Recently, the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation awarded a total of $2.4 million to five research teams in the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance/Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation Special Research Competition on Psychosocial Aspects of Breast Cancer, reported the National Post Feb. 3.
A team led by York psychology Professor Karen Fergus (BA Hons. ’90, MA’95, PhD ’03) has received $457,084 to do a multi-site, randomized controlled trial of Couplelinks.ca, the first online intervention for young women with breast cancer and their male partners. The study will assess the effectiveness of an innovative online course geared to the unique needs and concerns of young couples affected by breast cancer. The impact of the study will be the creation of an accessible, cost-effective tool that could help improve the quality of life of young couples coping with breast cancer, regardless of geographic location.
Schulich MBA program’s strength lies in diversity
In a Metro Calgary story Feb. 2 about shopping for an MBA school, York University’s Schulich School of Business finds its strength in diversity, said Charmaine Courtis, the school’s executive director, student services & international relations.
“Students not only come from different parts of the world, they come from different sectors (private, public and not for profit),” she said. “With each of these comes a different way of looking at things and multiple opportunities to learn to solve problems and create interesting management solutions.”
York strike cited for college teachers’ reticence to strike
With only 57 per cent of members voting for a strike, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union admitted Monday that teachers would prefer to negotiate a deal or leave it to binding arbitration instead of hitting the bricks, reported the Brampton Guardian, Mississauga News and Durham Region Feb. 2.
Labour analyst Anil Verma at the University of Toronto said the union may be softening its stance because of last year’s “damaging” walkout at York University and the government’s dire financial straits. Calling a strike with 57 per cent support is "very, very thin ice," he said.
Osgoode grad named dean of Moncton’s law faculty
Université de Moncton president Yvon Fontaine has announced the nomination of Odette Snow (LLM ’87) as dean of the faculty of law for a four-and-a-half-year mandate, reported Moncton’s Times & Transcript. She had been interim dean since last September.
Snow taught trusts law, business law and tax law at the faculty from 1987 to 1990. Accredited as a translator, she also worked as a jurilinguist for the Centre de traduction et de terminologie juridiques at l’Université de Moncton and as translator with the New Brunswick Translation Bureau in Fredericton.
Fingerstyle guitar champion performs in Nanaimo
Don Ross (BFA Spec. Hons. ’83) has done what few guitarists can accomplish – he won the prestigious US National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship twice, reported the Nanaimo News Bulletin Feb. 1.
Ross, who won in 1988 and again in 1996 in the competition held annually in Winfield, Kansas, used not only immaculate technique but also a high degree of emotion and intensity. He was to bring that style to the Nanaimo Entertainment Centre Feb. 3.
Ross was born into a musical family in Montreal in the 1960s. He started experimenting with the solo possibilities of the acoustic guitar at the age of eight. By age 10, he was playing in alternate tunings and exploring fingerstyle technique, a right-hand discipline similar to classical guitar playing. He studied music at York University and graduated in 1983.
On air
- Ellen Bialystok, Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology in York’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, commented on her study that found bilingualism gives children a distinct cognitive advantage over their monolingual peers, on CFTR’s 680News Feb. 2.
- Gordon Flett, associate dean of research in York’s Faculty of Health, discussed the challenges of parenting laid-back, angry and perfectionist children, on CBC Radio’s “Mainstreet” aired in Charlottetown, Feb. 2.