Daily News

January 27, 2003

It's a safe bet most of the 300-odd students taking professor Christopher Justice's first-year gerontology course have only an academic understanding of what it's like to grow old. Bringing the aging experience home to McMaster students in a more meaningful way is the purpose of a program that sees about 16 local seniors serve as regular seminar leaders for his course, Aging and Society. Offered for about 14 years, the popular program brings in a slate of volunteers through weekly seminars that engage students in discussions about issues involving older people including stereotypes and images of aging, public policy, gender and aging, death and dying, and religion and spirituality. "The general idea is that the senior class assistants are able to relay their own experience of aging, challenge students to think from different perspectives," says Justice. "A lot of students say, 'I took gerontology as an elective but my experience with Mrs. So-and-So made me deeply interested in the experience of aging.'" About 16 senior class assistants (SCAs) attend each seminar in pairs to discuss topics chosen with Justice. The sessions are led by students rather than by the professor. "I've never sat in on one," he says. "It would wreck the process." The SCAs occasionally address the entire class during lectures on such topics as aging stereotypes and also volunteer as interview subjects for senior undergraduates doing thesis projects in the department. Early this year, for example, a student suggested a project on seniors' acceptance of and adaptations to technology that might form a research topic involving the group.

January 27, 2003

McMaster engineering faculty and alumni are helping make north Hamilton a better place to live. The Threshold School of Building is a new venture that provides practical house building education to the general public. By having some of the instruction take place in the context of affordable and sustainable housing in north Hamilton, they are helping improve Hamilton's housing situation, says Bob Hudspith, president of the group and associate professor of mechanical engineering. "As people gain the knowledge, skills and confidence to participate in the design, construction and maintenance of their own homes they are in a better position to contribute to a more sustainable community," says Hudspith. "The affordable housing projects that form one component of the education will address a growing need in Hamilton." With a $29,000 grant from the Young Fund to do some development work and a $75,000 pilot grant from the Hamilton Community Foundation, the group launched its year-long pilot project in August 2002. The start-up grants are enabling the group of engineers, designers, carpenters and teachers to open the school, provide courses, and do an affordable housing project. In addition to meeting with local agencies such as Mission Services of Hamilton, The Good Shepherd Centre, Welcome Inn, and Habitat for Humanity, four of our members visited Minneapolis to study The Project for Pride in Living. This school opened its doors to students this month. McMaster faculty and alumni involved in the school include political science professor Barbara Carroll, who serves as vice-president; engineering alumni Josh Abush, Graham Lobban and Kurt Frost; arts and science and humanities alumnus Andrew Copp, and psychology alumnus Jack Santa Barbara. For more information or to register for a course, visit the Threshold Web site at www.thresholdschool.ca

January 27, 2003

It will be a building for students and new ideas. Construction has begun on McMaster's Centre for Learning and Discovery, the University's 300,000 square-foot, five-storey expansion to the north side of the McMaster Health Sciences Centre. It will be completed in the summer of 2004. The new facility will provide much needed space for teaching, learning and research and will address a number of critical needs for the University and its affiliates. The first floor will include six classrooms and five lecture theatres for classes from across all faculties. One theatre, with 600 seats, will be the largest seating space on campus. Altogether, the first floor will seat more than 1,800 students and will help McMaster address the needs created by Ontario's "double cohort". The second floor will be connected to the McMaster University Medical Centre and used by Hamilton Health Sciences for patient care wards. Plans are still being finalized, but the hospital may use the space for intensive care facilities. The third floor has been dedicated to the needs of the Faculty of Health Sciences for classrooms, tutorial rooms, postgraduate offices and laboratories. A rounds room will have state-of-the-art teleconferencing facilities, allowing students at hospitals across the city or throughout the province to join in discussions as if they were sitting in the room. The fourth and most of the fifth floors will showcase the Institute for Molecular Medicine and Health, which includes the Centre for Gene Therapeutics and is a prototype for the University's new revolution in health sciences education and research. The two floors will contain a variety of offices, wet laboratories and a biotechnology incubator.

