bullying Archives | Research & Innovation

Prof awarded new research chair in autism spectrum disorders

muellerm — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Professor and clinical psychologist Jonathan Weiss of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health is the new Chair in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) Treatment and Care Research, the federal government announced Monday at 91��ɫ.

The chair, which will receive some $2 million in funding over five years, will study ways to improve the mental health and well-being of people with ASD and their families in Canada.

Jonathan Weiss speaking at the announcement Monday

and his team will examine why people with ASD are prone to develop mental health problems, evaluate novel treatment strategies to help youth and adults with ASD deal with these issues, as well as other stressful events like bullying. It’s estimated that between 40 and 70 per cent of people with ASDs have at least one co-occurring mental health problem, including anxiety, depression and anger.

91��ɫ President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri congratulated Weiss, saying “91��ɫ's Faculty of Health is home to some of Canada's leading researchers, who work collaboratively to improve health promotion, disease prevention and health care in the community. I am proud of their commitment to bettering the health of the nation.”

Mamdouh Shoukri

The first $1 million of funding will come from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) in partnership with Autism Speaks Canada, the Canadian Autism Spectrum Disorders Alliance, Health Canada, NeuroDevNet and the Sinneave Family Foundation. 91��ɫ will match those funds, along with its community partner, the Spectrum of Hope Autism Foundation.

ASDs are a group of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication and behavioural challenges. The number, kind and severity of symptoms varying from one person to another and includes children and adults.

Colin Carrie

“The majority of people with autism will experience mental health problems at some point in their lives. Good mental health translates into better outcomes for these individuals and for their families, and to a reduced demand on our health and social systems, which benefits all Canadians,” said Weiss, who also holds a New Investigator Fellowship from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation.

His team will work with people with autism, families, service providers, and government to share cutting edge research that will inform mental health care policy and practice across the country.

Weiss is also looking to hear from people with ASD, their families and service providers to help direct the research questions his team will ask. To that end, a new website – – was launched Monday where people can subscribe to learn more about what the program is doing. He will also be putting together an advisory and working group in January to provide input, determine the best way to answer the research questions, inform stakeholders of what is learned and transform that knowledge into improved policy and practice. He hopes that as the program of research grows, the advisory group will attract national representation.

Harvey Skinner

Faculty of Health Dean Harvey Skinner believes Weiss is up for the challenge, saying he was impressed by the breadth of Weiss’ perspectives, as well as how he reaches out and bridges the gap with the community.

Parliamentary Secretary Colin Carrie, who was at the announcement on behalf of Leona Aglukkag, minister of health, said he understands at a personal level the need for this kind of research. He has a son with ASD who is now in university. He added that he was heartened to hear about the research work that will be done by the new chair.

Mike Lake addresses the crowd with his son

“Our Government is committed to helping Canadians maintain and improve their health. That’s why we are supporting research that will use innovative approaches to improve the health of Canadians who live with autism,” Carrie said.

MP for Edmonton Mike Lake brought his son, who has been diagnosed with ASD, to the announcement. He said he also understands the challenges faced by families who have a member with ASD. With a nod to the organizations in the autism community, Lake said they “provide a valuable link to Canadians affected by ASD and their families and they will be critically important to the success of the research program and implementation of the results.”

Robert Thirsk, vice-president, Public, Government and Institute Affairs, CIHR; Dan Goldowitz, scientific director of NeuroDevNet; Dr. Margaret Clarke, senior vice-president of the Sinneave Family Foundation; Jill Farber, vice-chair, Autism Speaks Canada; and Frank Viti, CEO, Autism Speaks Canada, were also at the announcement.

For more information, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin to research stories on the research website.

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Bullying is bad for the brain, says speaker for upcoming conference

fmaquito — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Bullying is bad for the brain. It has the potential to change and damage the brain, causing lifelong consequences. Professor Jean Clinton of McMaster University will discuss how toxic stress, such as that caused by bullying, can have long-lasting effects for children, at PREVNet’s sixth annual bullying prevention conference next week.

