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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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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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.

"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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Why does this inaction surprise and shock us? After all, it happens to about 10 per cent of children every day at school. About 30 per cent of students are involved as witnesses or as fellow aggressors. Peers, teachers and other adults rarely intervene to help a child who is being victimized – they either fail to recognize the problem or they turn a blind eye.

For Yusuf Hizel, the poor man on the subway, this was a terrible, random act. For children who are bullied at school, it is sanctioned violence. They know who is going to bully them, when it is going to happen and where it is going to happen. They experience the equivalent of a mugging every day.

Bullying is a significant social problem. More than 1,100,000 school-aged Canadian children are victimized by bullying at least once a week, and more than 550,000 school-aged children report bullying others at least once a week. Bullying isn’t a normal or expected part of childhood. It is a hurtful and aggressive act with lasting consequences.

Being bullied can lead to physical and mental health problems – and in extreme cases, suicide. At its core, bullying is a relationship problem. It is about an imbalance of power with repeated aggression, with harm as its intent. It takes many forms – social, verbal, physical, cyber. This is not a rite of passage.

Pepler's research has changed the way we think about bullying, aggression and other forms of violence, especially among marginalized and alienated young people. She has has edited four volumes in the past four years on understanding and addressing children’s aggression, bullying, and victimization. Pepler is a member of the LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution and , a Web site that provides bullying resources for children, educators and parents.

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

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