Daily News

January 25, 2006

Distinguished University Professor John C. Weaver gave the first of two lectures last night on 'Life's Troubles and Sorrows'. Weaver's research on suicide has been centred in the rich collection archives of the coroner's reports of Australia and New Zealand. Weaver was honoured with the title of Distinguished University Professor at the November 2005 Convocation. The title is the highest honour McMaster can bestow on one of its own, and although the designation is held for life, it is restricted to eight full-time faculty members at any given time.

January 25, 2006

Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW) national president Buzz Hargrove met with McMaster University president Peter George on Tuesday to discuss the McMaster University Staff Association's (MUSA) new affiliation with CAW. On November 25, 2005 MUSA members voted to become members of the CAW, Canada's largest private sector union.

January 24, 2006

Three Canadian Merit Scholarship Foundation National Scholars (CMSF) from diverse backgrounds entered McMaster's science and arts & science programs this past September. They join the ranks of the University's three upper-year CMSF scholars, Ainsley Alexander, Corey Centen and Faizal Haji. McMaster President Peter George held a special luncheon for these top achievers in the President's Residence, Monday, Jan. 23, in recognition of their Canadian Merit Scholarship Foundation National Awards.

January 24, 2006

McMaster University announced today the creation of a new endowed research chair which will promote education and research in osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. The Alliance for Better Bone Health Chair in Rheumatology will be held by Jonathan (Rick) Adachi, 50, a professor of medicine in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University, director of the Hamilton Arthritis Centre, and head of rheumatology at St. Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton.

January 24, 2006

Former McMaster running back Jesse Lumsden, who finished last season as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats starting tailback, has signed a contract with the NFL's Washington Redskins. TSN reported on its website last night that Lumsden signed a two-year contract with Washington.

January 24, 2006

This week, McMaster's Department of Mathematics and Statistics will host Toniann Pitassi from the University of Toronto who is one of the world's leading experts in computational complexity theory, the branch of mathematics in which the problem P vs. NP resides.

January 24, 2006

McMaster's men's and women's basketball teams will travel to Guelph tomorrow to battle out the Gryphons in the OUA west division.

January 23, 2006

The DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University will play host to three movie stars this month during the McMaster World Congress, Jan. 25-27 at the Hamilton Convention Centre. World Congress guest speakers Edwin Black, author of IBM and the Holocaust, Samuel S. Epstein, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Michael Walker, president and senior fellow at The Frasier Institute are all stars of The Corporation, a documentary that sheds light on the way corporations of the world have risen to dominance and gripped our lives. Winner of over 24 international awards, The Corporation has been a both a critic and audience favourite.

January 23, 2006

More than 100 social sciences students will participate in an experiential learning opportunity this week as they begin their job shadow placements. The Job Shadow program, now in its fourth year, opens the doors for students to discover "a day in the life" of a career professional. By participating in this program, students gain information on a particular career right from the source.

January 20, 2006

McMaster faces a number of challenges in planning the institution's financial future, says assistant vice-president administration Lilian Scime, who last week presented the University's preliminary three-year financial plan to Senate. "It is critical that the University maintains its financial health if it is to achieve its goals," Scime said, adding the University must be flexible in order to handle "what if" situations. Added provost Ken Norrie: "We can't compromise everything we've accomplished in recent years which is why we'll have to take some calculated risks." Norrie meets weekly with deans to talk about budgeting priorities, using the University's strategic plan Refining Directions as a guideline.

January 20, 2006

Dirt may be a key to how bacteria that infect humans develop a resistance to antibiotic drugs. In an article in the January 20 issue of the journal Science, McMaster University researchers say that study of bacteria found in dirt may be the key in identifying how and why antibiotic resistance happens in bacteria that infect people, predicting future clinical problems, and testing new antibiotics.

January 20, 2006

A team of MBA students from the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University claimed top prize in the marketing case competition of the 2006 National MBA Games. Team members Anita Chetan, Andrew Forster, Marissa Hishon and Anita Misri were given the challenge of coming up with a marketing plan for a London, Ontario business. The business owner sells alternative transportation vehicles, such as the Segway Human Transporter, electronic scooters and trikes. "We had to figure out how to take this technology that has been widely accepted in the US and bring it into Ontario," said team captain Chetan.

January 19, 2006

When Tim Nolan started working at McMaster 17 years ago, McMaster's campus was far from accessible. In fact, he recalls a time when wheelchair signs were posted at delivery and garbage truck entrances. Since then, the campus has come a long way, says the new manager of disability services and university advisor on disability issues. "Now all doors have automatic door openers and there are elevators in all campus buildings," he says. "As well, most buildings have single use family-style washrooms," he cites as some of the obvious examples of how McMaster has responded to the needs of those with disabilities.

January 19, 2006

Standing atop the Royal Mile in Scotland's capital city, hagglers of an artistic sort gather year round from different corners of the globe to entice and cajole passersby. Every August, the celebrated Edinburgh Fringe (the world's largest arts festival) brings together an eclectic mix of acrobats, dancers, actors, artists and musicians alike. Together they take to the streets, pamphlets in hand, in hopes of securing an audience for their comedic, creative, theatrical, lyrical and musical exhibitions.

January 19, 2006

Close your eyes. Imagine a landscape like no other. Earthen red, strange and barren: a land foreign to most of us. There is beauty in its simplicity. Revel in its mystery. Spain. For McMaster professor, Graham Todd, this is his home away from home. He refers to his association with Spain, as slightly schizophrenic - the splitting of location and time with a continual shift - dividing his time as he does, between Olias Del Rey, near Toledo, and Toronto, maintaining a studio and an active presence as an artist in both.

January 18, 2006

Nearly half of American workers are victims of workplace aggression, with customers, clients or patients the most likely source of attacks, according to a new comprehensive national survey, co-authored by Aaron Schat, assistant professor at the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University. "The stereotypical belief that large numbers of employees are 'going postal' is a bit of a myth," says Schat. "Forty-seven million Americans experience psychological or physical aggression while on the job. Interestingly, workers pinpoint the general public as the most significant source of this aggression, as opposed to other co-workers or supervisors."

January 18, 2006

During this week's National Day of Action on Youth Voting, Jessica Martin, fourth-year multimedia and mass communications student, stood ready in the student centre to get the message out. As students across Canada encouraged their peers to vote in the upcoming federal election, Martin set up an information booth to promote greater participation from the McMaster community.

January 17, 2006

Until last summer, Harris Switzman, a second-year arts & science student, didn't have any research experience. But with the help of the Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA), he got the opportunity to explore the world of academic research as well as engage with issues of crime and justice in the Hamilton area. Like Switzman, more than 120 other McMaster undergraduate students spent last summer studying issues from determining the effect of endurance training on cardiac output to analyzing electrophotonic materials to assessing the need for targeted funding and intergovernmental relations in health care.

January 17, 2006

The School of the Arts has announced its new lineup of uplifting concerts in the Celebrity Concert Series. The first performance this year features Valerie Tryon on January 27 in Convocation Hall. This internationally acclaimed pianist performed for the BBC in her native England before the age of 12, and has appeared on the concert stage all over the world, including The London Philharmonic and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

January 16, 2006

Thousands of students at McMaster will be eligible to vote in the Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale riding. The McMaster Students Union is helping to inform students about their voting choices by running the "Smart People Vote" Campaign on campus. This campaign is aimed at informing students about the federal election, how to register to vote and candidates' stances on issues important to post secondary students.