Daily News

February 7, 2001

The University is filing a complaint of bargaining in bad faith against the McMaster University Staff Association (MUSA). The union failed to provide a monetary . . .

February 6, 2001

It's called Human Biological Sciences - basically a course on human physiology. It is an example, says McMaster provost Harvey Weingarten, of people working together to be innovative and succeeding. Weingarten explained the history behind the health sciences course during a question-and-answer session Friday (Feb. 2) in response to his State of the Academy address two weeks ago. The experiment with Human Biological Sciences(HS1B07) started when faculty began planning courses for the new Bachelor of Health Sciences Program and the Bachelor of Arts in Health Studies. During planning sessions they determined there were nine introductory courses focussed on human physiology being offered around campus. Spearheaded by JoAnne Fox-Threlkeld, a professor in the School of Nursing and biomedical sciences, the faculty pooled their expertise and launched a pilot project to develop teaching materials for one course that could be used as a template for the future. Faculty plan and monitor the course as a team. It took $90,000 and six months of intensive planning sessions to mold the course into the form it is now given, Weingarten said. "It was the most comprehensive curriculum design work I've ever been involved in," he said. The course material was mounted on LearnLink in advance of class. Concerns that students wouldn't have computers to access the material ended promptly when an instructor discovered only one of 120 students didn't have access to a personal computer. The course is two lectures per week with the third lecture now devoted to a clinical specialist giving a talk each week. There are "very positive" reviews from students and faculty, Weingarten said. "The students are eating it up. They love it," he said.

February 5, 2001

Students who wish to pursue a career in nursing will have a new option starting this fall. McMaster University, Mohawk College and Conestoga College are launching a unique, joint nursing degree program that will fully integrate college and university students through all four years of study.The four-year program will be offered at all three institutions and graduates will earn a McMaster University B.Sc. in Nursing. Total enrolment for the program will be more than 2,000 students by 2005.

February 5, 2001

The race for the presidency of the McMaster Students Union continues this week with polls opening tomorrow (Feb. 6). Most polling stations will be open from 9:20 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 6, and 9:20 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 7. Six candidates are vying for the top elected spot: Neville Boney, Lisa Cunha, Steve Ewoniak, Sam Minnitti, Derrick Morgan and Chris Potter. A final debate among the candidates will be held today (Monday, Feb. 5) from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Hamilton Hall Blue Lounge. Voting stations will be located in the following areas: * Commons Lobby * Michael G. De Groote building Lobby * John Hodgins Engineering building Lobby * Chester New Hall(by Starbucks) * Health Sciences Centre (second floor by the Library entrance) * Ivor Wynne Centre (by Burridge Gym) * Gilmour Hall (across from the Bookstore) Extended hours polling stations will be open from 9:20 a.m. to 7p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 6, and 9:20 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 7 at the Burke Science Building, Mills Library and Thode Library. (END OF STORY)

February 5, 2001

The negotiating committee for the McMaster University Staff Association broke off negotiations with the University's negotiating team last Friday and has asked the Ministry of Labour's conciliation officer for a "No Board" report. This action is a legal step that means the conciliation officer advises the Minister of Labour that he has not been able to effect a collective agreement between the parties. The minister may then issue a report, commonly known as a "No Board" report. "The University's negotiating team is disappointed that MUSA has taken this step," said Mark Haley, assistant vice-president human resources and a member of the University's negotiating team. "We felt we were making some progress and had anticipated being able to offer a series of dates to continue negotiations through March. The union's lack of willingness to meet and lack of willingness to define its priorities is of great concern to us. Frankly, we don't understand why the MUSA team never responded to the initial monetary offer that was put on the table in December."

February 2, 2001

Provost Harvey Weingarten will meet the McMaster community today (Friday, Feb. 2) to discuss and answer questions about issues raised in his State of the Academy address presented on Jan. 24. "I have been approached by more than a handful of people who attended the State of the Academy talk expressing disappointment that there was no opportunity to ask questions, or to discuss some of the issues raised during the presentation," said Weingarten. "This is very encouraging as it suggests that the presentation was sufficiently informative or entertaining to retain people's interest and attention." The question-and-answer session pertaining to the State of the Academy address will be in HSC-1A1 from 2:45 p.m. to 4 p.m. today. Weingarten will have his slides from the presentation available. "I look forward to seeing you there," said Weingarten, provost and vice-president academic. A story summarizing Weingarten's presentation from Wednesday, Jan. 24 is posted on the Daily News. The headline is "Campus must embrace change to manage growth, meet challenges". (End of story)

February 2, 2001

Pediatrics professor Ronald Barr and his colleagues in the hematology- oncology service at the Children's Hospital at Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation(HHSC) have written a book . . .

