Stong College Archives

History of Stong College

Stong College is named after a pioneer family who, for over 130 years, farmed the land on which York University now stands. Stong College was dedicated on November 21, 1970, to a family who came from Pennsylvania to settle in and around York County when all was wilderness and who bore the hardships of pioneer life. Their bravery and forethought was the stepping stone to now Greater Metropolitan Toronto.

The first Stongs arrived in America from the Palatinate region of Germany in 1709 to escape religious persecution. Sylvester Stong and his family moved to Upper Canada in 1800 in voluntary exile after the American Revolution. In 1816, their son Daniel built a log cabin near Black Creek. In 1960 the log cabin, along with the other Stong buildings, became a historical site and Black Creek Pioneer Village was built around it.

In honoring our pioneer ancestors, the Stong Historical Society was formed, and has paid tribute to our pioneering heritage by naming the houses within Stong Residence after pioneer families who settled these lands in the early 19th Century. Houses in the residence have been named in honor of the Kaiser, Fisher, Boynton and Hoover families.

The City of North York officially recognizes two historical sites on the York Campus: the Hoover Homestead and the Jacob Stong House, both sites are worth a visit.

Master Stong College

  Modupe Olaogun is an Associate Professor in the Department of English, where

  she has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in post-colonial and African

  literatures and drama since 2000. Professor Olaogun holds a doctoral degree in

  English (York 1993) and BA and MA degrees in English (Ibadan, Nigeria 1980;

  1982).

   Professor Olaogun has served on various departmental and university    

   committees. She has participated in the Curriculum, Graduate Admission,

   Graduate Study, faculty hiring, thesis and dissertation committees, as well as the

   Tenure and Promotions' Adjudicating Committee in the English Department. A

   passionate York ambassador, Professor Olaogun established the African

   Playwrights at York series in 2001 and has brought to the university

   distinguished playwrights who have shared their work with students, faculty and

   staff. She currently serves on the executive committee of the Canadian

   Association of African Studies.

  Professor Olaogun founded and has served as the artistic director of AfriCan      

  Theatre Ensemble since 1998 and actively promotes the university's visibility as a viable venue for artistic endeavors.

A Fellow of Founders College until her appointment as the Master of Stong, Professor Olaogun sees the colleges at York as communities within a community, where students can build individual identities and academic knowledge while feeling an important part of the larger institution and establishing important connections with the world.

scmaster@yorku.ca
Master Stong College
Stong College, 314A, 165 Campus Walk
(416)736-5132 (Voicemail)
(416)736-2100 x 66176 (Voicemail)

Orientation 2011

Student Orientation

Orientation consists of two parts, Academic Orientation (mandatory) and Social Orientation (optional).

Academic Orientation We want you to have a smooth transition to university life and have planned this orientation to help you succeed at York. We will introduce you to the academic services, social activities, recreational activities and facilities available to you, both at Stong and throughout the university. We want to help you make connections.

Academic orientation is geared to your major. To register, click on the appropriate link:

Cost All sessions are free (lunch, dinner, or afternoon tea is included). However, you will be responsible for parking.

Social Orientation (Frosh Week) starts Friday Sept 2nd and continues until classes start on Wednesday Sept 7th.

Residence Move-In Day is Friday Sept 2nd for new students.

Parents Orientation

Stong College Parents Orientation is on Friday, Sept. 2nd at 12:30 pm in the Stong JCR (Room 111) starting with a light lunch. To register click here.

Contact Us

If you have specific questions about academic orientation or have dietary/mobility special needs, please contact us at scorient@yorku.ca

In Memory of Olga Cirak (1933-1992)
Offers a brief history in honour of the past Assistant to the Master of Stong College.
In memory of Olga Cirak (ppt)


In Memory of Samuel and Ayala

A brief tribute to Samuel and Ayala Zacks
In Memory of Samuel and Ayala (pdf)
In Memory of Samuel and Ayala (html)

Past Events 2005-2006

Goodbye to Eric Willis

Eric's Goodbye 1
With remarks from: Elizabeth Sabiston, Cecilia Abrusci, Val Toole, Peter Paolucci, Gail Vanstone, Virginia Rock, Ali Telaghani, Rob Bishop, Patrick Legris, Greg Malszecki, Fara Yasin, Allen Koretsky, and Neil Sinclair.

