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91��ɫ U's Glendon campus serves as host for the Canada Prizes Award Ceremony May 7

muellerm — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 08:00:00 +0000

Two books authored by individuals with connections to 91��ɫ are among a group of scholarly works by Canadian academics that are in the running for a prestigious Canada Prize.

The winners of the annual awards will be announced prior to the Canada Prizes ceremony on May 7, from 4:30 to 5:30pm, at the Centre of Excellence for French-language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education at 91��ɫ’s Glendon campus. The ceremony will be followed by a reception. The selection of Glendon as the site for the ceremony is the result of a new partnership with the Federation for the Humanities & Social Sciences and 91��ɫ. Members of the 91��ɫ community are invited to attend the Canada Prizes ceremony, RSVP online (Event Code: 882) by May 5.

Lisa Philipps

“Glendon was identified as an ideal location to host this national event in light of its bilingual mandate and its unique focus on education in the humanities and social sciences. We are really excited to be working with the federation to celebrate the excellence of Canadian scholarship in these disciplines,” said Lisa Philipps, AVP research and a member of the federation’s board.

The Canada Prizes are adjudicated by a group of leading academics and public intellectuals, as exemplified by this year’s distinguished jury panel, which includes previous winners of the award. Michael Adams, CEO of Environics and a juror for this year’s Canada Prize in the Social Sciences, will give keynote remarks at the event.

This year, Wilderness and Waterpower: How Banff National Park Became a Hydroelectric Storage Reservoir (2013, University of Calgary Press) authored 91��ɫ Professor Emeritus of History Christopher Armstrong with 91��ɫ Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of History Viv H. Nelles, and Autonomous State: The Struggle for a Canadian Car Industry from OPEC to Free Trade (2013, University of Toronto Press) by 91��ɫ alumnus Dimitry Anastakis (MA ’95, PhD ’02), are in the running for a Canada Prize.

Wilderness and Waterpower: How Banff National Park Became a Hydroelectric Storage Reservoir explores how the need for electricity at the turn of the century affected and shaped Banff National Park. It tells the story of Alberta's early need for electricity, entrepreneurial greed, debates over Aboriginal ownership of the river, moving park boundaries to accommodate hydro-electric initiatives, the importance of water for tourism, rural electrification, and the ultimate diversion to coal-produced electricity. It is also a lively national story, involving the irrepressible and impetuous Max Aitkin (later Lord Beaverbook), R.B. Bennett (local legal advisor and later prime minister), and a series of local politicians and bureaucrats whose contributions confuse and conflate issues along the way. (Source: University of Calgary Press)

Autonomous State: The Struggle for a Canadian Car Industry from OPEC to Free Trade provides the first detailed examination of the Canadian auto industry, the country’s most important economic sector, in the post-war period. In his book, Anastakis, who is professor of history at Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., chronicles the industry’s evolution from the 1973 OPEC embargo to the 1989 Canada–US Free Trade Agreement and looks at its effects on public policy, diplomacy, business enterprise, workers, consumers, and firms. Using an immense array of archival sources, and interviews with some of the key actors in the events, Anastakis examines important topics in recent auto industry and Canadian business and economic history.

Awarded annually by the Federation, the celebrate the best Canadian scholarly books—not simply within a single academic discipline, but across all the disciplines of the humanities and social sciences. The prizes are awarded to books that make an exceptional contribution to scholarship, are engagingly written, and enrich the social, cultural and intellectual life of Canada.

To learn more about the other books short listed for the prizes, visit the website.

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Workshop gives vision to the renaissance engineer

fmaquito — Mon, 07 May 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Breadth, creativity, technical and analytical prowess are just some of the attributes needed by engineers of the future.

That was the consensus of leading thinkers, academics, engineers and students who gathered at 91��ɫ's Keele campus on April 21 for "Envisioning the Renaissance Engineer", a day-long workshop to outline the academic promise for the University's expanded School of Engineering.

“This shall be a school of unique and new design,” said Janusz Kozinski, dean of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Science & Engineering and host of the workshop. "Once completed," he said, "the School of Engineering will have an enormous impact on the field of engineering in Canada and beyond.

Janusz Kozinski

“How do we see engineering in the future?” said 91��ɫ’s President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri, in his welcoming remarks. “Our vision is the creation of problem solvers who are broadly educated and socially responsible. We want to build a faculty that is inclusive in every respect.”

