February 4, 2002

Seven McMaster researchers have been awarded $7.6 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to help build labs and facilities necessary for their research. The money will go towards projects such as a brain imaging facility in psychology, a micro-machining lab in mechanical engineering, a lead monitoring in children initiative in medical physics & applied radiation sciences and an arts/humanities text analysis computing portal initiative. Three new researchers were also awarded about $660,000 from the New Opportunities Fund for their projects in mathematics, medical physics & applied radiation sciences and mechanical engineering. The awards were part of a national announcement made last week by Industry Minister Alan Rock that involved $779 million going to support projects at 69 universities, colleges, hospitals and not-for-profit research institutions. "This CFI investment confirms the talent of our researchers and the research expertise that resides at McMaster in all of our disciplines," said Mamdouh Shoukri, vice-president research & international affairs. "Consistently, we have seen investment in areas for which we are known as leaders (engineering, science and health sciences), but this round of funding highlights new and emerging areas of excellence." The awards were based on the recommendations of multidisciplinary assessment committees made up of world-class experts from a wide range of fields and disciplines. To receive funding, applicants had to show the excellence and innovative nature of their projects and how they will benefit Canada.

February 1, 2002

Senior administration advises that McMaster University is closed Friday, Feb. 1. Students and University employees can consult the Storm Emergency Policy and Procedures for more information about the closure policy.

January 31, 2002

Physical plant is advising drivers and pedestrians on campus to use extreme caution during the current storm. Physical plant staff are having difficulty maintaining snow removal and salting on campus roads and walkways due to the continuous snowfall. As well, physical plant advises that parking lots will not be plowed today due to freezing rain forecast for this afternoon. The storm is being monitored (Environment Canada weather forecast) and staff are making every effort to ensure walkways and roads are cleared as quickly as possible. Physical plant's snow plan calls for areas to be cleared on a priority basis. All emergency accesses to Hamilton Health Sciences' McMaster location, bus routes, the Cootes Paradise Drive on and off ramps and bridge, the heliport landing and the route to the hospital from the landing and other main roads are first priority for truck snow removal. Routes for people with disabilities, heavily travelled sidewalks and bus stops are cleared next by vehicle. Priority areas to be cleared by hand include all main entrances, steps and ramps to buildings. Parking lots will be cleared tonight once evening classes are finished. The University's storm emergency procedure policy, outlining the process to determine when McMaster is closed, can be found at Storm Emergency Policy and Procedures. Note: Shuttle buses to Zone 6 & 7 will continue to run on their regular schedule until 10:50 p.m. or earlier if not required as long as road conditin are safe to do so.

January 31, 2002

We have been advised by senior administration that the University will close today, Thursday, January 31, at 2 p.m due to inclement weather. All classes, including night classes and any scheduled tests or examinations, are cancelled. Faculty, staff and students are advised to consult the Storm Emergency Policy and Procedures for additional information. Members of the community are also advised to listen to local radio stations and to visit the Daily News Web site tomorrow morning for further updates. NOTE: Shuttle buses to Zone 6 and 7 will continue to operate on a regular schedule until 10:50 p.m. or earlier if not required or as long as road conditions are safe to do so. (END OF STORY)

January 31, 2002

McMaster University is scheduled to reopen and classes are slated to resume Friday, Feb. 1. If inclement weather occurs Thursday night (Jan. 31), senior administration will determine if and when the University reopens. Any further closure information will be provided to local radio and television stations and will be published on the Daily News Web site. Students and University employees can consult the Storm Emergency Policy and Procedures for more information and a listing of radio stations.

January 31, 2002

Evan Mackintosh is president-elect of the McMaster Students Union for the 2002-03 term. Mackintosh, who garnered 1378 votes on the third count to win the two-day election, will take over as president May 1. The final tally was: Evan Mackintosh - 1378 votes Jen Thomas - 1177 votes Matt Lannan - 578 votes Benny Minn - 214 Total voter turnout for the presidential election was 2698. This year, Mackintosh is MSU vice-president education and an undergraduate representative on Senate. For more information about the election results, contact Tom Nault, chief returning officer, at ext. 27203 or election@msu.mcmaster.ca. (End of story)

