By Stacey Morrison

Laurier celebrated Aboriginal Awareness Week in March on its Waterloo and Brantford campuses with a number of events, lectures and colourful examples of Aboriginal music, art and culture.

On the Brantford campus, the week kicked-off with an Idle-KNOW-More teach-in to

promote awareness and under-standing of the Idle No More movement and other colonial-resistance activities across Canada and North America. The event included presenta-tions from renowned academics, a Clan Mother and a local historian from Six Nations.

“Traditional Tuesday” featured a pow wow demon-tration, hand-drummers and

a smoke dance competition. The following day, an artists’ showcase included examples of spoken word, Métis fiddling, and a variety of other music, plus an art expo.

On “Theraputic Thursday” healers were on campus demontrating Reiki, reflexology and other natural medicines, and Laurier graduate student and motivational speaker Darren Thomas performed a hypnotist show. The week wrapped up with a lecture on the legacy of residential schools by Theodore Fontaine, author of Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools: A Memoir.

“Aboriginal Awareness Week is an opportunity for the Laurier campuses and the community to celebrate the richness of Aboriginal culture,” said Jean Becker, senior advisor: Aboriginal initiatives. “We are trying to continue to enhance Laurier’s reputation as a leader in embracing Aboriginal

culture on our campuses, and weeks like this are important.”

Laurier’s Waterloo campus celebrated with a variety of events, including a hoop dancing workshop, drum circle,

and a panel discussion on the impacts of Bill C45 on the environment and the Indian Act. The week concluded with a comedy performance by Ryan McMahon.

Laurier celebrates Aboriginal cultureUniversity campuses host a variety of events and lectures for Aboriginal Awareness Week

InsideWILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY Waterloo | Brantford | Kitchener | TorontoAPRIL 2013

7Dana Weiner researches slavery and prejudice in the early U.S. Northwest.

6Meet Ken Boyd, Laurier’s ICT Solutions director, Blues lover and ardent hobbyist.

8Laurier played host to students and parents at annual open houses.

On Tuesday, April 30 at 8:30 a.m., Laurier’s Brantford campus will be conducting a live exercise to evaluate emergency response plans. Working with Brantford Police Service, the exercise will include an officer playing the role of an armed intruder in the Research and Academic Centre.

The Brantford Police B.E.A.T. unit will respond to the incident, and members of the Emergency Operations Group will meet to

work through the emergency response plans.

The exercise will also allow for a test of the new Emergency Notification System (ENS), recently put in place by Special Constable Service and Infor-mation Technology Services to notify students, staff and faculty of critical incidents on campus.

For more information about the exercise or Laurier’s ENS, please visit: www.wlu.ca/brantford/scs.

Emergency response exercise planned for Brantford campus

Tahnee Bennett of Fort Erie sings and beats a drum as pow wow attendees dance around her during for Aborginal Awareness Week activities on Laurier’s Brantford campus.

Phot

o: S

imon

Wils

on

Phot

os: S

andr

a M

uir

Hoop dancer Nicole Shawana leads a workshop on the Waterloo campus.

APRIL 2013Inside

2

For the past four years, Laurier has presented a submission to the Ontario Legislature’s Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs prior to the setting of the provincial budget.

The intent of this pre-budget document is to build awareness of Laurier’s strengths, vision and strategic priorities, and to demonstrate how these align with the government’s own post-secondary goals.

This year, our pre-budget submission is devoted entirely to the merits of establishing a Laurier campus in the Town of Milton.

There are several reasons for highlighting the Milton proposal at this time. First, the demand for university access in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) continues to grow. This is especially true in the western part of the GTA where Milton is the fastest-growing community in Canada. It is a young community, with high levels of per capita income and education, and it needs a university campus to support ongoing and future prosperity. Second, the province has recently urged universities to seek more innovative and efficient ways to deliver high-quality education. Third, Laurier’s exploratory work

with its Milton partners has progressed to the point where a financial commitment from the province is essential to move the project forward. At this time we are seeking financial assistance to undertake a two-year planning process that would encompass academic program planning and campus design, with capital funding to follow.

The Milton proposal envisions a 150-acre university campus situated at the heart of a larger development known as the Milton Education Village. The Village will include a research park, a technology commercialization centre, a variety of housing options, entertainment and athletic amenities, and retail services. The current memorandum of under-standing involves eight signatories, including Laurier, the Town of Milton, Halton Region, and Sheridan College, among others.

The dynamics affecting post-secondary education in south-western Ontario suggest that a Laurier campus in Milton is an excellent solution for the town, our university, and the people of Ontario. Consider the following:

• The province faces significant financial challenges and has

indicated that it will give funding priority to post-secondary initia-tives that help satisfy the growing demand for university access in the GTA.

• Students deserve the best education that we can provide them and Laurier delivers amongst the highest-quality undergraduate education in the province. To offer outstanding education in Milton is to the benefit of all.

• Laurier has been a multi-campus university since the launch of the Brantford campus in 1999. As our Brantford experience has shown, the multi-campus model enables Laurier to increase enrolment and add new programs while preserving the smaller-campus size and intimate sense of community that has been the essence of our success for more than a century.

• Our Brantford experience also shows that opening a campus in another community attracts new sources of funding and new partnerships. These benefit the whole university in the form of new programs, expanded research capabilities and related synergies.

