At what is likely the most culturally diverse campus in Canada, new president Ann Buller is a better fit than a white woman might seem, reported the Toronto Star Oct. 25. Like nearly half the students at Centennial College in Scarborough – where more new Canadians first settle on arrival than any other part of the country – this immigrant’s daughter knows what it’s like to be a newcomer. As the child of a Scottish carpenter who moved his family to Canada, Buller never thought she could afford university, so she headed to community college instead. “We couldn’t possibly afford university tuition, and as new immigrants, the idea of taking out a huge loan and facing long-term debt never even occurred to us.” She graduated in 1985 from Humber College’s public relations program before earning degrees from York University (a BA in sociology in 1995) and Central Michigan University.
Millionth rider wins free GO service
York University psychology student Maria Sysova won a year’s free transit service as the one millionth passenger to ride GO’s 407 bus service in 2004, reported the Toronto Star Oct. 26. When the service began in 2000 it served 700 riders a day but is now up to 10,000 a day, said GO Chair Gordon Chong. OMNI.2 TV and CFTR-AM in Toronto reported the news Oct. 25.
Former student captures film writing award
Considering the stiff competition that her half-hour film, I Dare Not Go, was up against at the Atlantic Film Festival, Adriana Maggs thought her chances of capturing the festival’s coveted outstanding writer’s award were slim, reported The Telegram in St. John’s Oct. 24. But her doubts proved to be exaggerated when the 29-year-old St. John’s filmmaker bested about 35 other films in Halifax in September for her dark comedy about a young girl’s odd relationship to her dead brother. Maggs studied film at York University from 1995 to 1999. She has to her credit her award-winning short film So It Goes, released in 2002. Maggs is currently co-writing with Sherry White a pilot sitcom script for CBC called “Hell or High Water,” about two 30-something beauties who figured they’d marry rich and live the life of luxury, but find themselves single and having to work for a living.
On air
- Economist Bernie Wolf of York University’s Schulich School of Business, cited rising oil and commodity prices, a Canadian trade surplus and a stagnating US economy among the reasons for a rising Canadian dollar, on a CBC news item aired in on regional stations in Regina, Sask. and Montreal, on Oct. 25.