| VOLUME 28, NUMBER 35 | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 1998 | ISSN 1199-5246 |
'TEMPORARILY ABLE-BODIED': Stroke survivor Bonnie Sheer Klein sees her role as providing a bridge between communities.
That was the view from my filmmaker's eye, but my other eye flinched from this display. I hated seeing the droolers at the gym (though I also drooled). There was a young couple who always seemed to be slobbering. I wanted to yell at them, "Control yourselves, you're grown-ups." They flailed their limbs around with no control, contorted their mouths to utter stretched words I couldn't discern, and hooted their laughter, or was it grief? Everyone at the gym was always joking and raucous. The patients pulled tricks on the therapists and the therapists teased the patients and everyone laughed their heads off. Most of it was grade-school humour about colostomy bags and impotence. I thought it was sick: what do these people have to laugh about? (In truth, I envied their camaraderie.) Bonnie Sherr Klein, Slow Dance: A Story of Stroke, Love and Disability, Vintage Canada, 1997
We are almost all disabled in one way or another. And if we aren't disabled currently, we are certain to become disabled if we live long enough. So author, filmmaker and advocate for the disabled Bonnie Sherr Klein reminded her audience, during her keynote address to the 11th annual Conference on Equity in the Classroom, Equity in the Curriculum, on Friday, May 8 at York's Keele campus.
The two-day conference was co-presented by York's Centre for Feminist Research and drew teachers and planners in primary and secondary schools, community colleges and universities, who are implementing equality and inclusiveness in the classroom. It also brought together specialists from all levels of the education system who are working on a variety of equality issues.
Klein is the author of the best-selling book, Slow Dance: A Story of Stroke, Love and Disability. It is an intimate, frank and compelling account of her catastrophic stroke and its aftermath, and interweaves Klein's own narrative of her fight to return to a full and active life with reports from her husband and children, her friends, her therapists and the neurosurgeon who saved her life.
The director/producer of such National Film Board documentaries as Not A Love Story, Speaking Our Peace and Mile Zero, Klein also was the subject of her own award-winning CBC radio series, Bonnie & Gladys, about being a person with a disability. She arrived at Lecture Room A in the Ross Building on "Gladys," her motorized scooter.
Describing herself as having been "temporarily able-bodied," Klein said that she saw her role as providing "a bridge between communities." One asset she brought to the task, she explained, was that, prior to her disabling illness, she had developed self-esteem.
She encouraged audience members to share the first words that occurred to them when she said, "disabled." The several responses included: "immobile," "crippled," "incompetent," "marginalized," "patronized," "blind, deaf and dumb," "misunderstood" and "invisible."
When Klein asked the audience, "What's great about teaching the disabled?," their comments ranged from: "valuing small gains," "inclusion" and "empowering students" to "looking at issues of control," "affirmation," "the right to right to live life to the fullest," and "fulfilment of your responsibilities as a human being." Quipped Klein: "Teachers are much more in touch with being human than medical professionals.
Asked, "What's hard about teaching the disabled?," audience responses included: "no support, no money," "the constant struggle to be taken seriously," "lack of training," "not enough time," "working through your own biases," "physical hardships," and "they die."
Klein talked about the epiphany she experienced one October day in Boston when she and her physician husband stumbled "(wheeled?)" into Boston's first annual Disability Pride Day. Surrounded by others in wheelchairs, "sip and puff" chairs and special rigs for disabled children, Klein joined in the chant: "Disabled and PROUD!"
"I felt like we were making a revolution," she said. "Here were 'rolling models' galore! This crowd of exuberant freaks taught me something like pride."
One of her self-assigned responsibilities is to encourage the news and entertainment media to address disability issues, Klein explained. "The media see disability as boring. It's usually on the bottom of people's list."
She was a filmmaker and a feminist prior to becoming disabled, Klein said. As a member of the National Film Board's Studio D, she sometimes found the demands of organizations for the disabled "excessive, even strident."
Suddenly disabled, at first she avoided making friends with her fellow "inmates" in the hospital wards and clinics where she found herself, Klein admitted.
"I had never had disabled people in my life," she said. "In retrospect, disability was a scary taboo." The result was that, once disabled, she had no role models, though the importance of role models and peer support at such a time is crucial.
Klein invited her conference audience to think of her presentation as a course called Disability 101. "Who are we? We are who you are. ... We're everybody. We're all of you," she said.
"There's no clear line between abled and disabled," said Klein, noting that many in the audience likely could not read without their glasses. "Demographically, the number of disabled is estimated to be one in five." It is also important to remember that "a disability is not the person. It is not that person's defining characteristic," she said.
The primary problem of disabled persons, as a group, Klein said, "is that we are disproportionately poor." The costs of living with a disability are enormous, she noted. "That is especially true for those with multiple jeopardies people of colour, female, old."
A former teacher, Klein identified "the issues that concern us as educators" as including easing the lives of the disabled by making facilities mobility-accessible, and ensuring that talking books, adapted computers and other helpful technologies are available. For those with intellectual disabilities, plain language is important, she said. "If educators assume a person can't learn, it become a self-fulfilling prophecy."
It's important to be sensitive to all disabilities, said Klein, noting that "One person's allergies are triggered by another person's guide dog."
Too often, the disabled are thought of as "burdensome, expensive and useless," she said. Public compassion for Robert Latimer for the murder of his daughter, Tracey, is misplaced, Klein asserted. "Tracey was probably not in more pain than many other people with cerebral palsy," she said. "There are some highly functioning people with cerebral palsy."
The disabled "insist on a voice in decisions being made about us," Klein stated. She urged her audience, as teachers, "to have the highest expectations for each of your students. You are an enormously powerful influence."
CHINA HAND: Seth Feldman shared Canadian films with Chinese fans.
Canadian films provided a "window to the world" for about 15,000 people in Beijing, China, who attended a Canadian film retrospective co-organized by York University and the China Film Archive, May 19 to June 2.
The selection of films attracted interest from China's cultural sector, said Seth Feldman, dean of York's Faculty of Fine Arts, who was co-organizer and one of three Canadian speakers at the event.