• As a multi-campus university, Laurier has prepared carefully and thoroughly for the addition of a

new campus. A Presidential Task Force on Multi-Campus Gover-nance recommended 14 consensus points, which were endorsed by Senate and which are now being implemented.

• A campus in Milton will not divert funds away from other Laurier campuses. Any provincial money for a Milton campus would be targeted to address the access issue in the GTA, and would therefore not be available to other campuses.

The Ontario government is expected to table a budget later this month. If we receive a positive

response to our pre-budget submission we will quickly start a new round of internal and external consultation and discussion as we plan academic programs and campus design. As we await the provincial budget I encourage you to read the pre-budget submission, which can be found at http://bit.ly/11bW5RE.

Max BlouwPresident and Vice-Chancellor

Send us your news, events & stories

All submissions are appreciated, however not all submissions will be published. We reserve the right to edit all copy for accuracy, content and length.

Deadline for submissions: May 10

InsideLaurier

Volume 7, Number 7, April 2013

Editor: Stacey Morrison

Contributors: Tomasz Adamski, Kevin Crowley, Elin Edwards, Kevin Klein, Lisa Malleck, Sandra Muir,

Mallory O’Brien, Simon Wilson

InsideLaurier is published by Communications, Public Affairs & Marketing (CPAM)

Wilfrid Laurier University 75 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3C5

InsideLaurier welcomes your comments and suggestions for stories.

Tel: (519) 884-0710 ext. 3341 | Fax: (519) 884-8848 Email: stmorrison@wlu.ca

InsideLaurier (circ. 2,100) is published eight times a year by CPAM.

Opinions expressed in InsideLaurier do not necessarily reflect those of the editor or the university’s administration.

Available online at www.wlu.ca/publicaffairs.

Next issue of

June 2013

Laurier’s pre-budget submission highlights Milton campuspRESIDENT’S MESSAgE

By Sandra Muir

Fiona Lester has been named the 2013 Outstanding Woman of Laurier. Lester, the captain of Laurier’s varsity women’s hockey team, received the award in March during a luncheon at the Waterloo Inn Conference Hotel.

“Fiona is an outstanding athlete who also shines as a student and a volunteer,” said Peter Baxter, Laurier’s director of Athletics and Recreation. “This event gives Laurier the opportunity to showcase our exceptional female student-athletes and how they inspire lives of leadership and purpose.”

Lester is a fourth-year Biology and Math major from Peterborough. She has twice been named an OUA First Team All-Star and three times a CIS

Academic All-Canadian.“It’s really exciting to win this

award,” said Lester. “There are so many great female athletes out there, so many that I’m friends with, that it’s just awesome and a great honour.”

Lester accepted her award in front of more than 250 people attending the awards luncheon. Seven women competed for the prestigious award this year, including two who joined Lester as finalists: Carmen Baker and Doreen Bonsu.

In 2012, Lester was one of only two Canadian student-athletes to be named to the Capitol One Academic All-America College Division first team. She also earned the 2012 Luke Fusco Academic Athletic Achievement Award, which recog-nizes the Laurier female athlete who

best combines academic and athletic achievement.

In the summer, Lester works at the Laurier Girls Hockey Camp as a counsellor and instructor. She has also worked as a supervisor with the Ontario Ranger Program at the Killarney Camp.

The OWL event included an inspirational keynote address by Kitchener native Kelly VanderBeek, a three-time World Cup downhill skiing medalist and participant at the 2006 Winter Olympics. The event was hosted by Laurier alumna Daiene Vernile, anchor and producer for CTV Southwestern Ontario’s Provincewide.

This year’s event raised about $18,000 to help support women’s athletic initiatives, scholarships and the mentoring program at Laurier.

Email: insidelaurier@wlu.ca

InsideJune

Fiona Lester named Outstanding Woman of Laurier

Max Blouw, right, with Laurier’s past and present Top 40 Under 40 recipients at a reception at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in March.

Skier Kelly VanderBeek, left, and OWL winner Fiona Lester.Ph

oto:

Lis

a M

alle

ck

Printed on recycled paper

Phot

o: T

omas

z A

dam

ski

Inside

3

APRIL 2013

Nominations open for Employee Achievement AwardsNominations are now being accepted for the 2013 Employee Achievement Awards. The awards are based on Laurier’s Employee Success Factors, and nomina-tions are now being accepted for a variety of categories.

Staff, faculty and students are encouraged to submit nominations, which will be accepted until May 3, 2013. A ceremony and reception will be held on September 26, 2013 to celebrate all award winners and long-service employees.

More information and nomination forms can be found at www.wlu.ca/achievementawards.

Laurier receives funding for Industry Internship programLaurier will receive $216,842 from the Government of Canada to launch a project that will provide 20 recent graduates and graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs with paid internships.

The investment comes from FedDev Ontario’s Graduate Enterprise Internship program (GEI). The program provides funding for small- and medium-sized enterprises and post-secondary institutions to develop internship opportunities for recent graduates and graduate students to help develop their business and management skills.

The funding will help Laurier

launch its Laurier-Industry Internship Program, which will focus on bringing students and companies together for six-month internships. The university is in the process of contacting businesses in southern Ontario and students in Laurier science programs to encourage their involvement.

procter & gamble Inc. supports business and sustainability education at LaurierProcter & Gamble Inc. has donated $250,000 to Laurier’s School of Business & Economics to integrate business theory and practice with global sustainability issues of human development and well-being.

