YCAR offers student funding opportunities

A view of the Great Wall of China

The York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR) is offering student awards for research and fieldwork in Asia and/or Asian diaspora. The application deadline for all awards is Monday, Feb. 8, at 4pm.

The following is a summary of the funding opportunities currently available.

Albert C.W. Chan Foundation Fellowship ($1,000)
This fellowship was established by the Albert C.W. Chan Foundation to encourage and assist graduate students to carry out field research in east and/or southeast Asia. Applicants must: be Canadian citizens, permanent residents or protected persons; be Ontario residents; and demonstrate financial need. For more information about eligibility criteria and application process, visit ycar.apps01.yorku.ca/research/research-fellowships-awards/albert-c-w-chan-foundation-fellowship.

David Wurfel Award ($2,000)
The David Wurfel Award provides financial support to an honours undergraduate or graduate student who has demonstrated the need to conduct research related to a thesis, course paper or project on the topic of Filipino history, culture or society. Preference will be given to undergraduate or master’s student applicants. The award is open to students enrolled at York University in social sciences or humanities programs (including the Faculties of Law; Education; the Arts, Media, Performance & Design; and Environmental Studies) who: are Canadian citizens, permanent residents or protected persons; have a grade point average of at least 6.0; and demonstrate financial need. Applicants must also have demonstrated promise of leadership with respect to the Filipino community in Canada. For more information about eligibility criteria and application process, visit ycar.apps01.yorku.ca/research/research-fellowships-awards/david-wurfel-award.

The Dr. Sangdeok Woo and Mrs. Kwisoon Lim Woo Memorial Graduate Award  ($12,500)
This award supports graduate students undertaking research on the topics of Korean history, culture or society. This award was generously endowed by the Woo family.  The recipient must: be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or protected person; be a resident of Ontario; and demonstrate financial need. For more information and application details, visit ycar.apps01.yorku.ca/research/research-fellowships-awards/dr-sangdeok-woo-mrs-kwisoon-lim-woo-memorial-graduate-award.

Sivalingam Award in Tamil Studies ($2,500)
This award is intended to encourage and promote research with a substantive focus on Tamil language, history, culture, society or the Tamil diaspora, but comparative research is also eligible. For more information and application details, visit ycar.apps01.yorku.ca/research/research-fellowships-awards/n-sivalingam-award-tamil-studies.

The Young-Rahn Woo Memorial Graduate Award ($12,500)
This award is for graduate student research in Korean language, culture studies or research that may require the student researcher to travel to Korea. Preference will be given to students in visual arts. In the event that there are no such candidates available, consideration will be extended to graduate students studying a topic in the humanities or fine arts (especially visual arts) elsewhere in Asia. This award was generously endowed by the Woo family. For more information and application details, visit ycar.apps01.yorku.ca/research/research-fellowships-awards/young-rahn-woo-memorial-graduate-award.

For all funding opportunities at YCAR, visit ycar.apps01.yorku.ca/research/research-fellowships-awards.

For further information, contact ycar@yorku.ca.

Acclaimed aboriginal writer Gregory Scofield speaks at Canadian Writers in Person Lecture Series

Gregory Scofield
Gregory Scofield

Gregory Scofield, one of the nation’s leading aboriginal writers, will appear in the Canadian Writers in Person Lecture Series on Jan. 26 from 7 to 10pm at 206 Accolade West Building.

Scofield has published several collections of poetry, which have earned him a national and international audience. During his visit to York U, he will concentrate on his collection Louis: The Heretic Poems, which brings attention to Métis leader Louis Riel and his life beyond folk hero and martyr.

Scofield has published several acclaimed works, including his well-known poetry and memoir Thunder Through My Veins. He also served as writer-in-residence at the University of Manitoba and Memorial University of Newfoundland.

scofield bookMuch of his writing is explores his own life and experience, and examines his native heritage.

Recognized for his unique reading style that marries storytelling, song, poetry and the Cree language, Scofield is a dynamic presenter. In addition to writing poetry, he is also a playwright, a teacher and a social worker.

He is a Métis of Cree, Scottish, English, French and Jewish decent, and was raised in Manitoba, northern Saskatchewan and the Yukon.

The Canadian Writers in Person Lecture Series, presented by the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LAPS), brings Canadian writers to campus for an up-close and personal event.

More events in the series include:

  • Feb. 9 – Colin McAdam, A Beautiful Truth;
  • March 1 – Sue Goyette, Ocean; and
  • March 15 – Aisha Sasha John, Thou.