Debra Pepler

Creating Healthy Relationships to Prevent Bullying: Get the Tools to Take Action will take place June 19 at the Chestnut Conference Centre, 89 Chestnut St. in Toronto.

Wendy Craig

PREVNet (Promoting Relationships Eliminating Violence), a national network of 60 Canadian researchers from 27 universities and 50 national child and youth serving organizations, is led by 91��ɫ psychology Professor Debra Pepler and Queen’s University Professor Wendy Craig (MA ’89, PhD ’93), two of Canada’s experts in the field of bullying.

Coordinator of at the Toronto District School Board, Ken Jeffers, will deliver the keynote address, “Sex, Gender and Schools Oh My!”. A series of workshops will follow, where researchers, counsellors, parents, volunteers, youth and anyone else interested in bullying prevention will learn about the latest knowledge and gain practical tips regarding bullying from researchers and national community organizations.

Ken Jeffers

In the first workshop, Pepler will talk about ways to build healthy relationships with children and youth in any setting. Research is beginning to show how absolutely essential healthy relationships are for healthy development, she says. From the study of genetics at a cellular level through to studies of societal factors, clear links are emerging between the quality of children’s relationship experiences and their healthy development.

Professor of the University of Illinois will look at bullying and sexual harassment prevention and intervention among middle and high school students. In this talk, research will be presented to illustrate the prevalence and relations among bullying, homophobic teasing and sexual harassment among early adolescents. Masculinity and restricted gender expression also appear to be important factors contributing to these phenomena among adolescents.

Dorothy Espelage

A growing body of recent research, however, has documented the importance of social and emotional learning as critical to the creation of safe and caring learning environments, and ultimately as a foundation for academic success. Professor of the University of British Columbia will look at the importance of fostering social and emotional learning in schools.

Shelley Hymel

Criminal justice Professor of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire will discuss the challenges of cyberbullying, what parents and educators need to know about how youth use and misuse technology to harm their peers, and outline strategies for preventing and responding to cyberbullying.

Justin Patchin

Craig, along with Professor David Smith of the University of Ottawa, will talk about how organizations can choose a bully prevention program. Shelley Cardinal, aboriginal consultant and national manager of Walking the Prevention Circle at the Canadian Red Cross, and Claire Crooks, a psychologist at the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health’s Centre for Prevention Science, will look at engaging aboriginal communities and youth in violence prevention.

For more information, including a complete list of , visit the website.

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

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Two 91��ɫ psychology profs listed in top 11

fmaquito — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ psychology professors Jane Irvine and Debra Pepler of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health have recently been named two of the most published women in the field of clinical psychology in Canada, according to an article in the Canadian Psychology journal.

“Assessing the Publication Productivity of Clinical Psychology Professors in Canadian Psychological Association-Accredited Canadian Psychology Departments,” looked at publication and citation counts for 255 professors in CPA-accredited Canadian clinical psychology programs. Irvine and Pepler were listed among the top 11 women.

“Research productivity data helps one get a sense of how productive one is relative to one’s peers. Moreover, it also speaks to the research environment of one’s host institution,” says Irvine. “Of the top 11 female professors mentioned, two of us are at 91��ɫ.”

Debra Pepler

As Pepler, a Distinguished Research Professor at 91��ɫ, notes, “Research is an important aspect of our work in clinical programs because it informs both our teaching and our practice. At the same time our experience of working with clinical populations highlights critical questions for research.” Pepler is known for her research on bullying and co-leads , (Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network), a collaborative and interdisciplinary initiative that brings together 62 researchers from 27 Canadian universities and 49 national organizations.

The authors of the journal paper didn’t just use isolated publication and citation counts – they adjusted for normative data and included ceiling reference points. “This is the first time that normative data for clinical psychologists within academic programs has been summarized from across Canada,” says Irvine.

Usually, she says, professors typically don’t “know how productive one's research is relative to one's peers. Without normative data, such as collected by this study, it is very hard to gauge one's productivity.”

