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Glendon Global Debates series launches with Brexit discussion

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.

The Glendon Global Debates will kick off on Oct. 13 from 6:30 to 9pm, with the event “Brexit: And Now What? What’s next for the U.K., the EU and Canada?” running at Glendon’s Centre of Excellence, Room A100.

“The GSPIA is very proud to launch the Glendon Global Debates series and, to that end, the first discussion is on Brexit,” said Annie Demirgian, director, GSPIA. “We have brought together international and internationally recognized experts to discuss and exchange views on the impact of the Brexit decision and the negotiation process, that appears like a rocky road ahead for Britain and the EU. Brexit discussions on trade and other issues will directly impact Canada as we inch closer to ratify the Canada-Europe Trade Agreement (CETA). Canadians are watching, the world is watching the negotiation process and the outcome of the Brexit discussions.”

brexitAdmission is free to this event that will delve into the referendum vote held three months ago that saw support for Britain’s exit from the EU, and what’s to come. Given the uncharted waters under the Lisbon Treaty, Article 50, there is only speculation as to when the U.K. will pull the Brexit trigger and try to disentangle a large and sophisticated economy like Britain.

Experts will touch on the following topics:

  • administrative, legal and constitutional challenges for the U.K.;
  • short-/long-term implications for U.K./EU relations; and
  • implications for Canada, for CETA and future bilateral trade agreements.

Guest speakers for this event include: Kevin McGurgan, British Consul general in Toronto and director-general for UK Trade & Investment in Toronto; Mel Cappe, Canada’s former ambassador to the U.K. and former clerk of the Privy Council; Glen Hodgson, senior fellow, Conference Board of Canada; and Armine Yalnizyan, senior economist, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

The event will be moderated by Miloud Chennoufi, chair of the Department of Security & International Affairs, Canadian Forces College (Toronto), and BMO visiting fellow, GSPIA.

The event is presented in partnership with the Canadian International Council. For more information, contact Annie Demirjian, director of GSPIA, at ademir@glendon.yorku.ca or 416-736-2100 ext. 88170.

New faces: Glendon welcomes 10 new faculty members

Glendon Principal Donald Ipperciel
Glendon Principal Donald Ipperciel

Glendon welcomes 10 new faculty members to its campus this fall: Angleo Dossou-Yovo and Aymen Karoui (business administration); Stephane Couture, Evan Light and Philippe Theophanidis (communications); Elaine Coburn (international studies); Andrée Ann Cyr (psychology); Shirin Shahrokni (sociology); Lee Frew (English); and Normand Perreault (political science).

“These recent hires bode well for our new programs in Communication, in the School of Translation, as well as our dual degree program in Business and International Studies with EMLyon,” said Glendon Principal Donald Ipperciel. “These professors are breathing new life into Glendon and we can feel an exciting dynamism and energy permeating all our activities. What a great way to celebrate Glendon’s 50th anniversary.”

Business administration:

Angelo Dossou-Yovo holds a PhD in business administration from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), and a Certified Project Manager (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (U.S.A.). His research interests focus on entrepreneurship and innovation.

Aymen Karoui holds a PhD in administration with a specialization in finance from HEC Montréal. His research focuses first on portfolio management, especially mutual funds, then on the performance, risk taking and more generally the analysis of the behavior of portfolio managers.

Communications:

Stephane Couture holds a joint PhD in communication and sociology from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and Télécom ParisTech (2012). His research concerns the social and political dimensions of technology and digital media.

Evan Light holds a PhD from UQAM. His areas of research are communication policy, social movements, surveillance, privacy, South America and Canada.

Philipppe Theophanidis holds a PhD in communication from the University of Montreal. His research interests are in communication theory and media studies, with a focus on globalization, new forms of citizenship, community emergent spaces and media.

International studies:

Elaine Coburn holds a PhD from Stanford University. Her research interests include neoliberal forms of globalization, struggles for social justice and social theory, especially socialist feminist, Indigenous and anti-racist perspectives.

