New Publication by Dr. Osire Glacier
Dr. Osire Glacier in the Department of History has published a new book entitled Political Women in Morocco: Then and Now, published by Africa World Press & Red Sea Press. In the context of the Moroccan Spring in 2011, the “Feminist Spring for Democracy and Equality Coalition” a coalition composed of thousands of organizations seeking improvements in human rights and women’s rights, presented a list of demands to the Advisory Commission for the Revision of the Constitution, among which gender parity—a 50% quota for women—in all areas including the decision-making process. These struggles have shown that the general public tends to not take seriously the need to question men’s monopoly over positions of power because such a challenge to men’s claims to authority appears to have been imported from elsewhere, and consequently, represents a threat to Moroccan culture and traditions. Through an examination of Arabic classical sources during pre-modern Morocco and interviews with some contemporary female political leaders, this monograph demonstrates that Moroccan women participated actively in the political sphere from ancient time to present.
2013 Bishop’s University Research and Creativity Award
Dr. Stuart McKelvie of the Psychology Department received the 2013 Bishop’s University Research and Creativity Award in recognition of his important contributions to the field of psychology.
Dr. McKelvie has been publishing research papers on mental imagery, memory & cognition, individual differences and their measurement, for 40 years. His rate of publication in refereed journals works out to approximately 4 papers per year. This does not include all he has written since he has many articles in non-referred journals, at least two book chapters, and has published a monograph titled Vividness of Visual Imagery. Not only is he productive but his research is read. Dr. McKelvie’s research has consistently been ranked among the most cited in psychology, receiving recognition from the Association of Psychological Science (APS) in 1996 as being 5th among the ‘most productive psychologists’. What is most remarkable is that he has managed to do all this publishing without any major research grants, without a lab, and without a group of colleagues sharing specialized interests. He has done this while teaching 6 courses each year for most of those 40 years. He managed to churn out research papers while being one of the most popular teachers at Bishop’s, having won the William & Nancy Turner Teaching Award twice. Of his 154 peer reviewed papers, 40% of them were published with his students. What this means is that he listens to his students, helps them to develop their research ideas, and leads them through the rigorous process that results in a publication. He helped them to advance their careers.
The picture is clear - research isn’t something that draws you away from the university, it places you at the heart of it, if you follow the example of Dr. Stuart McKelvie.
Opening of Dr. Fuschia Sirois’ Health and Well-being Laboratory
Thanks to well over half a million dollars of research funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the provincial government and other partners, Bishop’s University now has spacious and top-of-the-line research facilities exclusively dedicated to better understanding and enhancing health and well-being. The laboratory is headed by Dr. Fuschia Sirois, Canada Research Chair in Psychological Health and Well-Being and Professor of Psychology at Bishop’s. The Health and Well-Being Lab is a state-of-the-art research facility which consists of a welcoming reception area for incoming research participants, a data archive room, a community engagement meeting room, a student working area, psychological testing facilities (PTF) and qualitative research facilities (QRF). The QRF features live audio and visual recording equipment for conducting interviews and focus groups; the PTF includes a testing room for paper and online survey completion and two portable units for tracking psychophysiological changes related to autonomic functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, galvanic skin response, and respiration rate. Together the PTF and QRF provide the means for both objective and subjective assessments of health and well-being. A private office adjacent to the welcome area in the lab has been designated as a space suitable for visiting researchers and post-doctoral fellows. Dr. Sirois is particularly interested in understanding how individuals can find meaning and motivation to pursue their various personal goals in ways that support rather than detract from health and well-being. Dr. Sirois strongly believes there is a need to focus on the health and well-being of individuals and communities in a way that is much broader than simply the absence of disease. Dr. Sirois’ broad research program investigates how self-perception and one’s goals over time are associated with health and well-being.
New Publication by Dr. Gerry Coulter
Dr. Gerry Coulter in the Department of Sociology has published a new book entitled Jean Baudrillard: From the Ocean to the Desert -- The Poetics of Radicality, published by Intertheory Press.
«It is in the deserts of postmodernity where Baudrillard both found and left us. It is in these deserts that we become aware, as did Baudrillard and other poststructuralist thinkers, that theory precedes the world (there is nothing that can be said of the world that is not already framed by our approach to it). It is within Coulter's absolutely lucid exploration - and it goes without saying that the work of Jean Baudrillard should be recognized in such an appropriate revelation - that Baudrillard's thought is unveiled.»