Jane Irvine

Irvine cautions that, as the article points out, it is important to keep in mind that the research productivity data only speaks to one part of the multiple components that comprise academic work. “They do not take into consideration professors teaching impact or service work. Nor do they reflect the full extent of our research productivity because they don’t take into account all of the means by which our research impacts the fields of science and practice.”

All the same, she is thrilled and pleased that 91��ɫ as an institution is obviously providing the right environment for professors to conduct research. Irvine was a clinical psychologist at the Toronto General Hospital for 17 years before joining 91��ɫ. She has conducted research into stress and the cardiovascular disease, modifying cardiovascular behavioural and psychosocial risk factors, optimizing adherence to medical and behavioural therapies, and enhancing adaptation to medical technologies, such as an implantable cardioverter defibrillator for prevention of sudden cardiac death.

Pepler, former director of the LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Research, has previously received the Contribution to Knowledge Award from the Psychology Foundation of Canada, the Educator of the Year Award from Phi Delta Kappa (Toronto), the University of Waterloo Arts in Academia Award, and the Canadian Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Contributions to Public or Community Service.

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

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Youth with autism face higher rates of bullying, says study of parents

fmaquito — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience higher rates of bullying, which are associated with a higher incidence of mental health issues, according to a study in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders this month by 91��ɫ researchers.

“Very little research has been done to assess the relationship between bullying and mental health in youth with ASD. It’s always been suspected there was a link, but this study confirms that,” says 91��ɫ Psychology Professor Jonathan Weiss, lead researcher of the study and co-author of the article, along with Debra Pepler, Distinguished Research Professor in Psychology, and first author M. Catherine Cappadocia, PhD candidate in clinical-developmental psychology.

M. Catherine Cappadocia

“In the study, those youth with ASD who experienced little or no victimization, less than two or three times in the past month, compared to those victimized at least once a week, exhibited less anxiety, self-injury and over-sensitive behaviours,” says Cappadocia. She, Weiss and Pepler, who is scientific co-director of the Promoting Relationships & Eliminating Violence Network (), are all members of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health.

In “”, the researchers surveyed 192 parents whose children, between the ages of five and 21 and enrolled in elementary or secondary school up to Grade 12, had been diagnosed with ASD. The authors examined the parents’ reports of victimization, along with the association between the rate of victimization experienced and mental health issues. Seventy-five per cent reported their child with ASD had been bullied within the last month at school, 23 per cent reported victimization two or three times, 13 per cent reported victimization once a week and 30 per cent two or more time a week. Fifty per cent of the youth with ASD had experienced victimization for more than a year, and that can lead to anxiety, depression, self-injury, hyperactivity, over-sensitivity and a lower self-concept, says Cappadocia.

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Jonathan Weiss

“It’s one of the first studies to look at bullying in youth with ASD. It’s important as it shines a light on youth with ASD and victimization,” says Weiss. “I think it really highlights that chronic victimization is common for some of these youth. A large percentage of the youth in this study experience chronic victimization. Those are the youth that have significantly more mental health concerns.” In addition, he says, one in 110 children has been diagnosed with ASD. “It’s one of the most common identifications in the school system.”

One factor that puts youth with ASD at risk for victimization is when they have more difficulty being assertive and making friends at school. They often lack social and pragmatic skills, and their parents may be less empowered to effect change as a result of the number of major stresses in their lives. “These are a lot of the same factors that are found in the general population of kids that are bullied,” says Weiss. “What really stands out in this study is the association with these risk factors.”

A lack of friends is a significant risk factor for bullying even in the general population and leaves these children unprotected by their peers. That means no one is going to stand up for them when someone starts to bully them. “Eighty-five per cent of the time when bullying happens, peers are watching,” says Cappadocia. “If a peer stands up, 50 per cent of the time the bullying stops. Peer support makes a huge difference and represents a robust protective factor these kids are missing.”

Debra Pepler

Youth with ASD may also be more vulnerable because they lack the skills needed to react effectively to victimization when it does occur. “When children with ASD are targeted, there can be a more intense behavioural reaction, which may encourage the child who is bullying to continue,” she says. “If a child with ASD has a strong emotional or behavioural reaction, the bullying can become chronic, especially if peers tend to jump in and encourage the child who is bullying. It can keep escalating.”

