“I tell my students that you can’t afford to leave IT to the geeks. It’s too damn important. Make more decisions,” said Ric Irving, management science professor at York University’s Schulich School of Business, about managing information technology departments, reports The Mississauga News March 1. Irving was a member of the team that surveyed over 2,600 managers and professionals in Canadian businesses and found a perception that when it comes to IT-related change, senior company managers are not considered to be very competent. Irving said it is important that senior managers take more notice of what’s going on in IT departments.
Failed rail deal led to Calgary’s green valley
If an agreement between the city and the CPR hadn’t collapsed in 1964, Calgary’s downtown core would have been rimmed by a two-track railway and a busy freeway instead of pathways and a river park, said Viv Nelles, professor of Canadian history in York University’s Faculty of Arts at a recent University of Calgary forum, reported the Calgary Herald March 7.
Appointments at York
York University announced four appointments in The Globe and Mail March 7: Richard Fisher as chief communications officer of the University, and Edward Broadbent, Randall Oliphant and Samuel Schwartz as members of the York University Board of Governors.
On air
- Sergei Plekhanov, a political science professor in York’s Faculty of Arts and member of the York Centre for International & Security Studies, was interviewed on CBC’s “As It Happens” March 5 about a decision by some European foreign ministers not to allow the UN to pass a resolution to authorize war in Iraq.
- Lisa Hoffman, student of social work at York University and dietician, was a panelist on a forum on healing eating disorders at CTV studios. The forum was broadcast March 5 on “Podium” (ROG-TV).
- Lorna R. Marsden, president and vice-chancellor of York University, was the featured guest on CITY-TV’s “The Liveable City” March 5. She explained that a rail-link transit line is needed to connect downtown Toronto with York University.
- Erich Weingartner, research fellow at the York Centre for International & Security Studies, spoke about tensions between North Korea and the United States and South Korea, on CBC’s “Counterspin” March 5.