January 24, 2003

You can become a medical student, just for one night. Actually, you can become a medical student for seven nights in a new program for the public being offered at McMaster University. On seven consecutive Wednesdays, beginning March 5, faculty members will give public seminars similar to those given the medical students, using the world-renowned McMaster approach of problem-based learning. The concept of a mini-medical school for the public was developed in the U.S. and recent programs at McGill and University of Toronto have been sold-out events. At McMaster, the mini-medical school is being organized by a group of five third-year medical students. Each evening will have two separate sessions on a common theme. The seminars will explore the scientific basis of topical medical issues followed by a question and answer session. The topics will include heart and lung disease, infectious diseases, aging and arthritis, genetics, cancer, depression, Canadian health care, and international health. For example, one class on March 5, cracking the DNA code, explains what DNA is, how we can decode the information it contains, and learn how scientists and physicians use the genetic information to track down inherited traits, investigate illnesses, and even solve crimes. Organizer Janine Davies says the group hopes the program will forge an important link between the medical school and the community. Medical students are exposed to vast amounts of scientific information. "We want people to experience the thrill of cutting edge research and understand how it applies to a medical problem," says Janine. The group plans to use the proceeds for a scholarship recognizing student research or community service. Dean and vice-president, Health Sciences, John Kelton, fully supports the new student initiative. "It's a wonderful opportunity for the community to study under some of McMaster's finest educators and researchers, and then apply what they've learned in a problem based-learning approach." "At a time when third year students are extremely busy with clerkship training and residency interviews, it's a credit to their commitment to the community and life-long learning, that they want to share their educational experience with others." Classes will run 7 to 9 p.m. in the Ewart Angus Centre, Room 1A1, of the McMaster University Medical Centre. The cost is $125, or $75 for seniors, students and low-income earners. Registration is available through the Mini-Med School Web site or by calling 905-525-9140, ext. 22671.

January 24, 2003

The union representing hospitality services employees and the Board of Governors' executive committee has ratified the terms of a settlement for a new collective agreement. The Service Employees' International Union (SEIU) Local 532 and the University met in bargaining throughout the fall to negotiate a renewal of the collective agreement that was to expire Dec. 31, 2002. A tentative settlement was reached in mid-December. The union ratified the terms of the tentative agreement at a meeting on Jan. 9. The executive committee of the Board of Governors ratified the agreement earlier this week.

January 23, 2003

Ontario high school students want McMaster. Figures released Wednesday by the Ontario Universities' Application Centre show the number of students listing McMaster as their first choice is up more than 50 per cent. As of Jan. 15, 2003, 6,748 students have listed McMaster as their first choice compared to 4,482 last year. Students who have listed McMaster as their second or third choice also increased more than 50 per cent from last year at this time. About one-third of all Ontario high school students or 35,000 applicants who want to go to university in the province next year applied to McMaster. "These numbers confirm that McMaster's track record of providing excellence in teaching and scholarship appeals to students," said President Peter George. "They are attracted to our strong academic programs and by our reputation as a school that fosters innovation and discovery."

January 23, 2003

The need to find more space for academic, research and support programs on campus means changes for Wentworth House. The University will no longer be able to offer space to the McMaster Credit Union. It will stay in its current location until the end of May, 2003 and will then move to the old TD bank building in Westdale. The credit union's ATMs currently located in Wentworth House, the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Downtown Centre will continue to serve customers, and the University will work with officials to determine if other locations are needed. Wentworth House will continue to be home to the Phoenix, the McMaster Daycare Centre and the MACycle Co-op. Renovations to convert the first floor to office space should begin in June.