The other organizer was Professor Wang Rui, senior research Fellow at the China Film Archive and China Film Art Research Centre. Prof. Wang chose the films for the series during his six-week residency at York last summer. He had previously taught a course on Contemporary Chinese Cinema in York's Department of Film and Video. Wang will be returning to York in the fall of 1999 to teach a course on Chinese Silent Film.
The retrospective was hosted by the China Film Archive and State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. The event was supported by Canadian Airlines and the Canadian Embassy in Beijing. Linda Herskovitz, counsellor, Cultural and Educational Affairs at the Canadian Embassy, was directly involved in assisting with the logistics of planning the event.
"The response to the Canadian films was very strong throughout the retrospective," said Feldman. "As well, we had really good discussions at the symposium and talked heart-to-heart with the Chinese filmmakers."
While many Chinese films have come to Canada in recent years, Canadian films and filmmakers remain largely unknown in China, and the retrospective was aimed at helping to redress that balance. At the grand opening were Feldman and the other invited Canadian speakers Eugene Walz, head of the University of Manitoba's film studies program, and filmmaker Mort Ransen, director of Margaret's Museum, the series' opening film.
The retrospective gave Chinese audiences "a rare opportunity to see Canadian films," Feldman says. "At the same time, it gave us the chance to share our stories."
Eight feature films had their Chinese premieres in the screenings. They ranged from popular hits to lesser known gems, and they spanned the country from British Columbia to Cape Breton, reflecting the many different voices, histories, and sensibilities that define our country and our national cinema.
Atom Egoyan's Exotica and Jean-Claude Lauzon's Léolo were shown to an invited audience in conjunction with the symposium. Feldman described the symposium as "a kind of scrum" with about 50 Chinese film directors, critics and scholars putting questions to the three Canadians. "They were very sharp, and they asked some tough questions," Feldman said. "It was three hours of really having to think on our feet."
Like Canada, China is beginning to grapple with the problem of Hollywood's domination of the film industry, Feldman said. The blockbuster, Titanic, is currently playing in theatres throughout Beijing, and new movie houses had been built for it. "Titanic is an enormous fad all over Beijing right now. It's the Western cultural icon of the moment. It is outgrossing the Chinese films at the box office, and it has many Chinese filmmakers worried."
Chinese filmmakers were interested in the Canadians' position on American domination of the film industry "and how we continue to make films in the face of that domination," Feldman said. "We told them that the biggest problem for us is not the quality of our films, but in getting people to know about them."
The Chinese film industry is in "a precarious state," said Feldman. Although some brilliant Chinese films have been made over the last 15 years with the loosening of censorship, and a number of Chinese directors have developed international reputations, the changes in the country are a challenge, he said. "Chinese filmmakers are now facing the worst of both worlds. Titanic has shown them that they are now in competition with Hollywood, and with the Chinese government allowing more American films into China, they are seeing the need to make commercial productions that make money. On the other hand, they still face political censorship."
The symposium covered other issues. "They asked, 'If your films are supposed to be a reflection of who you are as a people, why do they have so many crazy people in them?' We really had to think about how to answer that one," Feldman said. "Eventually, the best answer to that question came from Mort Ransen. He wondered out loud if you have to be crazy to make films in Canada. And maybe that comes out on the screen."
Organizing the film retrospective was a herculean task compounded by distance and language barriers, Feldman said. "People warned us not to take it on.
"Setting all this up was a huge enterprise. Usually, it takes an entire agency to organize a film festival. We worked very hard on it, and I have to give special thanks to my assistant, Marie Gonsalves, and one of our Film and Video graduate students, Jennifer Vanderburgh. We did it because it was an opportunity we couldn't pass up."
China's increasing fascination with the West could be seen everywhere, Feldman said. "People were carrying their cellular phones by the Great Wall. There are storefront computer schools offering Microsoft-approved training. And the foreign fast food restaurants include not only McDonalds but also, as our guide told us, 'The Small House of Pizza' and 'The Roast Duck of Kentucky.'" (These proved to be rough translations of the franchise names, Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken.)
Former Atkinson dean named president of University College of the Fraser Valley
Harold (Skip) Bassford, 55, dean of Atkinson College (1992-1997), has been named president of the University College of the Fraser Valley (UCFV).
UCFV is a comprehensive undergraduate, post-secondary institution located in the Fraser Valley, about 100 km east of Vancouver. The college offers a variety of degrees, diplomas, certificates and courses.
"We have recruited an outstanding individual to the presidency of UCFV," said board chairman Noel Hall in a recent news release. "He possesses a unique blend of solid scholarly achievement, an outstanding record as an educational administrator, and a flair for innovation and creativity in post-secondary education."
Prof. Barry Fowler part of team that designed facility for Neurolab space shuttle
Professor Barry Fowler, School of Physical Education - Kinesiology and Health Science, is a member of the team that designed a monitoring mechanism that was used during STS-90, the Columbia Neurolab space shuttle mission, to explore why astronaut job performance suffers in space, according to a recent story in the Winnipeg Free Press.
Fowler assisted Dr. Otmar Bock from the Physiological Institute of the German Sports University with the design of the Visuo-motor Co-ordination Facility (VCF) for Bristol Aerospace. The VCF took Bristol two years to develop at its Winnipeg plant. It consists of a lap-top computer that transmits different moving patterns onto a screen. The astronaut, with two LEDs (light-emitting diodes) in his glove tips, follows the pattern with his hand, but can't see his hands. His accuracy is recorded by two video cameras.
The VCF also tests grasping, tracking movements and responses to sudden and gradual target changes. The experiment was performed by the shuttle crew before, during and after the flight.
The VCF "performed flawlessly," Prof. Fowler informed the Gazette. "It will be coming to my lab in a few weeks, at which time we will conduct additional experiments with it."