January 30, 2002

Alan Borovoy, general counsel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, is giving a public talk on Terrorism, Technology and Civil Liberties: The Unasked Questions, tonight (Jan. 30) at McMaster. The free lecture is sponsored by the Theme School on Science, Technology and Public Policy. It begins at 7 p.m. in the Information Technology Building, Room 137. In his role since 1968, Borovoy has made presentations to public inquiries and given testimony before parliamentary committees on issues such as mandatory drug-testing in the workplace, wiretapping and police-race relations. His community organizing activities have included delegations to the federal and provincial governments on issues such as capital punishment, religious education in public schools, the War Measures Act, campus speech codes and national security and intelligence. Borovoy was a fortnightly columnist for the Toronto Star from 1992-96 and has appeared on various public affairs programs on television and radio. He is the author of Uncivil Obedience: The Tactics and Tales of a Democratic Agitator and When Freedoms Collide: The Case for Our Civil Liberties, which was nominated for the Governor General's Award in 1988. Borovoy has been a visiting professor at the faculties of law at Dalhousie University and the University of Windsor and a part-time lecturer at the University of Toronto's faculty of social work and York University's political science department. (End of story)

January 29, 2002

A lot of people in Canada would have a hard time placing Lubango on a map. But the southern Angolan city is where Julia Hitchcock, a final year peace studies and comparative literature student, has spent three out of the past four summers teaching English. She first went to Angola - a country that has suffered years of devastating civil war - with a high school friend who had grown up there and who was organizing an English language summer program through a local church. "Challenging!" is Hitchcock's verdict on her first teaching experience. "The kids ranged in age from five to 13, and were all in the same class, so it was a pretty big mix. It was hard sometimes - some of them were illiterate, some of them weren't, and the really little kids didn't have the attention span that older kids had. But I met so many people who I felt taught me so much, that I really wanted to give a bit back and sort of made a promise to go back." Fresh from her experiences in Angola, and in the first year of humanities at McMaster, Hitchcock discovered that the discipline of peace studies matched her interests perfectly. "I did a course on the theory and practice of non-violence that made a big impression on me. I was always thinking of the Angolan context, and the suffering I'd seen there and how could that be transformed. So I was always connecting peace studies and Angola in my mind." That connection made her want to try out some peace workshops when she was back in Angola teaching English. And last summer, by taking an applied humanities course, she was able to use the project to gain credit towards her McMaster degree. Applied Learning: Julia Hitchcock in Angola with some of the children she taught.

January 27, 2002

Full time undergraduate students will head to the polls on Jan. 29 amd Jan. 30 to vote for a new McMaster Students Union president. The candidates are Matt Lannan, Evan Mackintosh, Benny Min and Jen Thomas. Polls will be open from 9:20 a.m. to 4:20 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 29 and Wednesday, Jan. 30 at the following locations: BSB Lobby (until 7 p.m. on Jan. 29); CNH basement (near Starbucks); Commons lobby; Gilmour Hall (outside Titles Bookstore); Hamilton Hall (2nd floor); Ivor Wynne Centre (by Burridge Gym); JHE lobby; MGD lobby and Mills Library (until 7 p.m. on Jan. 29). Please direct all enquiries to Tom Nault, chief returning office, McMaster Students Union, ext. 27203 or election@msu.mcmaster.ca. (End of story)

January 25, 2002

The Kiyoshi Nagata Ensemble, a Japanese drum group, is the featured performance tonight at the School of the Arts' latest Celebrity Concert. The ensemble is a five-person taiko (Japanese drum) group based in Toronto. Ensemble members are Kiyoshi Nagata (artistic director), Katarina Kin, Meiko Lydall, Scott Kusano and Paolo Pietropaolo. The concert takes place tonight, Jan. 25, at 8 p.m. in Convocation Hall. Tickets are $17 regular, $12 senior/student and for more information call ext. 23333 or ext. 27671 or e-mail sota@mcmaster.ca. The group has been active on the concert and music festival scene since making its debut in 1998 after being selected to perform at the Canada Council for the Art's National Showcase at the DuMaurier Theatre Centre. While firmly rooted in the folk drumming traditions found throughout Japan, the ensemble's principal aim is to rejuvenate and redefine this ancient art form ensuring its relevance in today's society. The ensemble, whose members come from Japanese as well as other backgrounds, has produced challenging and dynamic works that seek to create a new voice for the traditional taiko. Under the direction of Kiyoshi Nagata, the ensemble has earned a reputation across North America for its straightforward yet exciting approach to playing the taiko. Emphasizing sound, fundamentals and precision over choreography and extraneous movement, the ensemble has created a unique performance style that is both powerful in expression and beautiful in its simplicity. The ensemble is one of only a few groups in North American that owns and performs on a complete set of authentic taiko imported from Japan. (End of story)

January 24, 2002

Nominations are sought for the 2002 President's awards for excellence in teaching. The three awards demonstrate the value McMaster attaches to its educational function and . . .