For more information, email gailv@yorku.ca or leslie@yorku.ca.

Prof. Elizabeth Dauphinee presents upcoming McLaughlin Lunch Talk Jan. 26

York U political science Professor Elizabeth Dauphinee will present the next talk in the McLaughlin College Lunch Talk Series on Jan. 26 from noon to 1:30pm.

Elizabeth Dauphinee
Elizabeth Dauphinee

Entitled “The Accidental Theorist”, the discussion will explore how creative writing is currently changing the scholarly landscape of academic international relations.

Dauphinee will talk about the catalysts that led her to write her first novel, The Politics of Exile, and about how both theory and politics converge in everyday encournters.

Dauphinee joined the Department of Political Science at York U in 2008. She earned a PhD at York in 2005, with a diploma in International and Security Studies. Her research interests involve ethics and international relations theory, autoethnographic approaches, and narrative forms of writing international relations.

She is also interested in how the experience of emotion shapes knowledge.

Everyone is welcome to attend this event that is hosted by the Office of the Master, McLaughlin College. The event takes place in the Senior Common Room, 140 McLaughlin College. Light refreshments will be served. Contact Vicky Carnevale at ext. 33824 or vcarneva@yorku.ca to RSVP or for further details.

York professors edit and author a forthcoming book on public, private and not-for-profit governance

Richard Leblanc
Richard Leblanc

School of Administrative Studies Professor Richard Leblanc and Adjunct Professor John Fraser are the editors of a forthcoming book that explores all facets of board governance.

The Handbook of Board Governance: A Comprehensive Guide for Public, Private, and Not For Profit Board Members (Wiley), first edition, will be available in May 2016 on Amazon or Wiley.

Leblanc is one of Canada’s leading experts on corporate governance and accountability, and the director of the Graduate Program in Financial Accountability (MFAc).

John Fraser
John Fraser

Fraser is the former senior vice-president of internal audit, and chief risk officer of Hydro One Networks Inc., one of North America’s largest electricity transmission and distribution companies.

Leblanc says the book is a one of its kind and presents a comprehensive view of all facets of governance from leading global subject matter experts.

Governance book by The Handbook of Board Governance covers all major subject matter areas: strategy, value creation, chairing a board, shareholder engagement, internal audit, compensation, liability, duties, risk, climate change, diversity, dynamics, cyber-security, board composition, and succession – all from the board’s point of view. “There are over 40 leading authors, most of whom have on-the-ground experience,” says Leblanc.

In this book, practical scholars from Canadian, American and European universities elaborate on best practices, whilst investors, chairs, directors and CEOs weigh in with their experience in the trenches.

The governance of startups, small companies, family firms, not for profits and subsidiaries is also discussed.

Poonam Puri
Poonam Puri

Contributing to the book is Professor Poonam Puri of Osgoode Hall Law School, who brings in her expertise in the chapter on the governance of subsidiaries and director duties.

The target market for the book is academics teaching governance, law and ethics, and practicing directors and executives. Contributing authors come from Australia, Belgium Canada, France, New Zealand, Turkey, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

The Centre for Human Rights announces REDI awardees

The REDI Award is a new award launched by the Centre for Human Rights (CHR) that recognizes students for their efforts in advancing, promoting and upholding human rights at York University, and who demonstrate commitment to building a respectful, equitable, diverse and inclusive (REDI) community.

Composed of both students and York staff, the REDI Award 2015 selection panel has selected two awardees: Irena Djukic and one student who prefers to remain anonymous. Given the nature of human rights work, the CHR provided the anonymity option for students who would like to keep this recognition private.

Here are a few testimonials from the nominators who supported Djukic that demonstrate how her work contributes to a REDI community at York:

“I was so impressed with the way that Irena connected to the material in the course. She demonstrated such strong and positive ally understanding. Her commitment to social justice was obvious.”
Ruth Koleszar-Green, assistant professor, School of Social Work, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies

 “Her experience and contributions are rooted in principles of social justice and equity and assist our group’s mandate to deepen the school’s understanding and commitment to social changes.”
Anne O’Connell, associate professor, School of Social Work, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies

Each awardee will receive a $125 gift certificate to the York University Bookstore and recognition at CHR’s Inclusion Day Conference on Wednesday, Jan. 27.

For more information on the award, visit the REDI Award website.