The gift will fund Laurier’s Centre for Business & Sustain-ability, which combines important topics of global sustainability — such as energy practice, water provision, food supply, and population growth — with management education and practice. In recognition of its gift, Laurier has named the centre the Procter & Gamble Centre for Business & Sustainability. Procter & Gamble has generously donated nearly $750,000 to Laurier.

The funding will support the centre’s research, teaching, curriculum development and engagement with students, civil society and businesses, as well as student groups, speakers and conferences.

Laurier to offer interdisciplinary course on sustainabilityLaurier has approved a first-year, interdisciplinary course on sustainability, which will be open to all undergraduate students and be taught by multiple professors in different faculties. The course will be offered in Winter 2014.

While Laurier offers other courses that tackle sustainability issues, this new course, which will have both theoretical and practical components, is distinctive for not being grounded in any one particular discipline. The course is a collaborative effort between faculties and aims to give students a truly integrated education in the field. The complex nature of sustainability makes it ideally suited to advancing interdisci-plinary studies at Laurier.

“The course looks at an extremely important and existing issue in the world from many angles,” said Claire Bennett, Laurier’s sustainability coordi-nator. “Overall, we’re focusing on how sustainability plays a part in students’ daily lives and their working lives. This is their world they’re building.”

Master of Music Therapy program marks 10 yearsLaurier’s Faculty of Music celebrated 10 years of alumni and student excellence in its Music Therapy master’s program in early April, and also unveilled a Music Therapy Clinical Improvisational

Lab — the first of its kind in Canada.

The improvisation lab will enhance research, as well as teaching and learning in the undergraduate and graduate music therapy programs.

“The lab enhances client and therapist sessions through the use of modern equipment and technology, furthering the research of clinical improvisation as a whole,” said Heidi Ahonen, a music professor and director of the Manfred and Penny Conrad Institute for Music Therapy Research. “Improvisation provides the opportunity for clients to

express themselves through sound.”The Faculty of Music celebrated

the Music Therapy master program’s 10th anniversary with student performances, keynote speakers and a reception.

Over the past 10 years, graduates of the program have developed into a community of music therapists practising music-centred psychotherapy. Students gain practical experience working with clients through community practicum placements and in the faculty’s on-site clinic.

Laurier has the longest running Master of Music Therapy program in Canada.

NEWS What’s new and notable at Laurier

Laurier gets new Canada Research Chair

Brantford building achieves LEED Silver certification By Kevin Klein

The Research and Academic Centre (BRAC) West Building on Laurier’s Brantford campus has been awarded LEED Silver certification by the Canada Green Building Council.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a third-party certification program and an internationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. The BRAC West building has been designed to consume 33 per cent less energy than a comparable

industry standard building. Sustainable features of the BRAC

West building include: low-flow water fixtures; high-efficiency glass; no-irrigation vegetation; natural daylighting with super energy efficient light fixtures; bike storage; elimination of refrig-erant coolant HCFC’s; regional and recycled materials; reduced parking and hard surfaces; solar reflecting roof; and construction waste diversion.

“We are very pleased to have achieved the Silver certification level with Laurier’s first LEED building, and to have been awarded all 35 of the certification points

that were targeted,” said Gary Nower, associate vice-president: physical resources. “Certification requires a team effort from design through construction, and we like to recognize the contributions of MMMC Architects and the design consultant team, as well as D. Grant Construction in achieving this milestone for Laurier.”

The BRAC East Building LEED certification application is currently under review, and the upcoming Global Innovation Exchange Building at the Waterloo campus will also be applying for certification at the completion of construction.

By Elin Edwards

Laurier is pleased to announce the appointment of Jörg Broschek to the position of Canada Research Chair in Comparative Federalism and Multilevel Governance.

Canada Research Chair appointments across Canada were officially announced by the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology) at Western University in March.

Broschek is coming to Laurier from the Institute of Political Science at the Technische Univer-sität Darmstadt in Germany where he specialized in comparative politics. In his doctoral disser-tation, he examined dynamic patterns of federalism in Canada from a comparative perspective. At Laurier, Broschek’s research will compare the institutional archi-tecture, the historical evolution, and the democratic performance of multilevel governance in Europe and North America. To this end, Broschek plans to develop an innovative analytical framework that builds on and further extends his previous work in the field of comparative federalism.

“Based on my experience as a German political scientist with a European background who has specialized in Canadian politics, I

hope that the research I am under-taking will substantially contribute to the role of Canadian political science in

the study of comparative politics,” said Broschek.

Broschek will begin his appointment on July 1, 2013. In addition to his Canada Research Chair appointment, he will be joining Laurier’s Political Science Department as an associate professor.

“We welcome Dr. Broschek as he joins the growing interdisciplinary group of scholars at Laurier interested in federalism and multilevel governance,” said Abby Goodrum, vice-president: research.

“His research will contribute to Laurier’s deep commitment to discovery and innovation, global citizenship, and civic engagement by addressing a topic that is of deep concern to students, policy-makers and academics around the world.”

With Broschek’s appointment, Laurier will have nine Canada Research Chairs in disciplines ranging from International Human Rights to Forests and Global Change.