Weiss, Pepler and Cappadocia all do clinical work in addition to research. In her clinical work, Cappadocia frequently sees youth with ASD who have been bullied. “Part of the interest in pursuing this particular research came from being interested clinically in how to help these children.”

The next step is to find interventions to help these children and their classmates, which would then translate to the general population, says Weiss. He is looking to run groups at 91��ɫ next year for youth with ASD who experience bullying, which will look at all facets of the problem, from peers, the school, their family, as well as the child.

He is also interested in looking at what makes some youth with ASD, who’ve been victimized, resilient. He’ll be examining what the peer, family and school relations are like, and why they may buffer the potential mental health impact of victimization.

Cappadocia received support through the Provincial Centre of Excellence for Child & Youth Mental Health at CHEO Graduate Award and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships Doctoral Award. Weiss was supported by a New Investigator Fellowship from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation, while Pepler was supported by Networks of Centres of Excellence through its support of PREVNet.

For more information, visit the website.

By Sandra McLean, YFile writer

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

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Professor Debra Pepler argues you can't just punish children who bully

fmaquito — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Punishment isn’t the answer for kids who learned to bully at home, says a Toronto psychology professor, wrote Halifax’s .

"If a child is bullied at home by his or her parents or siblings, they’re going to learn the patterns they need to learn about the use of power and aggression in relationships," says Debra Pepler [Distinguished Research Professor in psychology at 91��ɫ’s LaMarsh Centre for Child & Youth Research].

These "children who are morally disengaged tend to think that the other child is just deserving of it, that they’re not human. They really disregard that child’s basic rights."

Pepler, who works at 91��ɫ [Faculty of Health] and the in Toronto, co-founded the Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network.

She says that for most kids, bullying or being bullied are minor problems that pass with time. But 10 to 15 per cent require extra support, and chronic bullies need help from mental health experts.

Pepler found that "85 per cent of the time, we saw bullying in the schoolyard or in the classroom, other children are there, and they form the audience for bullying and they reinforce the child who is bullying."

Her findings show that chronic bullies are more likely to skip school, abuse substances, sexually harass others, use violence in romantic relationships and eventually get into crime.

"They don’t have that voice inside that says, ‘Is this a good idea, should I do this?’ They’re really willing to go along to keep their friends, to keep their status, and do all sorts of negative things when they’re exposed to peer pressure. If we wanted to identify and help those children who are going to cost society the most in terms of criminal behaviour . . . we would be looking at the children who are involved in high rates of bullying."

These kids "probably need mental health services, (and) they and their families need a lot of support around how to develop the social-emotional capacity for healthy relationships." Schools need to keep track of every occurrence of bullying and focus their resources on the chronic bullies, she says.

Combating the stigma against reporting bullying to adults requires re-educating both children and adults, Pepler says.

"Children have a responsibility to tell when it’s happening, either to (teachers) or to someone else, because it violates a child’s rights, to be bullied. A child who is bullied isn’t safe, and similarly a child who bullies others is really in need of help."

This approach also helps combat cyberbullying because "the children who are cyberbullying are the children who traditionally bully," Pepler says.

She says teaching math and literacy is different from teaching kids how to interact positively. "Two plus two always equals four, and Cat on the Mat always looks the same, but social-emotional development is hugely complex," she says.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Psychology professors' article on gender and dating among 10 most cited in Journal of Research on Adolescence

fmaquito — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 10:00:00 +0000

In the last decade, 10 of the articles published in the Journal of Research on Adolescence have stood out from the rest as the most cited.

One of them was an article co-authored by members of 91��ɫ’s LaMarsh Centre for Child & Youth Research, psychology Professor Jennifer Connolly and Distinguished Research Professor Debra Pepler in the Faculty of Health, along with Professor Wendy Craig (MA ’89, PhD ’93) of Queen’s University and Adele Goldberg (MA ’91, PhD ’10).