January 23, 2003

About 60 front-line health-care workers from First Nations communities across the province have gathered at McMaster's downtown Centre for Continuing Education for an intensive six-day training program. The goal is to help Ontario's aboriginal communities improve the case management skills of their home- and community-care workers so that they can better assess the needs of their clients and help them receive the best possible care that might be available. This is the third group of people to pass through the program since December and when this session ends this weekend, almost all of Ontario's 134 First Nations communities will have sent at least one representative. Read all about it in today's Hamilton Spectator. (The Hamilton Spectator, Jan. 23, 2003)

January 23, 2003

From looking at the use of free samples in interactive advertising to examining Hamilton's social capital, social cohesion, gender, health and lower income neighborhoods, a group of McMaster undergraduate students spent last summer investigating these and other issues. These students  the recipients of McMaster's first Undergraduate Student Research Awards offered to students in the faculties of business, humanities and social sciences  had 15 weeks, the supervision of a faculty member and $5,000 to delve deep into their research. Their results will be on display from 12:30 - 2:30 p.m. today (Friday) at a poster session in the Marketplace in the Student Centre.

January 22, 2003

McMaster's Laurel Trainor was awarded $50,000 to help further Canada's goal of improving children's language and literacy skills. The professor of psychology received the grant Tuesday from Stan Keyes, MP for Hamilton West, on behalf of the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network. The Network is part of the Government of Canada's Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program. Entitled "A Longitudinal Study of the Relation Between Pre-Linguistic Temporal Processing and Language Ability," the study investigates a method of identifying infants who might be at risk for future language and reading problems. Findings suggest that language delay and reading impairment are linked to the brain's difficulty to quickly process sound. The research project will measure the electrical brain responses of six-month-old infants as they listen to different lengths of sound. The children will then be followed to study how the processing of sound develops. It is hoped that measures at six months of age might be able to predict future reading success. "If the predicted relation between brain processing and later reading ability is found, we hope to be able to use this test to identify infants at risk for future reading difficulties, and thus provide early intervention," says Trainor. "The Network's research activities focus on early child development because language and literacy deficiencies are best addressed and prevented early in life. The solutions to these problems require collaboration between many scientific disciplines, practitioners and private and public partners. The Network was created to build these linkages and exchanges," said Keyes.

January 22, 2003

Renowned environmentalist David Suzuki is coming to McMaster University as the keynote speaker for a student engineering conference that is focused on the theme of sustainability. Members of the public, including area high school students, are invited to hear Suzuki speak on environmental sustainability on Friday, Jan. 31 at 9:30 a.m. The talk by one of Canada's most recognizable figures in environmental education will take place in the Ivor Wynne Centre gymnasium. Suzuki's Web of Life talk is the keynote address for a two-day gathering of engineering students taking place at McMaster Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. The ninth annual Canadian Society for Civil Engineering Student Conference on connections between civil engineering and environmental issues will also include talks on sustainable communities by McMaster engineering professors Brian Baetz and Cameron Churchill.

January 22, 2003

For three days, he will let his imagination run wild. Secluded in a box, there will be no one to talk to. No influence from the outside world. No media will be allowed to penetrate his mind. Just two video cameras, four walls, a ceiling, a few cans of paint, brushes and some light. James Ruddle, a third-year fine arts student, walked into a box in the atrium of the McMaster University Student Centre (MUSC) at 2:30 p.m. today. He will only come out for washroom breaks until his final departure from the box on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. During these 72 hours, he will paint the walls and ceiling. "By being segregated from society and secluded for a period of time I hope to create something unique and personal to me that has not been influenced by the media," he said, moments before entering the box. He had no idea what he was going to create, anticipating an idea would come to him once he was inside. The 21-year-old obtained the necessary permission he needed from Risk Management, McMaster Security and MUSC administration. His progress can be viewed live via a television set hooked up to two video cameras. Photo caption: At top, James Ruddle gets ready to paint the walls on the inside of the box. Below, he can be seen live through a television set situated in front of the box. Photo credit: Chantall Van Raay