Psychology:

Andrée Ann Cyr holds a PhD in psychology from the University of Toronto. Her research areas include retrieval-based learning strategies in younger and older adults, neural correlates of trial-and-error learning, normal aging and subjective memory complaints.

Sociology:

Shirin Shahrokni holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, U.K. Her primary research interests are: the sociology of immigration, with a particular focus on second-generation migrants’ modes of incorporation and identity negotiations; the study of social inequalities from an intersectional perspective; and education, particularly its role in producing social change.

English:

Lee Frew holds a PhD in English from York University, with a concentration in Canadian literature and postcolonial literatures. His teaching focuses on experiential and participatory learning. He is committed to mentoring students, including students with disabilities.

Political science:

Normand Perreault holds a PhD in political science from Northwestern University. He has extensive teaching experience in a variety of classrooms (small, large, undergraduate, graduate, online etc.).

Red & White Day #YUTweetup celebrates 50 years of impact at Glendon

promotional graphic for the tweetup

York University President and Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri has issued this invitation to the York community:

Join Glendon Principal Donald Ipperciel and me for a special Red & White Day #YUTweetup on Sept. 29 from 3 to 4pm in the Glendon Centre of Excellence Lobby at Glendon campus.

This event will provide York’s Twitter community with a chance to meet each other offline, enjoy refreshments and celebrate York pride and impact. You don’t have to be on Twitter to join us; everyone is welcome.

I am particularly delighted to be co-hosting this #YUTweetup with Principal Ipperciel as it will be an opportunity to engage with students, faculty and staff at the Glendon campus, and celebrate the college’s accomplishments during its 50th anniversary year.

For community members at our Keele campus who are interested in attending the #YUTweetup, the Glendon shuttle bus will depart from Vari Hall at 2:30pm.

I look forward to seeing you on Red & White Day at this special #YUTweetup! Be sure to use the #YUTweetup hashtag while at the event to share your stories of York spirit and impact.

Facebook Tweetup promotional graphic that reads #YUTweetup Join President Mamdouh Shoukri and Glendon Principal Donald Ipperciel on September 29, 2016 at the Glendon Centre for Excellence, Glendon campus from 3 to 4pm

Passings: David Spring was a long-serving professor at Glendon

David Spring, a long-serving faculty member at Glendon, passed away on Aug. 27 surrounded by his family.

David Spring
David Spring

Spring, who was a professor of mathematics, was well-respected by his colleagues. During his time at Glendon, Spring focused his research on the areas of immersion-theoretic topology, with applications to solving partial differential equations, as well as mathematical economics.

He was the author of several books and articles, including “The Golden Age of Immersion Theory in Topology: 1959-1973,” Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society (2005), and “Directed embeddings of closed manifolds,” Communications in Contemporary Mathematics, Vol. 7, 707–725 (2005).

Spring earned his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley.

A funeral for Spring was held on Aug. 30.

Public & International Affairs Graduate Student Association hosts conference on media and government

Does the media promote healthy public policy debate or does it mostly sensationalize issues?  Often referred to as the fourth branch of government, the media plays an important role in liberal democracies. Its purpose is to provide citizens with information on public policy developments and government accomplishments. At the same time, it should also provide opportunities for citizens to critique initiatives and propose alternative policies.

