York University student Michael Andrade, 21, avoids texting, napping or updating his Facebook status in class. This habit helped him save his mother Lucy’s life, wrote the Brampton Guardian Feb. 5. Andrade said the notes he furiously scribbled during York instructor Lisa Violo‘s e-marketing class in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies helped him to capitalize on the strength of social media and find a liver donor for his mother. His blog on Tumblr caught the eye of some celebrities who re-tweeted his message. This created a groundswell of support and led to a donation from an anonymous person. Last November, Lucy underwent a successful liver transplant, and is now recovering well. “In almost every class, my professor would stress how the power of social media is limitless,” said Andrade. “Throughout my recent experience, I kept thinking back to that course and I told myself that if all went well, I would let my prof know how her class helped me.” Violo said Andrade’s posts “allowed viewers to feel the personal connection to Mike and his family.” Read full story.
Outside the boy box: Women are embracing – and rethinking – video games
A Globe and Mail story Feb. 4 quoted Nick Taylor, a postdoctoral fellow in York’s Faculty of Education, who thinks much of boys’ reputation for superior joystick handling is cultural rather than innate. “When we make games for girls, we are saying all these other games are not for you,” he said. “We ghettoize them.” Read full story.
HIV-disclosure obligations under scrutiny in separate cases
A story in The Globe and Mail Feb. 6 reported on two cases related to a landmark Supreme Court decision on HIV disclosure. Bruce Ryder, a professor at York’s Osgoode Hall Law School, noted that current Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin had warned at the time that the “significant risk” test was doomed to failure. Read full story.
Why the term ‘mommy track’ should be banned
A writer in The Globe and Mail Feb. 3 challenged the notion that women feel less committed to their careers once they have children and quoted Julia Richardson, professor of organizational behaviour at York’s School of Human Resource Management, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. A growing number of employers are instituting flexible working requests, Richardson noted. Read full story.
Ontario’s power glut means possible nuclear shutdowns: expert
Talk of shutting down power reactors casts doubt on some fundamental assumptions of the province’s energy planning, Mark Winfield, a professor in York’s Faculty of Environmental Studies, told the Ottawa Citizen, in a Feb. 6 story that appeared in several Postmedia newspapers across Canada. Read full story.
Advertisers missing opportunities to reach female sports fans
In a Feb. 3 Global News story about Super Bowl ads, Alan Middleton, professor of marketing at York’s Schulich School of Business, said big advertisers are still missing the point when it comes to marketing to a more female audience. “Whether it’s the cost of Super Bowl ad time that keeps them away or the conservatism of the assumption of male-only audiences, these advertisers are missing opportunities.” Read full story.
CUPE hopeful late-hour talks will avoid Toronto labour disruption
Eric Tucker, labour and employment law professor at York’s Osgoode Hall Law School, told the Toronto Star Feb. 4, in a pre-settlement story, that the city’s ultimatum was part of a “new reality” in labour relations, one that mimics what’s happening in private business. “What the city is in a sense saying is that we have to impose this new reality on public sector unions. And if we can do it in Toronto that will send a signal to everyone else that a new age has arrived.” Read full story.
Canada’s unemployment on the rise
“Canada is an export nation and resource nation and whenever there’s a decline in the world economy, whether it’s Europe or Asia, or particularly the United States, we’re going to suffer,” James Gillies, founding dean and professor emeritus at York’s Schulich School of Business, told thedailyplanet.com. Read full story.
Predators: It’s about power
In a Feb. 6 story in The Hamilton Spectator discussing a local case and the nature of serial killers, Paul Baxter, a criminology professor in the Department of Social Science, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, said it’s likely much of the current Hamilton case will hinge on psychological assessments. Read full story.
The prophet of profligacy
The Globe and Mail Feb. 4 profiled gold-mining entrepreneur and York donor Robert McEwen (MBA ’78), whose name is on the McEwen Auditorium in the Seymour Schulich Building. The story said he talks of some day donating 50 per cent of his wealth, as Warren Buffett advocates, but his perverse challenge is that he cannot give it away, carefully and strategically, as quickly as he makes it. Read full story.
Brave new world?
Yes, the university lecture is an anachronism, but it wasn’t the digital revolution that rendered it so – it’s been archaic since the invention of the printing press, wrote York Professor Emeritus Irwin Silverman in a letter to The Globe and Mail Feb. 6. The essence of a university education, he wrote, begins in the third or fourth year, when students can work in small seminars or on a one-to-one basis under the guidance of scholars and researchers in their fields. No online university can ever replace that. Read full story.