Eric's Goodbye 2

Eric's Goodbye 3

Eric's Goodbye 4

Miscellaneous Events

Art Gallery - Just Paintings 1

Art Gallery - Just Paintings 2

Art Gallery - Just Paintings 3

Annual Show

Original Slide Shows

Peter Paolucci at the Annual Show

Staged Reading of play, "North of Bedlam"

Written by Carlo Raponi, 1st Place Winner of the Kent Haworth Playwriting Contest

Directed by Donald Carr

Date:  Thursday, March 17, 2011

Time:   12:30 - 2:00 p.m.

Venue: Sylvester’s, Room 201 Stong College

Stress Buster Session

Date:  Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Time:  1:00 - 2:30 p.m.

Venue: Sylvester’s, Room 201 Stong College

Mark Cummings, School of Kinesiology & Health Science

Our brains and bodies are capable of amazing and powerful feats of athletics and human performance but we can also get ourselves tied up in knots that create disease.   We can be our own greatest enemy or greatest ally. The first step is to become aware of how this occurs and what you can do about it.   Come to this session and learn the simple secrets from the Owner's Manual for Self-Regulation of Your Brain and Body to be in greater control of your mind and body states. 

Mark has taught courses in biofeedback-assisted self-regulation in the School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences at York for the past 17 years. He has developed innovative programs in Stress Management Therapy at a leading addiction and mental health treatment centre in Toronto

STONG COLLEGE 1st YEAR STUDENTS

WELCOME TO OUR COMPLEX II WIDE WORKSHOP:

HIRED

A JOBS SKILLS WORKSHOP

Brought to you by the Stong College Acdemic Resource Advisors (ARAs)

Time:  Thursday (February 3rd)

Place:  Stong College Rm 201 at 5:30 to 6:30 P M

Kari Hoffman:   scacad@yorku.ca   (For more information click here)

STONG COLLEGE 1st YEAR STUDENTS

WELCOME TO OUR COMPLEX II WIDE WORKSHOP:

The Freshman 15

Brought to you by the Calumet College

Time:  Thursday (Jan.13th)

Place:  Stong College Master's Dining Room, 101 Stong College at 5:30 to 6:30 P M

Joseph DeSouza --www.joeLAB.com/contact

STONG COLLEGE 1st YEAR STUDENTS

WELCOME TO OUR SECOND COMPLEX II WIDE WORKSHOP:

Getting Into The Game

Brought to you by the Stong College Acdemic Resource Advisors (ARAs)

Time:  Thursday (Oct. 21st)

Place:  Stong College Rm 201 at 5:30 to 6:30 P M

Kari Hoffman:   scacad@yorku.ca   (For more information click here)

ATTENTION:

STONG COLLEGE 1st YEAR STUDENTS

WELCOME TO OUR FIRST COMPLEX 2 WIDE WORKSHOP:

HOW TO PREPARE FOR YOUR FIRST EXAMS AT UNIVERSITY

Brought to you by the Calumet College Student Peer Advisors (SPAs)

Time:  Tomorrow (Sept 23rd)

Place:  Calumet College Rm 214 at 5:30 to 6:30 P M

Joseph DeSouza --www.joeLAB.com/contact

Friday, March 26, 2010, 4:30 – 6:30 pm

Stong Master’s Dining Room 101

Imagined Healers:  A Panel Discussion

Tina Y. Choi:  Representations of Germ Theory in Late-19th-century Popular Journals

Ann Gagné:  Telepathic Touch, Healing Power, and the Complex Ethics of Spiritualism

Elizabeth Sabiston:  George Eliot’s Tertius Lydgate:  Misogyny And The Medical Profession in Middlemarch

Hédi Bouraoui’s poem:  Cardiologue/ The Cardiologist

Thursday, March 18, 2010, 1:00 – 2:30 pm

Samuel Beckett Theatre, Room 112 Stong College

Top 10 Secrets in Landing your “Dream” job

“Explore and learn student success strategies leading to graduation and your dream job!”

Robert Martellacci will share the best job searching techniques, including how to effectively use technology and social networks in your job search. 

Robert Martellacci is president & publisher of MindShare Learning (www.mindsharelearning.com), and the MindShare Learning Report, Canada’s Leading, Learning & Technology eMagazine.   Mr. Martellacci is a graduate of York where he earned a B.A. in Economics and a Certificate in Sports Administration.  He recently received his Masters degree in Educational Technology from Pepperdine University.  

Wednesday, March 17, 2010, 12:30-1:30 p.m.

Sylvester's, Rm.201 Stong

Stong College presents a stage reading of the play "The Tesla Chronicles"

Written by Edward Fenner,  1st place winner of  the 2009 Kent Haworth Playwriting Contest.

