Donation to Glendon School of Public & International Affairs will help create BMO Financial Group GSPIA Directorship and support BMO Visiting Fellows

TORONTO, May 16, 2017 – A $2 million gift from ĚýBMO Financial Group to 91ŃÇÉ« will be used to create academic leadership opportunities at the (GSPIA), the first bilingual graduate school of its kind in Canada.

“We are very grateful to BMO Financial Group for this generous gift, which will help us to develop dynamic new learning experiences to meet the emerging needs of tomorrow’s policymakers,” said 91ŃÇÉ« President and Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri. ” I look forward to seeing the positive impact this funding will have, not only in the 91ŃÇÉ« and Glendon communities, but in our global community as well.”

This latest gift in BMO Financial Group’s ongoing partnership with 91ŃÇÉ« will be channeled into two academic leadership opportunities: the BMO Financial Group Directorship, which will be created from the existing BMO Financial Group Visiting Professorship in Public Affairs; and the BMO Visiting Fellows, a position that has attracted a steady stream of talented scholars and practitioners in Canadian public affairs since 2013.

“In this increasingly globalized world, the complexity of crafting intelligent and effective policy demands a higher level of research and teaching excellence – one that transcends borders, cultures and languages,” said Donald Ipperciel, Principal, Glendon Campus. “The continued generosity of BMO Financial Group will be instrumental in supporting The Glendon School of Public and International Affairs’ leading priorities in these areas for years to come.”

The GSPIA director will lead all aspects of research and graduate programming, including new program offerings and internships, and will continue to strengthen ties between the school and the public sector. The director will also expand GSPIA’s research and impact, with more debates, speakers and conferences addressing important issues in world affairs.

Visiting Fellows teach graduate seminars, participate in conferences, conduct public lectures and publish news articles with the goal of educating master’s students and the general public about important public policy and issues.

“We’re thrilled to be adding another chapter to our ongoing partnership with 91ŃÇÉ« and contributing to The Glendon School of Public & International Affairs’ work in preparing the best and brightest to lead the discourse on important public policy issues that will impact Canadians for decades to come,” said Steve Murphy, Senior Vice President, GTA Division, BMO Bank of Montreal.

BMO Financial Group’s gift is the largest made to the Glendon Campus as part of 91ŃÇɫ’s most ambitious fundraising and engagement effort to date, . The campaign’s goal is to raise $500 million in commitments to mobilize new ways of thinking, prepare engaged global citizens and build stronger communities.

To learn more about the country’s only bilingual liberal arts college, visit the Glendon Campus .

Ěýis known for championing new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-discipline programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91ŃÇÉ« students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91ŃÇÉ« U is an internationally recognized research university – our 11 faculties and 26 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91ŃÇÉ« is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni. 91ŃÇÉ« U's fully bilingual Glendon campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contacts:
Gloria Suhasini, 91ŃÇÉ« Media Relations, 416 736 2100 ext. 22094, suhasini@yorku.ca

Matt Duffin, Corporate Communications, BMO Financial Group, 416 867 5394, Matthew.Duffin@bmo.com

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TORONTO, February 22, 2017 – Flooding, hurricanes, global warming and terrorism are all disasters and emergencies that can be effectively managed – and in some cases mitigated – through good planning and response. 91ŃÇÉ« is the first in Canada to offer bachelor’s and master’s degrees in emergency management, and now thanks to a new partnership with IBM Canada, 91ŃÇɫ’s program will incorporate world-leading technology and tools.

IBM Canada is awarding a $1.8-million in-kind gift to accelerate the Advanced Disaster, Emergency and Rapid Response Simulation (ADERSIM), a cloud-enabled platform housed at 91ŃÇÉ« that enhances disaster and emergency planning through leading-edge modelling and simulation technology.

The new Master of Disaster & Emergency Management (MDEM) is the only graduate program of its kind in Ontario and one of only two in Canada.

As the first academic-industry partnership in Canada to address disaster and emergency management at scale, ADERSIM uses IBM’s deep analytics capabilities coupled with 91ŃÇɫ’s big dataĚý and interdisciplinary research expertise to meet Canada’s current and future demands in emergency management and public safety.

“91ŃÇÉ« and IBM share a common goal to advance state-of-the-art disaster management systems,” said Mamdouh Shoukri, president and vice-chancellor of 91ŃÇÉ«. “This gift marks the beginning of an extraordinary collaboration to build an emergency management ecosystem of startups, government agencies, emergency responders and community organizations working to develop greater, more accurate solutions in disaster and emergency preparedness and mitigation.”

IBM’s support includes a $1.4 million contribution in cloud credits to support ADERSIM’s research team and community partners. The credits provide crucial access to the latest in cloud technologies to accelerate the development of applications that support simulating disaster risk and planning operations. The gift also includes a $400,000 discount on the IBM Cognitive Cities capabilities that form the building blocks of ADERSIM.

