NEWSWIRE

Smart dummies 'teach' student nurses

It looks like a real hospital – overhead fluorescent lights, pale walls, spotless linoleum floors. In one unit, rows of beds are occupied by patients hooked up to IVs, oxygen and heart monitors. In the other — a pediatric unit — babies swaddled in flannel blankets fill cribs, isolettes, bassinets. But it is a simulated hospital environment – a new 5,000-square-foot learning lab for York’s nursing students on the third floor of the Health, Nursing & Environmental Studies Building. The patients are not real, but "smart dummies" that can be programmed to go into crisis. York’s School of Nursing opened this new Nursing Resource Centre and won praise for being innovative and putting the school "on the map".

Academic perfectionists are prone to depression
Parents of students who push themselves a little too hard should be on the lookout for symptoms of depression, according to a new study by York psychology Professor Myriam Mongrain. The study indicated they are more likely to experience major, recurring depressions.

Getting ready for the subway
The York University Development Corporation (YUDC) is always planning for the future but it's not often that it needs to rethink the entire layout of Canada's most populous university campus. Now, with the final route of the proposed Spadina subway extension determined the University has that opportunity to look into the future with a clear idea of what it will look like.

Former Osgoode dean speaks
at Supreme Court nomination hearing
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Feb. 20 that Peter W. Hogg, professor emeritus and former dean of Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, will deliver remarks today in the first-ever televised public hearing for a nominee to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Leading feminist thinker coming to York March 1
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, director of the Center for Comparative Literature and Society at Columbia University, is coming to York March 1 to give a lecture entitled, “What is Gender? Where is Europe? Walking with Etienne Balibar,” as part of the Feminist Speakers Series.

Expressions of Healing:Eco Art and Media Festival hits town
York’s Faculty of Environmental Studies, along with other partners, presents the 12th annual Eco Art and Media Festival, Feb. 28 to March 5, at locations within York's Keele campus and in downtown Toronto. The theme of this year's Eco Art and Media Festival is “Expressions of Healing”.

Guy Burry wins international volunteer award
Beaming York alumnus Guy Burry (BA ‘82) stepped onto the stage in Pittsburgh Feb. 6 to accept one of the top international honours ever accorded to a volunteer member of York’s alumni association.

'Listen Mr. Rattlesnake,' said the squirrel...
How do bees house-hunt together? How do underwater plants use smell and birds use colour to send a message? These are among the research topics biologists will discuss March 11 at a symposium organized by the Association of Graduate Students in Biological Sciences.

Math prof appointed deputy director of Fields Institute
Juris Steprans, a math professor at York, has been appointed deputy director of the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Studies in Toronto, beginning July 1, 2006. Steprans takes over from fellow York mathematics Professor Thomas Salisbury, whose term ends on June 30.

Award-winning hot docs producer talks film at York
Award-winning Canadian filmmaker - and York alumna - Silva Basmajian (BA '74, Glendon), executive producer of the National Film Board of Canada's Ontario Centre, was the featured guest Feb. 23 at The Independents, a monthly series of screenings and discussions on independent Canadian cinema.

Audience longed for a little more Dionne Brand
Author Dionne Brand visited York to read from her work as part of the Canadian Writers in Person series. This was the first audience to get an advance reading of her newest volume of poetry.

Informal encounters of the dancing kind
York dance professor Darcey Callison and friends are presenting an eclectic program of dance works in the Dance Independent Project, March 8-10, at York. This informal presentation offers in-your-face dance in an intimate space, featuring some of Canada's leading dance artists.

Add to your personal library at the Vanier book sale
For Vanier College Master Carole Carpenter, running the college’s annual book sale is a labour of love. “It’s a way to help students and give a cherished book a new life in a student’s hands,” says Carpenter.

Filmmaker and York professor emeritus dies
Faculty of Fine Arts Professor Emeritus Vincent de Paul (Vince) Vaitiekunas died on Feb. 22 at Brantford General Hospital following a long illness.