Daily News

Posted on Nov. 11: Nov. 6 Senate meeting highlights

At its Nov. 6 meeting, University Senate approved a number of new programs, including a collaborative program in rehabilitation sciences with the University of British Columbia, a diploma in health services and policy research within the Ontario Training Centre and two new fields in physics & astronomy. Joint program with UBC McMaster's School of Rehabilitation Science, in collaboration with the University of British Columbia, will offer a joint graduate diploma in rehabilitation science. Delivered through Web-based, distance education, the program is intended to meet the continuing education needs of occupational and physical therapists. Students will receive a joint diploma from McMaster University and the University of British Columbia. The partnership will allow the universities to combine their individual strengths, said dean of graduate studies Fred Hall. UBC, with experience in distance education, is also experienced in using technology within their teaching methodologies, he says, adding UBC also offers a strong resource in designing and facilitating Web-based learning. Master will take the lead in designing two courses based on the school's strengths in evidence-based practice and measurements of outcomes, says Hall. "There would be benefits to both institution involved and also benefits to the recipients of the program." The program will be focused on the development of skills in evidence-based rehabilitation practice, clinical reasoning, use of outcome measurement in rehabilitation practice and working with clients and families to develop and evaluate effective rehabilitation programs. The programs will be delivered on a full cost-recovery basis. Ontario Training Centre diploma Senate approved a Diploma in Health Services and Policy Research within the new Ontario Training Centre in Health Services and Policy Research, a multi-university, transdisciplinary training centre that is expected to increase the number of health services researchers in Ontario. Click here for further information on the Ontario Training Centre in Health Services and Policy Research. The diploma program is offered to students enrolled in a discipline-based master's or doctoral program. The program will provide training in health services research for graduate students, enhance the quality and breadth of transdisciplinary training in health services research by providing learners with access to learning experiences and include decision makers as active partners in teaching, program and curriculum planning. It will also provide field placements for students. New fields in physics & astronomy With the recent hiring of seven new faculty members in physics and astronomy, two new fields have been added to its graduate program -- soft condensed matter and biophysics, and computational and theoretical physics. The expected enrolment in these areas is 30 graduate students 18 in soft condensed matter and biophysics, and 12 in computational and theoretical physics -- an increase of 16 students over the current enrolment figure. "We believe this increase in graduate enrolment is entirely consistent with the presence in our department of a large number of new faculty members whose research is clearly of the highest quality," says a Graduate Council report.

Posted on Nov. 11: Students get reality check on alcohol use

The average McMaster student overestimates the number of nights per week that their peers spend drinking alcohol, according to the latest Alcohol Awareness Survey by Student Health Services. The statistics show a 34.6 per cent inflation rate, between the perceived and actual number of nights that McMaster students spend drinking alcohol. The "Reality Check" Alcohol Awareness Campaign, run by Student Health Service, is a program designed to inform students of this misperception and increase student awareness of the realities related to alcohol use amongst their peers. As part of the campaign, the Health and Wellness Centre of Student Health Service is hosting the "That's the Spirit" McMaster Alcohol Awareness Fair Tuesday, Nov. 12 from 12 to 4 p.m. in the McMaster University Student Centre Marketplace. Campus departments, student groups and community partners will be on hand to promote moderate, responsible use of alcohol. The fair will include challenging games, prizes and giveaways. Student Health Service also developed a series of posters that have been placed around campus; in bathrooms, residences, on bulletin boards and distributed through various student associations and clubs. This year's theme "You Know You Want To..." alludes to the peer pressure associated with alcohol use, but completes the sentence with positive results of responsible drinking habits, such as "...make it to class" and "...make a good impression". The campaign is based on social norms theory; which argues that the misconceptions students have about the alcohol usage rates of their peers can become a self-fulfilling prophecy as students consume more alcohol in a subconscious attempt to meet the perceived norms. By presenting actual data on alcohol usage and its effects, the Reality Check Campaign attempts to shift these perceptions. Jane Radix, co-developer of the Reality Check campaign and Health Education Coordinator at the Health and Wellness Centre said, "So far, the campaign posters have been very successful in terms of students recognizing them and recalling the statistics." This year's study also investigated the negative consequences of alcohol use. When respondents were asked to list the consequences of alcohol use experienced in the last two months, one-third cited embarrassing themselves and missing class. Other notable consequences students identified were receiving unwanted sexual advances, personal injury and engaging in unprotected sex. For more information about the campaign, and social norms theory, visit the Student Health Service Web site at www.mcmaster.ca/shs/