Left: Debra Pepler

The article, “”, is available in a virtual Special Issue: Decade in Review published this month and representing the best of the Journal of Research on Adolescence in celebration of its 20th anniversary.

The Society for Research on Adolescence and the journal's editorial team say the 10 articles embody “the exemplary quality of scholarship upon which the journal has solidified its reputation as a leading publication in the field of adolescent research.”

“Mixed-Gender Groups, Dating, and Romantic Relationships in Early Adolescence”, first published in the journal’s May 2004 issue, details a study on the dating-stage and developmental-contextual models of romantic relationships during early adolescence.

Right: Jennifer Connolly

The study looked at same-gender friendships, affiliation with mixed-gender groups, dating and romantic relationships in a sample of 1,284 young adolescents of diverse ethnocultural backgrounds. Data was collected cross-sectionally in Grades 5 through 8, as well as longitudinally in the fall and spring of an academic year.

For more information, visit the website.

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

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Are best friends bad for your kid? Professor Debra Pepler on best friends and bullying

fmaquito — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Some schools are discouraging close friendships in the hopes of preventing bullying, wrote Diane Peters in :

It’s not that concerned educators are “out to get” best friends. But they are trying to nudge close pals apart a little bit, so that they don’t become too insular. Twosomes can turn into threesomes, and such cliques are often behind bullying. “When three or four kids get together, they can decide someone is not good enough to join their group. They can ramp each other up to do worse and worse things,” says Debra Pepler, a psychology professor in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health, who is an expert on bullying and helps to run , a bullying information website.

. . .

Just as adult relationships aren’t always healthy or turn sour over time, kids can also get wrapped up in negative dynamics. Pepler says some close friends actually bully each other: they know each other’s secrets and can make a pal upset with a few choice words – whether about chubby ankles, a crappy slapshot or that time he wet his pants last year.

Pepler is a core member of the LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence & Conflict Resolution.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer.

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CBC’s Ideas re-airs girls and bullying documentary, featuring Professor Debra Pepler

fmaquito — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 10:00:00 +0000

CBC Radio's Ideas program is re-airing "," Lynn Glazier's audio documentary about the social world of girls where a hidden culture of nastiness lurks beneath a cultural facade of niceness. The series examines the tumultuous nature of female relationships from girlhood to adulthood.

The radio series, and its companion , features commentary from Professor Debra Pepler. Pepler is distinguished professor in the Faculty of Health's Department of Psychology, senior associate scientist at the , and a member of 91��ɫ's LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution.

Pepler is an expert on bullying behaviour among teens and children; Part 1 of the radio series sites groundbreaking research she conducted with Professor Wendy Craig of Queen's University into children's bullying activity on schoolyards. Craig and Pepler currently co-lead (Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network), which provides anti-bullying resources for educators, parents and children.

Part 3 airs on January 21, 2011 at 9 pm on CBC Radio 1. Parts 1 and 2 are currently available for download on the . A connected to both the audio and film documentaries is also available with additional resources.

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Surprised Canada's the 12-worst country for bullying? Professor Debra Pepler says examine adult behaviour

fmaquito — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Canada’s ranking as the 12th worst country for bullying among 40 wealthy nations is an eye-opener, say the organizers of a childhood bullying prevention conference held at McMaster University, wrote The Hamilton Spectator May 29:

91��ɫ Distinguished Research Professor in psychology, Debra Pepler, a co-director and member of 91��ɫ’s , said people don’t understand the level of the problem. “Canadians see ourselves as nice...(but) our children are not doing well.”

Crucial to preventing youth bullying and violence is for parents and other adults to show and teach healthy relationships, said Pepler. “Parents need to help kids think critically about their behaviour and how to treat people respectfully.”

If Canadian children are to do well despite all the media and societal exposure to violence and aggression, then they require a lot of guidance and exemplary behaviour from adults, she added. “What children observe is far more important than what they’re rewarded and punished for. We need to be much more mindful of what we teach them through our own behaviour as we get excited over hockey and ultimate fight clubs when they hear us say ‘kill them’.”