A chapter on the importance of multicultural literacy inside and outside schools by Dr. Lisa Taylor
Dr. Lisa Taylor in the School of Education has taken part in a new book entitled Precarious International Multicultural Education - Hegemony, Dissent and Rising Alternatives. Published by Sense Publishers For Wisdom and Awareness. In chapter 17, Dr. Lisa Taylor is addressing the importance of multicultural literacy inside and outside schools. Multiculturalism and multicultural education are at a paradoxical moment. There is work that continues as if the multicultural hegemony was still intact and on the other hand work articulated as if multiculturalism was decidedly passed. The essays in this collection are of considerable interest to academics, policy makers and students of both multiculturalism and multicultural education principally because they touch on both perspectives but concentrate for the most part on the thorny problematic of the workings of multicultural education in its present precarious moment. Given the renewed, urgent attacks in various western countries, the cottage industry of “death of multiculturalism” texts and the rise of the interculturalism, transnationalism, diaspora alternatives, is multiculturalism dying? Are the ends of multiculturalism- the management or celebration of diversity; representation and recognition for all in society; creation of just and equitable communities at the global, national and local school classroom levels- better theorized and realized through the ascendant alternatives? Representing the precarious moment in Canada, Ireland, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, the essays in this collection address these questions and both depict and trouble hegemonic multicultural education and contrast it with its supposed successor regimes.
Opening of Dr. Matthew Peros' Climate and Environmental Change Laboratory
Thanks to almost 800 000$ of research funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the Ministère de l’Éducation, Loisirs et Sports du Québec, Bishop’s University and other partners, Dr. Matthew Peros, Canada Research Chair in Climate and Environmental Change, has assembled a truly world class laboratory. He and his colleagues from the Multi-Scale Climate and Environmental Change (M.U.S.C.L.E.) research cluster will use these facilities to conduct crucial research on the impact of climate and environmental changes on microorganisms, ecosystems, vegetation, melt waters, coastlines, and more. The new Bishop’s laboratory is equipped with cutting-edge technology such as high-magnification microscopes, a laser particle size analyzer, tree-ring analysis instruments, and a range of field equipment to facilitate data collection from a wide variety of wetlands and other environments. Soon, a spectrophotometer will be added. The type of work being done here includes some highly innovative research focused on developing automated microfossil identification systems, a project being led by Dr. Elizabeth Levac. Other researchers are already analyzing samples that have been collected from sites in Quebec, Prince Edward Island, and Cuba, and expeditions to Mexico and Grenada are in the planning stage.
New Publication by Dr. Anthony Di Mascio
Dr. Anthony Di Mascio in the School of Education has published a new book entitled The Idea of Popular Schooling in Upper Canada: Print Culture, Public Discourse, and the Demand for Education. Published by McGill-Queen’s University Press. In The Idea of Popular Schooling in Upper Canada, Anthony Di Mascio analyzes debates about education in the burgeoning print culture of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In it, he finds that a widespread movement for popular schooling in Upper Canada began in earnest from the time of the colony's first Loyalist settlers. Reviving the voices of Upper Canada's earliest school advocates, Di Mascio reveals the lively public discussion about the need for a common system of schooling for all the colony's children. Despite different and often contentious opinions on the means and ends of schooling, there was widespread agreement about its need by the 1830s, when the debate was no longer about whether a popular system of schooling was desirable, but about what kinds of schools would be established. The making of educational legislation in Upper Canada was a process in which many inhabitants, both inside and outside of government, participated. The Idea of Popular Schooling in Upper Canada is the first full survey of schooling in Canada to focus on the pre-1840 period and how it framed policy debates that continue to the present day.
Dr. Denise Fortier and Mr. Badr El Hadrioui won the Best Paper Award in Management in Paris
Dr. Denise Fortier from the Williams School of Business along with her co-author Badr El Hadrioui, a recent graduate of Bishop’s University (June 2012), won the Best Paper Award in Management for their article entitled “Multicultural Managerial Competence: Understanding the Potential Contribution of Cultural Mediators” at the Annual Paris Business and Social Science Conference held on July 12-13, 2012 in Paris.
World Premiere of Professor Andrew MacDonald's composition Of Golden Apples
Professor Andrew MacDonald's latest composition for harp and flute will be presented in world premiere Saturday, September 22nd, 2012 at St. John’s Anglican Church in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Of Golden Apples was commissioned by harpist Karen Rokos and flutist Patricia Creighton for the Musique Royale concert series at St. John’s Anglican Church in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The duo call themselves Nova Brilliante and so MacDonald turned his attention once again to the constellations for inspiration, this time in particular to Draco and the myth surrounding the Garden of the Hesperides. Resplendent with haunting melodies, novel colours and music for the dancing Graces, this work also evokes the fierce battle between Heracles and the hundred-headed dragon guarding the golden apples of immortality which the hero sought to complete his eleventh Labour.
