Daily News

posted on Jan. 22: Popular dance styles keep centre a hip hoppin’

The move by the McMaster Centre for Dance to offer dance classes that focus on popular culture is proving to be a very successful one, given the attendance at several recent performances. Shows presented by a variety of McMaster dancers, at Robinson Memorial Theatre and at Hamilton Place, were staged in front of full houses, a sign that dance is alive and well in Hamilton. Over 275 people attended the end-of-term Amalgam dance production shown in Robinson Memorial Theatre on Dec. 2 and 3. They enjoyed a diverse program featuring the McMaster Dancers, the McMaster Hip Hop Dance Company, the Jedi Ninja Crew & Affiliates (break dancing) and the Inner City Ballet. And last week the dance club's Centre Stage show, featuring belly to ballet and beginners and experts, resulted in two sold-out shows at Hamilton Place. "There are about a dozen 12-year-olds from the Westdale area taking hip hop, and we had one 11-year-old taking break classes."

posted on Jan. 19: Ocean research could change the way we forecast the weather

Oceans cover 80 per cent of the Earth's surface, but we know surprisingly little about how oceans influence world weather patterns. McMaster geologist Mike Risk expects to fathom some answers through a new research project that will study deep-sea corals. "The corals are like the Rosetta stones of the sea," says Risk. "They are an untapped record of weather patterns that stretch back hundreds of years. Revealing the climatic records will bring new accuracy to the science of weather forecasting and will also create a new bank of information about how the oceans process carbon dioxide, which is a key factor in global warming." "The reason the present climate models don't work as well as they should is that most of the observations are on land, and most of the action, the driving force of climate change, is in the ocean. We need to know more about what happens in the deep sea, and the corals provide a clear record of what has happened over the centuries. Comparing the coral data to recorded weather patterns will provide new insight into past weather patterns and future climate modelling."

posted on Jan. 24: Provost delivers his State of the Academy address today

University provost and vice-president academic Harvey Weingarten presents his 2001 State of the Academy address " Whither McMaster? Managing Our Growth for 2003 -- The Double Cohort Year" today (Jan. 24) from 12:30 p.m. to 1:20 p.m.in HSC-1A1. McMaster is planning to receive a double cohort of students who will graduate from Ontario high schools in the year 2003. This double cohort is part of a larger demographic increase in the number of 18-24 year-old students seeking admission to university. The provost will talk about why the way we do things at McMaster must change, the direction of these changes, and the capacity of McMaster to change sufficiently, to meet the challenges of the double cohort. Success stories that should make one optimistic about McMaster's future will be provided. All members of the University and Hamilton communities are welcome. In previous talks, the provost has discussed the academic duties of the professoriate and issues relating to institutional renewal. His 1999 talk on the professoriate is located at www.mcmaster.ca/newsevents/state99.htm and his 2000 talk on institutional renewal was distributed to faculty and staff in the summer. (END OF STORY)