Daily News

Posted on Feb. 5: Once upon a time in Afghanistan

Storybooks for schools and homes across Afghanistan are the latest tool peace workers are using to help that country's next generation work toward building a society that will live peacefully ever after. Joanna Santa Barbara, an instructor at McMaster's Centre for Peace Studies and Hamilton-area child psychiatrist, is part of an international team of peace workers involved with peace education initiatives in the war-ravaged country. "Progress has been made in schools over the past several years, and we're thrilled that the Ministry of Higher Education so eagerly picked up on our work," says Santa Barbara. "It's important that children hear messages of peace when their country is going through such a fragile, volatile phase." Santa Barbara and her Centre for Peace Studies associates hosted peace education sessions in Afghanistan in partnership with other groups, hoping the sessions might lead toward national reconciliation. They built material for the series of 16 stories from those sessions, and worked with Afghanistan native and Centre for Peace Studies Associate Seddiq Weera to get the stories implemented into the school curriculum across the country.

Posted on Feb. 4: McMaster’s new online photo gallery offers unique snapshots of campus

McMaster's campus is picture perfect. A serene image of a student studying in the faculty hollow, the beauty of fall reflected in a window of Edwards Hall, an athlete swimming in the Ivor Wynne Centre pool, and the warmth of the biology greenhouse on a cold day, are just some of the images found at Picture McMaster -- a new self-serve photo gallery that offers a wide array of images from across campus. To launch this new service, McMaster faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community members are invited to participate in a photo contest. Contestants are encouraged to "picture McMaster" in a unique and innovative way. Electronic entries must be in one of four categories: people, buildings, campus scenes and sports. Winning entries will be displayed on the Picture McMaster Web site (http://www.picturemcmaster.ca). Click here to read the photo contest terms and conditions.