Prof. Diethard K. Bohme is recipient of John C. Polyani Award
Diethard K. Bohme, Distinguished Research Professor of Chemistry with the Centre for Research in Earth and Space Science, has received the John C. Polyani Award. Sponsored by Xerox Research Centre of Canada, the award is for excellence in research in physical and theoretical chemistry or chemical physics carried out in Canada.
Bohme's previous research awards include an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship (1974-1976), the Rutherford Memorial Medal in Chemistry of the Royal Society of Canada (1981), the Noranda Award (1983), an A. Von Humboldt Reserch Prize (1990) and a Canada Council Killam Fellowship (1991-93). He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1994. In 1992, he was co-editor of a book entitled, Chemistry and Spectroscopy of Interstellar Molecules.
Bohme's early research emphasized laboratory measurements of the kinetics and thermodynamics of gas-phase ion/molecule reactions. His measurements of proton-transfer (acid/base) and nucleophilic displacement reactions established, for the first time, intrinsic reactivities for ions found in solution and the absolute influence of stepwise solvation on these reactivities. Later he turned his attention also to the importance of ion/molecule reactions as a probe for molecules, particularly those present in hydrocarbon flames, and in the synthesis of molecules, particularly as it is perceived to occur in interstellar clouds and circumstellar environments.
More recently, Prof. Bohme began research on the exohedral chemistry of fullerene molecules.
Sport York offers summer basketball, volleyball, tennis camps
For boys and girls ages 10 through 18, Sport York offers two summer volleyball camps, each one week in duration, July 6-10 and 13-17.
The camps are held at York's Tait McKenzie Centre and are designed to address the needs of athletes looking to develop their volleyball skills and playing abilities in a fun-filled and exciting environment that challenges them to be the best they can be. Participants are guided through a comprehensive and systematic developmental program in basic and advanced skills.
The featured camp staff include Wally Dyba, York Yeomen head coach (six Ontario titles), Hernan Humana, York Yeowomen head coach and Olympic beach volleyball coach, and Merv Mosher, former Yeowomen head coach (13 Ontario titles). All are physical education professors at York and all have coaching experience at the national and international levels. Camper to instructor ratio is six to one.
Fees include daily lunch, optional recreational swim, camp t-shirt and more. Team, family and multi-week discounts are available. Registration is $199 per week, including GST.
Other Sport York summer camps includes: Basketball Camp, July 20-24 and 27-31; Track & Field Camp, June 22-July 4 and Aug. 4-17; Tennis Camp, July 6-10, 13-17, 20-24 and 27-31; Fun Days, July 6-10 and July 13-17; and Dance Intensive, July 20-24.
For more information, call Sport York at ext. 66336 or email: sprtyork@yorku.ca.
FES prof Reg Lang now a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners
Professor Reg Lang, associate dean in the Faculty of Environmental Studies, has been elected a Fellow by the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) in recognition of his "outstanding contribution to Canadian planning."
Lang has served as an elected member of CIP's National Council, has been CIP's national examiner, and was a founding member of the Atlantic Planners Institute. His many contributions to the field of planning include a co-authored article in 1986 that became the basis for the Institute's written examination for entry to the profession across Canada.
He was previously honoured by the Institute in 1963 when his Master's thesis won that year's certificate of distinction, and again in 1997 when he received the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal for "worthy and devoted service to the planning profession in Canada."
Prof. Lang holds a BE in civil engineering (Saskatchewan), an MSc in community planning (Manitoba), and an EdD in adult education (OISE/Toronto). Over a 28-year career at York, his teaching, research, service and professional practice have progressed through various forms of planning -- urban and regional, environmental, energy-conservation, waste-management, strategic. More recently, this work has been focused on planning and coaching for people, organizations and communities in transition. An upcoming sabbatical project is a book for non-planners, emphasizing planning as a basic human activity that is necessarily both deliberate and emergent.
Over the years, hundreds of graduate students have taken Lang's planning courses. One thing that seems to stick with them, he observes, is "awakening the little planner within."
Osgoode Hall students take all three top prizes in national essay competition
Three Osgoode Hall Law School students have won all three prizes in a prestigious, national essay competition.
Named in honour of former provincial family division judge Abraham Lieff, the Lieff Family Law Essay Competition is administered by the Canadian Bar Association, Ontario, but permits entries by students from across Canada who are enrolled in family law courses.
Winner of the $300 first prize is third year Osgoode Hall student Tamara Barclay with her essay entitled, "Same Sex Spousal Benefits."
Second prize winner is Cheryl Gzik, a second year Osgoode Hall Law School student, who was awarded $200 for her essay entitled, "Family Violence."
Mariellen (Ellie) Venhole, another third year student at Osgoode, won third prize and $100 for her essay, devoted to the challenges encountered by "Women Lawyers Who Are Mothers." Venhole and Barclay both graduated with LLB degrees from Osgoode Hall Law School on Friday, June 12.
by Mary Ann Horgan
NOT JUST KID STUFF: Christine Provost says story-telling is important.
Telling stories is not just kid stuff. That's the view of Christine Provost (BA Founders 1996), a professional storyteller, writer, researcher and designer. She believes that human beings need stories to give them a sense of identity, and that stories help us to find our place in the world.
"Telling stories is important in learning about yourself and where you come from," says Provost. "Every culture under the sun has its stories, and those stories are about the way we see the world."
Stories explain an individual's place in the scheme of things; they explain unsolved mysteries and provide answers to deep, complicated questions. "We can't live without stories," Provost says. "We are all telling stories constantly, even if we are not storytellers. Your whole life is a story, and you are writing it as you live.
"We create a story about ourselves, and the story comes partly from our ancestry, partly from our environment and partly from our own personal culture and mythology the things we believe about ourselves."
We also need to hear other peoples' stories, she adds. "That's why people buy biographies."
Provost grew up in Jamaica and story time was a daily event. "Every night we'd lie down in bed and my mother would make up the most unbelievable stories. It was our bedtime ritual, and that's how I got drawn to stories."
Although some might argue that North America's majority culture lacks the rich oral traditions of the West Indies or the First Nations, Provost believes that the majority culture does have its own strong oral traditions, but they are not to be found where you might think.