Directed by Wajma Soroor

A great scientist who influenced our modern world, Nikola Tesla is the subject of “The Tesla Chronicles.”  In this one act play, an elderly Tesla is visited by himself as a child, teen, young man, middle aged man and as a ghost.  Ed Fenner has written a well-researched and informative play that urges contemporary society to remember an influential scientist/inventor.  Identity and Memory are two major themes of this thought-provoking play that will surely engage the audience

Kent Haworth Playwriting Contest: (click here )

Tuesday, March 2, 2010, 1:00 – 2:30 pm,

Sylvester's, Room 201 Stong

Stress Buster Session: Optimizing Our Amazing Body & Mind.  Mark Cummings has taught courses in biofeedback-assisted self-regulation in the School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences at York for the past sixteen years. He has developed innovative programmes in Stress Management Therapy at a leading addiction and mental health treatment centre in Toronto.

 Our brains and bodies are capable of amazing and powerful feats of athletic and human performance, but at the same time we get ourselves tied up in knots that create disease.  We can be our own greatest enemy or greatest ally. The first step is to become aware of how this occurs and what we can do about it. Learn the simple secrets from the Owner's Manual for Self-Regulation of Your Brain and Body in order to be in greater control of your mind and body states.  Enjoy instructor Cummings’ engaging, and humorous, exploration of your capacities as a human being.

http://podcast.yorku.ca:8080/itc/2009/EVENTS/stress_busters_stong201_mar02_2010.mp4

Monday, February 22nd, 2010, 2:30pm

Renaissance Room, 001 Vanier College

`Educating “Emma”: Stories to Pass on from the Late Slavery Era in the Niger Area'

Presented by Vanier College, Stong College Master's Office, and the Harriet Tubman Institute

Dr. Modupe Olaogun

This lecture explores a critical excavation of a submerged history that is in the form of a play by Femi Osofisan, Ajayi Crowther: The Triumphs and Travails of a Legend, which debuted in 2002. The eponymous subject is a figure from the transatlantic slave trade. Ajayi was a young boy when he was torn from his family in the Yoruba town of Osogun by slave raiders in 1821, shackled a few months later in a Portuguese slave ship headed for Lisbon but rescued by a British anti-slavery vessel, subsequently becoming the first Black Anglican Bishop in 1864 and over the next thirty-five years leading a massive Christianization of a geographical area that stretched from the Niger delta to the north, east and west of present-day Nigeria. The lecture examines the dramatic and symbolic structures of Osofisan’s play and how the play’s tropes of riddles, games and the story-that-begets-another-story participate in the discursive act that imbues the story of Ajayi Crowther with continuing significance.

Modupe Olaogun is Associate Professor of English at York University and Master of Stong College. Dr. Olaogun specializes in African and postcolonial literatures and drama and has published widely in these areas. She founded AfriCan Theatre Ensemble in Toronto in 1998 and has staged several plays, many of them Canadian premieres of African classics and new creation. Recently, she has written a new play, with Olabisi Gwamna, “Woman King,” which was featured at the Toronto Buzz Festival in December 2009, and is expected to premiere in 2011. Dr. Olaogun is a Fellow of the Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migrations of African Peoples.

Monday, January 25th, 2010, 5:00 – 7:00 pm

Hédi Bouraoui Master’s Dining Room, 101 Stong College

Robbie Burns Celebration

Hosted by Neil Sinclair and Dr. Andrew Weaver

Join us to celebrate the life and poetry of Robert Burns, author of many poems including “Auld Lang Syne”.  This celebration originated late 18th century in Ayrshire, Scotland when friends of the deceased poet gathered in memoriam for supper.  People of Scottish descent and lovers of Burns’ poetry now celebrate his life and works on January 25, his birthday.  These suppers usually include haggis, Scotch whisky, poems, speeches and plenty of fun.  Neil Sinclair and Dr. Andrew Weaver will host the event which will include poetry readings, the life and importance of  Robert Burns and much more.  Don’t miss it!

Neil Sinclair is an alumnus and Fellow of Stong College and a lawyer.  He combines legal and business experience gained over a career in practice and executive management with the Information Technology Industry.  He has been a legal and business educator at Community Colleges and Universities.  There is no MC like him.

Andrew Weaver is a professor of English specializing in contemporary Canadian and American poetry and poetics, with an emphasis on formally innovative and experimental texts.  He has published articles on the poetry of Fred Wah and John Cage.  His current research  focuses on the relationship between contemporary and poetry and political anarchy.

