| VOLUME 28, NUMBER 21 | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1998 | ISSN 1199-5246 |
MEDALISTS: Ronald Kent Medal winner Angie Swartz (centre) with past winners Joan Young (left) and Nancy Accinelli
At a special reception on Jan. 21, University President Lorna R. Marsden presented Angie Swartz, administrative assistant in the Department of Political Science, with the Ronald Kent Medal for 1997 for outstanding service to the University.
Swartz has been employed at York for 22 years.
The nominating committee particularly noted Swartz's remarkable contributions to administration in her department, her dedication to the well-being of faculty and her attention to detail.
"Your professional contributions are highly valued, but perhaps even greater is the appreciation by those who work with and know you of the human quality of your leadership," the presidential letter of commendation reads.
The Ronald Kent Award was established in 1979 by the University president to honour the memory of the late Ron Kent for his many years of devoted service to York University. The medal is awarded periodically to recognize outstanding service to the University by a member of the staff.
Previous winners were: Olga Cirak, 1981; Roy Witty, 1983; Joan Young, 1987; Nancy Accinelli, 1988; Frank Jarvis, 1989; Janice Pearson, 1990; Cora Dusk, 1994, and Diane Stadnicki, 1996.
Canadian astronaut Bjarni Tryggvason joined two of his fellow astronauts from the August 1997 Space Shuttle Discovery crew in a visit to York on Friday, Feb. 6.
Tryggvason, shuttle commander Lt.-Col. Curtis L. Brown, Jr., and mission specialist Lt.-Cmdr. Robert Curbeam, Jr. were aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery when it blasted off on Aug. 7, 1997 for an 11-day mission called STS-85. The mission carried a variety of experiments and equipment for research in space.
The astronauts gave a one-hour presentation on the mission, including video, slides and a question-and-answer session. They also toured the Human Performance Laboratory (HPL) of the Centre for Research in Earth and Space Technology (CRESTech), a provincial Centre of Excellence based at York, which is at the forefront of research into how astronauts' perception and sense of balance are affected by space flight.
HPL scientists departed Feb. 7 for the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas for an astronaut training session.
The visit to the University highlighted the close connection between many of York's top-notch researchers and the Canadian and international space programs.
On the STS-85 mission, U.S. astronaut Jan Davis launched a carrier called CRISTA-SPAS, which collected data about atmospheric ozone and temperatures.
The German scientists who developed CRISTA-SPAS are collaborating with scientists from York's Centre for Research in Earth and Space Science (CRESS) and CRESTech. They will compare the data collected by CRISTA-SPAS with data collected simultaneously by the Wind Imaging Interferometer (WINDII), a satellite project led by CRESS Director Gordon Shepherd, a professor of Earth and Atmospheric Science at York.
CRESS is a multidisciplinary research centre, whose members are drawn from the Departments of Earth and Atmospheric Science, Chemistry, Physics and Astronomy, Psychology and Computer Science. They are doing leading-edge work in a broad range of topics in earth and space science. Members of CRESS are also heavily involved in the programs of the Canadian Space Agency.
Tryggvason's work on the
STS-85 mission focused on a project called FLEX, or the Fluid Physics Experiment on MIM (Microgravity Vibration Isolation Mount). MIM is a unique piece of Canadian technology that is intended to isolate experiments from the effects of vibration.
The MIM was developed so that scientists could better conduct experiments on liquids and the interaction between liquid and gas. These experiments can only be done in zero-gravity space, but can be disrupted because of occasional vibrations caused by astronauts moving around or the firing of thrusters. MIM technologies serve to stabilize experiments and prevent them from being affected by these vibrations.
Prior to the STS-85 flight, the MIM had logged more than 400 hours of operational time on the Russian space station, Mir. Tryggvason is the principal investigator for the MIM.
CONGRATULATIONS: Christopher Scott accepts his Canada Scholarship in Environmental Sciences from Governor General Roméo LeBlanc.
Governor General Roméo LeBlanc presented a 1997-98 Governor General's Canada Scholarship in Environmental Sciences to York student Christopher Scott on Jan. 23 in Rideau Hall.
Scott was among 30 winners of Canada Scholarships in Environmental Engineering and Environmental Sciences, sponsored by DuPont Canada Inc. His field of study is atmospheric chemistry.