David Pawluczuk seminar awarded at CRAQ annual meeting
David Pawluczuk, an MSc student of Dr. Lorne Nelson in the Department of Physics, won the Bronze Medal at the CRAQ May 2012 conference for his seminar entitled "Sky Surface Density of Brown Dwarfs". This award recognizes outstanding presentations by MSc and PhD graduate students. David's seminar focused on the various challenges associated with completing research on the sky surface density of brown dwarfs using Monte Carlo methods. David also highlighted the functionality of his algorithm that will allow custom computation of stellar brightnesses (magnitudes) in various wavelength bands using filters uploaded by researchers. In general, the following three objectives were discussed: 1) determining which synthetic PHOENIX spectra to use and how to effectively mesh various spectral databases into a self-consistent grid within the Teff-log(g) parameter space; 2) computing magnitudes from synthetic PHOENIX spectra and filter throughputs; and, 3) using Monte Carlo simulations and the Initial Mass Function to compute sub-stellar population synthesis in the galactic disk.
NEW NSERC GRANT
Dr. Jade Savage of the Department of Biology has been awarded a five-year Discovery Grant in the amount of $105,000. Her research program will advance knowledge of insect biodiversity by addressing questions related to the taxonomy, evolution and ecology of muscoid flies. The current biodiversity crisis is a global phenomenon, and certain regions such as the arctic are at most immediate risk from rapid environmental changes. Consequently, knowledge of past and present biodiversity resources is essential to our ability to evaluate the extent of recent changes in biological communities and forecast future trends. While insects dominate most terrestrial ecosystems in terms of abundance and species richness, knowledge of their diversity and ecology lags well behind that of plants and vertebrates, especially in northern habitats. Dr. Savage’s research program will help reverse this trend through (1) the production of taxonomic tools and data on muscoid flies, a dominant insect group in alpine and arctic habitats; (2) the development and integration in the taxonomic workflow of near infrared spectroscopy; and (3) the investigation of muscoid phenotype, emergence phenology and species composition variability over a 15 years’ time period at a high arctic locality undergoing rapid climatic changes.
NEW FRQSC GRANTS for three researchers of the School of Education
Dr. Anthony Di Mascio has been awarded a New Scholars grant of $39,390 for a project entitled The Ignored Border: Schooling, Society, and the Shaping of National Identities in the Eastern Townships and Northern Vermont, 1850-1950. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, people living in the borderland region of the Eastern Townships and Northern Vermont were sharing social and cultural institutions, including schools. Considering that the legal jurisdiction of schooling in Canada and the United States was at the provincial and state levels, the presence of international cross-border schooling raises challenging questions concerning the administrative and cultural history of this borderland region. What can a study of shared cross-border educational institutions add to our knowledge about the history of education in Canada and the United States? What can it tell us about identity and difference among people with a shared local history, but separate national histories? As a borderland region shaped by historical forces of integration, there is much that this geographic area can tell us about the nature of cross-cultural communities, identities, and policy making.
Dr. Corinne Haigh and Dr. Sunny Man Chu Lau are members of a multi-institutional team that received a grant of $67,076 for a project studying reading, writing, and school success. The development of competence in reading and writing is key to school success. It is also a major social and educational stake in our contemporary world. Reading and writing competencies need to be developed with the support of family, school and teachers. The main objective of the research team is to develop collaborative research programs on sustained literacy engagement among students at different grade and proficiency levels.
Broadcasting of a Bishop’s faculty opera on CBC Radio
Professor Andrew MacDonald's new opera, Mary's Wedding, with libretto by Stephen Massicotte, was broadcasted on CBC Radio 2 (89.7 FM in Sherbrooke) on June 16 on the well-known program, "Saturday Afternoon at the Opera". This two-hour work in two acts for soloists, chorus and full orchestra is a story of innocent love amidst the tragedy of the First World War, experienced from a very Canadian perspective. It was commissioned by Pacific Opera Victoria and premiered by that company under the baton of Timothy Vernon and stars Betty Waynne Allison as Mary, Thomas Macleay as Charlie and Alain Coulombe as Sgt. Flowerdew. Bernard Jacobson of "Seen and Heard International" writes that "Andrew P. MacDonald Creates a Canadian Opera to Treasure" and in the March 2012 issue of Opera Magazine (UK) writes that this new opera is "an accomplished, moving work of lyric theatre…" where "MacDonald has set the unpretentiously eloquent libretto to music that is essentially tonal but which vividly captures both the lyricism of young love and the brutality of war." Professor MacDonald is this year's recipient of the university's Research and Creativity Award.