January 31, 2001

The federal government promised yesterday to "at least" double current research and development dollars by 2010 in a move to make Canada one of the top five countries in research performance. Ottawa will strengthen research capacity at universities and will give the Canadian Institutes of Health Research more money, Gov. Gen Adrienne Clarkson said, reading the throne speech on behalf of Prime Minister Jean Chretien. The throne speech is a blueprint for the direction the federal government will take during the next session of Parliament. Clarkson said: "In making new investments, the government will: continue to pursue excellence in Canadian research by strengthening the research capacity of Canadian universities and government laboratories and institutions; accelerate Canada's ability to commercialize research discoveries, turning them into new products and services; and pursue a global strategy for Canadian science and technology, supporting more collaborative international research at the frontiers of knowledge." Gerhard Gerber, vice-president research and international affairs, said: "Yesterday's throne speech is great news for McMaster. As this federal plan is implemented, and assuming we maintain our competitive position in research, we expect our funding to double to more than $60-million a year from the three funding councils alone -- the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research." The federal government said the new money will "include strategically targeted research that is co-ordinated with partners." Areas that should benefit include health, water quality, the environment, natural resources management, and oceans research. (End of story)

January 31, 2001

The race is on! The election race for president of the McMaster Students Union officially started at 9 a.m. on Monday. Six candidates are vying . . .

January 30, 2001

You're a science major. You don't want to be a doctor and you're not sure you want to spend your days under a fume hood. Where do you go for information on jobs, employers and possibilities that are specific to science? The new Science Career Services office. In operation since May, the career services office is a joint project of the McMaster Science Society and science dean Peter Sutherland's office. Students voted in an October 1999 referendum to pay a $25 ancillary fee to set up the office and the dean's office kicks in a matching amount. The service is meant to augment, not replace, the help provided by the Career Planning and Employment Centre. "It was a conscious effort to make sure it's specific to sciences and not overlapping with CPEC," said Steve Ewoniak, science society president. "It's more targeted to jobs they would be looking for. We're not running career planning groups." Science Career co-ordinator Annette Poechman often starts a meeting with a student by asking them to describe an ideal day in the world of work. "I ask them 'What does your perfect day look like? Are you in a small city? A big city? Do you like to be with people or prefer to work on your own?'" she says. Photo: Annette Poechman and Steve Ewoniak

January 29, 2001

McMaster's new Centre for the Study of Disadvantage has joined with three other universities to set up the Canadian Child and Youth Development Research Network. The centre, along with centres at the University of British Columbia, University of Montreal and the University of New Brunswick, will receive $2 million over a five-year period from Human Resources Development Canada, minister Jane Stewart announced recently in Vancouver. Each centre will focus on one specific area of child development under the direction of a senior scholar working with two full-time child and youth development scholars. A main thrust of the research is determining how children can be better prepared for learning by overcoming the challenges and obstacles they face from a young age. The McMaster centre, led by Dan Offord, director of the Centre for Studies of Children at Risk, will focus on the study of child outcomes and how they are affected by the factors of disadvantage such as socioeconomic, individual, family and the neighbourhood setting.

January 26, 2001

Thanks for helping us celebrate the Daily New's first birthday. Here's a sampling of comments and best wishes received: “The Daily News has been a . . .

January 26, 2001

Provost Harvey Weingarten will meet the McMaster community next Friday, Feb. 2 to discuss and answer questions about issues raised in his State of the Academy address presented on Wednesday. "I have been approached by more than a handful of people who attended the State of the Academy talk expressing disappointment that there was no opportunity to ask questions, or to discuss some of the issues raised during the presentation," said Weingarten. "This is very encouraging as it suggests that the presentation was sufficiently informative or entertaining to retain people's interest and attention." The question and answer session pertaining to the State of the Academy address will be in HSC-1A1 from 2:45 p.m. to 4 p.m. Weingarten will have his slides from the presentation available. "I look forward to seeing you there," said Weingarten, provost and vice-president academic. A story summarizing Weingarten's presentation from Wednesday, Jan. 24 is posted on the Daily News. The headline is "Campus must embrace change to manage growth, meet challenges". (End of story)