Pepler is also a member of the LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution at 91��ɫ. The complete article is .

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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91��ɫ Circle expands its intellectual research offerings for curious minds through public lectures

fmaquito — Wed, 19 May 2010 08:00:00 +0000

At 77 years of age, Elizabeth Pitt is heading back to school and she couldn't be happier. A grandmother of a 91��ɫ fine arts student, Pitt is a member of the 91��ɫ Circle, a legacy initiative of 91��ɫ’s 50th anniversary.

The 91��ɫ Circle is an ongoing program that offers curious people like Pitt an opportunity to experience university lectures first-hand. It was created for parents and family of 91��ɫ students, alumni, neighbours and friends who want to hear leading 91��ɫ faculty explore their ideas and research.

Right: The 91��ɫ Circle offers an opportunity for non-students to hear lectures by 91��ɫ faculty

Pitt is among more than 500 people who have joined the 91��ɫ Circle since it began last October and says that she appreciates the opportunity to experience University life because she was never able to realize her own dream of attending university. "When I was growing up in Britain, the country was just coming out of the Second World War," she says. "The soldiers lucky enough to survive were offered priority spots in university programs. There were very few spots left for everyone else. I was not able to attend university and instead studied to become a children's nurse. This program offers a great chance for me to experience university."

Coordinated by 91��ɫ President Emerita Lorna Marsden and Cynthia Bettcher, special adviser to Jennifer Sloan, vice-president of university relations, with help from 91��ɫ's Alumni Office and print media sponsors and 91��ɫ Region Media Group, the 91��ɫ Circle embodies the spirit, energy and intellectual excellence of the University’s 50th anniversary, which was celebrated in 2009.

Left: 91��ɫ alumnus and 91��ɫ Circle member Bart Zemanek (BA Spec. Hons. ’07, MSc ’10) with Lorna Marsden

For Marsden, the 91��ɫ Circle offers a wonderful opportunity to transport the magic of 91��ɫ's talented faculty into the University's affiliated communities. “The 91��ɫ Circle comes from the goal of making our really marvelous faculty members better known through their ideas and work, and helps the community to better understand the University,” says Marsden. “The 91��ɫ Circle offers serious talks for lay people who don’t have the opportunity to attend lectures.”

The circle offers a cross-section of 91��ɫ’s leading professors and researchers presenting talks on topics that are current and engaging. Twice a year, the circle’s membership gathers on 91��ɫ’s Keele campus for a full day of lectures and a complimentary locally sourced (locavore) lunch. The inaugural event took place last fall. On May 1, the 91��ɫ Circle returned, bringing more than 150 members back to the Keele campus.

Right: There is no generation gap here. 91��ɫ Circle member Irina Shoikhedbrod brought her son, 91��ɫ political science master's student Igor Shoikhedbrod, to the May 1 event

The October launch event featured lectures by Faculty of Health Dean Harvey Skinner, astronomy Professor Paul Delaney and theatre Professor Phillip Silver.

The May 1 event repeated the format established by the inaugural event and offered lectures by four 91��ɫ faculty. The morning sessions featured presentations by film Professor Seth Feldman, director of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, and psychology Professor Debra Pepler, member of the LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence & Conflict Resolution. Feldman talked about his experience working for a year on a documentary about Charles Darwin and about why Darwin matters and how the noted scientist means different things to different people. Pepler spoke about how the patterns of power and aggression established in playground bullying move on to become sexual harassment and dating violence in adolescence and workplace harassment in adulthood.

Left: Professor Seth Feldman talks about his research and experience making a documentary on Charles Darwin

Following lunch, the 91��ɫ Circle members listened to talks by Osgoode Hall Law School Professor Allan Hutchinson and Schulich School of Business Professor Bernard Wolf. Hutchinson delivered an energetic lecture about some of the great cases that shaped the legal world. Wolf talked about the aftermath of the most recent economic crisis, the resulting ballooning national debts and the implications of the economic health of the United States, Greece and Spain on the global community.