“IBM has a long history of supporting innovation in Canada, especially around research and development,” said Pat Horgan, vice-president, manufacturing, development and operations, IBM Canada. “Today’s announcement with 91ŃÇÉ« is a direct result of this kind of innovation. ADERSIM is a big step towards drastically improving disaster and emergency planning in a way that could impact the safety of all Canadians. This is a significant initiative, and we are proud to be part of it.”

IBM’s gift is part of a $5 million multi-partner investment. Other funding partners include: the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Ontario Research Fund (ORF), and 91ŃÇÉ«. The innovative partnership aims to expand and grow ADERSIM’s disaster and emergency management portfolio.

The ADERSIM program will equip approximately 80 trainees with strong theoretical and professional skills in information searching, data mining and knowledge management.

Last year, 91ŃÇÉ« launched “Impact: The Campaign for 91ŃÇɫ”, a $500-million fundraising and alumni engagement initiative. The campaign aims to mobilize new ways of thinking, including investing in the bright minds that drive innovation, as well as to build stronger communities, which will enrich learning and research throughout 91ŃÇɫ’s local and global networks. directly supports these priorities.

is known for championing new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-discipline programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91ŃÇÉ« students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91ŃÇÉ« U is an internationally recognized research university – our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91ŃÇÉ« is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 295,000 alumni. 91ŃÇÉ« U's fully bilingual Glendon campus is home to Southern Ontario’s Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

IBM is one of Canada’s top ten private R&D investors, and in 2015 contributed more than $477 million to Canadian research activities. IBM has a unique approach to collaboration that provides academic researchers, small and large business, start-ups and developers with business strategies and computing tools they need to innovate. Areas of focus include health, agile computing, water, energy, cities, mining, advanced manufacturing, digital media and cybersecurity. IBM and its partners have in the past three years helped create more than 240 high-value jobs and launch more than three dozen new businesses. Please visit: .

Media contacts:
Gloria Suhasini, Media Relations, 91ŃÇÉ«, 416-736-2100 ext. 22094, suhasini@yorku.ca

Lorraine Baldwin, External Communications, IBM Canada Ltd., 778-327-7271, lorraine@ca.ibm.com

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TORONTO, May 4, 2016 – Having students role play characters in a multi-player, online science fiction game is one way to increase their critical thinking skills. That’s the idea behind a new course starting May 9 at 91ŃÇÉ« that has students choosing their own game adventure.

The first-year course – Reasoning about Morality and Values: Critical Thinking Skills for Everyday Life – is offered either fully online or a blended version (part online and part in-class). 91ŃÇÉ« U instructor was inspired to change the way students learn by some of the massively multi-player online role playing games (MMORPGs), such as War Craft, Starcraft and Dungeons and Dragons.

“The idea is to improve the student experience, promote deep learning and educate for social change. It is all about learning collaboratively to save Earth. The entire course is a role playing, sci-fiction game with a back story in science fiction lore,” said Cohen. An award-winning teacher, she designed some of the course’s video games with several students using Twine, an open-source tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories.

Cael Cohen. Photo by Quinn Corkal, Quinn Aden Photography, Toronto.

“I play an alien, Criticare, from the planet Propagandus who takes human form in the game to help lead and guide the students through special operations training. The idea is to save the world from the Propagandans, who have infiltrated positions of power in society and are brainwashing humans,” she said. “The students are resistance rebels who gather at Command Centre disguised as the Moodle course site.”

Working in Guild Platoons, students will earn experience points, reputation points, skill points, status as critical thinkers, and digital badges and trophies. Each week they will play various games and complete multi-level learning quests on their own and as part of a guild to learn the necessary skills to save Earth. The majority of the games are played in Top Hat’s interactive teaching platform, allowing students the ease of playing these games on their cell phones and tablets. Top Hat’s Brennen Green, senior products specialist, and Chief Academic Officer and co-founder Mohsen Shahini, worked closely with Cohen to ensure effective game mechanics.

“Students will learn how to think for themselves from the ground up,” said Cohen.

The course will teach critical skills, practices, techniques, attitudes and principles that students can use in their everyday lives to evaluate how they and others think about morality and values. Students will also learn how to approach ethical disagreements and controversial moral issues, and to critically assess ethical beliefs, arguments and concepts based on relevant and sufficient grounds, rather than passive acceptance.

About 150 students are already enrolled in the course with another 50 enrolled in a blended version. The deep learning model helps students relate to the material being taught; often it’s to something in their own lives. It goes beyond just memorizing facts.

The students will be required to look for patterns and underlying principles, check evidence and relate it to conclusions, examine logic and argument cautiously and critically. “They are aware of the understanding that develops while learning and they become actively interested in the course content,” said Cohen.

has always been known for championing new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our 52,000 students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world.Ěý Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-discipline programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91ŃÇÉ« students and our 283,000 alumni worldwide push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91ŃÇÉ« U is an internationally recognized research university – our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide.

Media Contact:

Sandra McLean, 91ŃÇÉ«, 416-736-2100 ext. 22097, sandramc@yorku.ca

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