Le fossé entre le français langue seconde à l’école secondaire et à l’université : défis et pistes de recherche.”

Willem Maas (Political Science) will moderate the panel.

After the panel discussion, attendees are invited to join Ipperciel at a reception at 3pm where the recipients of the Principal’s Awards for Research & Teaching will be honoured. Refreshments will be served.

RSVP your attendance by March 27 to research@glendon.yorku.ca.

Sociology of Religion class engages the whole person

Sociology of Religion class
Sociology of Religion class

After the New York City terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Véronique Tomaszewski, who teaches sociology of religion at Glendon College, decided that her contribution to a more peaceful world would be “to talk about religion, not to increase fanaticism.”

Véronique Tomaszewski
Véronique Tomaszewski

Simultaneously, Tomaszewski, a course director who also teaches sociological theory, had begun moving away from teaching traditional lecture courses toward “experiential, more holistic teaching” by “progressively implementing a more contemplative, subjective pedagogy.”

“I wanted to allow the students to reflect in a more in-depth way on their readings,” she said.

Students do the preparatory reading, and Tomaszewski offers them a classroom experience that engages all their senses and brings the theoretical material to life through discussion and application. She and her students organize rituals for the various religious traditions they study. They have participated in smudging ceremonies, enacted Daoism through plays, mounted a hijab fashion show, tried tai chi and sung indigenous chants to river spirits, for example. Tomaszewski also teaches them mindfulness meditation and incorporates a five-minute meditation session into classes whenever possible.

Students demonstrate a Wiccan ritual as part of Tomaszewski’s class

“Theory plus experience makes you a richer person, no matter where life takes you,” Tomaszewski said. “Judeo-Christian traditions are religions of the Word (of God), but Asian traditions form through experience and rituals to offer a spiritual connection far stronger than any text.”

She offers the example of teaching about the place of grandmothers in North American society. In indigenous culture, grandmothers were the repositories of wisdom, so students had those representing grandmothers stand together, with everyone else forming a circle around them. With the coming of colonialism, patriarchy was dominant, so students rearranged themselves in a hierarchical configuration.

Above, dressed in traditional Hindu clothing, students from all faiths deliver a presentation to the class

“The concept takes on a life of its own that triggers an emotional reaction,” Tomaszewski said. “An emotional response to ideas makes them stick.”

Tomaszewski also sends her students into the field in groups to interview faith leaders about specific topics of interest. They present a summary of their experiences to their classmates and relate it to the sociological framework. This exercise brings “a sense of fraternity” to the assignment.

Students get ready to stage a play about a traditional Chinese ritual

“My approach applies to much more than religion,” Tomaszewski said. “I encourage my colleagues to use more experiential techniques. I want my colleagues to say to themselves, ‘What in my discussion reaches students in their totality of being?’

“The students have shown me what they wanted and needed. Anyone using this pedagogy will be rewarded by students saying they remember the information for life.”

She warns students that her class is “an immersive experience,” but they aren’t deterred – her courses have waiting lists and she has received the Glendon teaching award for her efforts.

“At Glendon, I became a real teacher and the students showed me the way,” Tomaszewski said.

By Elaine Smith, special contributing writer to Innovatus.

French-speaking cultures are the focus of upcoming Week of Francophonie

Together in French
Together in French

York’s Departments of French Studies at Glendon College and in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) invite the community to celebrate French-speaking cultures of the world during the University’s first-ever Week of Francophonie. The theme will be “Ensemble, en français!” or “Together, in French!”

March 20 is International Francophonie Day, and more than 274 million people representing every continent will celebrate their heritage. French is an official language in more than 30 countries around the world. This cultural mosaic, although invisible to some, is very much a part of the York University social fabric.

All French units at York will join forces and collaborate with the Office of Advancement to show that French is alive and well at both our Keele and Glendon campuses, and celebrate the incredible diversity of our Francophone mosaic.

There will be a wide range of activities to satisfy all French language and culture enthusiasts in the community. Students will be encouraged to move between the various events using a French Cultural passport. The most active students will then be awarded a French Cultural Engagement Certificate.

On Monday, March 20, a flurry of activities will take place to inaugurate the week and mark the official International Day of Francophonie.

Glendon will host representatives of the various GTA Francophone community organizations in the presence of Ontario’s Minister of Francophone Affairs, the Hon. Marie-France Lalonde, who will host a Q&A session that will be streamed live.

Meanwhile, in the Founders College Senior Common Room, discussions will uncover the secrets of becoming an effective bilingual job candidate.

The day will end with a delightful set of poetic interpretations, as part of a tribute to one of France’s favorite poets, Jacques Prévert, who died 40 years ago.

Tuesday, March 21 will make way for gourmet pleasures with a multicultural French feast from noon until 2pm, including music and cultural games. The rest of the afternoon will be filled with performances by students from Harbord Collegiate High School and York’s own French-enthusiast aspiring artists.

And finally, Francophones from across the GTA will be invited on Friday, March 24, to a community conversation on the value of joining forces to ensure all communities can thrive in the city. This event will bring the festivities to a close.