The Research and Academic Centre (BRAC) East and West Buildings on Laurier’s Brantford campus. The BRAC West Building is now certified LEED Silver and the East Building’s certification is currently under review.

Update your expert profile with a new photo

Laurier faculty members: Have you updated your Experts at Laurier profile recently? In the spirit of spring-cleaning, consider freshening up your web page and expert profile to ensure it is up-to-date.

The Office of Communications, Public Affairs and Marketing will be offering two drop-in photography sessions at the end of April: one in Waterloo and one in Brantford. Faculty members may have professional headshots taken for uploading to their Experts at Laurier and web page profiles. An email will be sent in early April with details: keep your eye on your inbox for dates and times!

Experts at Laurier is a website that allows the media to search for experts by area of expertise, name or faculty. Being a Laurier expert is a great way to gain exposure and recognition for your research. By updating your Experts at Laurier information, you are offering to consider interview requests from the media — a telephone interview for radio or print stories, or on-camera interviews for television coverage.

If you are not yet a Laurier expert, creating a profile is an easy process. Visit wlu.ca/experts for more information. For questions or assistance, email Mallory O’Brien at mobrien@wlu.ca.

APRIL 2013Inside

4

Name: Clare HitchensJob Title: Publicist, WLU PressAlbum: The Fate of the World Depends on This KissArtist: Whitehorse

Name: Rebecca Godderis Job Title: Assistant Professor, Health Sciences and Contemporary Studies, Laurier Brantford Book Title: Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood Author: Marjane Satrapi

Persepolis examines the complexities of war, revolution, religion and gender politics through the eyes of a child growing up in revolutionary Iran. The striking black and white illustrations add power to an already remarkable narrative and together offer a unique reading experience. For those who haven’t picked up a graphic novel, this is a must! Also a must read in the genre: Maus by Art Spiegelman.

By Sandra Muir

With the increase in student stress as the end of term approaches, Counselling Services at Laurier’s Waterloo campus wants to remind staff and faculty of its new rapid response services available to students.

Counselling Services now offers same-day appointments Monday through Friday to address student concerns as quickly as possible.

Walk-in consultations are available from 9 a.m. to noon, with sign up beginning at 8:30 a.m. These appointments are intended to provide immediate feedback and to identify counselling options available on campus or in the community. They are geared towards students interested in exploring short-term group or single-session counselling.

Walk-in crisis appointments are available from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

These are for students who are in crisis and are either at risk of self harm or harming others. Sign up is from 12:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m., however efforts will be made to accommodate crisis appointments at other times if necessary.

Due to the short time frame before the end of the semester, Counselling Services is also offering one-time, 90-minute consultations to help students with issues such as anxiety, stress management and other related issues that may be addressed with a longer appointment if necessary.

“We made these changes to offer support to as many students as possible,” said Alison Edgar-Bertoia, director of Counselling Services. “We also know how stressful April can be, and sometimes students feel it is too late to request counselling support. We have worked hard to reserve openings in our schedules at

this busy time of year, and want students to know that we will do our best to offer support if at all possible.”

Thanks to funding from the Dixon Foundation, Counselling Services can also provide extra counselling for Faculty of Arts students, who are proportionately the highest users of counselling services.

On Laurier’s Brantford campus, Health and Counselling Services accepts all walk-ins with no appointment necessary. Students are assesed by a mental health nurse and can be quickly referred to a physician or counsellor the same day.

Staff and faculty can help by being aware of the signs of distress. A referral guide and a list of signs that a student may be in distress are available at http://waterloo.mylaurier.ca/counselling/info/Faculty.htm.

Library creates new digital collection of press releases

April is high-stress for students

By Stacey Morrison

On July 14, 1960, Wilfrid Laurier University, then known as Waterloo Lutheran University, issued its first press release. Written by president H.M. Axford, the three-page release, titled “50% or 60%?” discusses admission standards.

More than 50 years and 4,000 releases later, the Laurier Library has created a digital collection of all the press releases published by the university.

“Searching through the collection is a great way to answer

a lot of ‘who, what and when’ questions that come up all the time, since the university has issued press releases for most significant events in its history,” said Julia Hendry, archives and special collections librarian. “It’s easy to find what you’re looking for because the documents can be searched by keyword.”

There are currently more than 11,000 photos and documents from Laurier’s history available online through the Library’s digital collections. To view a collection online, visit library.wlu.ca/archives/onlineresources.

What are you listening to?

Counselling Services offers assistance to help cope

The first press release issued by the university in 1960, left, and a current release issued in March 2013, right.

Laurier graduate students took the podium March 8 and delivered their entire theses in only three minutes.

As part of the Three-Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition, each student condensed thousands of words of research into a brief and engaging presentation for a non-specialist audience using a single presentation slide. A Laurier judging panel assesed the students on serveral criteria, including communication style, engagement with the audience and audience comprehension of the research.

The winner, Master of Education candidate Tracy Bachellier, presented her thesis titled Parent and Family Engagement: Practice in Pedagogy. She collected a first-place prize of $1,000. Runner-up Gwenith Cross, a PhD candidate in History, delivered her thesis called Midwives and Medicine on Bicycles.

She won a $500 prize. Both Bachellier and Cross have the opportunity to represent Laurier at the Ontario 3MT at Queen’s University on April 18.