Monday, November 30th, 2009, 11:30 am - 1:00 pm

Samuel Beckett Theatre, Rm. 112 Stong College

Women in Nollywood

Dr. Onookome Okome

Nollywood, Africa’s most prolific cinema, has challenged assumptions about what African cinema should entail and it has re-written the way Africa is seen and experienced. Dr. Okome tracks the location that women occupy in this cultural enterprise. Building on and expanding the scope of an earlier essay, “Women, Religion and the Booming Nigerian Film Industry,” he argues that although women are located in the “narrative limbo” of the Nollywood film, reading women in Nollywood as in other forms of popular arts in Africa is a more complex and rewarding exercise than is suggested in many studies.  

Dr. Onookome Okome is Professor of English and Film Studies at the Department of English, University of Alberta. He earned his PhD at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.  He is co-author of Cinema and Social Change in Nigeria and author of Before I am Hanged: Ken Saro-Wiwa, Literature, Politics and Dissent and Ogun’s Children: The Literature and Politics of Wole Soyinka Since the Nobel. He has published extensively on the Nollywood phenomenon in West Africa, including the co-authored essay with Jonathan Haynes, “Evolving Popular Media: Nigerian Video Film.”

Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 12:30 - 2:00 pm

Samuel Beckett Theatre, Rm. 112 Stong College

University Governance: What does the University Secretary and General Counsel really do?

Harriet Lewis

Have you ever wondered: Who are behind the decisions made by the university and from where they get their authority to act on the university’s behalf? York’s governance processes are rooted in the York University Act, 1965 and Harriet Lewis, the University’s Secretary and General Counsel, will be discussing how that Act distributes authority among the governing bodies, the university officers and the many others who act as the “mind” of the institution.  She will also share some of her observations on the legal issues and challenges of Canadian universities in general and York in particular.

Ms. Lewis completed both her Honours Bachelor of Arts and Masters degrees at York, and went on to earn an LLB from the University of Toronto. She has been practicing law since her call to the Ontario Bar in 1977, and returned to York as its first General Counsel in 1988. In June 1988 Ms. Lewis was appointed University Secretary in which capacity she oversees the governance of the university by both the Senate and the Board of Governors.  

Monday, November 2, 2009, 4:00 - 6:00 pm

Junior Common Room, 111 Stong College

  Day of the Dead: A Celebration of Life  

   Tania Hernandez Cervantes & Manuel Romero Mier

Tania Hernandez Cervantes is a researcher specializing in ecology and in topics related to sustainable agriculture. She holds an MA from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and is now working on a PhD in environmental studies at York University. Manuel Romero Mier is a Mexican writer of stories and essays, who studied physics at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. His stories, "El Jardín de las Delicias" and "El Niño que quería Caminar" are both winners of literary contests

On November 1st and 2nd, a special altar called an ofrenda is made to celebrate the Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead). The altar has at least three tiers, and is covered with pictures of saints, personal items belonging to dead loved ones, and pictures of cavorting skeletons (calaveras). Marigolds, water, salt, bread, and a candle for each of the dead with one extra so no one is left out are also placed on the ofrenda. In their talk, Tania Hernandez and Manuel Romero show the origins of the Mexican celebration of the dead. Drawing on historical evidence they demonstrate that ancient societies across the world had parallel rituals, traditions and festivities to remember the dead as the aborigines of Mexico did. This tradition has evolved in Mexico, becoming an eclectic festivity that gathers up pre-hispanic, Catholic and modern worldviews. The talk will expose the cultural components of the celebration and its influence on literature and pop culture beyond Mexico’s frontiers.

Piñata festivities, a musical performance by Mery Perez and Julia Campisi  singing  Mexican and Latin American songs with guitar accompaniment, and an exhibition of Catrina, images by Jose Guadalupe Posada, will follow the lecture.

Friday, October 23rd, 2009, 2:30 – 4:00 pm

Sylvester's, Room 201 Stong

  Vision Science In Practice: A Day in the Life of an Optometrist     

 Dr. Modupe Oladeji

In this lecture you will learn what you must know about your vision.  You will hear the answer to several of your questions, such as “Why do I need to get my eyes checked?”   “I have 20/20 vision.“  Your eyes are the only ones you will ever have and 80% of your learning comes from what you see. Your eyes are the only organs in your body that provide a clear view of your blood vessels, which can reveal considerable information about your general health. The eye is one of the most complex organs in the human body. It acts like a camera, recording images and sending them via impulses to be processed in the brain. The eyes consist of a great number of intricate components and it is important you care for them.  This lecture demonstrates the outer and inner workings of the eye and how a comprehensive assessment of the health of your eyes and the quality of your vision is important yearly.