January 25, 2001

McMaster must embrace change, while recognizing the challenges now are to manage growth, not cope with downsizing, provost Harvey Weingarten says. In his fifth annual State of the Academy address given yesterday (Jan. 24), Weingarten said success in an era of growth requires different strategies and actions than in periods of downsizing like the mid-1990s when the provincial government made dramatic funding cuts to universities. Weingarten said the University needs to change for several reasons: * increased student enrolment due to the "double cohort" Class of 2003; * increased faculty retirements; * different student expectations; * competition from non-traditional education providers; and * the increased complexity of the university environment. Full-time undergraduate enrolment in 1980 was about 10,000, he said, but by 2003 it is projected to be almost 15,500. This increase in the student population will be coupled with an increase in faculty retirements: by 2011, about 250 of the 1,000 full-time faculty will reach retirement age. Weingarten said the University has been in the hire a "prof-a-week" mode for the last two years and must continue to do so to replenish the faculty complement. In 1999, 76 faculty were hired and 57 were hired last year. McMaster is conducting 107 active faculty searches now.

January 25, 2001

The President's Awards demonstrate the value McMaster attaches to its educational function and recognize those who, through innovation and commitment, have significantly enhanced the quality . . .

January 24, 2001

The Daily News celebrates its first year of operation today! Want to celebrate with us? Send a birthday greeting.

January 24, 2001

In the Jan. 20 issue of the Hamilton Spectator, education reporter Christine Cox outlines McMaster's plans to establish a guaranteed salary for PhD students. To . . .

January 23, 2001

Researchers at McMaster will receive more than $1.5-million for seven research projects funded under the Canada Foundation for Innovation's New Opportunities Program. The new funding was announced yesterday by CFI president David Strangway. For details about McMaster's awards,

January 23, 2001

"Self-Service Technology (SST) Use by Business-to-Business: Drivers of Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction." By Erica Ainsworth, Business. Supervisor: Ashish Pujari. "Paleo-histomorphometry: Methodology and Application to Age-at-Death Estimation in Archaeological Bone Samples." By Patrick Beauchesne, Social Sciences. Supervisor: Shelley Saunders. "Feminists Reading Sade: Beauvoir, Carter, Benjamin, and the Intersubjective Meaning of His Work." Robin Chamberlain, Humanities. Supervisor: Joseph Adamson. "Directing Actions at Visual Illusions: Planning, Control, and Memory." By Cheryl Glazebrook, Social Sciences. Supervisor: Digby Elliott. "Duopolies with Advance Production and Posted Prices or Market Clearing Prices." By David Goodwin, Social Sciences. Supervisor: Stuart Mestelman. "Use of Free Samples in Interactive Advertising." By Alexander Grey, Business. Supervisor: Maureen Hupfer. "Community Morality and the Charter: A Defense of Judicial Review." By Sarah Halsted, Humanities. Supervisor: William Waluchow. "Identifying and Interpreting Glass Artifacts in Archaeology: Expedient Tool Technology at a NorthWest Coast Tsimshian Site." By Irena Jurakic, Social Sciences. Supervisor: Andrew Martindale. "Social Capital, Social Cohesion, Gender, Health and Lower Income Neighbourhoods in Hamilton." By Shoshannah Levitt, Social Sciences. Supervisor: Tina Moffatt. "Annotating Bertrand Russell's Papers on China." By Andrea Pasztor, Humanities. Supervisor: Nicholas Griffin.

January 22, 2001

The Michael G. DeGroote School of Business is one of the top 100 business schools in the world, according to the Financial Times MBA 2001 survey published today. The school ranked 80th overall and placed sixth out of nine among Canadian schools ranked. This is the first year McMaster participated in the survey. The School of Business exhibited a strong showing when the data is broken down: * McMaster placed first among the Canadian entries in the "placement success" category with a score of 93 per cent. The "placement success" category is defined as the percentage of 1997 alumni that gained employment with the help of career advice; * As well, 43 per cent of the school's students were female when the study was conducted, another first-place ranking. * The school placed second among the Canadian universities in the international mobility category. It is defined as a rating system that measures the school with the most internationally mobile alumni based on the movements of 1997 graduates.