"Radio programs and television talk shows are our oral tradition," she says. "So are the people gossiping on the bus."
Business meetings and monologues are other forms of stories, she adds. "Any time you speak, your voice creates energy and gives you the power to change things. What you say, your tone of voice, your lingo, it's all part of the story you are telling."
Provost has a diverse ethnic heritage with ancestors who were of Indian, French, Jewish, Scottish, Irish, German, Chinese, African, Scottish and Italian backgrounds. As a child, she was sometimes teased.
"I didn't fit into any one group because I looked different," she said. "Nobody accepted me, so I had to try to figure out where I fit in.
"Now when I see children being teased for being different, I want to help by sharing my experiences. It doesn't matter whether your mixedness comes from blood or culture kids who are mixed don't have to deny part of who they are. They can find things in common. I want to let kids see that kids from other cultures are real people, just like them."
One of Provost's favourite stories is a tale about how the world got its cultures. "I wrote it, but it's not just my story. I believe it is everybody's story, because it is part of everybody's mythology."
As an author-performer, Provost has visited schools and told stories, some with snippets of the Creole language, aimed at getting children to see things from the point of view of others. "The stories aim to help them see themselves in other people," she says. "If I tell a story that helps a child to understand better someone from another culture, then it is all worthwhile."
At its meeting of May 28, 1998, the Senate of York University:
* heard remarks by President Lorna Marsden on recent post-secondary public policy initiatives, the appointment of Professor Phillip Silver as dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, the status of an inquiry into an incident that occurred on the picket line during YUFA's 1997 strike, the success of a reception for prestigious scholars admitted to York, and the May 29 installation ceremony of the new Chancellor;
* approved amendments to Senate's Policy on Women's Remembrance Day proposed by the Executive Committee with the result that Senate continues to endorse a University-wide initiative to commemorate Women's Remembrance Day, involving faculty, staff and students;
* noted that the Chair of Senate and the Chair of the Board will conduct a review of procedures governing the search for Chancellors as reported by the Executive Committee;
* approved, in principle, the objectives outlined in a document entitled "Proposal for the Establishment of a Doctor of Chiropractic Degree" for the establishment of a degree of Doctor of Chiropractic, the program to be offered in cooperation with the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College; the approval was based on a recommendation by the Academic Policy and Planning Committee;
* noted the concurrence recorded by the Academic Policy and Planning Committee for the establishment of the Scotiabank Professorship in International Business and the Jack T. Saywell Visiting Professorship;
* noted a progress report on the documentation of research/
scholarly activities from the Academic Policy and Planning Committee and the associate vice-president (research and faculties);
* approved the granting of degrees, diplomas and certificates at Spring Convocation and noted the recipients of honorary degrees and other distinctions at the ceremonies as recommended by the Committee on Curriculum and Academic Standards;
* approved the establishment of a Certificate in Health Informatics;
* approved revisions to Senate's graduate diploma legislation;
* noted a report prepared by the Committee on Curriculum and Academic Standards Advisory Group on Distance Education;
* noted new and revised awards approved by the Senate Committee on Admissions, Recruitment and Student Assistance;
* noted the recipients of prestigious awards for graduating and entering students as selected by the Senate Committee on Admissions, Recruitment and Student Assistance;
* approved the continuation of the Centre for Research on Work and Society for a period of five years subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions within the first year of the renewal period as stipulated by the Senate Committee on Research;
* approved the continuation of the Centre for International and Strategic Studies for a period of five years as recommended by the Senate Committee on Research;
* noted the recipients of the Parents' Association University-Wide Teaching Awards.
For further information, please contact the University Secretariat.
Following are the citations for the 1998 Parents' Association University-Wide Teaching Awards. The awards were presented at Spring 1998 Convocations.
JOHN B. RIDPATH
Professor John Ridpath has been selected by the Senate Committee on Teaching and Learning as co-recipient of the 1998 Parents' Association University-Wide Teaching Award for senior full-time faculty.
Prof. Ridpath epitomizes excellence in university teaching, and the range of his accomplishments as an educator defies summation here. For over 30 years, he has been a respected colleague, teacher and mentor within the Economics Department and Social Science Division of the Faculty of Arts, with an extensive record of scholarly publications, conference presentations and public appearances, and of having served on numerous departmental, faculty and Senate committees.
Today, we have the pleasure of recognizing what his students from over the years already know that John Ridpath is an extraordinary teacher, who has profoundly influenced the careers and lives of thousands of York graduates. In the words of one colleague, he is "a teachers' teacher," who has spent his career devoted to undergraduate students, in the classroom, in office hours and at student-organized events. On student evaluations, he has consistently ranked as one of the top instructors for decades. Incoming students just seem to know that they should "take economics from Ridpath."
John's combination of passion, commitment and openness is profoundly compelling to students. He is an incredibly dynamic speaker with the power to enthrall, arouse and educate, all at the same time. He has the extraordinary ability to make a difficult subject, not only crystal clear, but also intriguing. He has tremendous patience with students who have trouble understanding material and has always been willing to meet individually with students after class, helping them through difficulties and pointing them towards further reading and studies.
In addition to glowing testimonials from his colleagues, dozens of letters from past and present students were submitted in support of his nomination for this reward, declaring him to be "the best prof I have ever had" or "the man who got me interested in economics." A student he taught 30 years ago, Sheldon Levy, president of Sheridan College and former vice-president of York University, recalled John's genuine interest in his students and constant encouragement and support, even to the point of offering his home telephone number when he was forced to cancel a tutorial due to illness.
York University takes pride in recognizing the extraordinary excellence and generous contribution of John Ridpath to teaching and learning to students.
JURIJ DAREWYCH
Professor Jurij Darewych has been selected by the Senate Committee on Teaching and Learning as co-recipient of the 1998 Parents' Association University-Wide Teaching Award for senior full-time faculty.
Throughout a distinguished career of more than three decades in the Physics and Astronomy and the Mathematics Departments, Prof. Darewych's accomplishments, expertise and abilities have been recognized by a continuous and impressive stream of national and international research and teaching awards, honours, grants and fellowships. He has an extensive and impressive publication record, a consistently active and highly respected research program, and a history of serving on a range of departmental and faculty committees.
