The Toronto Star featured York’s observance of National Sweater Day Feb. 9 and interviewed Amy Stewart, publicist in the Faculty of Fine Arts, who knitted her own sustainable “100-mile” sweater. Stewart explained it was all made within 100 miles of her home. The Star said the University is proud of its green initiatives. It has achieved a 20 per cent energy reduction between 2007 and 2010 by retrofitting lighting, heating, cooling and water fixtures in older buildings — a total of 60 million kilowatt hours of electricity over three years. Read full story.
Bilingual kids gain benefits in literacy skills
Bilingual children score higher on some cognitive tests than children who speak only English, a new Toronto study found, reported CBC News online Feb. 8. The story detailed the study co-authored by Ellen Bialystok, Distinguished Research Professor in psychology in York’s Faculty of Health, and York PhD student Raluca Barac. Read full story.
WestJet workers vote for regional airline
In a Feb. 9 Toronto Star story, airline expert Fred Lazar, an economics professor at York’s Schulich School of Business, called WestJet’s plans for a regional airline “a much smarter move” than the alternative of entering the international market with wide-body aircraft. “They made the right decision – this will help them,” he said of WestJet. Read full story.
University of British Columbia gets in the beer business
The University of British Columbia’s student union, the Alma Mater Society, plans to open a brewery on campus in August 2014, reported the Toronto Star Feb. 9. Assessing the market, Alan Middleton, a marketing professor at York’s Schulich School of Business, noted: “Students are heavy drinkers – the 16-to-25 age group represents the vast majority of beer drinkers, and students are a large portion of that group.” Read full story.
Card wizard’s got success in spades
In a Feb. 9 feature about extreme card manipulator Max Vlassenko, the 19-year-old York film student who gained fame for a Nokia commercial on YouTube, Yorkregion.com said his next gig in Las Vegas will pay as much as most students would earn in a year. Read full story.
Leslie Greenberg featured at BYU’s Counselling Workshop
Deseret News in Salt Lake City reported that York’s Leslie Greenberg, Distinguished Research Professor in psychology in the Faculty of Health, will present the annual counselling workshop at Brigham Young University, calling him “the prophet of emotion-focused therapy”. Read full story.
Freshman guards making an impression at Gonzaga
The Seattle Times Feb. 8 spotlighted freshman basketballer Kevin Pangos, son of York women’s basketball head coach Bill Pangos, as a key player in the drive for a National College Athletics Association tournament spot by the Gonzaga University Bulldogs of Spokane, Wash. Bill Pangos said of his son when young: “He’d be down in the basement on the tile floor and literally handle the ball for an hour, two hours in the wintertime.” Read full story.