On Sept. 15, from 6 to 9pm, the Public & International Affairs Graduate Student Association (PIASA) at Glendon College will be hosting an open conference titled: “The Fourth Branch: Politics and Policy through the Lens of Media.” The event will take place in the BMO Conference Centre of the Glendon campus of York University. The bilingual conference will feature the following panelists:

  • Éric Montpetit, political science professor at the University of Montreal and author of The Politics of Biotechnology in North America and Europe: Policy Networks, Institutions and Internationalization
  • Dimitri Soudas, former director of communications in the Prime Minister’s Office and managing partner at Stampede Group
  • Étienne Fortin-Gauthier, journalist at TFO
  • Tiffany Gooch, political consultant at Enterprise Canada

“It is the perfect time to be hosting a conference on politics and media,” said Melissa Felian, president of PIASA and conference organizer. “The U.S. presidential race has been highly mediatized. The media is covering policy almost just as much as it covers personal lives of the candidates.  Even here at home, we seem to have a lot of coverage surrounding our Prime Minister’s vacation and his social media savvy, but what about his policies? When citizens are aware of the policies they can make informed choices on how they will vote. The media has a bigger role in our democracy than we realize.

Felian said the association considers itself fortunate to attract panelists from a range of backgrounds. An academic will offer a different perspective on political media coverage than a journalist.

The conference is open to the public and hopes to generate some interesting discussion around politics and media. All are welcome to attend.

The Glendon School of Public & International Affairs is a unique Canadian institution, combining comprehensive bilingualism with a focus upon both public and international affairs.

For more information, visit the Glendon School of Public & International Affairs website.

Glendon professor publishes two collections of environmental history

Environmental history is a burgeoning field in Canada, and within the space of five months, Glendon Professor Colin Coates (Canadian Studies) has added two works to the growing literature.

colin coates 1Canadian Countercultures and the Environment was published in February, and is a collection of articles in the NiCHE (Network in Canadian History & Environment – Nouvelle initiative canadienne en histoire de l’environnement) series at the University of Calgary Press.

The book revisits the period when many young people across Canada chose counterculture lifestyles, sometimes moving back-to-the-land on communes and attempting to live outside of the mainstream economy.

While the perception of such choices is still summarized by Timothy Leary’s phrase, “Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out,” in fact members of the counterculture confronted key environmental problems and embraced new ways of dealing with them.

It contends that the Canadian counterculture popularized novel approaches to recycling, bicycling, renewable energy and midwifery, and they worked with rural neighbours to fight pollution. They used street theatre and civil disobedience to attract attention to their causes, and many groups benefitted from readily available funding from the federal government to develop their projects.

The counterculture attracted attention to environmental issues, and their attitudes have become widely accepted today.

Chapters explore experiences from Prince Edward Island, Québec, Ontario, British Columbia and the Yukon.

York Professor Megan Davies (LA&PS, Health and Society) and current PhD student Daniel Ross (History) also contributed chapters to this book.

colin coates 2The second volume, Moving Natures: Mobility and the Environment in Canadian History, originated as a workshop at Glendon College. This book was published in the same series in June.

Coates co-edited the work with former York PhD history student Jay Young, and Ben Bradley, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of History at the University of Alberta. In addition to Young, three other recent York PhDs contributed their research (Thomas Peace, Jim Clifford and Andrew Watson).

Chapters in the book explore the relationship between modes of mobility (sailing ships, railways, lake steamers, canoes, subways, automobiles and walking) and experiences of the natural world.

Mobility choices often involved major reconstructions of the environment, dredging the St. Lawrence River to build the seaway or moving tons of soil to construct the Toronto subway.

This collection highlights the importance of seasonal conditions in facilitating and constraining the movement of people and goods across the Canadian landscape. Concepts of mobility provide a way of addressing the particularities of Canadian adaptations to environmental conditions.

In its innovative approach, the University of Calgary Press offers free pdfs of the two books on its website: http://press.ucalgary.ca/.

Former Glendon Principal Kenneth McRoberts named to France’s National Order of Merit

Kenneth McRoberts
Kenneth McRoberts

Professor Kenneth McRoberts, former principal of York University’s Glendon College, has been named to France’s National Order of Merit and appointed to the rank of knight.

A ceremony on April 25 at the French Consul General’s residence in Toronto confirmed the appointment, which recognizes distinguished civil and military achievements. The National Order of Merit was founded in 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle.