January 24, 2002

Anthony (Tony) Cupido, a McMaster engineering alumnus, begins his new role as director of the physical plant department Feb. 4. Cupido brings to McMaster more than 20 years' experience in engineering and facilities management, demonstrating an impressive record of administrative leadership and a reputation for striving for excellence in education and administration. A McMaster graduate, Cupido received his master's degree in civil engineering in 1988 and his bachelor of civil engineering science from the University of Western Ontario in 1980. In his new role, Cupido will ensure the efficient provision of physical plant's varied services, such as maintenance, grounds, utilities, major construction projects and capital project planning, by setting priorities and establishing policies, procedures, objectives and standards aimed at attaining peak performance and productivity. Cupido comes to McMaster from the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board where he was the superintendent of plant services. He has a proven ability to communicate and deliver innovative integrated services and has demonstrated exceptional motivational, leadership, and team building capabilities. (End of story)

January 23, 2002

The Faculty of Humanities gathered recently to celebrate the notable achievements of Faculty members who published books in 2000-01, and to acknowledge the incredible amount of dedication, energy, and hard work which the production of those books represents. Between them, humanities professors have produced a veritable library during the past two years, on subjects ranging from the Austrian novel, to theoretical philosophy; from the art of Sienna, to the 1954 coup in Guatemala; from the health of children in war zones, to the linguistic representations of culture. The occasion was also used to mark the special achievements of Katherine Dunbabin of classics, and Harvey Levenstein of history, who were joint recipients of the Donald Shepherd Humanities Book Prize. The prize is awarded to the best book published by a full-time member of the Faculty in a given three-year period (in this case 1998-2000). Speaking for the judging committee, Lorraine York of English warmly congratulated Dunbabin on her "painstakingly documented...and lavishly illustrated authoritative work, Mosaics of the Greek and Roman World," citing one reviewer who described the book as "a masterpiece of visual, historical technical and social analysis." Levenstein's Seductive Journey: American Tourists in France from Jefferson to the Jazz Age, is, said York, "a superbly researched, well-written account of American tourism in France, that draws upon a rich variety of documents." While never masking the serious purpose behind his study, it was noted by one reviewer, that Levenstein "has accomplished the nearly impossible - making scholarly research readable and fun." Prize Winners: (L-R) Harvey Levenstein, humanities dean Daniel Woolf, Katherine Dunbabin, Lorraine York.(End of story)

January 22, 2002

McMaster's Michael G. DeGroote School of Business has again earned a spot on the Financial Times top 100 list of MBA programs in the world. With more than 1500 MBA programs available across the globe, the Financial Times MBA 2002 list features the elite of the world's full-time business schools. In its third year, the survey provides a comprehensive assessment of the value of an MBA and the schools that offer them. McMaster placed first among the Canadian entries for the second year in a row in the "placement success" category. This category is defined as the percentage of 1998 alumni that gained employment with the help of career advice. The School of Business also led the Canadian delegation in the "FT research rank" category, which is compiled from a rating of faculty publications in 35 international academic and practitioner journals. Rankings were compiled from two questionnaires, one completed by the business school and the other completed by the class of 1998. A response rate of at least 20 per cent was required for the business school to participate in the survey.

January 21, 2002

In an age of instant communication, what is it that makes us choose to respond to one e-mail over another and when are we more likely to offer help to a complete stranger? The answer is when we share the same name as the other person, according to McMaster researcher Margo Wilson, a professor of psychology, and fourth-year student Kerris Oates. The researchers sent out thousands of e-mails from hundreds of different Hotmail e-mail accounts, asking simple questions about local sports teams. An analysis of the 2,960 e-mail responses showed that people had a perceived connection and a positive attitude with someone who shared their name. The e-mail recipients had a feeling of shared ancestry or kinship, the researchers found. Their findings are to be published tomorrow (Jan. 22) in the British Royal Society's journal Proceedings B. They said: "A shared name has emotional appeal; it reflects our social identity and status as defined by our descent. The importance of our kinship history is reflected in the burgeoning interest in tracing family trees. What this research shows is that shared names are effective in eliciting a minor act of altruism." The McMaster researchers found that when the e-mail sender (who requested some straightforward information) and recipient shared both names, the response rate was 10.33 per cent higher than if both were different and this was especially true for relatively uncommon names, which are better kinship cues than first names. Even where only the first name or surname are shared, the response rate and content are friendlier than when both names are different. The research also found that there were significantly more replies from female names than male names. In Canada, women are more likely to be the 'kin-keepers' as evident from the fact that they can identify more relatives than brothers with the same relatives and they, more than men, maintain contact with distant relatives. The link between a name and kinship was borne out in England recently when millions of people overwhelmed the system as they tried to access the UK Public Record Office's 1901 census Web site. (End of story)