Dr. Sunny Man Chu Lau received the Founders' Emergent Scholars Award
On February 9, 2012 Dr. Sunny Man Chu Lau received the first Founders’ Emergent Scholars Award sponsored by the International Society for Language Studies (ISLS) and the Language Studies Foundation. This award intends to promote critical language scholarship and to recognize and advance the academic work of emergent scholars. The award includes an opportunity for awardees to publish an article in the society’s journal, Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, or in their Readings in Language Studies book series. Dr. Lau will be recognized for her excellent article at the 2013 biennial ISLS conference to be held in Puerto Rico.
New Collaboration for Dr. Faraoni
Dr. Valerio Faraoni in the Department of Physics has joined the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo as a long distance affiliate. The Institute is a basic research centre dedicated to exploring the world around us at its most fundamental level. This world-class institute was established in the summer of 1999 by Mike Lazaridis, founder of Research in Motion and the innovator behind the smart phone revolution, to help foster research and innovation in the field of theoretical physics. Thanks to this affiliation, Dr. Faraoni will be involved in the Institute’s research activities, play a role in strengthening the Canadian physics research community, and will receive support to visit the Perimeter Institute and interact with its members.
May 2012
Bishop’s Research and Creativity Award 2012
Dr. Andrew MacDonald of the Music Department received the 2012 Bishop’s University Research and Creativity Award in recognition of his important contribution to the field of contemporary music. Dr. MacDonald is a highly accomplished guitarist, composer, conductor and music educator who has been awarded numerous grants, prizes and distinctions over the years. Dr. MacDonald has won several popular prizes for his works: among them are the 1995 Juno Award for Best Classical Composition for his Violin Concerto as well as the 2005 East Coast Music Award and the 2005 Independent Music Award for Jasper Wood’s recording of Great Square of Pegasus. He has worked in collaboration with musicians and music organizations in Quebec, Canada and around the world, and many of his works were commissioned by outstanding orchestras, chamber ensembles, and solo performers. His compositions have been performed in several countries including England, Norway, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Turkey, the United States and Australia. Dr. MacDonald has composed for all the major musical forces including symphony, concerto, opera, chamber, solo instrument, chorus, solo song, electro-acoustics, and jazz combo. His latest work is a full-length opera entitled Mary's Wedding which was recently premiered by Pacific Opera Victoria and will be broadcast on the CBC radio program Saturday Afternoon at the Opera on June 16. May 2012 |
Andrew MacDonald, Professor of Music and Steve Harvey, Associate Vice-Principal of Research |
New Publication on Elizabeth Hamilton
Dr. Claire Grogan in the Department of English has published a new book entitled Politics and Genre in the Works of Elizabeth Hamilton, 1756-1816. Published by Ashgate, the monograph is the first book-length study of this well-respected and popular British woman writer. Dr. Grogan addresses a significant gap in scholarship that enlarges and complicates critical understanding of Hamilton’s work. From 1797 to 1818, Hamilton published in a wide range of genres, including novels, satires, historical and educational treatises, and historical biography. Because she wrote from a politically centrist position during a revolutionary age, Hamilton has been neglected in favour of authors who fit within the Jacobin/anti-Jacobin framework used to situate women writers from the period. With Hamilton serving as her case study, Dr. Grogan demonstrates that women writers participated in the revolutionary debate through different means.
May 2012
SPECIAL ISSUE OF JETS ON BISHOP’S RESEARCH CLUSTERS
The Eastern Townships Resource Centre has recently published a special issue of the Journal of Eastern Townships Studies focusing on Bishop’s four research clusters. These interdepartmental research units are:
- Crossing Borders: Social and Cultural Difference
- Multi-scale Climate and Environmental Change
- Psychological Health and Well-being
- Stellar Astrophysics and General Relativity
Four leading researchers, each linked to one of the clusters, have written articles to present their cluster’s objectives, goals, research themes and members while articulating its relevance to the community at large. Two articles by Elisabeth Levac and Estelle Chamoux illustrate the types of projects to be conducted within the clusters.
Other articles on Sherbrooke residential architecture, Eastern Townships MLAs, municipal politics in Ascot Township, and women’s groups are featured.
For more information, please consult the ETRC website at:
http://www.etrc.ca/knowledge-transfer/jets.html.
January 2012