The Environmental Sciences award was established "to recognize the leading role that Canada Scholars can play in meeting national and international challenges," according to an Industry Canada spokesperson. It is meant to "foster a greater environmental awareness among Canada Scholars and to encourage those who show outstanding commitment to resolving environmental problems."
DuPont Canada Inc. committed $67,500 in 1994 to fund 15 annual $1,500 awards over a period of three years.
To qualify for the award, candidates must: (1) be entering the final year of an undergraduate science degree; (2) over the course of their undergraduate studies, including their final year, have completed, or be registered in, a minimum of seven courses with significant environmental content, and have achieved a first-class standing in all such courses already taken; and (3) demonstrate commitment to, or awareness of, the environment through such activities as past or present work for an environmental research or conservations organization, or summer work on environmental projccts in the private or public sectors. It is recommended that candidates have completed at least one course in the humanities or social sciences that examines the social/global role of science.
"You can be proud of what you have accomplished so far," Governor General Le Blanc informed the scholarship recipients. "I encourage you to pursue careers in these fields, as they are crucial to the protection of the global environment."
Commented industry minister John Manley: "These awards were designed to attract our best students into sectors of the economy that need them most. These future engineers, scientists, technicians and technologists are the key to a strong and vigorous knowledge-based society of the future."
Opinion
The Gazette solicits and accepts opinion pieces for publication, based on their relevance to the University and related topical issues. Articles should be no longer than 650 words in length and, if possible, provided on disk. Submissions should reach the Gazette 15 days prior to publication date. The York Gazette reserves the right to edit, based on space restrictions and/or suitability, and/or to refuse submitted material for inclusion in the Gazette without reason.
by John Court
At a meeting that I attended with York's new president, very early in her tenure, I observed that off-campus alumni generally feel left out of the loop. Brashly taking advantage of our acquaintance through previous settings, I urged President Marsden and her administrative colleagues present to rebuild some bridges by improving communications with York's external communities donors, parents, alumni, neighbouring residents and other potential allies well before key decisions are made. This would help address the periodic need for external support on behalf of private funding, civic improvements (notably a subway extension) and political priority for universities.
Although still early days, any such change is thus far imperceptible from an off-campus perspective, as I was reminded when I chanced across a reference (internally targeted) to the York Senate's Academic Policy & Planning Committee (APPC) report on the future of Glendon. Hello? Where did this come from? Is there a companion document for the Downsview campus?
Well, no, because this is step one for coming to grips with Glendon's festering enrolment issue. And while there are doubtless pockets of under-enrolment at Downsview, Glendon College is occupying prime real estate and seems to be absorbing disproportionate budget funds, in the midst of the whole Mike Harris Meltdown that is squeezing the University.
It would be easy to be cynical about this initiative, after hearing for five years about backroom manoeuvering by York's business school to finesse its way onto the Glendon campus. And apparently the law school as well, according to one student "senator" quoted in The Toronto Star (Jan. 18, 1998).
I don't know the APPC report's writers, but I'm prepared to begin by taking them at their word when they assure us that this is a positive, helpful review of Glendon's academic mandate, budget and enrolment. The terms of reference specified that the APPC report should "review the history" as well as examine the current status and recent circumstances of Glendon. I can't attest to the accuracy of the status report, but the historical review of York's first six years, coinciding with Glendon's first four, is a bit wobbly.
The York Board of Governors (BOG) did not choose among the three different academic models as "a set of choices," "options" or "possibilities" (pp. 3-4); rather, on Oct. 13, 1960 a press conference was held in Falconer Hall, to announce that York would adopt all three models the large, suburban campus on a future site (later Downsview), the evening college (later Atkinson), and a small, liberal arts college on its own campus at Glendon (my italics), which had been offered to them by U of T's Board almost a year earlier (York BOG Minutes, Dec. 18, 1959).
