Barbara Budd (BA ’74), longtime host of CBC Radio One’s news magazine "As It Happens", is calling it quits, wrote the Toronto Star March 30.
She announced her departure on air Monday night at the conclusion of the program. Later she told the Star, “The CBC is always trying to make things better, its programs are always evolving, and after 40 years they want ‘As It Happens’ to grow. I don’t fit in with that plan.”
Budd, a veteran co-host and host of the program since 1993, admitted in an emotional interview Monday that the decision by CBC Radio management came as a shock. “I was surprised, but I understand their reasons. I would never have willingly walked away from a show I loved with all my heart, even years before I became a part of it.
“Change is difficult for listeners, viewers and readers, as the media world evolves. But change is inevitable.”
A search for Budd’s replacement will be announced soon, she said.
A former stage actor [who graduated from York’s Faculty of Fine Arts], Budd also works as a documentary narrator, panel moderator and voice-animator for movies and television.
On air Monday night, Budd surprised listeners across the country with her sudden news. “I’m announcing I’m leaving ‘As It Happens’,” she said. “And my final show will be on April 30."
Globe-trotting Schulich student likes her international MBA program
What was supposed to be a six-month internship with Transparency International, a global anti-corruption NGO based in Berlin, turned into a six-year career visiting Azerbaijan, Armenia, Indonesia, Guatemala and eastern Europe, wrote the National Post March 30 in a story about York student Kate Sturgess.
Two years ago, she decided it was time to return home to Canada and pursue another interest – business. Sturgess contacted the Schulich School of Business at York University, where her mother is an active alumna, and enrolled in the International MBA Program, which allowed her to learn about the international aspects of business while being in Canada. “This was important to me because I wanted the option to work internationally or in Canada,” Sturgess says.
She has another goal for her MBA: to help her follow in her mother’s footsteps. “My mom has a wealth of experience in different sectors, and I see how that has helped her build a nice portfolio of skills and abilities. I found in non-profits people were experts in certain subjects, but not management experts,” Sturgess says. “I thought the MBA would offer a really good framework for me.” In fact, it has put her on a new career path: helping financial institutions in the area of organizational effectiveness.
As she prepares to graduate in June, she has some specific advice to women considering taking an MBA: “Do a really good cost-benefit analysis. You have to sit down and assess how much is this going to cost, how can I manage it and where is it going to get me? I think some people jump into the MBA thinking they will come out with a job that pays $100,000. It’s not that simple.”
Women take their place on the team
How do women experience and influence classroom and team dynamics in MBA programs? wrote the National Post March 30. FP Executive spoke with MBA students and professors and found that most believe while there may possibly be subtle gender differences, just as with men, it is the individual woman’s personality, background and skills that influence her contribution to classroom or team dynamics – not her gender.
Lindsay Hillcoat, an MBA student at the Schulich School of Business at York University, concurs. “For the most part, it’s personality and individual merits that make the difference,” she says.
Theo Peridis, professor of strategic management and international business at Schulich, says: “What I see is that there is more of a calming influence in a positive sense. It’s a very subtle element, but I find when there are women in a team, it does create opportunities for reflection as opposed to just charging ahead. Those calming and reflective elements are very productive for team dynamics.”
Housing may have met its match
In a recent thesis, Alexandre Pestov, an MBA candidate at the Schulich School of Business at York University, compares the merits of buying versus renting a typical two-bedroom, two-bathroom Toronto condominium , wrote the National Post March 30. He assumes that the market doesn’t crash and real estate goes up by three per cent a year. Even so, over a 25-year period, a typical renter winds up $600,000 ahead by putting away the money saved from renting and investing it in safe bonds.
As Pestov points out, you don’t have to count on a housing crash to conclude that renting in many areas is already a better deal than buying. As more and more people do the numbers, Canada’s unstoppable housing market may finally meet its match.
Study wants to make long-term care better
How does bringing your own kitchen table to your nursing home room help your incontinence? Does having a stove in your room – even if it isn’t hooked up – reduce the effects of dementia? asked the Ottawa Sun March 30 in a story about a new $2.5-million research project which will include six countries and span seven years.
The project, which is led by York University, will explore how elder care is delivered, organized and financed in Canada, the US and four other Western countries.