Open Your Mind: A Q&A with Carla Lipsig-Mumme, professor of work and labour studies

Appearing at regular intervals in YFile, “Open Your Mind” is a series of articles offering insight into the different ways York University professors, researchers and graduate students champion fresh ways of thinking in their research and teaching practices. Their approaches, grounded in a desire to seek the unexpected, are charting new courses for future generations.

Today, the spotlight is on Carla Lipsig-Mummé, the principal investigator of the seven-year SSHRC grant titled “Adapting Canadian Work and Workplaces to Respond to Climate Change: Canada in International Perspective”. She was also the principal investigator of the tri-agency research project “What do we know? What do we need to know?” and principal investigator of the CURA research program “Work in a Warming World.” 

She is also a professor of work and labour studies in the Department of Social Science, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.

Carla Lipsig Mumme
Carla Lipsig-Mummé

Q. Please describe your field of current research.

A. Climate change, work and labour – exploring the ways in which workers and labour unions can change how we work in order to slow global warming.

Q. How would you describe the significance of your research in lay terms?

A. In industrialized countries like Canada, the world of work is responsible for 80 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions that humans create. Workers in all lines of work, including universities and their unions and professional associations, know where their workplaces and work practices can shrink their carbon footprint. Adapting all steps in the long chain of production to mitigate the greenhouse gases that work produces has the potential to significantly reduce Canada’s carbon footprint as a whole.

Q. How are you approaching this field in a different, unexpected or unusual way?

A. In three ways, I think. First, we bring the world of work and its workers “in” to strategize how to reduce the causes of greenhouse gas emissions. Second, we work with labour unions as crucial partners in discovering where the carbon hotspots are and how they might be dissolved. It has been many years since labour unions have been encouraged to use their professional know-how in the service of transitioning work. Third, the research we co-produce is turned into education and training for environmental literacy.

Q. Every researcher encounters roadblocks and challenges during the process of inquiry. Can you highlight some of those challenges and how you overcame them?

A. Candidly, we were cautioned to walk softly during the years the Conservative party was in office because our project rejected climate denial, worked to bring broader and broader groups in the workplace into climate action, and was dependent on federal funding. Those challenges never became roadblocks because we have had the support and encouragement of all three of the national funding agencies: Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council (NSERC). Without them, we might not have been able to continue this work.

Q. How has this research opened your mind to new possibilities or new directions?

A. I’m a labour relations and sociology of work scholar. I never thought about the relationship of work to the changing climate before working in Australia during the seven-year drought. Working in Australia at the beginning of this century opened my eyes to how absolutely critical climate change was going to be for work and working lives, and how potentially effective work and workers could be to reduce the greenhouse gases that so threaten the planet.

work in a warming world book coverQ. Are there interdisciplinary aspects to your research? If so, what are they?

A. The work and climate change research is entirely interdisciplinary. It also partners academic scholars and community experts for each and every project within the research program. Some examples would be: environment law and labour law are brought together to see if we have the law we need to “green” work and workplaces, or if we need new ways of bringing the two legal fields together to be more effective in greening work practices; and greening manufacturing research draws together industrial geographers, experts in the political economy of industrial food production etc.

Q. Did you ever consider other fields of research?

A. Other fields of work, not research.

Q. Are you teaching any courses this year? If so, what are they? Do you bring your research experience into your teaching practice?

Q. I teach a fourth-year co-op course for work and labour studies students and other labour-oriented students. The students work one day a week for a year for labour and social justice organizations. I also teach, at Glendon, a fourth-year seminar called Work in a Warming World. Yes, I bring my research into my teaching.

Q. Tell us a bit about yourself:

A. I’ve been married to an architect who builds social housing since we were young, and we have one daughter, who is labour lawyer who studied at Osgoode. Unions are central to my family – my father was a labour leader of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union.

I started as a civil rights and union activist in high school, and went on to win a scholarship in labour economics for grad school when I was in my first year of university, which led to a meeting with JFK in the Oval Office. I worked with Cesar Chavez’s United Farmworkers grape strike in the Coachella Valley and was sent to Montreal for the union’s Canadian grape boycott, where I fell in love with Quebec.

I then went underground to organize outsourced garment workers in San Francisco, my garment union in competition with the Teamsters’. I worked for the formation of the Teaching Assistants’  Association in Wisconsin, the first TA union in the U.S.