Underpinning this vision for the School of Engineering will be academic partnerships with Osgoode Hall Law School and the Schulich School of Business and 91��ɫ's other faculties.

For philanthropist Pierre Lassonde, chair of the Franco Nevada Corporation, whose generous donation of $25 million to 91��ɫ has made possible the expansion of the engineering school, attending the event one day after celebrating his birthday, along with the anticipated discussion of the concept of the renaissance engineer, were gifts worthy of 65 candles.

In his welcome to the workshop participants, Lassonde described his vision for the engineer of the future. The renaissance engineer, he said, must be like Michelangelo, the Italian Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect, poet and engineer. Renaissance engineers would be able to create their own masterpieces, dream and design innovative technical solutions to problems, be entrepreneurial in business and understand the romance of lifelong learning.

Pierre Lassonde

“It is a momentous time. I find myself looking forward and backward,” he said. “Our engineers, our graduates must be fully equipped, fully ready for any situation they encounter. Builders, creative people, developers of solutions – they must not be harnessed by the stiffness of earlier generations. In the future, new approaches, new fixes, flexible men and women are what will be required.”

The workshop began with a keynote address by Diane Freeman, an engineering consultant, Waterloo city councillor and the past president of the Professional Engineers of Ontario. The day continued with morning and afternoon discussions. Technical presentations on entrepreneurship and project-based learning rounded out the day.

Diane Freeman

“The word ‘renaissance’ speaks of revival and of rebirth,” Freeman said. “Aptly, it refers to seasons of transition and to change makers. This is what engineers are, not just automobile designers.”

She spoke about the need for creative solutions by engineers to solve deeply rooted problems. Freeman called for engineers to become involved in public policy and stressed the need for collaboration between engineers, citizens and public policy makers.

Highlights of the day's panel discussions

The Future Engineers Session that followed featured Marisa Sterling of the Professional Engineers of Ontario; Tom Lee, chief education officer, Quanser Inc.; and Sal Alajeck, global engineering team lead, Engineers Without Borders.

Sterling said three characteristics should be encouraged in the engineers of the future – flexibility, strategic thinking and entrepreneurial spirit. “Engineers would need to continually evolve, adopt a strategic mindset and look for future gaps, opportunities and cycles.”

In addition to current trends in engineering, Freeman highlighted that there would be a need for new kinds of engineers in areas such as seismic engineering and entrepreneurial engineering.

Lee said that future engineers should be equipped to handle global challenges and issues such as climate change and renewable energy. He noted that elementary students are making robots and engineering fundamentals are now being taught in some Ontario high schools, something he said was not being recognized by universities.

Alajeck suggested engineering programs consider the big picture, including teaching engineers to be better communicators and offering interdisciplinary studies in creative problem solving and system thinking. "Can they be a loving engineer with the ability to transcend relationships and build communities? Can they change the givens? Would the approach to the renaissance engineer be additive or holistic?" asked Alajeck. "Can 91��ɫ's School of Engineering challenge the existing framework of engineering education or go against the will of industry?"

From left, Sal Alajeck, Tom Lee and Marisa Sterling

The afternoon Renaissance Engineer Session featured 91��ɫ natural science Professors Richard Jarrell and Edward Jones-Imhotep speaking about trends that they think would affect the renaissance engineer.

Jarrell said he was worried about the text and e-mail heavy world of non-present communications, which he called socially bleak.

"We need to be citizens first. Citizens have adaptability and are present in the world. They are taught to move about and seek a broader education," he said."Flexibility, adaptability and broad-based education are important. There is a need to be nimble and move into a variety of careers because the broader the education, the more useful the engineer, and the better the citizen, the better the communicator and the more visionary the human being."

"Renaissance has an element of rebirth, but also of recovering what has been lost," said Jones-Imhotep. He cited Galileo Galilei and other renaissance scientists of the 1600s. Many, he noted, were in essence "renaissance engineers". They were also musicians and they actively explored and embraced other domains, including art, music and languages.

Following the discussion, engineering Professor John Orr of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Worcester, Mass., explored project-based learning.

Orr's presentation was followed by a panel discussion featuring Troy d'Ambrosio, director of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Center at the University of Utah, and Gabriel Chan of the peer-to-peer learning platform NoteWagon.

Troy d'Ambrosio

They discussed how entrepreneurial engineers develop solutions to everyday problems. Both d'Ambrosio and Chan highlighted the importance of universities in encouraging and incubating business and engineering start ups. They highlighted that business planning is a fundamental and integral skill for renaissance engineers. d'Ambrosio described the experience of the University of Utah and its engineering school's effort to marry business with engineering, which resulted in creation of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Center at the University of Utah.