Today, York University takes pride in recognizing Prof. Darewych's extraordinary contribution to teaching and learning. Respected by colleagues as a master teacher and mentor for students and faculty alike, his dedication is legendary, as are his oft-heard encouragements: "No thought is clear until it is clear" and "There is no such thing as a dumb question."
His outstanding abilities and wide-ranging experience allow him to teach the majority of courses offered by Physics and Astronomy. He presents a coherent combination of well-paced lectures, innovative assignments and fair testing procedures that illuminate the course content and reinforce the learning process. As a lecturer, he is superbly organized, often distributing notes in advance, allowing students to concentrate on understanding rather than recording the material. His meticulous preparation permits a relaxed delivery of brilliantly clear lectures on what is often very difficult and abstract material. But it is his enthusiasm, humour and engaging warmth that have animated his lectures and drawn students to him outside of class.
It has long been known that his door is always open and Prof. Darewych is ready to provide helpful, objective advice. Numerous letters from students attest to his constant encouragement of their rigorous academic development and the pivotal role he played in their scholarly development, as well as his approachability, unflagging kindness and genuine concern.
It is with pleasure and pride that we recognize the extraordinary excellence of Prof. Jurij Darewych's contributions to teaching and learning at York University.
SUSAN DIMOCK
Professor Susan Dimock has been selected by the Senate Committee on Teaching and Learning as recipient of the 1998 Parents' Association University-Wide Teaching Award for full-time faculty.
In the relatively brief span of seven years that Prof. Dimock has been a member of the Philosophy Department of the Faculty of Arts, she has established a reputation as a truly exceptional teacher and mentor of undergraduate and graduate students, a prolific and distinguished scholarly researcher and writer, a willing contributor to the work of numerous departmental, faculty and university committees, and an active participant in a number of professional organizations.
Prof. Dimock creates and maintains a stimulating and supportive learning environment through a variety of pedagogical techniques. Her lectures are clear, accessible and interesting, made even more memorable by her talent for providing graphic, everyday examples to what can potentially be tedious theoretical discourse. She communicates exactly what is required of students, both in class and written assignments, and frequently takes the extra time and trouble to have students submit draft essays. She spends countless hours in monitoring activities, helping students in the process of identifying and applying for appropriate graduate programs, scholarships and employment, and in developing teaching techniques.
The glowing testimonials of her colleagues and students attest to her "unwavering enthusiasm and devotion to the task of fostering and tapping the academic potential [she] presumes implicit in each of her students." She is described as "brilliant and talented," "one of the most serious and committed philosophy professors I have known," and "an effective and inspiring teacher." Repeatedly, these letters stress her "enthusiasm," "sensitivity" and "warmth."
It is, therefore, with pleasure, pride and gratitude that we recognize Prof. Dimock's excellent contributions to teaching and learning at York University.
ANDREA O'REILLY
Professor Andrea O'Reilly has been selected by the Senate Committee on Teaching and Learning as recipient of the 1998 Parents' Association University-Wide Teaching Award for Part-Time and Contract Faculty.
Since 1989, Prof. O'Reilly, a Fellow of McLaughlin College, has been applauded by students and colleagues for her superb delivery of courses in English, Humanities and Women's Studies for Atkinson College and the Faculty of Arts. She has an impressive and continuously expanding record of publications and is noted for her tireless contribution to a number of University committees and organizations.
Prof. O'Reilly is committed to the goal of empowering students to see and live in the world critically, to ask the right questions, and to "re-vision the world." She has designed several very popular Women's Studies courses, as well as having taught courses on a wide variety of topics.
Her active involvement in research and familiarity with the latest publications adds a constant freshness and vitality to her lectures, where her style is informal and relaxed, creating an hospitable learning environment, a comfortable space for debate and discovering. Her lectures are models of inclusiveness and equity, dealing knowledgeably and sensitively with issues such as race, gender, age and sexual orientation. Letters submitted by colleagues and students in support of Prof. O'Reilly's nomination and student teaching evaluations are overflowing with praise, admiration and expressions of gratitude, such as: "not only my best teacher, but a role model for living," "a dynamic, animated motivational speaker," "always accessible and willing to provide advice and assistance," and "skilled at motivating people to do their best."
In conferring this award, York University affirms the truth of what one of Prof. O'Reilly's students stated: "She is truly an inspiration to us all."
SHERRY ROWLEY
Sherry Rowley has been selected by the Senate Committee on Teaching and Learning as recipient of the 1998 Parents' Association University-Wide Teaching Award in the teaching assistant category.
The letters of support for her and, indeed, Sherry's own curriculum vitae, would have made a very impressive testimony to the accomplishments of a long-established faculty member. The fact that Sherry has achieved all that she has, prior to the completion of her doctorate, is remarkable.
Sherry has an impressive record of publications, presentations and participation in scholarly conferences and workshops. She is extremely active in service to the York community, participating in a wide variety of organizations and serving on a number of committees.
The many letters submitted by students, faculty and administrators in support of her nomination for this award all elaborate on her commitment to students, her ability to excite them, her dedication to teaching and her ongoing pedagogical innovation. She is noted for consistently creating a supportive classroom environment where each member takes responsibility for becoming part of the learning and knowledge-building process.
It surprised no-one and pleased many that she won the 1997 Contract Faculty Teaching Award for Excellence in the Division of Humanities. She is the first teaching assistant to whom this honour has been accorded.
Numerous testimonials from Sherry's students describe her continued commitment to students above and beyond the call of duty providing support, encouragement and practical help when they have faced academic difficulties, problems of illness or personal misfortune. Almost every letter expressed gratitude for having been taught to express ideas succinctly and coherently in both oral presentations and written work.
It is with pleasure and pride we recognize the excellence of Sherry Rowley's contributions to teaching and learning at York University.
AT EASE: Liisa North (centre, second row) joins some of her URACCAN docentes for a class photo.
