Daily News

posted on Oct.1: Study shows if you see it, you might eat it

Imagine you're standing in line at the Commons Marketplace. You're hungry. You're short on cash, time and energy. What can you eat that tastes good and is good for you? Kinesiology professor Kathleen Martin and fellow researchers Lori Buscher and Shannon Crocker have the B*E*S*T snack solution. During the fall of 1999 and spring of 2000, more than 2,200 McMaster students encountered large, colourful posters placed in the entrance to the Commons Marketplace cafeteria. The posters emphasized BEST snack food choices -- budget-friendly, energizing, sensory satisfaction/taste and time/convenient -- such as yogurt, pretzels, fruit or vegetable baskets. The posters were used as point-of-purchase (POP) interventions to promote healthful eating to students, emphasizing the benefits of choosing yogurt over french fries as a snack choice. Research has shown that university students tend to snack frequently, skip meals and have diets high in fat but lacking in fruits and vegetables. The POP intervention, conducted at McMaster's largest cafeteria, was part of a study recently published by Buscher, Martin and Crocker in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. POP interventions have often been used at university cafeterias, but have had little success in promoting healthier eating. "Many POP interventions tend to emphasize nutritional labelling, such as fat content. That type of message just can't compete with all the eye-catching food promotions going on in most cafeterias," says Martin. "Even if students read the nutrition labels, they often fail to use that information because it's too difficult to understand and apply."

posted on Oct. 1: School of Business trading centre gets new name today

Described as a no-nonsense businessman whose favourite expression was "Do it now," the late Allen H. Gould would no doubt be pleased to know that effective today, Oct. 1, the Educational Trading Centre in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business will be known as the Allen H. Gould Trading Floor. A ceremony for the unveiling of the Allen H. Gould Trading Floor takes place today at 4 p.m. Tours of the trading floor will be provided. The trading centre will be officially renamed in recognition of the $500,000 gift from the Allen and Milli Gould Family Foundation. The trading floor is a unique teaching facility allowing students to acquire hands-on experience through the use of state-of-the-art systems that deliver real-time data from the financial markets of North America. The trading floor at McMaster is the only one of its kind in English-speaking Canada. Gould, an investor in the stock market, and his wife Milli are well known in Hamilton not just for their philanthropy but also for their successful retail operation, Milli's Boutique. Vishwanath Baba, dean of the School of Business said, "This generous gift from a prominent Hamilton family will help to maintain the high standards that we have worked so hard to achieve at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business. We are proud to have Mr. Gould's name on our trading centre -- it is a gift that will endure for generations to come." The 90-square-metre (1,000-square-foot) facility resembles an actual trading floor in a brokerage operation. It features 20 computer work stations and two large digital display boards that provide up-to-the-minute market data. Nicole Isava, a recent graduate of the honours commerce program said, "The experience I gained in the trading centre helped make a difference when I was looking for employment. Because I already knew how a trading floor operated I was more productive much earlier."

posted on Sept. 27: New e-commerce wing construction affects parking

Parking on the east side of campus will be altered beginning Monday to accommodate construction of the School of Business's new e-commerce wing. This construction is expected to take about eight months. In a message distributed Thursday afternoon to the McMaster community, Karen Belaire, vice-president administration, noted that Parking & Transit Services, the transportation committee and the Campus Plan committee are working to develop a comprehensive parking and traffic strategy for the McMaster community. She noted that everyone needs to be aware of the changes taking place because of new construction on campus. "In the short term we face some considerable challenges that will require the patience, understanding and flexibility of the campus community," she said. "Everyone, regardless of where you park, will need to allow extra time to get on and off campus." Click on Parking at McMaster to read the full message. About 50 parking spaces in Zone 2 will be lost when the fencing for the new e-commerce wing goes up beginning Monday. As well, the access road that runs in front of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business building will be blocked. This will split Zone 2 parking in this area into two sections with the northern section only accessible from Stearn Drive, also known as the perimeter road. Traffic going to Zone 2 parking near the tennis courts or to Zone 1 parking will have to take the perimeter road.