The day ended with a thoughtful observation from Lassonde. "Aspire to inspire, before you expire."

For more information, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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FES explores connection between literature and environment

fmaquito — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:00:00 +0000

What is the connection between Canadian literature and the environment? That question is what the Faculty of Environmental Studies wants to explore through its three-day event, Green Words/Green Worlds: Environmental Literatures & Politics in Canada, encompassing a public forum, a conference and writing workshops.

Notable Canadian environmental poets , and are the keynote speakers for the public forum, which will take place Friday, Oct. 21, from 6 to 8pm, at the Gladstone Hotel, North Ballroom, 1415 Queen St. W., Toronto. The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited.

Right: Brian Bartlett

Each of the authors will read from their work and discuss the socio-political responsibility of writers in modern, ecologically precarious times during the public forum. Bartlett is the author of five collections of poetry, including The Watchmaker’s Table, as well as Wanting the Day: Selected Poems, which won the 2004 Atlantic Poetry Prize. Ruffo, whose work is influenced by his Ojibwe heritage, is the author of At Geronimo’s Grave and Grey Owl: The Mystery of Archie Belaney. He has also penned plays, works of nonfiction and was the writer and director for the film, A Windigo Tale, which won best picture at the American Indian Film Festival last year in San Francisco.

Wong's work looks at the relations among contemporary poetics, social justice, ecology and decolonization. She is the author of poetry collections Forage and Monkeypuzzle and co-author of Sybil Unrest.

The academic conference will be held the next day on Saturday, Oct. 22 at the Gladstone Hotel, from 9am to 7:30pm. Paid registration for the conference is required before Oct. 14. Although admission for 91��ɫ students is free, they still must register in advance.

Left: Rita Wong

The conference will feature scholarly discussions and include diverse panels of academics, graduate students and writers presenting their own work on topics, such as ecopoetics, environmental literatures, indigenous politics, writing and more. Molly Wallace of Queen’s University will offer the closing keynote address, “Averting Environmental Catastrophe in Time: Speculations on Temporality, Risk and Representation”.

Some of the questions the event will probe include: How do literary works – poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction – make a unique contribution to Canadians’ understanding of, and responses to, environmental issues? How does the history of Canadian literature suggest a history of environmental activism, and vice versa? Why does poetry matter for nature? And, how does fiction incite and influence actions in the more-than-human world?

Environmental literatures engage the world differently than do environmental policies and ecopoetry embodies and inspires different modes of action, says FES Professor Catriona Sandilands, Canada Research Chair in Sustainability & Culture and the event’s co-organizer with Ella Soper, FES postdoctoral Fellow.

Right: Armand Garnet Ruffo

The question then becomes, says Sandilands, what does this reflection and action add to environmental politics in Canada? How, for example, do indigenous peoples’ struggles over the materiality and meaning of land suggest different kinds of environmental stories to underpin an ecological public culture? How can a regional or national ecopolitics benefit from closer attention to diasporic literatures? How are ecological literatures and politics jointly embedded in globalizing relations of race, gender, class, colonialism, sexuality and ability?

Writing workshops will take place Sunday, Oct. 23 at the Gladstone Hotel, from 9:30 to 11:30am. It will be a day of hands-on writing activities led by Bartlett, Ruffo and Wong, as well as FES doctoral candidate Amanda Di Battista. At the workshops, participants will be encouraged to create their own pieces of poetry or prose that might contribute to a politics of voice locally, nationally and/or globally. Participation is included in advance conference registration or contact Green Worlds for alternate arrangements.

The event is sponsored by 91��ɫ’s Sustainable Writing Laboratory and the Faculty of Environmental Studies with the support of the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada.

For more information, for a full schedule of events, or to register, e-mail grnwrlds@yorku.ca.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Workshop explores shared synergies in science & engineering

fmaquito — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Leading researchers, industry representatives and academics in science and engineering from Canada and India are gathering today at 91��ɫ's Keele campus as part of a two-day Canada-India Frontiers workshop, which will explore new developments in science and engineering

The first event of its kind, the workshop, which began yesterday and continues today, offers a forum for participants to share ideas, resources and technologies, and engage in discussions about current and future topics of importance to science and engineering in Canada and India.

