Daily News

Posted on Jan. 5: India’s women are keeping the peace

Resolving conflict and making peace within India's local community has one non-governmental organization working with officials at home and abroad to use a secret tool that's as old as mankind women. Rama Singh, founder and chair of Hamilton's annual Gandhi Peace Festival, is working with this year's Gandhi Peace Lecturer Acharya Ramamurti through McMaster's Centre for Peace Studies to bring attention and support to the Women's Shanti Sena (WSS), a program that educates women about their rights and responsibilities. He's visiting India in February to help with the program. "Many of India's rural women are illiterate, but that doesn't mean they're ignorant or uneducated," says Singh. "They face the issues of daily life in a village so they know what the challenges are and they have ideas about how to fix those challenges but first they need to know they can speak up."

Posted on Dec. 24: Happy Holidays

Happy holidays from McMaster. The University will be closed from Thursday, Dec. 25 to Monday, Jan. 5, when classes will resume. Most campus services are closed for the holiday period. For a listing of dining facility operating hours visit Hospitality Services. Click McMaster Libraries for library hours of operation. Security will be on duty throughout the holiday period, providing services 24 hours a day. Officers will be patrolling campus, answering alarms and monitoring security systems. For assistance, call security at ext. 24281. The Daily News returns Monday, Jan. 5. Photo caption: McMaster President Peter George and his wife Reverend Allison Barrett, pose with McMaster students in front of the fireplace in the McMaster University Student Centre for the President's annual greeting card. Photo credit: Ron Scheffler

Posted on Dec. 23: Honour awards bolster enrolment planning

McMaster has admitted a bright double cohort class. Of the 5,334 first-year students who came to McMaster this year, more than ever received an Honour Awards scholarship given to entering students who earn 80 per cent and over in their final year of secondary school. In fact, McMaster's entering student population is getting brighter every year. In 2000, when McMaster introduced the awards program, 52 per cent of its entering class received a scholarship. This year, 81 per cent were eligible and 3,944 awards were distributed. "The honour awards are a success story at McMaster," said vice-president academic Fred Hall. Under the program, high school graduates who earn 80 per cent and over in their final year of secondary school and who choose to attend McMaster will automatically receive an award.

Posted on Dec. 19: Enormous national reaction to $105-million gift

From coast to coast, the reaction to the announcement that McMaster is receiving a $105-million gift for its medical school, is almost as great as the donation itself. "A gift so huge has as much shock impact as it does the ability to understand it," says John Kelton, dean and vice-president of the Faculty of Health Sciences. For him, the realization of it is still sinking in. "I still haven't realized it. It's historic." So what has the external reaction been to the "historic" $105-million gift from Canadian businessman and philanthropist Michael G. DeGroote? "Consistently enormous enthusiasm," sums up Kelton. "That would be it in a nutshell." And envy, he adds. "I have been hearing great enthusiasm and great envy from deans across the country. People are saying 'we can't believe it, we find it wonderfully exciting'." On Dec. 17, in the McMaster University Student Centre marketplace, approximately 1,000 people gathered to hear DeGroote announce he is giving McMaster the largest cash gift in Canadian history. The $105-million donation will be divided between a $64-million endowment fund, supporting education, health care and medical research in perpetuity and a $41-million capital fund directed to construction and outfitting of laboratories and hospital units. The Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University will be the first Canadian medical school to bear the name of a benefactor. McMaster President Peter George has received letters from University presidents congratulating and thanking McMaster for raising the bar. "That is the message that resonates through virtually all of the universities in the country," he says. "It sends a very positive and encouraging signal to donors that their gifts are important."