This was the decisive act that created Glendon as we now know it, except for later decisions adjusting residential students to a minority rather than a majority, and the bilingualism and Faculty status that were added in 1966. The Glendon liberal arts college would have a limited enrolment of 1,200 to 1,500 students in all, so that: "This college, if well supported, might well become the brightest star in the Canadian university firmament." (BOG media release, Oct. 13, 1960, p.3). This is a far cry from the APPC report's depiction of Glendon in its early years as a sort of scaled-down rehearsal for Downsview "a companion to the new campus" (p.4). The Board in fact made a clear choice for academic quality and differentiation, through a smaller enrolment, a special curriculum model and a stunningly unique campus. They realized, of course, that there would be a permanent but justified cost differential.
Moreover, what is left altogether undisclosed by the APPC report is that York's ensuing haste to erect new buildings at Glendon in 1961, combined with its elitist, top-down planning and decision process, resulted in the University's first, full-blown community relations fiasco. York's administration and BOG were lambasted all the way to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) by the Metro Conservation Authority, neighbourhood associations and powerful area residents.
Hard lessons were learned that should not have to be repeated, about proceeding slowly and with sensitivity to existing understandings, consulting broadly with all stakeholders, building consensus with a flexibility for outcomes not necessarily preconceived, and communicating extensively throughout. In other practical terms, the land use and development constraints that apply to Glendon were largely imposed through the 1961 OMB judgment, as has been accurately relayed by York's current legal and planning experts into Part IV of the APPC report (p.39). If nothing else, read those four paragraphs.
I approached the APPC report's ensuing sections on later Glendon eras in trepidation of boredom and confusion, but it proved to be quite readable, albeit in a way that would warm an accountant's heart. That is to say, quantitative measures are the chief order of the day, rather than balancing them with qualitative assessments and indicators. One of the few passing references to the latter is a survey finding from York's respected Institute for Social Research. Studying the "York Student Experience" just this past year, the ISR found that "Glendon students report themselves to be more 'highly satisfied' with the instruction they receive than cohorts in other undergraduate Faculties" (pp. 15-16, source referenced).
Also briefly disclosed is the uniqueness for Ontario of Glendon's integrated approach to bilingual and bicultural education, rather than separate English and French streams as at U. of Ottawa, Laurentian et al. Isn't that the essence, however elusive, of the great Canadian ideal? If York is panicked by big-C and small-c conservative backlash and fiscal pressure into throwing in the towel, what would that signal to the rest of the country? Or to next year's Macleans Magazine ratings?
Other qualitative and cultural issues are ignored altogether. There is no mention of general or individual scholarly reputations. Such as those of Glendonites Michael Ondaatje, Irving Abella and Alain Baudot, the latter honoured through France's Palme academique.
If we at least acknowledge the analysis that reputation and results (excellence) and consumer (student) satisfaction are what seem to matter in the post-modern university, it becomes clear that the issue is not whether those outcomes will cost more inevitably they must but whether the difference is worthwhile. In a nutshell, Glendon more than offsets its directly-attributable costs with direct revenues. It falls into the red only when accounting allocations (journal entries) are assigned for indirect costs and overhead.
As for enrolment, Glendon is a long way from being poised to turn out the lights. This year's estimate amounts to 1,463 fiscal full-time equivalents (FFTEs), likely translating into 1,800 or more actual Glendon students. Enrolments are indeed below what they were five years ago, but they remain higher than 10, 15, 20 and more years ago. Finances and enrolments are identified in the report as problematic, not on the basis of longer term and broader social and educational goals, but by comparison with the University's internal, in-year budgets and targets. Doesn't that suggest that the issues to be addressed involve more realistic budgeting and targeting, along with more sophisticated and aggressive marketing of Glendon?
In the meantime, here's to a more careful, consultative and fully informed approach to the future of what can yet become "the brightest star in the Canadian university firmament."
John P.M. Court, York-Glendon '63, is an independent historian and archivist. The opinions expressed are those of the writer and are published in the York Gazette as a means of stimulating discussion about the APPC report on Glendon College and the alternatives presented therein. The York Gazette accepts opinion pieces for publication, based on their relevance to the University and related topical issues.
