Osgoode Hall Law School is now home to Canada's first Centre for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption. With a $3 million endowment by international businessperson Mark Nathanson, the new Centre is called The Jack and Mae Nathanson Centre for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption. It will help fill a need for research, policy development, law reform and education in the field of organized crime and corruption.

    The Centre will be at the forefront of research into organized crime and corruption, its impact and its regulation. It draws on the expertise of leading faculty in law and related disciplines at York.

    York's Centre for Research on Work and Society has been chosen to lead one of five new large-scale research networks on education and training. The five networks were chosen from among 47 grant applications in a national competition. They involve more than 140 researchers at Canadian universities, working closely with representatives from 150 community organizations, private sector companies, international research enterprises, and representatives of various provincial government departments and school boards. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council's (SSHRC) investment in the five networks totals more than $5.6 million. Each network will receive approximately $225,000 per year for up to five years.

    The German Academic Exchange Service has chosen York and L'Université de Montréal to pioneer its Canadian Centre for German and European Studies. The primarily government-funded Service is an association of Germany's post-secondary institutions whose mission is to promote international academic exchanges through scholarships, research grants, visiting professorships, and support of conferences and curriculum development in Germany and abroad.

    Art Gallery of York University Director/ Curator Loretta Yarlow will be participating this year in what is widely considered the world's most important international showcase of contemporary art ­ Italy's "Venice Biennale." Yarlow is the first university art gallery director ever chosen to curate the exhibition at the Canadian pavilion which will feature the work of Vancouver 'post-conceptual' artist Rodney Graham. The 1997 Venice Biennale runs from June 15 to mid-October.

    York received a grant of $100,000 over four years from the Max Bell Foundation, while The Korea Foundation renewed its grant of $165,000 over five years to promote Korean studies at York.

    Chemistry professor Edward Lee-Ruff and two colleagues have received a U.S. process patent for a new method of producing anti-cancer and antiviral agents called nucleosides, also used in combination therapy for the treatment of AIDS.

    Human Resources Development Canada has given $449,874 to York's Institute for Leadership Development. The funds will be used by the Institute's Leadership Skills Enhancement and Placement Abroad Program, designed each year to assist young Canadians.

    University professor of French Studies Hédi Bouraoui was awarded the prestigious honour of being named 'Chevalier de Palmes Académiques' by the French government "pour service rendu à la culture française."

    The United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (UNCSTD) has chosen the Faculty of Environmental Studies to act as the Secretariat for the Commission's new Gender Advisory Board. FES professor Bonnie Kettel is coordinator of the UNCSTD Gender Advisory Board.