Honourable mentions went to

Kinesiology master’s candidate Robyn Bertram and Psychology PhD candidate Éric Thériault. Kitchener-Waterloo MPP Peter Braid was on hand to present the awards.

Competition challenges students to deliver theses in three minutes

Front (left to right): Robyn Bertram, Gwenith Cross, Tracy Bachellier, Éric Thériault.Back (left to right): Judges Joan Norris, Susan Anzolin, Tamas Dobozy, Abby Goodrum, Jacqui Tam, and MPP Peter Braid.

“We thought this sort of provides an opportunity to connect people to environmental research literally through their own backyards.”

– Robert McLeman, associate professor of geography and Environmental Science.

From “Homemade skating rinks recruited for climate change research” published on CBC.ca on Jan. 19, 2013. Author Cory Ruf writes about how the Rinkwatch project started by Laurier researchers is helping to study climate change.

Laurier community members are frequently featured in the local and national

media. To see more coverage, visit www.wlu.ca/Laurierin thenews, and find out

about our Experts at Laurier program, visit www.wlu.ca/experts.

In the media

I’m a long-time fan of Canadian singers Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland. With the couple’s new act, Whitehorse, they have truly found some magic. Luscious harmonies, killer guitar riffs, and a backup band made of looping tracks they build themselves all combine to make a unique sound. Their newest album is The Fate of the World Depends on This Kiss. Lucky Waterloo fans (including me) had a chance to see them at the Starlight in March and they did not disappoint.

Inside

5

APRIL 2013

By Mallory O’Brien

During a public reading on March 6, authors Alyssa York and Andrew Westoll joked about the various fauna with which they were sharing Laurier’s Lucinda House property.

“There’s a raccoon in the garage, squirrels, mice and a skunk, maybe?” said York.

“There is definitely a skunk,” said Westoll with a laugh.

The most recent books of both writers-in-residence share a theme of human-animal

connection. Westoll, who is the inaugural Edna Staebler Writer-in-Residence, recounts his experi-ences at a chimp sanctuary in The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary: A Canadian Story of Resilience and Recovery. York, Laurier’s third-annual writer-in-residence following authors Lawrence Hill and Joseph Boyden, follows the people and animals inhabiting the Don Valley in Toronto in her novel Fauna.

The authors discussed their human-animal themes and read from their award-winning books

at public events in both Waterloo and Brantford in March.

“One thing I took from Andrew’s book is that the humans who work [at Fauna Sanctuary] self-identify as people who would rather be around animals than humans,” said York. “What do you think it is that makes people want to create a sanctuary?”

“You have to care about something else in your life to give your life meaning,” Westoll replied.

York and Westoll continued their engaging dialogue at a

similar event in Brantford March 7. York, who visited Laurier

between Feb. 25 and March 7, is the author of several books, including Effigy and the national bestseller, Fauna. Effigy was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and Fauna was short-listed for the 2011 Toronto Book award. York has also written award-winning short fiction, and her essays and articles have appeared in The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, Quill & Quire and Eighteen Bridges.

Westoll, whose Edna Staebler

writer-in-residence position concludes at the end of April, is a primatologist and an award-winning narrative journalist. He is the author of The River-bones and The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary, which won the 2012 Charles Taylor Prize. The book was also shortlisted for the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction and the BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction and named a book of the year by The Globe and Mail, Amazon.ca, Quill & Quire and CTV’s Canada AM.

For a complete list of appointments visit www.wlu.ca/hrpEOpLE AT LAURIER

Authors collaborate at joint events on Laurier’s campuses

New appointments:

Gwen Bisset, administrative assistant, Dean of Arts (Waterloo campus).

Jasmine Der, digital projects coordinator, Library (Waterloo campus).

Allison Dias, project and administrative coordinator, Academic Services (Waterloo campus).

Suzanne Gall, coordinator financial and biographical services, Advancement Services (Waterloo campus).

Paul Gowling, project coordinator, Physical Resources (Waterloo campus).

Allan Keith, auditions and student services coordinator, Faculty of Music (Waterloo campus).

Shari Nemirovsky, manager, recruitment and admissions (non-secondary school), Recruitment & Admissions (Waterloo campus).

Jennifer Schill, info specialist: data entry, Registrar’s Office (Waterloo campus).

Ian Schwartz, coordinator programs, Athletics & Recreation (Waterloo campus).

Shwetha Subramanya, administrative and financial assistant, Seminary (Waterloo campus).

Mahmoud Reza Tadayon, database administrator, Enterprise Solutions (Waterloo campus).

Michael Voisin, administrative assistant (Inside Out), Faculty of Social Work (Waterloo campus).

Ursula Wolfe, program assistant (graduate programs), Faculty of Education (Waterloo campus).

Changes in staff appointments: Michael Ackerman, disability consultant, Accessible Learning (Brantford campus).

Mieke Barette, outreach and student recruitment coordinator, Faculty of Music (Waterloo campus).

Rachel Bessette, off-campus recruitment officer (Brantford campus).

Louise Boulanger, recruiting assistant, Career Services (Waterloo campus).

Richard Brown, admissions specialist I, Office of the Registrar (Waterloo campus).

Karen Cleaver, intermediate administrative assistant, SBE (Waterloo campus).

Laura Davey, development assistant (SBE), Development (Waterloo campus).

Martha Dewitte-Fairless, mail/file clerk, Registrar’s Office (Waterloo campus).