I got my PhD in sociology from the Université de Montréal; negotiated for the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN); then taught at Université Laval, where I became a full professor and where the CEQ/CSQ (Teachers’ Union) “borrowed” me from Laval for the Common Front labour negotiations.

I’ve been at York since 1990, and was the founding director of the Centre for Research on Work & Society. I took a lengthy leave of absence from York to work in Australia, where  I held a research chair in social and political inquiry at Monash University.

Since the middle of the last decade, I’ve been focusing on the labour/climate change relationship, in research, publishing, and working with young activists.

GreenMountainWindFarm_Fluvanna_2004
Carla Lipsig-Mummé’s work explores the ways in which workers and labour unions can change how we work in order to slow global warming (image: Wikimedia Commons)

Q. How long have you been a researcher?

A. Since I was a student. I’ve always used research to further social justice causes. And research can be used in so many forms.

Q. What advice would you give to students embarking on a research project for the first time?

A. Choose a topic you care passionately about; equip yourself with the whole range of social science methodologies; find a mentor for coping with the inevitable obstacles; always publish, and publish in general interest as well as scholarly venues.

Q. What are you reading and/or watching right now?

A. Nate Silver; Borgen; Wolf Hall; Dorothy Dunnett’s Niccolo series; Jacques Le Goff; Georges Duby; The Guardian; anything from PBS.

Q. If you could have dinner with any one person, dead or alive, who would you select and why?

A. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He emerged as a creative and courageous leader in the depths of the Depression; he knew that strong and pro-active government was necessary; he knitted the economic with the political and the social; he believed the welfare state was necessary to face the changes and threats that face society; and he knew how to inspire people to work for the collective good.

Q. What do you do for fun?

A. Long suppers cooked with friends; gardening in Australia and Toronto; hanging out with my husband and my daughter; writing fiction; reading a “real paper” book, preferably medieval European history or mysteries; exploring old cities.

Launch event Jan. 19 for book on young Muslim women in India’s slums

chakraborty-routledgeOn Jan. 19, York University children’s studies Professor Kabita Chakraborty will launch her new book, Young Muslim Women in India: Bollywood, Identity and Changing Youth Culture (Routledge).

This book is based on 20 months of field research with Muslim women and girls in the slums of Kolkata, India.

Chakraborty finds that despite being part of marginalized communities, these young women and girls are at the forefront of important transitions in a globalizing India.

“Dominant discourses about slum youth as poor victims who are excluded from social change is prolific in India, particularly in recent years where social and political changes have really impacted the identity politics of young Muslims living in large, urban, poor communities,” she says.” The book disrupts these stereotypes by showcasing young people’s own ambitions, desires and transgressions.”

Chakraborty’s goal as a scholar of youth cultures is to document young people’s lived experiences, drawing on their own opinions, words, visual images and stories. She arrives at her findings using a child-centred methodology that centralizes youth voices by letting them be integral parts of shaping the way the research was conducted.

The youth were actively involved in peer-to-peer interviews, leading neighbourhood tours, creating photobooks of their lives and participating in yoga as a participatory method.

kabita_chakraborty-H
Kabita Chakraborty

The book takes the reader through the intimate lives of many girls and young women who are keen on fulfilling risky desires and performing multiple identities. These girls and young women take the reader down the winding alleys of their neighbourhoods and make us privy to their transgressions, leisure and gossip. They share with us how they learn sexy Bollywood dancing; how they develop romantic relationships; and how they win time and space to participate in various aspects of a globalizing India which often tries to exclude them.

Bollywood emerges as an important role model which these young people consult.

Chakraborty’s interest in changing youth culture in the slums, and the role of Bollywood as a guide, stems from past research (2001-03) when she was working with street children in Kolkata to understand their views on the built-up urban environment. It was during that time the young people’s relationship with Bollywood captured her attention.

She is currently working on a Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Development-funded project on “eve-teasing” in the slums of India. Eve-teasing is a South Asian euphemism which is roughly translated as “public sexual violence,” but she suggests that this definition is not very accurate. Eve-teasing is complicated by cultures of restricted male-female interaction, patriarchal violence and limited opportunities to develop romantic relationships. Chakraborty will explore the nuances of eve-teasing in this project, working with youth in the slums of Kolkata.

The book will be launched at an event sponsored by the Department of Humanities and the York Centre for Asian Research on Jan. 19 from 12:30 to 1:30pm on the eighth floor (common area) of the Kaneff Tower.

For more information, visit ycar.apps01.yorku.ca/calendar.