Posted on Nov. 11: McMaster’s soldier poet: Bernard Freeman Trotter

On Nov. 11, we remember the brave men and women who died serving our country. In this article, a McMaster graduate and soldier poet is remembered. In a Remembrance Day address in 1996, the then University Chancellor, James Taylor, reviewed the accomplishments of fellow alumnus Bernard Freeman Trotter. He aptly described him as a memorable and worthy representative of those McMaster graduates and students who died serving in the two world wars of the 20th century and whose names are honoured in Alumni Memorial Hall. Toronto-born Bernard Freeman Trotter was educated at Baptist schools, Horton Academy in Nova Scotia and Woodstock College in Ontario, the latter an affiliate of McMaster University. In the fall of 1907, in the company of his brother, Reginald - a future historian at Queen9s University in Kingston -he embarked for sunny California in the hope of improving his shaky health. A year spent tending a lemon ranch and two years as a private teacher on the Pacific Coast appeared to do the trick. In 1910 he returned to Canada and enrolled in McMaster University, the Baptist institution then located in Toronto where his English-born father, Thomas, served on the theological faculty. By the time Bernard reached his senior year, the Great War (or the First World War) had erupted in Europe and Canada had entered the fight alongside what was then styled the Mother Country. Consequently, in his final months at McMaster, academic studies shared time with the duties he undertook in the University9s war-inspired Officers9 Training Corps. Room was also found, however, for other undergraduate pursuits, including his active participation in campus clubs and literary groups, where he shone as a poet, some of his pieces making it all the way to Harper9s Magazine and other American journals. Not surprisingly, he served as a productive editor of the McMaster University Monthly, a forerunner of the Silhouette and other student publications on campus. In an early wartime issue of the Monthly, his contribution, "To the Students of Liege," feelingly expressed his reaction to the German invasion of "little" Belgium, the act that had helped to trigger Britain9s entry into the war in August 1914. In old Liege, when those dark tidings came Of German honour callously forsworn And the red menace that should bring the scorn Of ages on the Kaiser9s name and shame And crown their city with a deathless fame, The students wrote, they say, that summer morn For their degrees, then joined the hope forlorn Of Liberty, and passed in blood and fame. O valiant souls! Who loved not Duty less Than Honor, whom no fears could move to shirk The common task, no tyrant9s threat subdue When Right and Freedom called in their distress - Not vain your sacrifice nor lost your work: The World9s free heart beats high because of you. In the circumstances, Bernard, a wartime student himself, was understandably anxious to "do his own bit" following his graduation in 1915. But he was in for a disappointment. Because his health could still be problematic at times, he was deemed medically unfit for service in the Canadian armed forces. Nevertheless, a welcome opportunity to serve came his way shortly after he had embarked on postgraduate studies at the University of Toronto. When the hard-pressed British (Imperial) army announced plans to recruit Canadians and other colonials, as they were then dubbed, for service in its officer corps, he eagerly applied. Health considerations in this case seemed to pose no problem; his application for a commission was accepted and he left Toronto for England in March 1916. Following a training period, part of which was spent amongst Oxford9s "dreaming spires," the freshly minted lieutenant was posted to the maelstrom known as the Western Front. In due course he was assigned to the 11th Battalion of the Leicestershire (Pioneer) Regiment. Bernard9s experiences in England and France were graphically and often amusingly related in a series of well-preserved letters to his family. In what turned out to be his last one, written on April 27, 1917, he advised his "Dear People" that he had recently been appointed assistant transport officer in his battalion and given the task of bringing up supplies to the front line. "... I [soon] found myself," he disclosed, ...mounted on my trusty steed in charge of a convoy, sniffing again the acrid reek of high explosive, and listening with a very personal interest to the whistle and bang of the shells. We had a few rather warm moments during the night but ... we got back without any untoward incident, so I had my usual good luck .... Then, a few days later, on May 7, 1917, Bernard9s good luck sadly and abruptly ran out. While again convoying supplies he came under heavy shellfire and was instantly killed. He was 26. After his death, Bernard9s family assembled and published his poetry. His poetry collection appeared in 1917 under the title A Canadian Twilight and Other Poems of War and of Peace and would join In Flanders9 Fields and the other literary contributions that were such a defining and poignant feature of the Great War. It was greeted with favourable reviews at home and abroad. An enthusiastic Times Literary Supplement, for one, hailed the author as the "Canadian Soldier Poet" and praised him for his "3ardent love of letters." The book was subsequently reprinted in Canada and over the years several of its poems have been selected for Canadian and American anthologies. In 1927, a grateful French government had his name inscribed in a section of the Pantheon in Paris devoted to those writers and poets who had fought and died in France during the conflict. Bernard Freeman Trotter9s wartime letters now repose in the McMaster University Library thanks to the generosity of his nephew and namesake, Bernard Fisher Trotter, also a McMaster graduate (945). The latter also kindly provided information and the photograph for this article.

Posted on Nov. 10: McMaster ranks in Maclean’s top five for innovation, quality, best overall

McMaster University continues to be ranked as one of Canada's top innovative universities by Maclean's magazine. In the reputational survey section of the Nov. 11 ranking issue, McMaster continues to be in the top five in the areas of 'highest quality,' 'most innovative' and 'best overall' and placed second in the 'most innovative' category. The annual Maclean's ranking takes a measure of the undergraduate experience, comparing universities in three peer groupings. McMaster is ranked in the medical doctoral category that includes universities with a broad range of PhD programs and research, as well as medical schools.