Dr. Modupe Oladeji is a board-certified Optometrist with over 15 years of clinical experience both overseas and here in Canada. She obtained her Optometry degree in 1992 and also holds a Masters Degree in Vision Science at the School of Optometry, University of Waterloo.  Dr. Oladeji operates an Optometric practice in the St. Clair & Bathurst area. She works closely with area family physicians, pediatricians, and eye surgeons. She also works as a consultant Optometrist at the renowned Bochner Eye Institute in Toronto, providing pre and post-operative care for refractive surgery patients, post-cataract surgery care and more recently, cornea crosslinking C3R (keratoconus treatment). Dr. Oladeji attends continuing education conferences on an annual basis to keep up to date in all aspects of vision science. She is committed to providing high quality care to patients with a variety of optometric need. She appeared on one of CBC Canada segments of  “Living in Toronto” discussing the aging eye “bifocal blues – aging gracefully”. Dr. Oladeji enjoys several extra-curriculum activities, being an active volunteer/sponsor in various charitable groups and she is also involved with various musical organizations.

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009, 12:30 – 2:00 pm

Sylvester's, Room 201 Stong

 Visions from the Top of the World:  An Arctic Journey

  Dr. Allan Weiss

For many people outside our borders, Canada is known above all as a northern land.  Those who live in countries at the same general latitude, particularly in Scandinavia, often identify with Canada on the basis of a shared "nordicity"; as a result, they are especially interested in our geography, history, society, and literature.  The Nordic Association for Canadian Studies was founded by scholars in Scandinavia and the Baltic region to explore Canada and, in the process, the common ground between their own countries and ours.  Every three years, NACS holds a conference in Scandinavia that brings together scholars from Canada, Europe, and elsewhere.  The venue of the conference changes so that all the countries in the region can have an opportunity to host the event.

Allan Weiss has attended all of the Association's conferences since 1993, and as a result has had an opportunity to travel to each of the Scandinavian countries, including Iceland.  Most recently, he visited the northern reaches of Norway: the Svalbard archipelago, more specifically the island of Spitsbergen, an area that lies above the Arctic Circle.  Professor Weiss's talk offers an account of and images from his travels, showcasing the beauty of the region's cities and the grandeur of the northern landscape.

Dr. Weiss is Associate Professor in the Departments of English and Humanities, York University, and specializes in Canadian literature and science fiction.

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009, 2:30 – 4:00 pm,

Samuel Beckett Theatre, Room 112 Stong

 "Healthy Professional Boundaries"

  Dr. Michael Paré, B.Sc., M.Sc., M.Ed., M.D.

  Physician Psychotherapist

Having clear boundaries is essential to healthy, balanced working relationships. A boundary is a line that marks those things for which we are responsible. In other words, boundaries define who we are and who we are not. Although boundaries impact all areas of our lives, this talk will focus on boundaries at work.

• Physical Boundaries help us determine who may touch us and under what circumstances.
• Conceptual Boundaries give us the freedom to have our own thoughts.
• Emotional Boundaries help us to deal with our feelings.
• You will learn what is meant by a “boundary” in professional working relationships.
• You will find out the crucial difference between a boundary crossing and a boundary violation.
• This session will help you minimizing the risk of inappropriate boundary violations in working relationships.

Public Lecture Series – Michael Riddell – Physical Activity: Its Role in Diabetes Prevention

College Masters Public Lecture Series

Sep 24, 2009, 7-9PM

Location: Computer Science & Engineering Building Lecture Hall A, York University, Keele campus

For more information (click here)

Stong Annual Student Show

Show runs Monday March 15 - Friday April 2, 2010

Samuel J. Zacks Gallery Presents the works of students at the annual student show.

Click on link for information on how to submit art work.

Samuel J. Zacks Gallery Presents...."Fart for Art's Sake"

In conjunction with the Samuel J. Zack's gallery, the Flying Walrus is curating

a fragmentary selection of young artists under an ethic of "Fart for Art's

Ache!"

On Wednesday, March 3rd, we will be hosting a cabaret-style event to gather,

schmooze, and act as if our art is somehow changing the world.