Deadline Dates
early March
Max Bell Foundation: Grants
March 1
Alzheimer's Association: Research Grants
Banting Research Foundation: Research Grants
Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies: Neporany Research and Teaching Fellowship
Centre for Excellence on Research on Immigration and Settlement: Request for Proposals
Corporate-Higher Education Forum: Bell Canada Forum Award; Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Ltd. Forum Award
Dairy Farmers of Canada: Research Funding Program (full application; letter of intent due October 1)
Donner (William H.) Foundation, Inc.: Research Grants
German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD): DAAD Prizes for Best Syllabi in German Studies
Health and Human Services (U.S. Department of): Public Health Service Grants: Competing Continuation, Supplemental and Revised Grants
Health Canada: NHRDP Personnel Awards Program (Postdoctoral Fellowship, Research Scholar Award)
Hospital for Sick Children Foundation: External Grants Program
International Cystic Fibrosis (Mucoviscidosis) Association (ICF(M)A): Research Project Grants, Scholarships, Training Courses for Allied Health Professionals, and Visiting "Expert"
Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International (The Diabetes Research Foundation): Research Grants (full application due; first two pages of application due February 15)
Medical Research Council (MRC): Research Funding Programs: Clinical Trials, Equipment Grants, Maintenance Grants, Operating Grants, Workshops and Symposia
Newberry Library (Chicago): American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Fellowships, Arthur Weinberg Fellowship for Independent Scholars, Short-Term Resident Fellowships for Individual Research
Pacific Cultural Foundation: Research Grant in Chinese Studies
Pioneer Hi-Bred International: Competitive Grants Program (preproposal only; full proposals due August 1)
Resources for the Future: Gilbert F. White Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
Rockefeller Foundation (Bellagio Study & Conference Center): Individual, Collaborative & Parallel Residencies; International Conferences
United States Institute of Peace: Unsolicited Grants
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (Washington, D.C.): Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies Short-Term Grants
York University (administered by ORA): Contract Faculty (CUPE 3903) Fund; Elia (Mariano A.) Research Fund Hospital for Sick Children
External Grants Program
The External Grants Program supports biomedical, psychosocial and applied research projects that are relevant to the health of Canada's children and significant in terms of their potential impact on health outcome. Current funding priorities include: native health; applied clinical research; psychosocial projects, especially mental health of children with major illness and psychosocial impact of paediatric illness or hospitalisation; and studies reflective of our multicultural society. Grants are made up to $65,000/year, for up to two years.
Deadline: March 2 for letter of intent; full application is due April 30.
Centre for Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement (CERIS)
Request for Proposals.
CERIS supports research into the impact of immigration on the Greater Toronto Area and on the integration of immigrants into Canadian society. The program is intended to allow for the provision of training opportunities, and to disseminate policy and program relevant research information. CERIS is requesting research proposals in the following three areas: Children and Youth; Cohesion, Citizenship, and Social Climate; and Institutional Restructuring and Policy Change. It is anticipated that $150,000 be divided between five and ten projects, of one, two, or three years duration.
Deadline: March 3
United States Institute of Peace
Unsolicited Grants
The United States Institute of Peace seeks to limit international violence and to achieve peace based upon freedom, justice, and human dignity. The Institute offers financial support for research, education and training, and the dissemination of information on international peace and conflict resolution. Unsolicited Grants are offered across a broad range of disciplines, skills, and approaches. Topic areas of interest include, but are not restricted to, international conflict resolution; diplomacy; negotiation theory; "track-two" diplomacy, methods of third-party dispute settlement; international law; international organizations and collective security; deterrence and balance of power; arms control; psychological theories about international conflict; the role of nonviolence and non-violent sanctions; moral and ethical thought about conflict and conflict resolution; and theories about relationships among political institutions, human rights, and conflict. Grants are in the $25,000 to $45,000 range, although somewhat larger grants are also awarded. The duration is between one to two years.
Deadline: March 1
The Office of Research Administration (ORA) would like to remind faculty members of these research opportunities with upcoming deadlines. Deadlines listed are those of the granting agencies. Applications for external sources of funding (i.e., outside York) must be submitted to ORA before forwarding them to the agencies. To assist in meeting these deadlines, it is recommended that applications be submitted to ORA one to two weeks prior to the deadline dates.
For more information, please contact ORA at -55055 in S414 Ross Building (e-mail: research@yorku.ca).
