Dr. Sirois to Take Part of a National Institute of Health (NIH) “Think Thank”
Dr. Fuschia M. Sirois has been invited to be part of a "Think Tank" on research priorities for studying the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by the National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) of the National Institute of Health of the USA (Bethesda, Maryland). The feedback from this meeting, which will be held on 23 September 2010, will inform the next National Health survey that will be administered to the population of the USA. Dr. Sirois is the only Canadian that has been invited to contribute.
July 2010
Muslims, Education and Racism under Study
Dr. Christopher Stonebanks of the School of Education, in collaboration with Dr. Joe L. Kincheloe and Dr. Shirley Steinberg from McGill, has recently edited a book entitled Teaching Against Islamophobia at Peter Lang. Teaching Against Islamophobia creates a pedagogical space for educators to engage with necessary issues and knowledges regarding the alienation of Islamic culture, religion, knowledge, and peoples. Edited by a WASP, a Jew, and an Iranian, this book confronts the fears, challenges, and institutional problems facing today's teachers. Taking its cue from critical pedagogy, this book is a collection of essays by artists, writers, performers, and educators committed to naming the insidious racism and hatred of those who would isolate and vilify Islam.
May 2010
Bishop's University to be part of New Research Alliance addressing Climate Change Adaptation
Bishop's University is part of a Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) entitled "Challenges of Coastal Communities in the Face of Climate Change" funded by a $1 million grant spread over 5 years (2010-2015) by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC). The alliance is made up of 22 researchers based in Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, the Mi'kmaq Confederacy and nine community partner organizations along the Estuary and Gulf of St-Lawrence. The alliance is led by Dr. Steve Plante of the University of Quebec at Rimouski, and by Ms Chantal Gagnon, Executive Director of the Southern Gulf of St Lawrence Coalition for Sustainability.
One of the researchers in the new alliance is Dr. Darren Bardati, Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Studies and Geography at Bishop's University. He was lead researcher for the PEI node in the application while serving a two-year term as Director of Environmental Studies at the University of Prince Edward Island which ends this June. His research focuses on the role of watershed groups in adaptive governance in the face of increasing uncertainty associated with environmental stresses on land and water resources. Using a participatory action research approach, he has interviewed representatives of all of the 31 watershed groups operating on the Island, and participating in the development of the Provincial Watershed Strategy, with the aim of understanding examining and reinforcing the resilience of these communities to deal with the challenges brought on by climate change among other stresses. "While we are all increasingly affected by climate change, whether we live on the coasts or deep in the interior of continents, it is people living and working on the coasts of the world who are particularly vulnerable in the short term. Learning from their experience and knowledge, developing working partnerships for a shared vision, and helping develop their capacity to adapt are keys to increasing the resilience and adaptation to climate change for everyone" says Bardati. Both the rapid physical changes along the coast such as accelerating erosion, and the shifts in watershed regimes, land use and watershed planning, municipal and First Nation governance in the coastal zone in recent years, indicate the need and the opportunity for concerted and collective action.
The research alliance brings academics and community partners together in a network where they can share diverse skills, knowledge and experience. This collaboration is essential to integrated coastal zone management. Network members will identify community vulnerabilities and strengths, and develop strategies to improve resilience at the community level. The short term goal is to work with a small number of communities to develop and test various approaches and tools for integrated local governance. This will help to build community capacity to learn from and survive changing conditions. In the long term, the network will provide some appropriate and flexible tools that can help people across the region to make the hard decisions that will have to be made as they struggle to manage resources and guide development while coping with the increased coastal erosion, flooding and storm events that will affect the Gulf region as climate change intensifies.
May 2010
What’s the Trouble with the Trickster?
A Study in Literary Studies by Dr. Linda Morra and Dr. Deanna Reder
Dr. Linda Morra in the Department of English at Bishop’s has recently edited, in colllaboration with Dr. Deanna Reder at Simon Fraser University, a book entitled Troubling Tricksters - Revisioning Critical Conversations. Published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press, the book focuses on various incarnations of tricksters in their particular national and cultural contexts. Dr. Morra and Dr. Reder have gathered the work of nineteen scholars and artists, of storytellers and critics, of tricksters and troublemakers to reinvigorate critical conversations about Nanabush, Coyote, Rigoureau, Wesakecak, Raven, Glooscap, Naapi, and “the trickster”. It includes theoretical essays, interviews, poems, stories, and critical reflections.
March 2010
Bishop’s partners in the new Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science
Dr. Jade Savage in the Department of Biological Sciences is a member of the Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science (QCBS) launched on February 12th by McGill University. The new Centre brings together more than 60 scientists from eight academic institutions (Bishop’s University, Concordia University, McGill University, Université de Montréal, UQAR, UQAM, Université Laval, and Université de Sherbrooke), working in collaboration with the Montreal Botanical Garden, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and researchers in Canada, the United States and Europe. The QCBS will conduct research and offer training related to three main axes of research: the discovery and inventory of biodiversity in Quebec and Canada, changes in biodiversity, and management of biodiversity change and adaptation.
February 24, 2010
What do Jack Kerouac and Michel Tremblay have in common?
From February 2 to March 7, 2010, the Centaur Theatre in Montreal presents Michel & ti-Jean by George Rideout, professor in the Department of Drama. The play, endorsed and brought to the Centaur’s attention by Michel Tremblay himself, brings together Michel Tremblay and Jack Kerouac, in a bar, in Florida in 1969. The two prolific authors share their thoughts on the art of writing, inspirations, sports, music, religion, and the most innate quality they share: their Québécois heritage! Professor Rideout, who is fascinated with cross-cultural relationships, highlights the many similarities in the writing and lives of both notable authors: a working class family, an adored mother, an early interest for literature, the use of the Québécois language, and the musical foundation of their work.