Videos of each of the presentations are available on the 91��ɫ Circle Web site.

The response to the 91��ɫ Circle events have been heartwarming, says Bettcher. “Seventy-two per cent of those who attended the May 1 event completed a survey about their 91��ɫ Circle experience," she says. "Of those, more than 99 per cent indicated that they were very satisfied with the day. What we found so significant about the responses was that everyone said they would attend another 91��ɫ Circle event.

YORK CIRCLE SOUP

The recipe has been modified to reflect family-size proportions

2 medium pumpkins
Olive oil (about 1/4 cup)
8 carrots, sliced
4 quarts of vegetarian stock
1 large onion, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon each of allspice and nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
3 heads of celery, chopped
2 bay leaves

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut and hollow pumpkins and then cut into chunks. Leave the skin on and toss in half of the olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread on a cookie sheet or in a shallow casserole dish. Roast until soft, (about 35 minutes).

While the pumpkin is roasting, finely chop the carrots, onions and celery, and sauté in the remaining olive oil until translucent.

Remove pumpkin from the oven and peel off the skin. Add the pumpkin to the sauté along with the bay leaves. Stir well to coat the pumpkin and vegetables with the spices. Add the vegetarian stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for one hour. Stirring every so often.

Remove from heat and let cool for 15 minutes. Using a hand blender, blend all ingredients and adjust seasoning and spices to taste.

"One of the biggest requests we got following the first 91��ɫ Circle event, which took place last October, was for the recipe for the spicy pumpkin soup that was served at the locavore lunch,” laughs Bettcher. She and Marsden immediately got to work tracking down the recipe (right) and arranged to have it modified for smaller, family-sized portions. The soup, says Bettcher, was created for the 91��ɫ Circle lunch by the chefs working at the Underground restaurant on 91��ɫ’s Keele campus.

What's next on the agenda for this legacy jewel? Bettcher says the next event is Raise Your Space IQ, which will take place on Saturday, July 17, from 9 to 11pm. During this event, 91��ɫ astronomy Professor Paul Delaney (who delivered a presentation at the inaugural 91��ɫ Circle event) will lead participants through a tour of the night sky. The 50 91��ɫ Circle members who were first to sign up for the event will have an opportunity to look through the University's telescopes and listen to Delaney and astronomy students talk about the wonders of the universe.

Coming this fall, 91��ɫ Circle members will be able to to a new series of concerts and events brought to 91��ɫ from venues around the world through a new partnership between the 91��ɫ Circle and DigiScreen. In a departure from other 91��ɫ Circle events, the Prestigious Performances have been thrown open to everyone, including 91��ɫ students and faculty. The Prestigious Performances Series will be brought to the big screen in the Price Family Cinema by DigiScreen through the company's alliance with Opus Arte and the Royal Opera House of London.

The Prestigious Performance Series will offer world-class concerts, theatre, opera and ballet, presented in high definition format, from venues such as Covent Garden in London, the Palais Garnier in Paris, Teatro Real in Madrid, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London and the Lincoln Center in New 91��ɫ City. 91��ɫ professors will moderate each performance.

The series will be presented on Sunday afternoons starting at 2pm, with the first presentation on Sept. 26 showcasing a performance of As You Like It by William Shakespeare, from the Globe Theatre with an enlivening commentary by theatre Professor Mark Wilson, associate dean in 91��ɫ's Faculty of Fine Arts.

Other performances include a concert featuring the music of the late jazz icon Ray Charles with commentary by 91��ɫ music Professor Ronald Westray and a presentation of Puccini's opera La Bohème. For more on these performances, visit the 91��ɫ Circle Web site.

Left: 91��ɫ Circle member Elizabeth Pitt

The membership will also be returning to the Keele campus on Oct. 30 for another full-day lecture and lunch presentation. Details of this event will be made available early in June on the 91��ɫ Circle Web site.

"I can hardly wait," says an enthused Pitt. "My calendar for the fall is looking wonderful."

By Jenny Pitt-Clark, YFile editor and eldest daughter of Elizabeth Pitt.

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

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