Stephanie Giddings, financial and biographical assistant, University Development (Waterloo campus).

Dennis Karn, custodian leadhand, Physical Resources (Waterloo campus).

Taylor Marks, admissions coordinator, Recruitment & Admissions (Waterloo campus).

Ryan Pyear, national recruitment and admission coordinator, Recruitment & Admissions (Waterloo campus).

Tina Tellis, admissions specialist II, International Recruitment & Admissions (Waterloo campus).

Alissa York and Andrew Westoll examine themes of human-animal connections

Marek Wartak, a professor in Laurier’s Department of Physics and Computer Science, is the author of a newly published textbook, Computational Photonics An Introduction with MATLAB. The textbook — Wartak’s first — is intended to give students a comprehensive grounding in the operating principles of optical devices, as well as the models and numerical methods used to describe them.

“I have delivered courses on this topic for many years, and originally I was going to focus the textbook on fibre-optic

communication. But over the last two years I realized it could be much broader,” said Wartak.

The book discusses optical planar waveguides, linear optical fibre, the propagation of linear

pulses, laser diodes, optical amplifiers, optical receivers, finite-difference time-domain method, beam propagation method and some wavelength division devices, solitons, solar

cells and metamaterials.Peter Eglin, a professor in the

Faculty of Arts, is the author of Intellectual Citizenship and the Problem of Incarnation (University Press of America). In the book, Eglin challenges himself and the reader to practice intellectual citizenship everywhere from the classroom to the university commons to the street. He argues the moral imperative to do so derives from the concept of incarnation. Here the idea of incarnation is removed from its Christian context and replaced with a political-economic interpre-

tation of the embodiment of exploited labour.

Debra D. Chapman, an instructor in the Faculty of Arts, is the author of The Struggle for Mexico: State Corporatism and Popular Opposition (McFarland). The book examines the trans-formation of Mexico’s social and political organization from state corporatism to transna-tionalized corporatism, a form distinguished by the effect that International Financial Insti-tutions and the World Trade Organization have on the state’s relationship to the rest of society.

professors celebrate new books, including textbook on computational photonics

Alissa York signs copies of her book after a public reading on Laurier’s Waterloo campus in early March. Andrew Westoll reads from his book at a joint event on the Brantford campus the following week.

Phot

os: T

omas

z A

dam

ski,

Sim

on W

ilson

APRIL 2013Inside

6

COFFEE WITh A CO-WORkER

How long have you been at Laurier?I’ve been at Laurier for about a year. I used to work at BlackBerry, and when I left a former co-worker suggested this job opportunity to me. I’ve been in IT for a long time, and my sister — who is an academic — would often ask for my help with commu-nicating with her IT department. So, when I saw the position at Laurier I thought it was a chance for me to help and join the conversation.

What’s coming up for IT?There is a great deal going on but one of the areas of focus is improving the student experience. We’re looking at making significant improvements to the Residence Network (ResNet). We’re also supporting a student-run mobile portal project. We

want to improve the student experience, and improve security. As well, we’re making big changes to the registration system. Registration is like a shopping mall. Each program is a store, and you shop for individual courses. The problem is the door to get into the shopping mall is kind of narrow. Once you’re in you’re okay. It’s just getting in is tough. So we’re changing that door into an aircraft hangar.

What do you like to do in your spare time?My wife and I fell in love with an 1872 schoolhouse near Orangeville and we’ve spent a lot of time renovating it. I also carve wood and stone. A few weeks ago I carved a canoe paddle out of cherry wood. I also like to carve animals and caricature

faces. It’s just a hobby, so I don’t sell them.

What is something people would be surprised to learn about you?I think people would be surprised to learn about the number of hobbies I have. But I come by it honestly — my parents are ardent hobbyists. My 86-year-old father just started baking artisan bread. My brother is a loyalist soldier re-enactor. He learned how to sew and made his own uniform. It’s sort of the family way to take up interests and pursue them as far as you can.

What other hobbies do you have?I love to read, mainly for pleasure. I’m currently reading Cloud Atlas and I just finished the Game of Thrones series. I’ve been making custom golf clubs for about

20 years. Being an engineer, I wanted to understand how these things worked and I found out you could actually make them. I turned that into a business, and the money I made helped to feed my golf habit, paying for green fees and golf vacations. I also play the banjo and I’m a big fan of the Blues. I volunteer at the Kitchener Blues Festival, and I’ve got a lot of Blues memorabilia.

What do you like most about working at Laurier?The opportunity to make a difference. It’s also the friendliest place I’ve ever worked. When people see you in the hallway, they look you in the eye and say hi. Laurier is a special place, it really is.

By Sandra Muir

A look at staff and faculty across campus

Name: Kenneth Boyd

Title: Director, ICT Solutions

Where you can find him: Room 129M, Regina St., Waterloo campus

Drink of choice: Coffee, sometimes black and sometimes with cream.

COMINg EVENTS For a complete list of events visit www.wlu.ca/events

Check out what the Laurier community has been tweeting about at twitter.com/lauri-ernews. Laurier also has official sites on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Lauri-erNow and YouTube at www.youtube.com/LaurierVideo.

@LaurierNews Welcome to @GailVazOx-lade, who will be sharing her Money Rules at #Laurier’s Brantford campus tonight! http://t.co/aNQnWv7CwMMarch 26

@CCAE@LaurierNews @GailVazOx-lade She’s great! Should be a great talk!