The play is directed by Sarah Garton Stanley and stars Alain Goulem as ti-Jean and Vincent Hoss-Desmarais as the young Michel Tremblay.
February 2010
Prix La Tribune Awarded to Dr. Derek Booth
Dr. Derek Booth, Professor Emeritus of Geography, was awarded the Prix La Tribune 2009 by the Société d’histoire de Sherbrooke in recognition of his many contributions to the advancement of knowledge on the Eastern Townships. For 45 years, he has been studying different topics related to the region: forestry, hydrology, economic geography, landscapes, the tourism industry, military, and transportation. His PhD thesis focused on changing forest utilization patterns in the Eastern Townships. He has published Townships of the St. Francis (McCord Museum, 1984), Railways of Southern Quebec (Railfare Enterprises, 3 volumes, 1985), The Quebec Central Railway (Railfare DC Books, 2006) as well as many articles on the region, and has given numerous lectures at academic conferences and historical societies meetings. He is now working on an historical romance.
At Bishop’s, Dr. Booth taught many courses on the Townships and was co-founder with Dr. Robin Burns of the Eastern Townships Research Centre. In his talk yesterday, he mentioned how much research on the Eastern Townships has grown in the past four decades thanks to the development of a network of historical societies and archival repositories preserving and making accessible our regional heritage to researchers and the general public.
January 25, 2010
 Maurice Cloutier, Derek Booth, Francine Dufresne, and Marjorie Goodfellow
1968: Societies in Crisis
Dr. Patrick Dramé in the History Department has recently published, in collaboration with Jean Lamarre from the Royal Military College in Kingston, the proceedings of a colloquium held in October 2008 at Concordia University on the 1968 social crises. All continents were shaken by a wave of protest which was not only held by students: workers also took part in what was to disrupt politics, culture, and customs in a world emerging from the Post-War period. What has happened? What is now the legacy of this period? Seventeen specialists from around the world provide rich and original analyses of the 1968 events in Québec, France, Germany, Africa, Asia and the United States.
1968 Des sociétés en crise : Une perspective globale, Les Presses de l’Université Laval, 2009, 204 p.
NEW STRATEGIC RESEARCH THEMES
Bishop’s University has just completed a planning process to identify its strategic research themes. After months of consultation and discussion, the following four themes have been selected. They build on existing or developing strengths in the faculty, bring together researchers from many disciplines, will lead to the development of graduate programs, and have potential for regional, national and international collaborations.
December 2009
New Book on Muslims in School
Dr. Christopher Stonebanks in the School of Education has recently published, in collaboration with Dr. Özlem Sensoy, a book entitled Muslim Voices in School – Narratives of Identity and Pluralismat Sense Publishers. The book is a collection of accessible and compelling accounts of living Islam in relation to mainstream schooling in the West. It helps to make the diverse experiences of Muslim students both contextual and complex. The politics and education about Islam, Muslims, Arabs, Turks, Iranians and all that is associated with the West’s popular imagination of the monolithic “Middle-East” has long been framed within problematics. The goal of this book is to push back against the reductive mainstream narratives told about Muslim and Middle Eastern heritage students for generations if not centuries, in mainstream schools. The chapters are each authored by Muslim-acculturated scholars. This book will be of interest to teachers, administrators, students and scholars. As well, the content is suited to fields of study including ethnic studies, critical multicultural education, anti-oppression approaches to education, curriculum studies, social issues in education, social contexts of education, and qualitative research in education.
October 2009
New Book on Innovative Leadership
Dr. Avril Aitken in the School of Education has recently published three books at Les Presses de l’Université du Québec, in collaboration with colleagues at other institutions.
- Lafortune, L. with Chantale Lepage, Franca Persechino and Avril Aitken (2009). Professional Competencies for Accompanying Change.
- Lafortune, L. with Chantale Lepage, Franca Persechino, Kathleen Bélanger and Avril Aitken (2009). A Professional Accompaniment Model for Change.
- Lafortune, L. with Chantale Lepage and Avril Aitken (2009). Guide for Accompanying Change.
The three books are among the outcomes of a longitudinal project involving participants from nearly 60 French and English language school boards and private teaching institutions in Quebec. They provide a model for supporting change within organizations and a framework of eight professional competencies for accompaniment of individuals within the organizations. The books are intended for individuals who will take the lead in moving ahead a change process. It should be noted this new use of the word “accompaniment” is intended to expand the concept of “training” or “coaching” to encompass support that individuals receive in learning situations so that they may progress in the construction of their knowledge.
September 2009
Multiple Camera System for Spatiotemporal Modeling of a Changing Environment
Thanks to financial support from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Quebec Government and private partners, Dr. Layachi Bentabet has implemented a multiple camera system to conduct research activities on spatiotemporal modeling of changing scenes in the context of video-surveillance. Located in the Laboratory for Visualization and Computational Topology, Johnson Building, this system is composed of 4 PTZ cameras, one infrared camera, and 4 still cameras. Multiple camera modeling is a relatively new domain in computer vision, but one that has recently gained increasing interest. Dr. Bentabet’s research will spur technology transfer to commercial and industrial applications in a wide variety of sectors such as intelligent video conferencing and broadcasting, law enforcement, security, remote sensing and medical imaging. This new state-of-the-art equipment will help in attracting undergraduate and graduate students who will benefit of an excellent environment for training.
A total of $139,840 was awarded in research, travel and publication grants by the Senate Research Committee in 2008-2009.
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