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Posted on March 20: Students set up peace camp

A group of students camping out in the McMaster University Student Centre have a strong and clear message. "End the war against Iraq." It may not end the war, admits first-year social science student Mike Smith (pictured), but he feels the "peace village" will at least open up dialogue on the war declared Wednesday night. A number of students are camping out in the west foyer of the student centre. Tents were set up Thursday at 7 a.m. and they plan to stay there, on a rotating basis, as long as they feel students need them, Smith says. "I don't think it's an option to do nothing," he said, adding a group of students got together a few days ago to talk about what they could do in the event that war was declared. Wednesday night they decided to establish a peace camp, where people can talk about the war and access information. "People are feeling really down," he says, noting that anyone is welcome to participate. "This is a positive space where like-minded people can gather."

Posted on March 19: Assembly of First Nations national chief comes to McMaster University

The Indigenous Knowledge Lecture Series presents "Listening to our Elders," a discussion on youth suicide, family violence and community divisions Thursday, March 20 from 7 to 10 p.m. in Ewart Angus Centre, Rm. 1A1. The session will feature information about the Unity Ride and Run that begins this spring in Sioux Valley, Manitoba and ends at Six Nations of Grand River to open the first ever International Elders Summit, 2004. There will be a keynote presentation by Matthew Coon-Come, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, on "Leadership's role in improving the health & well-being of our Nations". Sponsored by McMaster's Indigenous Studies Program, McMaster University President Peter George, the Assembly of First Nations, Anishnabe Health, Roots 4 Peace and Six Nations Polytechnic, the event will feature elders Sarah Smith, Mohawk; Leon Secatero, Navajo; and Birgil Kills Straight, Oglala and First Nations Youth speaker. For additional information contact Indigenous Studies at 905-525-9140 ext. 27426 or 27459 or e-mail indig@mcmaster.ca.

Posted on March 19: Albert Lager Lecture Series celebrates life-long learning

Life-long learning was important to Albert Lager. He never stopped continuing his education, ultimately becoming one of McMaster's oldest students. Even after his death in 1992, his zest for knowledge continued through a lecture series named after him. Now, celebrating 20 years of lectures on topics from dance, to forensic science to history and scotch, the Albert Lager Series epitomizes the man himself. "Albert had a wide variety of interests and continuing education was part of his life until he died," says McMaster vice-president, University Advancement, Roger Trull. Trull and Lager visited with each other on a weekly basis when Lager was a McMaster student. "He used to come by my office about once a week and we would chat about the University," says Trull. "I know that offering a variety of programs was something he would have been very pleased about." "McMaster was his first love," his sister Lillian Miller says. "And he felt that McMaster was like his second home." Lager was a member of the University Senate and a volunteer on the McMaster Alumni Association (MAA) Board of Directors. After his death, his estate created the Albert Abrum Lager Foundation and this foundation supports a handful of organizations whose work he valued, including the MAA. The annual series of educational lectures and seminars is planned by a group of alumni volunteers. Each lecture costs about $5 and are generally held on campus. Occasionally, off-campus events are organized, such as a lecture on the War of 1812 held at Dundurn Castle. "I think the most important aspect of the Lager series is that it provides an opportunity for alumni to reconnect to McMaster and to other alumni," says volunteer Anne Plessl, library development officer with McMaster University Library. Because the events are representative of various academic disciplines, they allow alumni to learn more about the discipline they studied or explore new or unfamiliar academic areas of interest, she explains. "There's something for everyone."

Posted on March 18: McMaster’s newest Canada Research Chairs delve into papermaking biotechnology, pure mathematics

McMaster University's newest Canada Research Chairs will study advances in biotechnology to improve papermaking chemicals and mathematical logic. Chemical engineering professor Robert Pelton has been named a Canada Research Chair in Interfacial Technologies. His research involves using emerging biotechnological developments to produce new papermaking chemicals that are less harmful to the environment. Pelton's research group is considered the world's largest, most prolific academic research group working in the area of polymers in papermaking. Pelton, founding director of the McMaster Centre for Pulp and Paper Research and scientific leader of the new Canadian Network of Pulp and Paper Researchers, is a Tier 1 chairholder. His appointment is worth $200,000 a year for seven years and is renewable. The second new chairholder is mathematics professor Patrick Speissegger, who comes to McMaster June 1 from the University of Wisconsin Madison. Speissegger's research involves the discovery and study of new o-minimal structures and applications to real analytic geometry and differential equations. Speissegger, who has been awarded a Tier 2 chair, will hold the Canada Research Chair in Model Theory. His award is worth $100,000 a year for five years and can be renewed once. McMaster University now has 37 Canada Research Chairs. The two newest awards are part of the latest round of awards to 106 new Canada Research Chairs at 36 universities.

Posted on March 18: Conference helps refugee women reclaim their identity

After learning the horrific story of one of her students on a CBC documentary about "Victims of Torture", something became acutely clear to Alison Miculan, sessional lecturer in the departments of philosophy and health studies. "As we proceed through our busy lives, we rarely take account of the circumstances of those around us," she says. Her hope is a three-day conference beginning tomorrow on refugee women's lives and identity will open eyes to the experiences of refugees, who may be students, teachers, neighbours or friends. Canada, she says, admits more refugees per capita than any other country in the world three quarters of whom are women and children. "Many of these people have suffered persecution, rape, torture, physical and mental intimidation." Hosted by McMaster's Women's Studies Program and the Settlement and Integration Services Organization, the conference "Saying "I" Is Full of Consequences: Refugee Women Reclaim Their Identity", will focus on identity, research, education and policy. The conference takes place March 19-21 in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business. The initiator and academic organisor of the conference, Maroussia Ahmed, spent a year researching and preparing for this event. Ahmed is an associate professor of French and women's studies at McMaster. Other key organizers include Vera Chouinard, acting director of Women's Studies; Madina Wasuge, director of programs at SISO; Patricia Young, administrative co-ordinator, Office of Interdisciplinary Studies; Georgina Al-Hallis, McMaster graduate; Claudia Montan, program co-ordinator, SISO; and Miculan, administrative co-ordinator of the conference. The timing of the event could not be better, Miculan says. "In the current climate of international instability, Canada's refugee population is bound to increase," she says. "We need to be thoughtful and responsible in our policy and decision making with respect to refugees. We hope that this conference will give a listenership to the voices that need and deserve to be heard."

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Posted on March 20: Students set up peace camp

Posted on March 19: Assembly of First Nations national chief comes to McMaster University

Posted on March 19: Albert Lager Lecture Series celebrates life-long learning

Posted on March 18: McMaster’s newest Canada Research Chairs delve into papermaking biotechnology, pure mathematics

Posted on March 18: Conference helps refugee women reclaim their identity

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