@WR_Record RT @LaurierNews: @WR_Re-cord This is a photo of #Lau-rier’s Waterloo campus March 21, 2012: on.fb.me/165FfoC March 22

@Pseudo_nym1@LaurierNews @WR_Record That was such a great day... I remember. <3 Laurier!

Soup & Frybread WednesdaysWhen: Wednesdays until April 1711 a.m. – 2 p.m.Where: Aboriginal Student House – 111 Darling St., Brantford campusCost: Free

Stop by for some delicious soup and tasty frybread. Vegan/vegetarian options are available.

Soup & Frybread TuesdaysWhen: Tuesdays until April 30Noon – 2 p.m.Where: Aboriginal Student Centre – 187 Albert St., Waterloo campusCost: Free

Did you forget your lunch? Stop by for some delicious soup and tasty frybread!

Let’s Talk: Everyone Has a StoryWhen: April 24, 2013Noon – 1 p.m.Where: Senate & Board Chamber, Waterloo campusCost: Free

The reality is that many of us, or members of our inner circle, experience some mental illness in our lifetime and all of us move up and down the continuum from complete wellness to illness. This workshop offers insights into mental well-being and mental health issues. Talking about mental health is the first step in increasing awareness and making a difference in the lives of people we care about. To register, visit: web.wlu.ca/lauri-ertraining.

Course (Re)Design InstituteWhen: May 1-3 & May 69 a.m. –4 p.m.Where: Active Learning Classroom (DAWB 3-106), Waterloo campusCost: $30

Whether you are looking to create a new course, completely renovate an existing one, or slowly remodel key lessons or core curriculum over time based on a blended learning model, this for you. Faculty, librarians and instruc-tional staff are invited to attend. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/YmWYF1.

Laurier Milton Lecture SeriesWhen: May 87 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.Where: Milton Centre for the Arts, MiltonCost: Free

Laurier Professor Quincy Almeida will talk about “Unraveling the Mysteries of Parkinson’s Disease.” For a complete listing of Milton lectures, visit www.mpl.on.ca/lectures.php.

Alumni Development Day 2013When: May 38 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.Where: Bricker Academic Building, Waterloo campusCost: $95 (until April 12)/ $135 regular rate

A full day of professional devel-opment, lunch, refreshments and keynote address, including Neil Pasricha, author of 1000 Awesome Things and The Book of Awesome.

Staff Development DayWhen: May 168 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.Where: Waterloo campus (register in Bricker Academic Building)Cost: Free

Plans for this day include an engaging keynote speaker, BBQ lunch, panel discussion and breakout sessions featuring content created and presented by your fellow colleagues. To register and for more information, visit www.wlu.ca/staffdevday.

Empty BowlsWhen: May 1611:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.Where: Theatre Auditorium, Waterloo CampusCost: $40

Available bowls will be on exhibition in the Robert Langen Art Gallery from May 8-15, noon to 5 p.m. (the gallery is closed on the weekend). Tickets for the event go on sale April 3 and the online silent auction for actor Colm Feore’s celebrity bowl begins the same day. For more information, visit web.wlu.ca/emptybowls.

Laurier Golf Classic 2013When: May 289 a.m. registrationWhere: Brantford Golf and Country ClubCost: $1,000/foursome or $500/person

Join fellow Laurier alumni for a round of golf on North America’s fourth-oldest golf course, plus lunch on the course, a silent auction and dinner. Funds raised go towards the Golden Hawks Scholarship Fund and the Student Horizon Fund. To register or for more information, visit http://bit.ly/ZzuA08.

heard on Twitter

Ken Boyd has a variety of interests, including wood carving, reading, creating custom golf clubs and collecting Blues memorabilia.

Phot

o: S

andr

a M

uir

Neil Pasricha

Inside

7

APRIL 2013

By Mallory O’Brien

As the United States continues to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War (1861-1865), Dana Weiner has noticed an increased interest in the time period. Most notably, two of this year’s Oscar-nominated films, Lincoln and Django Unchained, explore Civil War and slave narratives.

“I have noticed that people want to talk more with histo-rians following the release of these films, which is due in part to the huge amount of variation in terms of people’s awareness about the impact of slavery,” says Weiner, an assistant professor in Laurier’s History department. “One of the controversies about Django is the language. Sometimes people say, ‘Oh concerns with racialized language are just political correctness and we’re pandering to people by being overly concerned about offence,’ but it’s not that simple when you look at the historical weight that these kinds of words had and still have.”

For Weiner, even though she has issues with both films, Lincoln and Django are useful for helping people understand that racism and slavery have resonance in the present.

“It has been really fruitful in terms of starting a conversation about how slavery is relevant to all Americans’ lives,” she says.

Weiner’s research into slavery and abolition has culminated in her new book, Race and Rights: Fighting Slavery and Prejudice in the Old Northwest, 1830-1870 (Northern Illinois University Press, 2013).

The book began as her master’s research about female abolitionists in Illinois. While at Northwestern University outside of Chicago, Weiner started looking at these women organizing against slavery at the grassroots level. She discovered they encountered much violent opposition, but they “played up gender protections.”

For example, if a male abolitionist speaker was being mobbed, women would surround him to protect him, assuming male rioters would not attack them because they were women. “It was quite bold, but in a lot of cases, it worked,” says Weiner.