York students to travel to Alaska to take part in Model Arctic Council

UAF logo FEATUREDPolitical science Professor Gabrielle Slowey has announced that two of York’s fourth-year undergraduate political science honours students, Samantha Craig-Curnow and Veronica Guido, have been selected to travel to the University of Fairbanks in Alaska to participate in the Model Arctic Council.

The event takes place March 9 to 15, and is an experiential learning exercise where graduate and undergraduate students from around the world convene to represent and simulate the work of member states, permanent participants and observers of the Arctic Council.

“This is an exciting opportunity and we are pleased to have had two students accepted, given the highly competitive nature of this program,” says Slowey, who is also director of York’s Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies.

Gabrielle Slowey
Gabrielle Slowey

Participants of the Model Arctic Council use their academic abilities and experiences to expand awareness of the Arctic Council and its issues; to expand knowledge of international politics; to prepare participants to assume leadership roles in the Arctic; and to develop public speaking skills, diplomacy and negotiation skills.

Craig-Curnow and Guido are well prepared for the event. As students in Slowey’s course, POLS4101 Canada and the Arctic, students are required participate in a model Arctic Council simulation.

Slowey is an Arctic researcher who has worked and travelled extensively across the region, focusing on indigenous politics and resource extraction.

Craig-Curnow is a fourth-year political science honours student from the Chippewas of Rama First Nation. She is treasurer of the Aboriginal Students’ Association at York and is interested in indigenous politics, constitutional reform and cultural revival.

Guido is a fourth-year political science honours student with a focus on indigenous politics. She is Anishnawbe from Northern Ontario, interested in indigenous rights, self-government and identity.

For more on the Model Arctic Council, visit uaf.edu/mac.

Ten individuals with connections to York University appointed to the Order of Canada

Order of Canada Member medal large image for YFile homepage

York University honorary governor Helen Vari (LLD [Hons.] ’03), honorary degree recipients Lloyd Axworthy (LLD [Hons.] ’15), Jack Cockwell (LLD [Hons.] ’01), Wade Davis (LLD [Hons.] ’14) and Rohinton Mistry (DLitt [Hons.] ’03), and York alumni Joseph Boyden (BA ’91), Rudy Buttignol (BFA ’82), Barbara Hall (LLB ’78), Fiona Amaryllis Sampson (DJur ’05) and Faye Thomson (BFA ’77) are among the 69 Canadians to be honoured with Canada’s highest civilian honour – the Order of Canada.

The new appointees include six companions (C.C.), 14 officers (O.C.) and 49 new members (C.M.). The names of the 69 individuals to receive the honour were made on the recommendation of the Advisory Council for the Order of Canada and announced Dec. 30, 2015, by the Office of the Governor General of Canada.

Helen Vari
Helen Vari

An honorary member of the Board of Governors of York University and a recipient of an honorary doctor of laws degree from York University in 2003, Helen Vari was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada for “her philanthropic and volunteer contributions, and for her extensive service to educational, cultural and social initiatives.” A lifelong supporter of education, Vari spent her early years in Hungary prior to travelling to Canada where she met and married her late husband George Vari. The couple established the engineering and construction company SEFRI Construction International. Their strong belief in the power of education led to the establishment in 1984 of the Vari Foundation, which has helped students at many Canadian educational institutions with scholarships, as well as support for teaching programs and financial gifts. York University’s Vari Hall is named for the couple.

Lloyd Axworthy
Lloyd Axworthy

Lloyd Axworthy was promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada for “his principled contributions to international human rights and for his leadership in postsecondary education, particularly in support of Aboriginal students.” Axworthy has had a distinguished career as a Member of Parliament, a cabinet minister and, most recently, as the president and vice-chancellor of the University of Winnipeg. Among his most notable contributions, he created the Royal Commission on Equity in Employment while he was minister of employment and immigration. Later, as foreign affairs minister, his leadership behind the Ottawa Treaty to ban anti-personnel land mines garnered him a Nobel Peace Prize nomination. He has gone on to advocate for international human rights. In 2014, he was installed as the first chancellor of St. Paul’s University College at the University of Waterloo. In 2015, York University bestowed an honorary doctor of laws degree on Axworthy.

