The Law Society of Upper Canada, the body that regulates the profession in the province, is poised to approve a hotly debated experiment that will allow aspiring lawyers to get licensed through a new training and co-op program.…“The time has come for change,” said Lorne Sossin, dean of York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, in the Toronto Star Nov. 22. “The key is to embrace a better system than the one we have, and I think everything on the table is an improvement on the status quo.” Read full story.
The MBAs that lead to the biggest pay raises
An MBA at York’s Schulich School of Business is a good investment, but its upfront $55,574 tuition cost might be hard to swallow at first. Rest assured, 2011 graduates saw their salary go up by 83 per cent, from $48,700 to $89,000, reported Canadian Business Nov. 21. Read full story.
CIS reps discuss ways to stop ‘talent drain’
University presidents from across Canada will gather in Toronto this weekend to debate a proposed overhaul of the university sport system to halt the exodus of elite athletes to American schools.…Dan Church, head of the senior women’s national hockey team and the York University Lions, estimates at least 75 per cent of women on the national team in the last several years have played at US schools.…The biggest recruiting hurdle facing Canadian schools is the misconception that the level of competition and quality of coaching is sub-par, Church said in The Globe and Mail Nov. 21. Read full story.
Soft skills gain precedence at Canadian business schools
To meet the demands of the globalized marketplace, business schools are beginning to put greater emphasis on ethics, leadership and other soft skills in addition to traditional business skills.…“There’s been a shift in the general public trust towards business, and there’s a real challenge in terms of rebuilding that trust,” said Andrew Crane, director of the Centre for Excellence in Responsible Business at York’s Schulich School of Business, in The Gazette Nov. 22. “Many students see that and they’re interested in learning how to do it.” Read full story.
Bridget Stutchbury, “Saving the Butcher Bird”
“The Eastern Loggerhead Shrike is a songbird also known as the ‘butcher bird,’ because it catches small mammals, birds and insects and impales them on thorns before eating them. As tough as shrikes seem to be, this bird is the most vulnerable in Canada. Fewer than 30 pairs remain in the wild.[…]That’s when I joined the butcher bird rescue team. We are biologists, naturalists, government staff, students, volunteers and even cattle ranchers who are taking drastic measures to save the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike from extinction,” wrote Bridget Stutchbury, York University professor and Canada Research Chair in Ecology & Conservation Biology, in her personal essay featured in CBC’s Canada Writes Nov. 22. Read full story.
Female academics excluded from recognition and equal pay: study
The 252-page study from the Council of Canadian Academies presents a highly critical look at the barriers limiting the progress of women’s academic careers and argues that Canada is not fulfilling its commitments to gender equity as a result. “We were surprised at some [findings],” said Lorna Marsden, the former president of York University who chaired the report, in The Globe and Mail Nov. 21. “Here is a group of women who are highly motivated, have been highly educated, and yet somehow something goes on that means they don’t turn up as often as full professors, they don’t get their findings published in the [academic] journals.” Read full story.
Science of shopping: how to survive Black Friday
Deals appeal to self-esteem, according to work by York University marketing Professor Peter Darke.…“There’s some evidence to suggest that it reflects back on them as a sort of rational, good, effective, skilled shopper,” Darke said in LiveScience Nov. 21. Read full story.
TCF serves the needy in India
The who’s who of Toronto’s Bengali-Canadian community came together on Friday, Nov. 16 for the seventh annual fundraising gala in support of the Toronto Calcutta Foundation’s charitable activities here and in Calcutta. Bengali-Canadian actress and humanitarian Lisa Ray delivered a keynote address while York University Professor Ananya Mukherjee-Reed acted as master of ceremonies at the Hilton Garden Inn in Vaughan, reported South Asian Generation Next Nov. 21. Read full story.