Speaking at the workshop are Vijay Saraswat, scientific adviser to India's defence minister; William Selvamurthy, chief controller of research & development at India's Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO); David Kendall, the general director of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and Professor Janusz Kozinski, dean of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Science & Engineering.

Right: Janusz Kozinski

Over the course of the event, participants will be exploring shared synergies, knowledge and advancements in areas such as space exploration, nanosatellite technology, space robotics and disease modelling research. They will also be examining how to collaborate on a new project known as the Early Warning and Advance Response Network (e-WARN). Spearheaded by Kozinski, e-WARN is intended to detect, quantify and initiate an effective response to chemical and biological threats released in public buildings. Researchers from both countries will discuss and plan how to collaborate on the e-WARN project.

Attending the workshop from India are representatives from the DRDO, Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEER), the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, the University of Calcutta and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Also attending are researchers from 91��ɫ, the University of Saskatchewan, McGill University, Concordia University and Ryerson University, and representatives from the Canadian Space Agency, COM DEV International, Unique Broadband Systems, Microstat Systems Canada, Canadian Light Source, MDA Technologies, Xiphos Technologies and the Canada-India Business Council.

Other topics that are part of the workshop include advances in alternative energy, space science and engineering, advanced materials and instrumentation, and life sciences.

For more information, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Homelessness symposium examines what works, what doesn't

fmaquito — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 08:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ will host Without a Home, a research symposium on contemporary issues in Canadian homelessness, that will bring together top academics next week to discuss some of the latest findings.

The symposium will take place Thursday, Oct. 6, from 8:30am to 12:30pm, at 280N 91��ɫ Lanes, Keele campus, followed by lunch from 12:30 to 2pm.

The presenters will also discuss the “so-whatness” or policy implications of their research.

“Service Preferences of Homeless Youth: Housing First, Treatment First or Both Together?” will be discussed by ��(��), acting associate director of nursing research at the University of Western Ontario. Housing-first initiatives focus on interventions designed to move individuals to appropriate and available housing, and ongoing housing supports. It has been found to produce good outcomes for homeless adults with mental illness but has not been specifically tested for youth. With the treatment-first initiative, the individual is not housed until psychiatrically stable.

Forchuk will look at a current study that examined three approaches to service for homeless youth – housing first, treatment first for mental health and addictions, and simultaneous attention to both housing and treatment. Youth were given the opportunity to choose which service method they preferred.

��(��ڳ�), director of the Institute of Urban Studies at the University of Winnipeg, will discuss “Homelessness and Mental Health: Winnipeg’s Approach to Building Capacity and Housing Those in Need”. Distasio’s presentation will provide an overview of a massive five-city study by the Mental Health Commission of Canada, that examined the effectiveness of a housing-first intervention in the Canadian context. Distasio will focus on the unique aspects of the Winnipeg approach, which has been built on the strengths of the local Aboriginal community.

��(��), of St. Michael’s Hospital and a professor at the University of Toronto, will talk about “Health Care Utilization Among People Who Are Homeless”. He will discuss research that measured health care utilization rates among homeless adults in a large Canadian urban centre and compared observed utilization rates to matched controls from the general population. Most of the research on this topic has been conducted in the United States.

University of Ottawa psychology Professor (left) will discuss “Lesson Learned from the Implementation of Housing First in a Small Canadian City”. His talk will focus on the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s housing-first study and the results of the housing-first approach in Moncton, NB.

A key feature of the Canadian response to homelessness is the use of law enforcement to manage its visibility. 's research presentation, “Can I See Your ID? Policing and the Criminalization of Youth Homelessness in Toronto”, will focus on the interactions that Toronto street youth have with members of the Toronto Police Service. Gaetz, a professor in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Education and associate dean of research & field development for the homeless hub, will discuss his research with of the University of Guelph.

Right: Stephen Gaetz

Their research has found that youth who use drop-ins and emergency housing services regularly have encounters with the police. For youth who are severely marginalized, many of these encounters take place because of their public drinking and illegal substance use. But for other homeless youth not involved in crime or illegal drug use, they, too, are under close police surveillance and contact. The presentation will conclude with a discussion on the implications of social profiling and the criminalizing of youth homelessness.

The symposium is presented by the and . For more information, visit the homeless hub symposium web page.

Space is limited. To guarantee a spot, RSVP to Susan Atkinson at satkinson@edu.yorku.ca or ext. 30208. The symposium will also be presented as a webinar. To register for the webinar, .

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