Participation to all events is free, but donations toward the creation of a Community Engagement bursary will be welcome.

Please note that seating is limited, particularly for the Tuesday lunch event, and early registration is encouraged by emailing franfest@yorku.ca.

For more information, email franfest@yorku.ca or visit francophonie.yorku.ca.

Glendon takes third place at annual Translation Games

Translation Games
Translation Games

Glendon College’s translation team travelled to Montreal on March 11 and 12 to take part in the 12th annual Translation Games, and came home with a third-place finish.

This year’s games were hosted by Concordia University and brought together teams from all 12 of the undergraduate translation programs in Canada. This was Glendon’s best performance ever, and placing third overall is an important achievement for the School of Translation.

“Our School of Translation has been doing increasingly well at the games in the last few years,” says Glendon Principal Donald Ipperciel. “This speaks to Glendon’s ability to attract the best and brightest, to the quality of our Translation program and to the skills of our graduates. We are very proud of this achievement.”

The games feature individual and team “events” where teams translate from English to French or from French to English. Faculty members from all participating universities assess and rank the anonymized translations. The Chair of the School of Translation, Lyse Hébert, accompanied the Glendon team, joining faculty members from the other universities on the jury.

This year’s Glendon team included: Nicole Anichini, Charles-Étienne Lacroix, Kim Poti, Émilie Taillon, Brock Tremblay and Kiera Woodill. In addition to taking the top prize for individual translation into French (Charles-Étienne Lacroix) and individual translation into English (Nicole Anichini), the Glendon team took first place for their translation of a song into French, first in the dreaded “professional simulation” event into English, second for their translation of a song into English, and second for their translation of an advertisement in French.

“It’s exciting to see the quality of the translations produced by these teams of young translators,” says Lyse Hébert. “And when you’re on the jury, you can’t help but hope, secretly, that they were done by your own students. This time our team really shone!”

For more information on Glendon College, visit glendon.yorku.ca.

Glendon Global Debate looks at CETA’s impact on the EU and Canada

CETA
CETA

The third instalment of the Glendon Global Debates series, which aims to examine Canada’s role in global affairs, is scheduled for March 23.

“A New Framework for International Trade or the Last of its Kind?” takes place at the Centre of Excellence from 6:30 to 9pm, and will review the Comprehensive Economic & Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada.

CETA was signed in October 2016, and on Jan. 24, 2017, the deal moved closer to reality after the European Parliament’s Trade Committee approved it. On Feb. 15, the European Parliament adopted the trade deal, which will lead to the provisional application of the agreement as early as April 2017.

The agreement is seen as a test of the EU and Canada’s ability to forge future trade accords and as a counterweight to anticipated protectionism under the new U.S. administration. CETA is more than a free trade agreement between the EU and Canada – it is about shaping the political, economic, social and cultural values that our countries share and it is also about deepening transatlantic partnership.

Speakers from the EU and Canada will discuss some of these issues and will touch on the following:

• the political impact of CETA and the future of the EU/Canada partnership;
• engaging with the world through free trade agreements;
• boosting the economies of the EU and Canada; and
• challenges to CETA moving forward.

Speakers for this event include: Nicolas Chapuis, ambassador of France in Canada; Angella MacEwan, senior economist at the Canadian Labour Congress; István Mikola, minister of state for Security Policy and International Cooperation, Hungary; Candace Sider, vice-president, Regulatory Affairs, North America, Livingston International; and Jakob Von Weizsäcker, member of the European Parliament for Thuringia, Germany.

The event’s moderator will be Derek DeCloet, executive editor of the Globe and Mail and editor of Report on Business.

This Glendon Global Debate is presented by Glendon’s School of Public & International Affairs.

For more information about this event, or to RSVP, visit glendon.yorku.ca/gspia/ggd/ceta.

About Glendon Global Debates

Glendon’s School of Public & International Affairs (GSPIA) will examine Canada’s role in global affairs and establish leadership in areas of global affairs through a series of events billed as the Glendon Global Debates (GGD).

The GGD dialogues aim to promote participatory dialogue between government officials (federal, provincial, municipal), academics, practitioners, media, the private sector, civil society organizations, students, the diplomatic community and UN officials in support of identifying approaches and opportunities for Canada and our partners in current global challenges.

As a bilingual and francophone institution in the heart of Toronto, Glendon is uniquely positioned to support the Government of Canada in a forward-looking assessment of the nation’s role in global affairs. The Glendon Global Debates will enhance the public debate on Canada’s role in global affairs and prepare the next generation of highly skilled public servants. As well, the events in the series will provide a forum for frank conversations about Canada’s role in the world through a series of discussions relying on youth-centred, innovative approaches to contemporary global issues.

These dialogues and related contributions will be shared with broader policy communities, including the Government of Canada, international organizations and the UN, and they will be incorporated into the future academic programming of Glendon.

The events will serve to validate the ongoing foreign policy consultations and formulate recommendations for a way forward.