Tim Hansell, a York undergraduate student, has been spending this academic year in Bilwi, a town located on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. He is working at a relatively new, grassroots university called URACCAN (an acronym for the University of the Autonomous Regions of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua), which has been linked with York through a five-year, CIDA-funded "cooperation and development" project coordinated by CERLAC, the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean. Part of the project involves York mounting a special interdisciplinary studies master's program in Nicaragua for 15 URACCAN faculty members seeking post-graduate degrees. Over the next three years, Canadian faculty members will be offering 11 graduate half-courses in Nicaragua. In this article, Tim describes the first graduate course, which was offered in February of this year and taught by Professor Liisa North of York's Department of Political Science. This is one of the first graduate courses that York has offered in another country. Tim is working as an ESL teacher with the URACCAN teachers enrolled in York's program, and he "audited" the course described below and acted as an assistant to Prof. North during her stay in Bilwi.
"We need to try to change the system in the University and the skills of our students. This course is helping to raise the academic levels of URACCAN teachers and also its students." Yuri Zapata, URACCAN professor and York University master's student
"Having the classes on different campuses allows us to learn more about the different areas of our Regions. It's a way to strengthen the university as a whole." Nubia Ordonez, URACCAN administrator and York University masters' student
by Tim Hansell
Liisa North, seemingly unaware of the flies covering her books and coffee cup, momentarily unconscious of the heat, smiles and eagerly leans forward. She is listening to docentes [teachers, but students in this setting] as they animatedly discuss the historical development of their Atlantic Coast region of Nicaragua. Hitting upon more recent themes, a "student" presentation on economic development over the different eras explodes into a lively discussion, drawing in the entire class. It is so fast-moving that the next day one of the docentes brings in chart paper, outlining proper classroom behavior.
The course succeeded because of this dynamism. It reached people by dealing with issues they all have a stake in; it is something they have all lived. One participant, Bromeliad Camps Joy, put it this way: the best part of the course was "the appropriation of information to our own situation; analyzing it with our own experiences in the region."
Liisa North is a professor of political science at York. She came to Bilwi to teach a three-week master's level class on "Patterns of Development in Latin America: a socio-economic and political-cultural analysis." Her qualifications are too long to detail here. She has lived and worked in many Latin American countries, coordinated projects, headed institutes, written numerous books and papers, and is currently doing research in Ecuador. Students said her vast experience clearly enhanced the course. However, one of the things Liisa liked the most about this course was the fact that she was learning at the same time. She seemed happiest when the docentes were teaching and applying their own knowledge. I think this genuine interest allowed everyone to feel more at ease, as contributors to the process rather than simply "receivers" of knowledge.
The course was a success; but that doesn't mean everything went smoothly. Even before getting started, it was beset by difficulties. Liisa arrived in Managua from Quito, but her luggage didn't. With one set of clothes and a minimum of personal effects, she came to Bilwi to begin teaching the course. She soon discovered that a significant number of readings had not made it into the docentes' course kits. For three days we waited for news of the missing luggage while people in Managua responded with a rush photo-copying bee. Finally, the afternoon before the syllabus was about to be changed to correspond to available readings, the luggage was delivered right to the classroom! Everyone cheered and clapped. The newly-photocopied course readings arrived along with Liisa's luggage and the course went on as designed.
That was not the end of small, unavoidable hassles.
For several days, the only photocopier in town refused to work and we had to wait for a part to be flown in from Managua to put it in working order. During the frequent, pre-March 1, regional-election power cuts, we discovered that the new computer room had been wired to hook up directly to the ENEL (electrical utility) power lines and not through the URACCAN generator. Several people's disks corrupted, leaving their essays salvageable, but hidden in 162 pages of garbage. On the same day, the printer decided to die a slow and ungraceful death. The temperature went shooting up and we had to enjoy the latter half of each class outside under the trees. The bus clutch broke one morning, so we all had to pile into the back of a pickup to get to campus.
None of those snags, however, took away from the course. The positive atmosphere was strong enough to make them seem merely humorous and passing distractions. I even believe that such occasional distractions were necessary and welcome. The course was intense. People were on the bus to Kambla by 7:30 every morning.*
Classes went on for five hours each day, split into lectures and discussion time, followed by group work and presentations. Lunch was served at campus, and later people did independent and group study of the readings or they discussed their thesis work with Liisa. Dinner was also served at campus; then, around 8:30 in the evening, the bus took us home where more work awaited us homework and housework. Nobody took breaks on the weekend either. Course members went up to campus to type their essays and assignments or to discuss the readings. Everyone worked at this pace for nearly a month; humor seemed to the one way people used to keep going and keep their cool. Mishaps were met with humor both verbal and practical jokes. Friendship and amiability sustained people's determination to succeed.
On the Monday of the third week, Liisa convened the class by the river near Tuapi an incredibly beautiful site where tall trees overlook the river's stunningly clear salt water. At lunch, some dove off cliffs or from trees while others just waded into the water. Events like this helped to release the pressure build-up, allowing us to feel more relaxed and content. "Despite the rapid pace, participation and group work made the effort seem less difficult," participant Nubia Ordonez told me.
The lectures and readings, in and of themselves, were really fascinating. We looked at different factors social, economic, political, and cultural that have had an impact on the development of Latin America and, more specifically, Central America. Central American countries were compared and contrasted with the "Asian Tigers" and the myths surrounding them. We looked at recent grassroots development projects around the world and the methodology used to sustain them. We discussed the struggle between urban elites and rural masses throughout Latin America, following the wars of independence from Spain. Class discussions also dealt with issues such as the effects on development of factors such as racism, sexism, classism, and urbanism. Docentes also talked about URACCAN: its role, its strengths and weaknesses, and its contribution to the development of the Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast region.
Docentes took up each and all of these topics, analyzing their relation to the Coast region in group sessions. Likewise, they applied these criteria to developing theses topics and in weekly assignments. I could sense that the course presented material and ideas that grabbed us and made us want to learn even more.