Jack Cockwell
Jack Cockwell

Jack Cockwell was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada for “his civic engagement in the areas of education, conservation and history.” He serves as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman at Partners Limited. In 2001, the Schulich School of Business honoured Cockwell with a Doctor of Laws degree. As a business strategist, Cockwell has played a leading role over the past 35 years in the development of numerous prestigious office properties, hydroelectric power dams, base metal mines and forest product mills in North and South America and in the process, helped build one of Canada’s largest industrial groups. A strong believer in continuing education, Cockwell played an active role at Ryerson University for a number of years as a member of its Board of Governors and as campaign chair for The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education.

Wade Davis
Wade Davis

A recipient of an honorary doctor of laws degree from York University in 2014, Wade Davis is professor of Anthropology and the BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada for his efforts to promote conservation and for his work as a writer and scholar. Between 1999 and 2013 he served as Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society and is currently a member of the NGS Explorers Council. Named by the NGS as one of the Explorers for the Millennium, he has been described as “a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet and passionate defender of all of life’s diversity.” An ethnographer, writer, photographer and filmmaker, Davis spent over three years in the Amazon and Andes as a plant explorer, living among 15 indigenous groups in eight Latin American nations while making some 6,000 botanical collections. Davis is the author of 240 scientific and popular articles and 17 books.

Rohinton Mistry
Rohinton Mistry

The recipient of an honorary doctor of letters degree from York University in 2003, Rohinton Mistry was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada for “his acclaimed work as an author of international renown.” His first collection of short stories, Tales From the Firozsha Baag, was published in 1987. In 1991, he published his first novel Such a Long Journey, which was awarded the Governor General’s Literary Award, the W. H. Smith/ Books in Canada First Novel Award, the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for Best Book. Such a Long Journey was also short-listed for the Booker Prize. A Fine Balance was published in 1995. It won the Giller Prize, the Royal Society of Literature’s Winfried Holtby Prize, and the 1996 Los Angeles Times Award for fiction. It was also short listed for the Booker Prize. Family Matters was published in 2002 and was short listed for the Booker Prize. In 2008, Mistry published The Scream, illustrated by Tony Urquhart, a limited edition publication to benefit by World Literacy of Canada. Mistry won the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2012.

Joseph Boyden
Joseph Boyden

Winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize for his second novel, Through Black Spruce, York University alumnus Joseph Boyden (BA ’91) is a graduate of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. He was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada for “his contributions as an author, who tells stories of our common heritage, and for his social engagement, notably in support of First Nations.” Boyden’s novel The Orenda, won Canada Reads and was nominated for a Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award for Fiction. A novelist and short-story writer, Boyden is of Irish, Scottish and Métis descent and the son of a highly decorated medical officer of the Second World War (Raymond Wilfrid Boyden). As an author, Boyden became widely known in Canada following the publication of his first novel, Three Day Road, which was selected for the Today Show’s book club and won various awards. It was also short listed for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction. Boyden has also written non-fiction works, including Extraordinary Canadians: Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont and From Mushkegowuk to New Orleans: A Mixed Blood Highway. He divides his time between Northern Ontario and Louisiana.

Rudy Buttignol
Rudy Buttignol

A graduate of the School of Arts, Media, Performance & Design, Rudy Buttignol (BFA ’82) is a Canadian television network executive and entrepreneur. He is the president and CEO of British Columbia’s Knowledge Network, BC’s public broadcaster and is also president of Canadian subscription television channel BBC Kids. Buttignol was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada for “his contributions as a champion of Canadian documentary filmmaking and for his transformative leadership at the Knowledge Network.” Buttignol’s career spans more than four decades. At the beginning of his career, he worked as an independent producer, director, writer and editor of documentary and children’s programs, and later as a commissioning editor, television programmer, and broadcast executive. From 1975 to 1993, Buttignol worked as an independent filmmaker creating film and video works. In 1993, Buttignol began work as a public broadcaster when he joined TVOntario as commissioning editor and creative head of independent production. In 2004, he shared the Gemini’s Donald Brittain Award with documentary filmmaker Allan King for Dying at Grace (2003). In 2007, Buttignol was awarded the inaugural Hot Docs’ Doc Mogul Award. In total, Buttignol is the recipient of nine Gemini Awards from the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

Barbara Hall
Barbara Hall

The former mayor of the City of Toronto, York alumna Barbara Hall (LLB ’78) was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada for “her human rights leadership and for her commitment to public service.” A graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School, Hall is a Canadian lawyer, public servant and former politician. She was the 61st mayor of Toronto, the last to run before amalgamation. She was elected mayor of the pre-amalgamation City of Toronto in 1994, and held office until Dec. 31, 1997. On Nov. 28, 2005, Hall was appointed chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission. After having her term extended four times, she retired Feb. 27, 2015, after almost a decade in the position. On July 17, 2014, a city park in Toronto’s Church and Wellesley neighbourhood was renamed in her honour. On March 16, 2015, Hall was appointed by the provincial government to chair a seven-member panel that will conduct public consultations to review the governance of the Toronto District School Board.