In 2004, the French government had already named McRoberts to the rank of officer of the Order of Academic Palms, a national order for notable academics and figures in the world of culture and education.

Marc Trouyet, the Consul General of France in Toronto, said McRoberts had become “a leading figure in Canada’s and Ontario’s Francophonie.”

Among his many accomplishments, McRoberts was recognized for expanding Glendon’s academic programs and making improvements to its facilities during his 15-year tenure as principal. Furthermore, McRoberts reinforced Glendon’s relations with France, most notably through the establishment of dual master’s degrees with the University of Strasbourg.

The Consul General further acknowledged that McRoberts had been “a key promoter of French-language education across Canada,” having served as president of the Association des universités de la francophonie canadienne.

As principal, he had been instrumental in the creation of the school which builds on Glendon’s mission of preparing bilingual leaders for Canada’s public life. After completing his tenure as principal in 2014, McRoberts assumed the directorship of the Glendon School of Public & International Affairs. He left the directorship in June, and is now preparing new editions of two books he wrote prior to assuming the position of principal: Misconceiving Canada: The Struggle for National Unity and Catalonia: Nation-building Without a State.

McRoberts received an honorary doctorate from Laval University in 2004 for his scholarly achievements. He was awarded the Ontario Francophonie Award by the Ontario government in 2010 and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013.

York scholars reflect on Confederation debates of 1865

CW Spring2016 14 Martin Woods paintingA group of scholars from York University have offered their reflections on the published Confederation debates of 1865 in the latest issue of Canada Watch, a publication produced by York’s Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies.

In 1865, members of the legislature of the United Canadas (Ontario and Quebec) debated the Confederation project, some of them profoundly critical of the proposal.

In light of Canada’s upcoming 150th (July 1, 2017), the Robarts Centre wanted to reflect on the terms under which the country was founded, and sought a variety of contemporary perspectives from York and other scholars.

The result is 13 short essays on topics ranging from the role of gender and indigenous peoples in the debates to the nature of the “rights” and “democracy” that the debaters had in mind.

York contributors to this issue of Canada Watch include Colin Coates (Glendon), Philip Girard (Osgoode), Marcel Martel (LAPS), David Koffman (LAPS, ORU-Israel & Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewis Studies), Jacqueline Krikorian (LAPS), Dennis Pilon (LAPS), Sean Kheraj (LAPS), Craig Heron (LAPS), Kathryn McPherson (LAPS), Gabrielle Slowey (LAPS, Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies) and Marlene Shore (LAPS).

In an afterword, historian Ged Martin explores the iconic image of the Fathers of Confederation at Quebec.

The essays are available here.

The essays were also posted over a two-week period starting June 27 on activehistory.ca. Two responses, by independent historian Christopher Moore and Daniel Heidt, a Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) postdoctoral fellow at the Frost Centre in Peterborough, Ont., have also appeared on the site.

York is planning various events in connection with the celebration of Canada’s sesquicentennial on July 1, 2017.

Dual degree will offer York University’s Glendon College students the best of Canada and France

A new partnership between York University’s Glendon College and the emlyon business school in France will offer students the opportunity to combine liberal arts with business education, earn two university degrees and benefit from internships in France, Canada or other countries where French is an official language.

The agreement, which was signed at the Glendon campus on Thursday, will create a dual degree undergraduate program starting this fall: Students will earn an international bachelor of arts (iBA) in international studies at Glendon and a bachelor of business administration (BBA) from emlyon business school. In their first two years, Glendon students will complete a liberal arts education in international studies and take introductory business courses to prepare them for their third and fourth years at emlyon business school. Students from emlyon business school will come to Glendon for their third and fourth years to earn an iBA in international studies.