The course achieved its goals. Moreover it showed us that hard study can be enjoyable given the right approach. Yuri Zapata put it this way: "When we need to work hard, we work hard. When it's time to play, we play!" This group of people come together once or twice a year to pursue this course.** Although everyone was happy to return to their homes, families, and work, I'm sure people miss being together in the course. I know I do.
* The URACCAN campus is located almost ten kilometers outside Bilwi on lands within the Indigenous community of Kambla.
** The next course session will be in July on the Kambla campus of URACCAN.
Leaky Foundation
General Research Grants
The Leaky Foundation was formed to further research into human origins, behavior, and survival. Recent priorities include research into the environments, archeology, and human paleontology of the Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene; into the behavior, morphology, and ecology of the great apes and other primate species; and into the behavioral ecology of contemporary hunter gathers. Other areas of study have been funded occasionally. Grants are in the $12,000 range.
Deadline: August 15
Canadian Research Institute on the Advancement of Women
Research Grants
Up to $2,500 is available for projects that promote the advancement of women. The research can be the subject of a proposal that is complete in itself, or part of a larger study. The work can be in its initial stages, or it can be an on-going project. The project must make a significant contribution to feminist research and be non-sexist in methodology and language. Priority will be given to emerging independent researchers, women's groups, and projects with Canadian content.
Deadline: August 31
NSERC
Advance Material
This is a reminder to all applicants planning on preparing an NSERC Research Grant this fall (deadline: Nov. 1). "Advance material" must first be submitted to NSERC by Aug. 17. NSERC has communicated directly with all known potential applicants (i.e., those currently on a final installment of a previous grant). However, new faculty members and those researchers who have not applied recently should contact ORA for information regarding "advance material."
Deadline: August 17
NSERC
Major Facilities Access Grant
MFA grants support researchers' access to facilities or research resources that are significant in size, value or importance and that are not routinely available in Canadian universities. The facilities are used by researchers from a number of institutions, including universities, government laboratories and companies within a region or across the country. These resources cannot be entirely supported from sources such as user fees and research grants. They may include large special items of research euqipment, specialized experimental facilities, or a core of highly skilled technical or professional research support staff essential to the research activities of a group.
Please note that this competition is held only every three years.
Deadline: October 1 ("Advance material" is due Aug. 17).
Deadline Dates
August 1
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation: Harry Shwachman Clinical Investigator Award
Guggenheim (Harry Frank) Foundation: Research Grants
McLean Foundation: Research Grants
National Multiple Sclerosis Society: Research Grants
Pioneer Hi-Bred International: Competitive Grants Program (full proposals due; preproposals due on March 1)
Whitaker Foundation: Bomedical Engineering Research Grants (preliminary applications due; full application due Oct 1)
York University (administered by ORA): York Incentive Grant
August 14
Council for Tobacco Research - U.S.A., Inc.: Program of Research Support (preliminary application due; full application due Nov. 30)
mid-August
York University (Office of Student Financial Services): Ontario Work/Study Plan
August 15
Leaky Foundation: General Research Grants
NATO: Collaborative Research Grant
August 17
NSERC: Advance Material due for Research Grants and Major Facilities Access Grants (full applications due Nov. 1 and Oct. 1, respectively)
August 30
Ontario March of Dimes: Jonas Salk Award
August 31
Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW): Research Grants
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).
by Patricia K. Wood
Thomas McIlwraith. Looking for Old Ontario: Two Centuries of Landscape Change. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997. $55 (cloth), $19.95 paper.
While it offers an enjoyable read, Professor McIlwraith's Looking for Old Ontario frustrates a simple review. On the one hand, it is an accomplished and rich synthesis of a scholar's 30 years of field work in Southern Ontario. It will no doubt become a standard reference for geographers, historians and anyone else interested in small-town and rural settlement in North America. On the other hand, it is a perfect example of how a dominant group establishes itself as such, claiming their particular experience as universal and virtually erasing the presence of minorities. While the book deserves much praise for its scope and breadth, it also warrants a hard look at its unwillingness to embrace recent scholarship in historical/cultural geography and its avoidance of all things political in the landscape.
McIlwraith's purpose is to help his (probably urban) readers learn to interpret rural landscapes. Akin to the study of modern art, his argument is that if you understand what you are looking at, you enjoy it a lot more. Instead of viewing the stretch along the 401 as "an endurance test," a bleak stretch of nothingness, or a barrier that delays one's journey between cities, he invites us to appreciate the layers of history visible in the ordinary houses, barns, churches and even fences of small towns and the countryside.
He introduces his study with a good, succinct natural and human history of Southern Ontario. Ontario's past, he suggests, is remarkable for the fact that it has been relatively free of bloody battles and natural disasters. Newcomers were able to settle and stay, gradually building on what they had established and marking their attachment to that land. Here, McIlwraith also places an appropriate emphasis on naming as a form of cultural attachment and as an investment of greater meaning than, say, the numbering of streets and highways.
Instead of proceeding in the usual linear fashion. McIlwraith then examines individual aspects of the landscape and investigates each thoroughly. In the latter part of the book, he draws the components together with a briefer discussion of "clusters of features." Throughout, McIlwraith nicely articulates the way in which houses and other vernacular structures are a product of the lands they are on available materials, local industries, availability of imports due to transportation innovation and of their societies knowledge available, nature of the community, the social and practical purpose of the building.
McIlwraith is also a fine sketch artist and photographer. Almost all of the many illustrations and photos are his own. Unfortunately, there are few maps, although those provided are useful and interesting. A map of the small towns he is discussing also would have been helpful, particularly given his urban audience.
One of the book's strengths is the way it addresses the content and practice of geography and history. McIlwraith's interests are surely in the how of reading the landscape as much as they are in the content of our subsequent knowledge. As a complement to his exposition on field work, the relationship between the material landscape and written historical sources is discussed again and again. There is much to be learned from these visible layers of history. Unfortunately, there is much more to be learned than is suggested by this book.