Fiona Sampson
Fiona Sampson

Osgoode Hall Law School alumna Fiona Sampson (DJur ’05) was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada for “her commitment to human rights, particularly those of women and girls in Africa.” Sampson is a human rights lawyer and the founder of The Equality Effect, a non-profit organization based in Toronto. The organization uses international human rights law to work on behalf of girls and women, its main focus is the protection of girls and women in sub-Saharan Africa from rape. In May 2013, Sampson and her team secured a victory in Kenya when the country’s highest court found the government was guilty in failing to protect girls from rape. In addition to her role as executive director of The Equality Effect, Sampson serves as an appointed member of the Ontario Human Rights Commission. An experienced litigation lawyer, she has appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada representing various women’s NGOs in equality rights cases. She was appointed an Ashoka Fellow, named the 2014 Lawyer of the Year by the New York State Bar Association, named one of Canada’s Top 25 Lawyers and is one of 50 “Global Heroes” working to end violence against children, along with among others, Queen Noor and Hillary Clinton.

Faye Thomson

Faye Thomson (BFA ’77) is a contemporary dancer of national significance. Thomson, a graduate of the School of Arts, Media, Performance & Design. With collaborator Odette Heyn, the duo were appointed Members of the Order of Canada for “their contributions to contemporary dance in Canada and to the development of the next generation of Canadian dancers.” In 1983, Heyn and Thomson founded the Professional Program of The School of Contemporary Dancers. Since that time, the Professional Program has made significant contributions to the contemporary dance arts community and the cultural fabric of Canada. Working in a partnership for over 30 years, they are the longest serving directors of a national professional dance training program in Canada. Thomson has performed with Stephanie Ballard and Dancers, Rachel Browne, and Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers including with Tedd Robinson. She continues to serve as rehearsal director for Stephanie Ballard and Dancers for several projects, and has recently been rehearsal director for works presented by NAfro Dance Productions and Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers including for the Rachel Browne Tribute Tour. She studied and performed in South Indian Classical Dance for many years under the direction of Menaka Thakkar, including an acclaimed 1984/85 performance tour of India. For several years, she served as a member of the board of directors of the Winnipeg Arts Council and as a member of the Manitoba Arts Advisory Panel and continues to serve as a juror/assessor.

McLaughlin Lunch Talk series resumes with discussion on Germany’s quest for stability

McLaughlin College at York University

McLaughlin College will resume its popular Lunch Talk series on Jan. 13 with a presentation by Benjamin Lowinsky.

mclaughlin collegeThe York U professor, cross appointed between the Department of Social Science and the Writing Department, will discuss “Germany’s Promising yet Elusive Quest for Stability, Social Harmony and Integration, Security and Peace” in the McLaughlin College Senior Common Room from noon to 1:30pm.

Lowinsky is a Fellow of McLaughlin College and a longtime faculty member in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) where he teaches history, social and political thought, and writing.

His research and scholarship reflect a diversity of topics pertaining to, among other things: American-German relations; American foreign policy and the Cold War; educational policy and practice; digital technology and the metamorphosis of our institutions and values; and recent political, economic and social developments in Germany.

Lowinsky – who is fluent in German and has lived, worked and studied in Germany – has first-hand knowledge of and access to many facets of German life, politics, culture and history.

His experiences in, observations of, and personal connections to Germany add a dimension of personal history and reality to Germany’s quest for a more meaningful role in the European and world order following the Second World War.

Yet, while the prospects for Germany’s success in its quest for stability, social harmony and integration, security and peace appear promising, they are also elusive due to a host of forces connected to the country’s past and to conditions that may be well beyond its control.

It is within this historic clash taking place that Germany’s future takes shape, profoundly affecting its domestic and international conditions and priorities.

All are welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be provided. To RSVP, contact Vicky Carnevale at ext. 33824 or vcarneva@yorku.ca.

The event is hosted by the Office of the Master, McLaughlin College.