April 28, 2000

Three McMaster students will each receive a President's Award of Excellence in Student Leadership during their graduating ceremonies at the Spring Convocations. Arun Gupta, Sachin Aggarwal and Eric Tam were selected from among 12 candidates to be recognized for their leadership contributions during their time at the University.

April 28, 2000

Two McMaster graduates have been named to the country's prestigious Top 40 Under 40 list, published in the Globe and Mail's May 2000 Report on . . .

April 27, 2000

McMaster President Peter George takes full responsibility for the installation of the state-of-the-art video board, known as the "Mactron," adjacent to the Ivor Wynne Centre, as well as the controversy that has followed. In recent weeks, a number of members of the University community, including staff, faculty, and students, have lodged formal complaints about the structure. Complaints range from the appearance of commercial advertising on the board to the light pollution caused by its illumination at night. "I didn't fully understand our commitments under contracts to advertisers," said George at the April 27 meeting of the Board of Governors. "I didn't give high priority to the issue of the videotron's installation. "Quite frankly, I took (the installation) too lightly."

April 27, 2000

The diverse possibilities of the LearnLink computer-based academic support system has changed the way a large portion of McMaster's faculty and students interact. The system was supposed to provide a glimpse into the future of university learning. Instead, according to Carl Cuneo, a professor of sociology and co-founder of the program, an old problem - money - threatens to shut it down. Cuneo posted a notice on the system during the week of April 10 stating that, if a source of additional funding can't be found in the near future, the initiative could disappear before September. "We've come up with nothing," Cuneo says. "We're more or less at our wits' end. If we don't get financial support by the summer, we'll have to close it down." Harvey Weingarten, provost and vice-president academic, says there is no cause for concern. "The Learnlink system has grown significantly," says Weingarten. "Now, many Faculties use it. The issue we've had to grapple with is: What do you do in the case of something that was used and budgeted locally originally and is now used throughout the University?" Weingarten says the support and budgeting of Learnlink will be moved from a single department, biology, to a centralized location in the University. "This move reflects the widespread use of Learnlink throughout the University. Support for this university-wide learning technology will come from the Quality Enhancement Fund created this year."

April 25, 2000

Academia has been pulled into the controversy surrounding the trading of digital music files. More than 200 universities and colleges in the U.S. and Canada have banned Napster on campus to eliminate the potential for lawsuits. McMaster currently has no plans to ban the program. Millions of people are using the popular computer program to download music files, many for free. Last December, an organization representing the music industry sued Napster Inc. Since then, the rock group Metallica and rap star Dr. Dre have also filed lawsuits claiming music piracy.

April 25, 2000

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Kinsley3.jpg” caption=”David Kinsley”]McMaster professor of religious studies David Kinsley died early this morning (Tuesday, April 25) of lung cancer. Friend, colleague and golf . . .

April 24, 2000

His work on infantry tactics became the bible of the American Marine Corps and has now been translated into Chinese. His comments on the shape and structure of the Canadian Forces have drawn fire across the country. Renowned military historian and professor Lt.-Col. John A. English brings his controversial views on the armed forces to McMaster University later this week when he presents the McMaster/Argyll Lecture in History and Public Affairs.

April 24, 2000

Two individuals and a team of eight professors have been awarded the President's Awards for Excellence for the year 2000.

April 24, 2000

Everything old is new again. The trees on the site of the future University Centre are no exception. Many of the trees have been carefully uprooted, transported to temporary holding in a nursery and will be replanted to complement the landscape of the new building.

April 21, 2000

Lorraine Allan, professor of psychology, and Andrea Baumann, professor and associate dean of nursing, have been elected to represent the teaching staff on the Board . . .

April 21, 2000

The McMaster staff working group that has been asked to make suggestions to improve staff involvement at McMaster is looking for ideas from staff.

April 20, 2000

A McMaster professor will co-lead a national breast cancer project launched this week by the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Initiative. CBCRI is providing $6.7 million in funding for two Streams of Excellence projects that will link the top researchers from different disciplines, and ensure they work together, handing off the results of their work so that research can more forward as quickly as possible in the race to find a cure for breast cancer. This new way of structuring teams of researchers will help new molecular targets through translational research and into new treatments more quickly. McMaster associate professor of medicine Timothy Whelan and University of Toronto professor Irene Andrulis will co-lead the Streams of Excellence team that will study molecular changes in breast cancer.

April 18, 2000

April, the month of showers and flowers, also brings the Canadian Cancer Society's annual fundraising campaign to McMaster. Every McMaster employee or retiree will have . . .

April 17, 2000

[img_inline align=”left” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/library4.jpg” caption=”P.George, J. Suk, D. Fitzgerald”]Byk Canada Inc. will make a significant contribution to the future of McMaster University's Health Sciences Library by . . .

April 17, 2000

A generous donation from a Hamilton business leader and owner of the city's largest local engineering firm will strengthen structural engineering research at McMaster University and benefit both the Ontario and Canadian construction industries. Joe Ng, president of JNE Consulting Ltd., an internationally acclaimed engineering and computer firm with offices in Hamilton, Stoney Creek, and Beijing and Guanzhou, China, is donating $1 million to McMaster University's Faculty of Engineering for an endowed chair in infrastructure renewal in the Department of Civil Engineering.

April 17, 2000

McMaster scientists will be part of the newly created Canadian Network for Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics of Cancer and Chronic Viral Diseases (CANVAC. The federal government . . .

April 14, 2000

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/SusanBirnie.jpg” caption=”Susan Birnie”]Filing cabinets, desks and computers from the School of Rehabilitation Science are being moved into the new Mohawk-McMaster Institute for Applied . . .

April 14, 2000

The large, state-of-the-art video board nestled in the corner of Les Prince Field was supposed to remedy the problem of alerting the entire McMaster community to coming events. Instead, the structure, dubbed the "Mactron," has created an even bigger headache. Since its unveiling in late October, an array of concerns and complaints have been lodged concerning the board. They range from disapproval of the commercial advertising that is interspersed with campus programming to the bright glow that illuminates nearby Mayfair Crescent at night.

April 14, 2000

The election for a representative of the non-teaching staff on the Board of Governors will begin at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, April 18 and continue . . .

April 13, 2000

Hundreds of Hamilton-area young people will be at McMaster this summer to try their skills at volleyball, participate in lab experiments, create their own newspaper or learn about sutures and casting. Here's a brief look at some of the camps offered this summer.