The night's performance, "Waiting for Waiting for Godot" will feature dramatic

readings, musical performances, comedy, and a good amount of open mic time for

YOU to come and show off your skills. Bring musical instruments, props, or

material to read and we will pressure you into performing in front of a group

of people.

Did I mention that there will be plenty of cheese?!

"Waiting for Waiting for Godot" is just the beginning. The exhibit will be open

from March 3rd until March 12th, so if you don't make it out to the

performance, make sure to come by to see the work of these artists:

Rasia Virani, Joe Shellard, Anna Veprinska, Madd Hattere, Devon Marinac, Shinjini Sur, Alex Sheriff, and More!

Slugs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Opening Reception: Wednesday, February 3, 7-9pm

Show runs Wednesday, February 3 -  Friday, February 26

Samuel J. Zacks Gallery Presents Simon Black and Robert Clements' interests lie in their own bodily materials and common instruments used to collect them - hair, finger nail clippings, soap, and dental floss to name a few. They have gathered these materials to create sculptures that invite reflection upon one's own physical excess.

Confluences

Wednesday, January 6 - Friday, January 29

Samuel J. Zacks Gallery presents the artists of Confluences.  Chris Domanski, Peter W. and Vlasta Svoboda.  This show opens on Wenesday, January 6th and runs until Friday, January 29th, 2010.

Our opening hours for the new year are: Monday, Tuesday, Friday 11:30-4:30

Bodyworks

Wednesday, November 4- Friday, November 20

Samuel J. Zacks Gallery, the Special Projects Gallery, and Pricila Uppal present the artists of Bodyworks. Craig Le Blanc, Jane Roos, and Kevin Light show their works involving sports and the Olympics. This show opens during the groundbreaking two day symposium on the enormous potential for intersections between sport, art, and culture in North America. Featuring a variety of exciting panel presentations by artists, professional and Olympic athletes, and cultural commentators, Bodyworks performs its own cultural Olympiad as it celebrates the return of the Olympics to Canada. Taking place just months before the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, Bodyworks is sure to garner wide media coverage.

Critical Issues in the Studio, Group show

Wednesday, November 25- Thursday, December 10

Yam Lau's class of first year students come together to show their explorative artwork. Critical Issues in the Studio introduces students to visual, conceptual and theoretical language as it relates to studio practice.

Ashley de Jong-Doucette

Samuel J. Zacks Gallery Director

109 Stong College

4700 Keele St.

Tel: 416-736-2100 ext. 33055

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009, 1:00 – 2:30 pm,

Samuel Beckett Theatre, Room 112 Stong

Stress Buster Session: Optimizing Our Amazing Body & Mind.  Mark Cummings has taught courses in biofeedback-assisted self-regulation in the School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences at York for the past sixteen years. He has developed innovative programmes in Stress Management Therapy at a leading addiction and mental health treatment centre in Toronto.

 Our brains and bodies are capable of amazing and powerful feats of athletic and human performance, but at the same time we get ourselves tied up in knots that create disease.  We can be our own greatest enemy or greatest ally. The first step is to become aware of how this occurs and what we can do about it. Learn the simple secrets from the Owner's Manual for Self-Regulation of Your Brain and Body in order to be in greater control of your mind and body states.  Enjoy instructor Cummings’ engaging, and humorous, exploration of your capacities as a human being.

Monday, May 4th, 2009, 1:30 – 3:00 pm

Samuel Beckett Theatre, Rm.112 Stong College

The Narrative Power of the Line: A Visualization Approach to Composition

Professor Adam Kolodziej

School fo Interior Design,

Faculty of Communication, Ryerson University

Our emotional dimension is expressed through our insatiable appetite for both verbal and visual communication with other human beings. One of the most important means of sharing our excitement is the storytelling hand gesture; what flows from the hand is the line that we unconsciously draw.

Professor Adam Kolodziej in this lecture employs the storyboarding technique to the structure of narrative communication. Reminding us that all writing, imaginative, humanistic or scientific, employs narrative to a great extent in relaying its information, he will demonstrate his own method of art creation—charcoal drawing—in which each element embodies a story and an emotive value.

Since 2004 Professor Kolodziej has taught in the School of Interior Design, Faculty of Communication, Ryerson University. His professional activity has included that of a designer for film, television and theatre. He won the Pauline McGibbon Award for outstanding theatre design in 1987; he received Dora Award nominations for best theatre design in 1986 and 1987 and Gemini Awards for his film and television art direction in 1995 and 1996, His achievements were honoured by his election to the Royal Canadian Academy for Arts in 2005.