January 21, 2003

The Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) has approved the distribution of McMaster's pension surplus. Funds will be distributed as soon as possible to members, both individually and to RRSP institutions by the trustee, CIBC Mellon. Each member will receive a direct payment. Members will be sent a letter by the end of January with details explaining the final calculation and interest portion. For more information on timelines of distribution, click here. Discussions between the McMaster Employees' Surplus Sharing Committee and the University have been going on for more than four years. During the negotiations, the University and the Committee (representing approximately 4,500 pension plan members) agreed that each group will share the $150-million surplus -- $75 million will be returned to plan members, including pensioners, and $75 million will be returned to the University to fund other initiatives. "In October 1998, a committee was formed by the President made up of administrators and employee groups, and this committee looked at the rather large and growing surplus of the pension plan," said Les Robb, chair of the McMaster Employees' Surplus Sharing Committee. "It took a long time and much negotiation to get to this stage. I'm relieved we have finally reached the goal of distributing this surplus and I thank all members for their patience."

January 21, 2003

The Faculty of Engineering has announced the appointment of Peter Smith to the Office of Associate Dean as of Dec. 1, 2002. McMaster has been home to Peter Smith for the past 25 years, since arriving from Brazil in 1978. He was in the first class to receive the B.Eng.Mgt. degree in computer engineering and management, in 1983. He continued on at McMaster to complete his M.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering, in 1985 and 1988, respectively. He joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at McMaster in 1987. Smith brings to the office a broad perspective and interest on issues that affect undergraduate students in engineering. He was director of Engineering 1 at McMaster between 1996 and 1999, during a period of rapid expansion to the undergraduate engineering program. He was the student activities chair for the Canadian Region of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) between 1995 and 1997, and has participated in numerous other student-focus programs and activities. He is one of the leading experts worldwide on surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices, a subject on which he has co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and for which he was awarded the R. A. Ross Medal by the Engineering Institute of Canada. He has provided leadership as head of the Microwave Acoustics Laboratory at McMaster since 1989. Smith is a senior member of the IEEE and a member of the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario. Smith replaces Philip Wood who on July 1, 2002 accepted the position of associate vice-president, Student Affairs. Smith has been acting-associate dean in the Faculty since Wood's departure. "Dr. Smith is truly an exceptional educator and scholar who has gained the respect of the engineering student body. He is extremely qualified to provide the necessary leadership for our undergraduate engineering program," remarked Mo Elbestawi, dean of Engineering.

January 21, 2003

A major water main break in West Hamilton this morning left the University without any water for a short time. Although the water is now back on, director of Physical Plant, Tony Cupido says the temporary shut down has left some offices colder than usual. Water pressure is also a problem in some areas particularly on upper floors of some buildings. If possible it's best to use washroom facilities in the lower floors. "The air in the lines has left us with some problematic areas. We're checking all of the systems and we hope everything will be operating normally by early afternoon," says Cupido. If anyone is concerned about the temperature or water pressure in their area or if there are any other concerns staff, faculty and students are encouraged to call the Physical Plant service desk at ext. 24740.

January 21, 2003

McMaster's Centre for Student Development (CSD) and the Career Planning and Employment Centre (CPEC) Peer Helper Program is hosting an open house today and Wednesday in the McMaster University Student Centre marketplace from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The program is currently recruiting full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate student volunteers from all faculties and levels of study. Peers are trained and supervised by professional staff and assist students with academic, disability, personal and career needs. There are 45 peer helpers currently in the program who are responsible for a wide range of services offered by CPEC and CSD. The deadline to apply is Jan. 29 at 4:30 p.m., and Feb. 3 for CPEC peers. For job descriptions and further information about the program visit http://csd.mcmaster.ca/peerhelper/

