December 1, 2000

McMaster's proposal for a new entrance on Main St. will be centre stage at a public information session on Monday, Dec. 4. The information session . . .

December 1, 2000

Marauder record-setting running back Kojo Aidoo won the Hec Crighton trophy last night, honouring him as the best university football player in the country. Aidoo, a third year social sciences student, ran for 1,329 yards and 20 touchdowns this year, setting Ontario conference records. During the post-season, Aidoo rushed for 351 yards and a pair of majors. This is the second time Aidoo, 21, has been awarded top honours for his play. He was named CIAU rookie of the year in 1998. Other Marauders honoured at the CIAU awards in Toronto included quarterback Ben Chapdelaine and receiver Ryan Janzen who were named as first team all-Canadian while receiver Mike Linton and guard Ryan Donnelly were named to the second squad. "It's a great accomplishment for our team," said Aidoo. "My goal this year was I wanted to show everyone what we were accomplishing here." This season, the team won the Yates Cup for the first time ever. The Marauders were defeated by the Ottawa Gee Gees in their bid to win the national semi-final Churchill Bowl. For more coverage see: McMaster Varsity Athletics Hamilton Spectator The Toronto Star Photo: Hamilton Spectator

November 30, 2000

Bargaining teams for both the University and the McMaster University Staff Association (MUSA) expect to meet with a conciliator in the coming weeks to move contract talks along. The negotiating team for MUSA informed the University negotiating team on Nov. 24 that it has applied to the Ontario Ministry of Labour for a conciliation officer. Either party can request conciliation. It is expected a conciliator will be appointed within the next few weeks. MUSA president Barry Diacon says the union's bargaining team made the application because "we have reached an impasse with the management (bargaining) team on the most important items in the contract language. We have been talking back and forth for awhile now and are not making any progress, even though our proposals on language are in place and working at other universities." Mark Haley, assistant vice-president human resources, says bringing in a conciliator is premature. "It can be a part of the process and may be very helpful. We haven't yet discussed money and there are still some other matters we haven't discussed. The University (negotiating team) wants to discuss compensation. Compensation is a very important issue to our employees and to the University."

November 28, 2000

From the outside, the building known as T-16 doesn't look much different. There are new shiny windows, but the stone work has been preserved; the friezes above the doors are there. Step inside next May and you won't recognize it. The former teachers' college, tucked behind the new Institute for Applied Health Sciences, has been gutted and is now undergoing extensive renovations that when completed, will make it a state-of-the-art facility for the Faculty of Engineering's expanded engineering software and electrical & computer engineering programs.

November 28, 2000

Mark your date books to come out and cheer this Friday. The 2000 National University Cheerleading Championships are being held on campus and McMaster's cheerleaders . . .

November 27, 2000

The votes have been cast and the winner is. . .The McMaster University Student Centre. The Student Representative Assembly of the McMaster Students Union voted 17-14 yesterday in favour of naming the building that is now under construction the McMaster University Student Centre. The list of possibilities had been narrowed to three finalists by the Ad Hoc Committee on University Centre Naming. They were: the B.F. Trotter Student Centre, the (McMaster) Student Legacy Centre and the eventual winner, the McMaster University Student Centre. Members of the SRA, which represents undergraduate students, solicited feedback from students across campus prior to the vote.

November 27, 2000

Writing tests, mid-terms and examinations will be a more comfortable experience for McMaster students this year with the completion of a new 135-seat testing centre. The much-needed facility opened last month in the basement of Arthur Bourns, in what was formerly the building's cafeteria. The University has been without a large testing centre for three years. The need for large classroom space to accommodate growing enrolment necessitated the conversion of the former testing room (located in CNH-104) into a large classroom (which now seats more than 400 students). McMaster continues to use a smaller testing centre located in BSB-B154, which seats 64 students. "This new testing centre will help the educational experience of our students. It represents the first of several renovation and expansion projects on campus which will help us to address both the current and future needs of this institution in the face of growing student enrolment," says University provost and vice-president academic Harvey Weingarten.

November 24, 2000

The dream to have a McMaster presence in the downtown core will be realized now that the Hamilton Transition Board has approved a proposal for the University to lease the old Wentworth County courthouse. The board voted 5-1 in favour of the plan on Tuesday (Nov. 21), which will mean some groups on the main campus will move to the Main St. West site in the coming months. McMaster business professor and assistant vice-president information services & technology Marvin Ryder, who chairs the board, abstained from voting. "It's very exciting," said Karen Belaire, vice-president administration. "It's a great building and we will have a fabulous location. We're right on the 50-yard line with the best seat in the stadium." Belaire said she will be working with city staff to finalize the financial aspects of the deal.