Her interests soon expanded into a broader PhD project, also at Northwestern, about antislavery and anti-prejudice activism in the American Midwest. During the mid-19th

century, there was substantial fugitive-slave activity in Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri, which share borders with Indiana, Illinois and Ohio, and Michigan just north of those states.

“A big tendency in the study of the antislavery movement is to look at the east coast of the United States as the centre of antislavery activism,” she says.

“Partially because I was located in Illinois and I had already noticed so much anti-abolition violence historically, I was interested in what

happened around the area in those times, in those places that were close to slavery.”

When Weiner came to Laurier in 2008, her research broadened into a study about human rights activism in that time period, and how race affected rights in “this very contentious place.”

Weiner says people often think the free states were more

accepting of African-Americans or religious minorities, but that wasn’t necessarily the case.

“It’s not as if people became blank slates when they crossed these borders,” she says. “People were coming to the Midwest with particular views: whether or not they thought slavery was an acceptable institution, and whether or not they wanted African-American neighbours.”

Weiner notes that many people moved to the Midwest to

get away from slavery, but not necessarily because they opposed it. Determining what obstacles, specifically, abolitionists faced in the Midwest was one of her research challenges. In her book, Weiner addresses three main types of rights that anti-aboli-tionists restricted: freedom of assembly, freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

One of the most notorious cases of an attack on rights in Illinois was that of Elijah Lovejoy, a newspaper editor who was murdered during a riot in the mid-1830s. Lovejoy went through multiple presses while publishing antislavery newspapers because anti-abolitionists repeatedly destroyed them.

“The Old Northwest hosted overt attacks on freedom of speech and freedom of the press,” says Weiner.

Lovejoy started in Missouri, which was a slave state, and moved north to Illinois, which was a free state, but his neighbours in Illinois didn’t want him to print the paper either, so he ended up having three more presses destroyed.

“Even when they only used passive resistance, abolitionists had trouble finding places they could speak,” says Weiner. “People would say, ‘We don’t want to hear your disruptive talk in our town. You can’t come and lecture here.’ There was a lot of tumult.”

In addition to the challenges that white and black abolitionists faced, there is also another big piece about rights in her book: the presence of the “Black Laws” in these states.

“The Black Laws are less well-known than the segregation rules in the South after the Civil War,” says Weiner. “But those kinds of laws were actually already present in some northern places, including the Midwest, before the war.”

For example, if you were a free African-American who was trying to move to Illinois, you couldn’t just cross the border and buy land. There was a long list of legal rights deprivations, including the inability to testify against a white person. “If a white person committed a crime against an African-American person, the latter would need to have a white ally who had seen what happened and was willing to testify.”

Now that her book is out, Weiner is focusing her current project on Black Laws in early California. Mexico had much more permissive rights for African-Americans than the U.S. did, “So what happened to those people who were established citizens in California when the U.S. annexed the state? Did they retain their land and position in society?”

Much of Weiner’s research involves sifting through archives to sort out how everything

actually worked “on the ground.” “We know these Black Laws

existed and there was activism against them, but to what degree did authorities enforce these laws? Did people find ways to get around them? I am looking for insights on questions like these in the archives.

“Sometimes you find great stuff that isn’t necessarily exactly what you were looking for, and I love that. The research is one of the high points of this job.”

RESEARCh FILE

Studying the obstacles faced by abolitionists

Dana Weiner says that research and spending time in the archives is one of the highlights of her job.

Even with more passive resistance, abolitionists had trouble finding places they could speak.

“

”

Dana Weiner researches slavery and prejudice in the early U.S. Northwest

Dana Weiner’s new book.

Phot

o: M

allo

ry O

’Brie

n

APRIL 2013Inside

8

Phot

o: S

imon

Wils

on

Open houses welcome visitors

IN ThE CLASSROOM

Assistant Professor Richelle Monaghan’s class provides students with tools to be advocates for their own health.

Instructor: Richelle Monaghan

Class: HE300 – Infection and Immunity, Brantford campus

Description: Examining the anatomical and physiological basis of human immunity. Topics include autoimmunity, hypersen-sitivity, immunodeficiency and the control of infectious disease from a public-health perspective.

Despite our best attempts to stay healthy, it’s likely that we will be seriously ill at some point in our lives. Assistant Professor of Heath Studies Richelle Monaghan wonders, “How could a course on infection and immunity not be interesting?”

Monaghan, who teaches several physical and life sciences courses, says the personal interest in infection sets the stage for a very engaging course, which explores topics such as how nanotech-nology is used to rethink antibac-terial surfaces and how biting insects transmit some diseases but not others.

“There is incredible relevance to understanding how our immune system works and how disease-causing agents try to evade the immune system,” says Monaghan.

“Developing an overall under-standing of pathogen-host interactions, immune responses and terminology makes for an interesting course, but even more importantly, provides us with some important tools to be advocates for our own health.”

By Mallory O’Brien

Waterloo campus top row l-r: Visiting families are greeted by volunteers in the concourse; cotton candy treats for visitors; a third-year physics student performs a photonics demonstration.Brantford campus bottom row l-r: Enthusiastic Foot Patrol members direct visitors; friendly smiles behind the campus tour desk; visitors learn about Laurier’s Criminology program.

A look inside the lecture hall