DonaldIpperciel19
Donald Ipperciel

“This unique partnership will enable students in Glendon’s International Studies program to marry their liberal arts education to business education, with the internationally respected emlyon business school,” said Donald Ipperciel, principal of Glendon College. “It will not only respond to Ontario’s need for bilingual business education, but will also offer students, through internships, wonderful opportunities to explore cross-cultural business issues.”

The program will also offer students the opportunity to work in French and explore cross-cultural business issues during two mandatory internships, including at a number of French companies affiliated with the France-Canada Chamber of Commerce.

“Through this agreement, York University Glendon College and emlyon business school prepare their students to become players of globalization,” said Bernard Belletante, dean and CEO of emlyon business school. “This next generation of managers, executives and entrepreneurs will learn how to operate in international, multicultural and digital environments. The collaboration between the two schools will be carried out both on campuses and in a digital environment.”

A Canadian leader in the delivery of bilingual education, Glendon was recognized by the Ontario government as the Centre of Excellence for French-language & Bilingual Postsecondary Education in Southern Ontario in 2008. Earlier this year, it was granted partial designation under the French Language Services Act, recognizing the University’s commitment to French-language and bilingual education.

Emlyon business school, founded in 1872 in Lyon, France, is part of France’s Grandes Écoles network of higher education institutions outside the framework of France’s public university system. The business school regularly ranks among the top five business schools in France and top 15 in Europe.

Professor Roberto Perin earns Glendon Principal’s Research Excellence Award

Donald Ipperciel

Glendon has announced that Professor Roberto Perin is the recipient of the 2016 Principal’s Research Excellence Award, an honour given annually to recognize full-time faculty who have made an outstanding contribution to research in the last three years.

Roberto Perin
Roberto Perin

Perin, a professor in Glendon’s Department of History and the graduate program director of Glendon’s Master’s in Public and International Affairs, was selected for his ongoing work in the areas of the history of immigration and religion.

“Professor Perin has demonstrated a sustained and deep commitment to research excellence – both in his own scholarly work, as well as through his mentorship of graduate students’ research,” said Christina Clark-Kazak, associate principal, Research and Graduate Studies at Glendon. “We are privileged to have such an eminent historian of Canadian immigration at Glendon.”

A long-time and highly respected member of the Glendon community, Perin holds a BA (Hons) from Université de Montréal, Montreal (1968), an MA from Carleton University (1970) and a PhD from the University of Ottawa (1975). His new book, The Many Rooms of this House: Diversity and Worship in Toronto since 1840, looks at Toronto churches as markers of social and cultural change over the past century and has been accepted for publication by the University of Toronto Press.

According to the Chair of Glendon’s Department of History, Professor Mark Jurdjevic, “Dr. Perin is a prolific and influential historian of Italian immigration to Canada. His most recent book promises to contribute significantly to the fields of urban history and immigration studies. We are looking forward to the fruits of his research and learning about our city’s history.”

The award was presented on June 25 during the Principal’s Convocation Luncheon celebration.

“Receiving this award is a great honour for me,” said Perin. “My research is the fruit of a constant and complex dialogue with my sources, my colleagues, and my students, especially, but not only, my graduate students. As the expression ‘community of scholars’ suggests, research is a social process. It is therefore important for us to resist the atomizing tendencies of some of the new technologies and reaffirm our sense of community.”

In recent years, Perin has authored two books and 16 book chapters, co-edited four books and published 14 scholarly articles. He was the recipient of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Connection Grant to organize an international workshop at the Glendon Campus of York University. The conference introduced a number of York University graduate students to an international cohort of scholars in immigration history.

Perin was a consultant to the Canadian Museum of Immigration in 2012-15 vice-chair of an advisory committee to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, a member of the editorial board of the Canadian Catholic Historical Association and an advisory committee member for the journal Mens: Revue d’Histoire intellectuelle et culturelle. He has also given interviews for the CBC, Radio Canada, TV Ontario, TFO, MTV, OMNI-TV, BBC, Radio Scotland, RAI and Vatican Radio.