January 17, 2003

When it comes to cracking problems faced by e-businesses, McMaster's MBA students have a strong case. Two groups of McMaster business students placed first and third in the second annual eCase Competition held this week. Presented by the Michael DeGroote School of Business and the McMaster eBusiness Research Centre, the competition was held in conjunction with the McMaster World Congress Conference. Six graduate teams from across the country were given 24 hours to present a detailed analyses, recommendation and implementation plan on an actual case faced by Canadian Tire Online. The situation was about the company's online service and challenges it faced with multi-channel retailing. "The eCase competition gives students a chance to showcase their talent and apply the knowledge they've gained through the MBA program," says Khaled Hassanein, associate professor of Information Systems. "Each case allows students to assume the role of a consultant to management of a company." After the first round of presentations on Tuesday, two teams from McMaster, a team from Calgary and a team from New Brunswick advanced to the final round on Wednesday. The top three teams were announced at the World Congress banquet Wednesday evening. Nearly half of the approximately 800 international delegates from industry and academia who attended the World Congress were at the banquet. The University of New Brunswick team placed second. Prizes of $10,000 for first place, $5,000 for second place and $2,500 for third place were announced by co-directors Hassanein and Milena Head, director of the McMaster eBusiness Research Centre and assistant professor of Information Systems. "It was a fantastic night," said Hassanein who, with Head, coached the McMaster teams. "Our case competition teams have once again proven the quality of our students and our MBA program." Five members of the McMaster teams recently completed a second-year MBA course entitled 'eBusiness Case Studies', designed by Hassanein and Head, who co-taught the course the first time it was offered in the fall of 2001. Now taught by Hassanein, the course allows student teams to analyze and present cases related to eBusiness on a bi-weekly basis. The eBusiness case studies course and eCase competition help prepare students for life beyond school, says Hassanein. "This allows them to take the knwledge they gained through the MBA program and apply that knowledge to actual real-life situations," he says. "Especially if students are young, like they typically are when they join the MBA program at McMaster, they usually don't have a lot of experience, so the case method is a great way to give them experience in a short time." Photo caption: The McMaster University I team pose for a photo after being presented a $10,000 cheque for winning first prize in the eCase competition. Coaches Milena Head, left and Khaled Hassanein, right, flank students Constantinos Coursaris, Caroline Dwyer, Umar Ruhi, Ramez Salti and Carlos Santos.

January 17, 2003

As of Friday, 101,668 Ontario high school students have applied for entrance into an Ontario university, announced the Council of Ontario Universities. Of these students, approximately one-third have applied to McMaster, indicates preliminary data from the University. "We're pleased to see so many students are interested in applying to the University," said Fred Hall, associate vice-president academic. "These numbers speak to the strong demand in all of the programs that McMaster has to offer." Historically, 65 to 70 per cent of students who apply to university in Ontario go on to register. In a news release, minister Dianne Cunningham said, "Our government has always promised that there would be a place for every willing and qualified student in college or university. I am pleased to report that the preliminary numbers are within our plans, and I remain confident that with the measures we have taken, and continue to take, we will meet that commitment."

January 17, 2003

McMaster University researcher Boris Sakic has been awarded more than $400,000 Cdn to study mechanisms of brain damage in an autoimmune disease. The assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioural neurosciences along with four American researchers have been awarded separate grants to study this aspect of an autoimmune disease known as systemic lupus erythematosus. The grants were from the U.S. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Lupus is a disease which can be fatal, and in which immune cells become confused. Instead of protecting the body by attacking bacteria or virus, they start to attack the body's own cells by producing proteins called autoantibodies. When the brain becomes the target this often results in psychosis, depression and memory loss.

January 16, 2003

Hubert Saint-Onge sounds more like a self-help guru than a leader of the information revolution. Where others making presentations at this week's McMaster World Congress on Intellectual Capital, Innovation and E-Business filled the heads of their audiences with talks on integrated concepts for measuring the performance of e-services and how to build knowledge-based cultures in organizations, Saint-Onge speaks of values, "your sacred self" and other words which seem to have vanished from the business dictionary. Speaking as part of a lunch-time panel at the conference's opening session yesterday, the University of Waterloo's executive-in-residence told participants that despite the massive changes information technology has brought to the world, there's still room for individual values, still chances for individuals to make a difference. Click here to read more. (The Hamilton Spectator, Jan. 16, 2003)