Daily News

Posted May 30: May@Mac a success

Hundreds of staff, faculty and student volunteers welcomed almost 5,500 visitors to campus for May@Mac, the University's spring open house. The not-so-spring-like weather didn't deter prospective students, their families and friends from enjoying the full slate of activities offered across campus. "This is a unique opportunity to showcase the University from one end of campus to another--visitors were travelling from the Ivor Wynne Centre to the Institute for Applied Health Sciences and enjoying all the activities between and beyond those areas of the University," says Bonnie Crocker, student liaison officer. There were 18 checkpoints across campus, manned by volunteers who offered assistance to those visitors who chose a self-guided tour or helped direct others to various events. University volunteers were the key to the success of the open house--serving at displays, doing lab tours, presentations and encouraging hands-on participation from prospective students. "The success of May@Mac was the result of the cooperation and participation of so many people across campus," says Crocker, and this success was reflected in the comments from those who attended the open house. "The feedback indicated that our visitors were pleased with how well-organized we were, how much there was to see and do, how much fun they had and how great our campus looked," notes Crocker. "Whether it was climbing the stairwells in University Hall or sitting in the lobby of the new student centre, they were impressed with McMaster." (End of story)

Posted May 31: New McMaster residence proposals

A McMaster staff team has been assembled to review and consider several innovative proposals for additional university student residences. Committee chair Roger Trull, vice-president of University Advancement, acknowledges the value of additional housing to serve McMaster students and potentially ease the impact on the neighbourhoods surrounding the University as our student body continues to grow. Under Trull's leadership, the committee is currently reviewing a number of residence proposals. One such proposal includes a potential partnership with a private sector developer who has received support from the City of Hamilton to build a residence in the downtown core that would accommodate senior undergraduate and graduate students. The proposal provides an opportunity to achieve the potential benefits of addressing student housing requirements while supporting the City's downtown redevelopment initiatives as well as the business interests of the developers. But such potential benefits must be balanced with the University's priorities of providing adequate and reasonably priced housing options that meet the needs of our students. Despite the potential benefits of the downtown residence proposal and recent media reports about the City's approval to provide an interest-free loan to the developers to support the project, the proposal is far from the approval stages at McMaster. The staff team will continue to review this proposal as well as others, and will work towards developing recommendations to the appropriate internal committees by the fall of this year. "The committee appreciates the support that the City of Hamilton is providing to the project developers' initiative to partner with McMaster in a unique student housing proposal for the downtown core," says Trull. "Absolutely no commitment has been made to date to proceed with the proposal, but the committee will give it serious consideration along with the other potential proposals. We'll be requesting the input of various McMaster committees who need the opportunity to review and comment, and then we will aim to present final recommendations to the Board of Governors." The staff team dedicated to reviewing the student housing proposals includes the following McMaster representatives: Roger Trull, chair, vice-president, University Advancement; Fred A. Hall, vice-president academic; Andrea Farquhar, director of public and government relations; Pat Harris, student liaison; Cathie Miller, director of housing and conference services; Jennifer Kleven, co-ordinator of off-campus housing; Evan Mackintosh, president, McMaster student union; Shano Mohan, inter-residence council president; Gina Robinson, director of student services, student affairs, Lilian Scime, assistant vice-president, administration; Marc Filion, grad student association; and Linda Axford, University planner. (End of story)

Posted May 30: Putting McMaster into perspective

Stop the presses! Today marks the official launch of Perspectives - a new electronic newsletter written by and for McMaster employees! The objective of Perspectives is to provide a bridge between employees at all McMaster locations, to encourage opportunities for employees to learn more about one another, to recognize individual achievement, and to act as a forum for constructive discussion. It is an electronic publication with limited print copies that are available to employees who do not normally have access to computers. Perspectives is managed by an editorial board consisting of 10 members from various locations, departments, bargaining units and employee groups. Board chair Joanne Kehoe states that "Perspectives provides all employees in the diverse and far-flung McMaster community with the ability to communicate about and with one another. It is very much grassroots in nature, and to that extent, it offers a fresh approach to communication and collegiality at McMaster." The newsletter was created based on a recommendation from the staff involvement work group as part of the staff survey follow-up process. An employee newsletter task team was then formed to assess need and niche, and then work out various details of the new newsletter involving content, authorship, readership, format, production, cost, and frequency.

Posted May 29: Ajzenstat, Coleman, Weerasekera win honours

One is described as a walking university. One already holds several awards for educational leadership. Another is a leading figure in developing educational programs for outpatient psychiatry. They are this year's winners of the President's teaching awards and each has made a significant contribution to educational excellence at McMaster. Philosophy professor Sam Ajzenstat, political scientist William Coleman and psychiatry professor Priyanthy Weerasekera take home this year's awards for Excellence in Instruction, Excellence in Educational Leadership and Excellence in Course or Resources Design. Established in 1993, the award provides the opportunity for McMaster to recognize outstanding contributions to education. Each winner receives a citation and memento at Convocation and a $5,000 honorarium. Their names and photographs will be included on McMaster's Wall of Recognition in Gilmour Hall. "I am delighted to extend my congratulations to each of you for this well-deserved honour," says University President Peter George. "McMaster has been well served by your continuing efforts on behalf of teaching and learning, and our University is very fortunate to number you among our most celebrated colleagues."

Posted May 30: Straight 12s earns drama student Governor General’s medal

She has received straight 12s in all four years of study at McMaster. This distinction has earned Beth Zdriluk the Governor General's Academic Medal this year, making her the top McMaster undergraduate student. A McMaster Scholar, Zdriluk graduates from the Faculty of Humanities on June 5 with a combined honours BA in drama and psychology. Her academic record is impressive. She had held numerous awards and scholarships: H. L. Hooker Entrance Award, Amelia Hall Scholarship, University Scholarship, Sears Canada Scholarship, Dofasco Scholarship, Drama Book Prize, and the Eleanor Dornbush Marples Prize in Drama. She will study for her PhD at the University of Toronto this fall. "I applied for their MA program, but then was offered to go straight into their PhD program," she says. Although unsure now of what she will study, Zdriluk is interested in Canadian theatre. Her scholarship is complemented by a host of volunteer and community activities. She has been a volunteer in both drama and mathematics for high school students in Burlington for several years. She has worked with students to help develop their natural talents in performance, design, music and theatre, recently serving as co-director and musical director of the student production, Godspell. She has lectured to high school students on the Canadian, Greek and Elizabethan theatre as well as several of the major theatrical styles and movements of the 19th and 20th centuries. She plans to continue her work with high school students after graduation, assisting with drama studies and providing some tutoring. Since June 1995 Zdriluk has been heavily involved in the Centre Stage Productions Community Theatre Group. In May 2000 she travelled to Nova Scotia as a performer in a show chosen to represent all of Ontario at the Liverpool International Theatre Festival. She has also been a member of the Sears Drama Festival Organizational Team in Halton since 1993. She is also a member of the Front of House Crew. Her work has covered all facets of the theatre industry. She was costume designer for the fall 2000 production at McMaster of Pericles, Prince of Tyre. She has served as both a performer and designer for Centre Stage and earned awards for performance, set design and vocal arrangement at the Sears Drama Festival (1994-98). At McMaster she has been a TA for Drama 1AA3, worked as a research assistant on a study of Victorian Hamilton and been a volunteer for patients in Ward 3A at Hamilton Health Sciences. She is a member of the Golden Key International Honours Society. In addition to the Governor General's medal she also receives the Amelia Hall Gold Medal and the Dean's Medal for Excellence in the Humanities. (End of story)