McIlwraith might have done well to have titled his book, Looking for Rural Upper Canada, for that would have been a more accurate description of the times, places and people he considers. Focusing on some of the inhabitants of the small area of Southern Ontario as he does, he cannot claim to be looking for the entire province. While he explains his exclusion of Natives (their historical material presence has largely melted back into the physical landscape), his almost total avoidance of all immigrant groups besides British Protestants is not explained, nor justified. Besides a few passing references, "Others' landscapes within Ontario" (including Mennonites and French Canadians) merit fewer than a dozen pages at the end of the book. McIlwraith's lack of recognition of the diversity of nineteenth-century Ontario stands in sharp contrast to the work of others, such as Lynne Marks' Revivals and Roller Rinks: Religion, Leisure and Identity in Late-Nineteenth Century Small-Town Ontario, (Toronto: 1996). He insists that his wish is for "readers to see a house or fence generically," not particularly. But this study is not generic; in his words, "Old Ontario" is the Ontario of "the English-speaking population of British ancestry". The book reveals its bias perhaps most clearly when it describes the Orange Order merely as "a patriotic and benevolent organization". In the context of Ontario history, this is a gentle reading indeed.
Similarly, McIlwraith's reluctance to discuss the manifestation of power in the landscape appears to be a rejection of the paths taken for some time now by other historical geographers, such as J. David Wood, whose work openly incorporates politics into the interpretation of Ontario's landscape (see especially his 1982 article, "Grand Design on the Fringes of Empire," in Canadian Geographer). Implicitly, Looking for Old Ontario demonstrates how powerful and dominant groups were able to reflect and reproduce their identity and authority through the built landscape. Moreover, naming that landscape was not only a form of cultural attachment; it was another example of cultural power. On several occasions, McIlwraith teases the reader with potential political observations, such as how industry's "[t]all brick chimneys [smokestacks] challenged church spires for symbolic attention or that "Roman Catholic churches have been particularly well positioned for establishing authority visually", but he does not pursue them.
Geographers who read landscapes critically can tell us a great deal about the social and cultural history of both the powerful and the marginal, and the tensions between them. McIlwraith provides descriptive history rather than critical analysis. While the type of field work he describes is an essential aspect of what historical geographers do and must do well, it is not all we do. The cultural theory we have learned in our exchanges with literary scholars, anthropologists, historians and political scientists gives new weight to our observations in the field and changes, too, the manner in which we observe. This fine study is interesting, but absent of tension, and thus, ultimately, a limited reading of the rural and small-town text.
Patricia K. Wood is an assistant professor, Department of Geography.
by Tom Kear
IN THE CORNER: Nellia Melo and Franklin Pereira apply wax stripper close to the wall where the mobile scrubber cannot reach.
Though the Office of Student Affairs has the most direct and high-profile role in preparing York for spring Convocations, others also lend a hand. Take, for instance, the night caretaking crew that is responsible for making Central Square gleam in preparation for visiting dignitaries, graduates, parents, well-wishers and other visitors to the University.
This is the crew's big job of the year. It's called "Project Work" and entails working on those areas that cannot be attended to during the intense-use winter months.
Project Work starts in April, at the end of the winter examination schedule, and goes through to July. Though it also involves dusting the vents, cleaning the walls and chipping the rainbow of hardened chewing gum from under the lecture-hall desks, by far the greatest challenge is stripping the wax from the floors.
The night shift starts at 11 p.m. and continues till 7:30 a.m., Sunday through Friday. The crew's first task in rewaxing Central Square is the removal of the heavy benches from the terrazzo floor with a hydraulic lift. Then, with electric polishers and handheld razorblade scrapers, crew members scrape the wax from the places, such as corners and along walls, that are hard-to-reach with machines.
The next step is to slather the floor with strong-smelling, liquid wax stripper and water until Central Square looks like nothing so much as a swimming pool. A mobile scrubber makes many runs, scrubbing the entire floor surface as it goes. It is followed by a wet-vacuum that picks up the liquid material.
Then comes the first applications of sealer and self-polishing wax. The crew applies two coats each of sealer and wax and, in humid conditions, special fans are brought in to hasten the curing process.
By 7:30 a.m. on the day of the first spring Convocation at the Keele campus, visitors to Central Square and the surrounding areas are greeted by gleaming floors and a shiny-clean physical environment.
Tom Kear is a member of the night caretaking crew for Central Square and the CUPE night steward.
(left) WHILE WE SLEEP: The members of the night caretaking crew for Central Square and connected buildings are: (left to right), Tessa Bennett, Betty Alvarez, Joe Lovegrove, Nelia Melo, Joe Cozzolino, Albin Szablowski, Mike Laldee, Alga Bonnick, Clifton McNobb, Jonathan Buick, Franco Colatorti, Franklin Pereira. Absent from the picture is the photographer, Tom Kear, who is a team member and the CUPE night steward.
(right) TIME OUT: Albin Szablowski, astride the mobile scrubber, 'takes five' with recent crew recruit Joe Lovegrove and Night Supervisor Tony Messina.
The York Youth Connection (YYC) Fine Arts Summer Day Camp is preparing to enjoy its 24th year. Founded in 1974 by four York University staff, the non-profit camp continues to provide a fun-filled and safe environment to children of the York community and youngsters from the surrounding community, too.
"This looks to be our best year yet," says Brian Okamoto, YYC's project manager. Certainly, the summer 1998 camp will be filled with all kinds of interesting and exciting activities that all children can participate in.
The camp provides a unique experience for everyone involved. It continues to maintain a close connection between the University and the Jane-Finch community, and, again this summer, the YYC will bring the two communities together in a rich blend of campers and staff.
Children ranging in age from nine to 14 will be able to choose from a variety of activities, including art, music, drama, sports and science. Swimming will be on the activity roster, as will participation in a number of activities and events. Staff are hard at work planning a variety of special activities, everything from an Olympics Day to a Carnival Day, and various exciting field trips throughout the summer.
The YYC runs in four two-week sessions, July 6 to Aug. 28, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The fee is $150 per child for a two-week session.
For more information, please call YYC staff at (416) 736-5669.
