Daily News

Posted on Jan. 27: Opening doors to a bright future

It will be a building for students and new ideas. Construction has begun on McMaster's Centre for Learning and Discovery, the University's 300,000 square-foot, five-storey expansion to the north side of the McMaster Health Sciences Centre. It will be completed in the summer of 2004. The new facility will provide much needed space for teaching, learning and research and will address a number of critical needs for the University and its affiliates. The first floor will include six classrooms and five lecture theatres for classes from across all faculties. One theatre, with 600 seats, will be the largest seating space on campus. Altogether, the first floor will seat more than 1,800 students and will help McMaster address the needs created by Ontario's "double cohort". The second floor will be connected to the McMaster University Medical Centre and used by Hamilton Health Sciences for patient care wards. Plans are still being finalized, but the hospital may use the space for intensive care facilities. The third floor has been dedicated to the needs of the Faculty of Health Sciences for classrooms, tutorial rooms, postgraduate offices and laboratories. A rounds room will have state-of-the-art teleconferencing facilities, allowing students at hospitals across the city or throughout the province to join in discussions as if they were sitting in the room. The fourth and most of the fifth floors will showcase the Institute for Molecular Medicine and Health, which includes the Centre for Gene Therapeutics and is a prototype for the University's new revolution in health sciences education and research. The two floors will contain a variety of offices, wet laboratories and a biotechnology incubator.

Posted on Jan. 24: McMaster mini-medical school for armchair MDs

You can become a medical student, just for one night. Actually, you can become a medical student for seven nights in a new program for the public being offered at McMaster University. On seven consecutive Wednesdays, beginning March 5, faculty members will give public seminars similar to those given the medical students, using the world-renowned McMaster approach of problem-based learning. The concept of a mini-medical school for the public was developed in the U.S. and recent programs at McGill and University of Toronto have been sold-out events. At McMaster, the mini-medical school is being organized by a group of five third-year medical students. Each evening will have two separate sessions on a common theme. The seminars will explore the scientific basis of topical medical issues followed by a question and answer session. The topics will include heart and lung disease, infectious diseases, aging and arthritis, genetics, cancer, depression, Canadian health care, and international health. For example, one class on March 5, cracking the DNA code, explains what DNA is, how we can decode the information it contains, and learn how scientists and physicians use the genetic information to track down inherited traits, investigate illnesses, and even solve crimes. Organizer Janine Davies says the group hopes the program will forge an important link between the medical school and the community. Medical students are exposed to vast amounts of scientific information. "We want people to experience the thrill of cutting edge research and understand how it applies to a medical problem," says Janine. The group plans to use the proceeds for a scholarship recognizing student research or community service. Dean and vice-president, Health Sciences, John Kelton, fully supports the new student initiative. "It's a wonderful opportunity for the community to study under some of McMaster's finest educators and researchers, and then apply what they've learned in a problem based-learning approach." "At a time when third year students are extremely busy with clerkship training and residency interviews, it's a credit to their commitment to the community and life-long learning, that they want to share their educational experience with others." Classes will run 7 to 9 p.m. in the Ewart Angus Centre, Room 1A1, of the McMaster University Medical Centre. The cost is $125, or $75 for seniors, students and low-income earners. Registration is available through the Mini-Med School Web site or by calling 905-525-9140, ext. 22671.

Posted on Jan. 24: New collective agreement ratified for Hospitality Services

The union representing hospitality services employees and the Board of Governors' executive committee has ratified the terms of a settlement for a new collective agreement. The Service Employees' International Union (SEIU) Local 532 and the University met in bargaining throughout the fall to negotiate a renewal of the collective agreement that was to expire Dec. 31, 2002. A tentative settlement was reached in mid-December. The union ratified the terms of the tentative agreement at a meeting on Jan. 9. The executive committee of the Board of Governors ratified the agreement earlier this week.

Posted on Jan. 23: McMaster Credit Union to relocate

The need to find more space for academic, research and support programs on campus means changes for Wentworth House. The University will no longer be able to offer space to the McMaster Credit Union. It will stay in its current location until the end of May, 2003 and will then move to the old TD bank building in Westdale. The credit union's ATMs currently located in Wentworth House, the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Downtown Centre will continue to serve customers, and the University will work with officials to determine if other locations are needed. Wentworth House will continue to be home to the Phoenix, the McMaster Daycare Centre and the MACycle Co-op. Renovations to convert the first floor to office space should begin in June.

Posted on Jan 23: Lift for native health care

About 60 front-line health-care workers from First Nations communities across the province have gathered at McMaster's downtown Centre for Continuing Education for an intensive six-day training program. The goal is to help Ontario's aboriginal communities improve the case management skills of their home- and community-care workers so that they can better assess the needs of their clients and help them receive the best possible care that might be available. This is the third group of people to pass through the program since December and when this session ends this weekend, almost all of Ontario's 134 First Nations communities will have sent at least one representative. Read all about it in today's Hamilton Spectator. (The Hamilton Spectator, Jan. 23, 2003)