Projection for the unseeing visual aid #1 detail
Yvonne Singer 1997 Photo: Jeff Nouse
An exhibition at the Glendon Gallery entitled Topographies of the Skin: Charting the Interface features works by Michael Davey and Yvonne Singer, both Fine Arts professors at York and members of the Red Head Gallery artists' collective. Other members of the collective with works in the show are Gunilla Josephson, Patrick Mahon, Edward Pien and Jeannie Thib.
Topographies of the Skin "is an exploration of how surface marks on or about the body negotiate between individual and group identities," a gallery spokesperson says.
Tila Kellman, the exhibition's guest curator, adopted the concept after viewing L'idee de traces, a project conceived by galerie Langage Plus in Alma, Quebec. Kellman has taken the concept of landscape, traditionally associated with nature, and transferred it to the skin and its substitutes clothing, blankets, armour, eyeglasses and domestic space.
Following is an excerpt from the show's catalogue.
"The practices of Jeannie Thib, Patrick Mahon and Gunilla Josephson describe the skin as a site of symbolic interchange which is easily displaced on to other surfaces. It is here where the world and I meet first and make sense of each other. When Thib and Mahon use highly stylized floral textile and wallpaper designs from the 19th century, they point out how Westerners have been describing ourselves for a long time as an integral part of the natural world, while re-designing and distancing ourselves from it. Furthermore, this relationship has a history, and the designs with which we decorate our skin and its displacements construct an archive of how we have mediated our touch with the natural world.
"Mahon's work further questions the traditional assignment of domestic interiors and floral designs as 'feminine.' They are above all signs and sites of intimacy and care, and provide a storehouse for re-figuring the Western heroic and violent male. Rather than referring to 'nature,' Josephson's work is concerned with her Nordic tradition as an inherited protective and moulding skin. Her blanket reproduces a design from a tablecloth in the home of Edvard Grieg, while the armour recalls warrior gods and Vikings. Now based in Canada, Josephson asks how inherited tradition from elsewhere can serve as a portable interface between cultures rather than an ossifying shell.
"Singer's giant spectacles add language to the symbolic interfaces with which we negotiate belonging here. Etched in French and English with pronouns and verbs, and fragments of private dreams and memories, language itself is implicated as part of memory and tradition. Together they prove an insecure means for negotiating belonging. Nonetheless, this is the 'natural' way for human beings to belong here...
"The irony of the problematic form of a negotiable interface spreads across the surface of Michael Davey's charm sculptures. The charms are historical stock items produced for the tourist industry by many locations and institutions. They are stereotypes of 'we who belong here' produced to negotiate the tourist gaze. Inside a culture enclosed in utilitarian technique turned loose on natural resources, freed to invent identities without traditional spiritual or metaphoric constraints, am I becoming a monster? How do I ask who else belongs here? Who gives permission to be here? Most important, how do I negotiate belonging?
"In a trans-cultural and industrialized world, charting the interface is an anxious practice."
Topographies of the Skin: Charting the Interface continues at the Glendon Gallery until March 15.
The Academic and Policy and Planning Committee of Senate has issued a discussion paper setting out academic options for Glendon College. The paper is based on submissions received from the Community during the past two months. Proposals forwarded to APPC have been deposited in the Scott and Frost Libraries, the University Secretariat and Faculty Council offices. In the next stage of the process APPC will hold a series of public meetings on the Glendon and Keele campuses at the following places and times:
Tuesday, February 24: Cafeteria, York Hall, Glendon College,
7 to 9 p.m. Note: new location.
Tuesday, March 3: Senate Chamber, Ross Building, Keele Campus,
7 to 9 p.m.
Wednesday, March 4: Senate Chamber, Ross Building,
Keele Campus, 4 to 6 p.m.
Thursday, March 5: Cafeteria, York Hall, Glendon College,
1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Friday, March 6: Senate Chamber, Ross Building, Keele Campus,
12 to 2 p.m.
The meetings will be moderated by the chair of APPC,
Professor Nick Rogers. Arrangements have been made to provide French-English translation. Members of APPC will be in attendance at the public meetings, and they look forward to hearing from
the community.
Following the public consultation round APPC will prepare recommendations for Senate.
For a copy of the discussion paper, please contact the University Secretariat (S883 Ross 736-5012) or visit the Senate Website (http://www.yorku.ca/senate).