January 18, 2002

The basketball courts will be humming. The pool will be churning. Beware errant soccer balls or ipies. Marauder Weekend kicks off tonight (Jan. 18) and alumni athletes from various sports are converging on Ivor Wynne Centre to work up a sweat participating in alumni games during the next two days. In addition to several alumni games, there is an athletic alumni luncheon in the mezzanine of Ivor Wynne beginning at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Saturday night features a baseball banquet in Celebration Hall at 7 p.m. A children's activity area is provided in the Combatives Gym from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with qualified University students on hand to supervise. Varsity games scheduled for this weekend include women and men's basketball and volleyball. For a complete listing of all events go to the athletics & recreation alumni Web site. (End of story)

January 17, 2002

A McMaster business professor leading an initiative to measure the intellectual capital of Arab countries has found the area suffers from severe brain drain. Nick . . .

January 17, 2002

An old-fashioned ribbon cutting ceremony officially opened McMaster's latest high-tech facility, the Learning Technologies Resource Centre (LTRC). The leading-edge centre is committed to assisting faculty in using technology effectively to improve teaching on campus. The LTRC was established with the help of a $1-million gift from RBC Royal Bank, a partnership praised by President Peter George as a "demonstration of support for the spirit of innovation." As well as a resource development and training lab, the LTRC features a high-tech classroom with a 'smart podium' that includes a built-in computer connected to a video-data projector and screen, VCR, sound system and electronic whiteboard--putting the various technologies at instructors' fingertips. This smart classroom', located in the basement of the H.G. Thode Library of Science and Engineering, will be used to train faculty and graduate students in the use of multimedia resources and reflects both the current needs of instructors and the changing nature of educational technology. Bart Strong, executive director of administration and classroom services at the LTRC, describes the centre's mandate as "researching and developing new learning technologies and assisting faculty in integrating new technology into their course delivery." Dick Day, professor of psychology and academic director of the Centre for Leadership in Learning notes that the LTRC envisioned in early 2000 changed with the recommendations of John Platt, professor of psychology and special adviser for academic computing. "In a bit of forward thinking of our own, McMaster saw greater potential in the LTRC and the centre was given the primary responsibility for instructional technology support campus wide." The LTRC is holding an open house today (Jan. 17) and tomorrow (Jan.18) to showcase the technolgy and staff that are available to help faculty use high-tech equipment when teaching. High-Tech Teaching: Laila Bastedo, LTRC course management systems administrator, is framed by the various electronic interfaces available for use (top photo). Muriel McKay (in the black suit) is walking Dick Day through the operation of the newly installed equipment (bottom photo). Photos by Ron Scheffler (End of story)

January 16, 2002

With wet snow flying, September seems a long time away. If you're a student who will be living off-campus next fall, now is the time to start working on finding housing arrangements that will suit your needs. Jennifer Kleven '90 is McMaster's first full-time off-campus housing co-ordinator. She's hosting two information sessions designed to help students unravel the mysteries of securing suitable off-campus housing. The information sessions are 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 16 (Wentworth House, Main Lounge) and Thursday, Jan. 17 (Hamilton Hall, Blue Lounge). Kleven, who studied sociology here, has personal experience with the off-campus housing market. She had a "great landlord" and got along well with her roommates. She knows that's not always the case as she's heard some troublesome stories in her new role. That's why she believes the information sessions will be useful. "Part of our mandate is to educate students, open their eyes to what they need to be aware of and what to watch for," Kleven said. "It's important to make them aware that this is the time to begin looking for the best houses."

January 15, 2002

Members of both the staff association and the management group will receive copies of the new collective agreement this week. Printed copies of the Collective Agreement Between McMaster University (the Employer) And The McMaster University Staff Association (the Association) are being distributed in the mail. The document contains the complete text of the agreement, which runs until June 15, 2003, as well as an alphabetical index of frequently referenced topics for easier use. MUSA president Barry Diacon says any member who does not receive a copy should contact the MUSA office to arrange for one. TMG members who do not receive copies should contact Carol Nelson in HR Services. Preparing the collective agreement for printing was one of several tasks of the Implementation Committee established to oversee transitional issues related to getting the agreement up and running. The committee members are Ron Lodewyks and Kerry Jay from MUSA and Judy Forbes and Murray Lapp from HR Services. The committee has met weekly since Aug. 30, 2001. Its mandate is to consider the applicability of layoff provisions for people given notice between the start of mediation/arbitration and the date of the award, the applicability of the collective agreement to job postings in effect up to the date of the award and the phasing-in of the provisions of the collective agreement. "The University and MUSA are working hard to ensure that the collective agreement is brought to life in a way that is fair and that establishes a strong base for their future relationship," says Murray Lapp, director of employee/labour relations.