November 24, 2000

Student Health Services and Athletics & Recreation were thrown a lifeline by students who voted "Yes" to fee increases this week. "We're thrilled and very relieved," said Julie Fairservice, Student Health Services clinic director. "We will be able to maintain our current programs." In a MSU referendum held Tuesday and Wednesday, students were asked to approve an $8.75 health services fee increase and an $11.88 increase for athletics & recreation services. Fairservice said if the fee increase -- the first in 11 years -- hadn't been approved, the clinic would have had to cut more programs, services and hours. Two years ago health services cut the registered dietician and reduced physician and nurses' hours, she said. Last year, health services started to charge fees for some services and this year weekend and evening hours were eliminated. Athletics & recreation director Therese Quigley said the vote means the hours of operation and existing programs now offered will be maintained. If students had vetoed the increase, "the impact for next year would have resulted in further significant cuts," she added.

November 24, 2000

Every child eagerly awaits the arrival of Santa Claus with his sack full of presents. To ensure that children from families in need of assistance . . .

November 22, 2000

The new knowledge-based economy will shift the role of a post-secondary education from imparting new knowledge to a focus on teaching, the chair of the University's Board of Governors says. Douglas Barber believes the "knowledgeable society" of the future will look to academics less for new knowledge and much more for teaching. "That teaching will not only be about what is known, but it will also be teaching young people to discover what isn't yet known -- the skills of research," he said. "That teaching will also have to be broader and more liberal while still providing excellence of specialization." Society will continue to look to academics, Barber added, "for the radical new thinking and discovery that comes from those exceptional, broad-minded, widely learned young people of uncommon genius."

November 22, 2000

Posted on the Daily News Nov. 22, 2000 (University Affairs section) Brain needs sleep to consolidate new skills, study says New research shows that new . . .

November 21, 2000

To do “Poussin over again after Nature” was the oft-quoted aim of post-Impressionist painter Paul Cezanne. Ian Hamilton Finlay has turned Cezanne's lofty goal on . . .

November 20, 2000

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/chettlecropped.jpg” caption=”David Chettle”]McMaster's new Institute for Applied Radiation Sciences (MCIARS) will fill an important need in research activities and help the University build . . .

November 20, 2000

The car in your future will be lighter and kinder to the environment. Aluminum may make up the trunk, the side door panels or the lid of the car. Or your car may be a hybrid -- powered by a gas engine and a rechargeable battery.The key to ensuring these types of vehicles become commonplace is adapting the materials now used in cars to new uses or developing new materials with unique properties. David Wilkinson, professor of materials science & engineering and acting department chair, believes the University's new leading-edge research centre for automotive materials will excel in both areas. "There's been considerable interest in new materials for automotive applications for quite some time," said Wilkinson, acting director of the newly established McMaster Centre for Automotive Materials. "The thrust is science-based manufacturing. The idea is to apply the scientific principles and quantitative understanding to materials and manufacturing processes. There will be a dramatic shift and a change in the level of activity in this area. It has increased our ability to work collaboratively with industry."

November 19, 2000

The curtain came down today (Saturday, Nov. 19) on what's been a dynamite season for the Marauders football team. The Marauders' quest for the Vanier Cup ended where it began, on Les Prince Field, with a 20-15 disappointing loss to the University of Ottawa Gee Gees in the CIAU Churchill Bowl semi-final. A touchdown by McMaster's Ryan Janzen with just over a minute remaining in the game, and valiant efforts by the Marauders' offensive and defensive teams in the final seconds of the match, came too late. McMaster came up short after trailing for most of the game. Marauder coach Greg Marshall attributed the result to costly Marauder turnovers and an inability to score points. "It was our lack of offence and mistakes we made that beat us," said Marshall, adding that a couple of turnovers created turning points in the game. "We gave them a good field position to score points and going against Ottawa you can't do that." Photo: Marauder defenders Nic Armstrong (22) and Ray Mariuz (44) sandwich Ottawa ball carrier Ali Ajram. Credit: Ron Scheffler

November 17, 2000

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/DEarn.jpg” caption=”David Earn”]Conservation corridors are commonly believed to help protect species which are endangered by habitat fragmentation. But this may not be true. . . .

November 17, 2000

British author and philosopher Ray Monk is on campus today to sign his newest book on 20th-century philosopher Bertrand Russell (Monk will be at Titles between 12:45 and 1:30). Last night Monk gave a lecture on Russell's life and work at the official opening of McMaster's Bertrand Russell Research Centre. He will also give a lecture this afternoon for the Department of Philosophy on A Room Not of One's Own: Wittgenstein and Virginia Woolf on Biography, at 2 p.m. in Convocation Hall, UH-213. The most important advantage of the newly established Russell Centre will be the opportunities it offers for promoting McMaster as the international home of Russell studies. Photo: Ron Scheffler

November 17, 2000

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/runadjusted.jpg”]What could be finer on a Saturday morning in November, than a brisk five-km run or walk around McMaster's beautiful campus? We rather . . .

November 16, 2000

Bill Orovan, professor and chair of the Department of Surgery, takes up the position of acting vice-president and dean of McMaster's Faculty of Health Sciences on Jan. 1. His appointment was announced by University President Peter George. "Dr. Orovan will bring a wealth of experience and exceptional leadership skills to this interim role, which will enable all health sciences' faculty, staff and students to continue to move forward with new initiatives and programs," said President George.