Occupy movement inspires interactive Glendon production

Theatre Glendon theatre students are pushing the boundaries of audience interaction in their upcoming  production,  Move.(me).ant.: The Marat/Sade Occupied, opening Feb. 28. Inspired by the Occupy movement and adapted from Peter Weiss’ Marat/Sade by student Dan Pelletier, this play explores class struggle and questions the nature of revolution. Directed by Glendon theatre instructor and award-winning […]

FES conference keynote addresses contemporary environmental literature

Canadian poet Brian Bartlett told the audience at the three-day Green Words/Green Worlds: Environmental Poetry & Environmental Politics conference that Facebook is a new forum for environmental poetry. Bartlett identified a gap in the online realm, arguing that a need existed for a digital “nature calendar”. He is currently constructing a collection of 365 short […]

Professor Myriam Mongrain's psychology study on kindness attracts media coverage

There is karma in kindness. It seems that the Biblical adage of doing unto others, as you’d have them do unto you, pays off in happiness, reported the Toronto Star May 17: A York University study found that people who performed small acts of kindness – every day for five to 15 minutes for a […]

Professor Myriam Mongrain's study asks: Is there a scientific proof for karma?

Practicing small acts of kindness will make you a happier person, and the boost in mood stays with you for months, according to research out of York University. More than 700 people took part in a study that charted the effects of being nice to others, in small doses, over the course of a week. Researchers […]

SSHRC-funded project provides daily facts about African-Canadian history

Did you know that African Canadians worshipping on the lakeshore founded Toronto's first Baptist Church in 1826? Did you know that Upper Canada was the first place in the British Empire to make laws limiting slavery (1793)? Did you know that Mathieu Da Costa, a multilingual translator of African descent, came to Canada with Samuel […]

Professor Marin Litoiu recognized for cloud computing achievements

This has been a banner year for Marin Litoiu. The computer scientist has won two major awards and just received a $500,000 grant to expand his research at York. Litoiu has won awards before, but these particular ones stem from his pioneering work in cloud computing, the next big evolution in computing technology. “It’s one of […]

Faculty of Health student's Facebook study sparks international media attention and debate

Compelled to tell your 500 Facebook chums every time you can’t find your sunglasses? Want the world to know you look like Robert Pattison? Post new Photoshopped pictures every day? You, my friend, are narcissistic and insecure, wrote the Toronto Star Sept. 8. The Star was only one of Toronto's papers to cover Soraya Mehdizadeh’s […]

Soraya Mehdizadeh, undergraduate psychology student, finds Facebook fiends tend to be narcissistic and insecure

Narcissists and those with low self-esteem gravitate toward Facebook as a self-promotional tool and tend to be heavier users of the site, according to a study by a York University psychology student. Soraya Mehdizadeh examined the online habits and personalities of 100 Facebook users at York University ranging in age from 18-25 years old. Her […]

ABEL Summer Institute mobilizes new technology, best practices and partnerships to transform classroom learning

The Advanced Broadband Enabled Learning (ABEL) program has wrapped up another successful ABEL Summer Institute (ASI). The theme of the ninth annual ASI, which took place at York University from Aug. 23 to 25, was Creating the Future Now. The event welcomed some 200 delegates from across Ontario and Canada. The two-and-a-half-day professional learning event included keynote […]

Faculty of Health study: ‘Facebook narcissists’ may have self-esteem issue

You could be an online narcissist if you keep updating your status and posting pouty profile pictures on Facebook, wrote the International Business Times News Aug. 30: An analysis by researchers from York University’s Faculty of Health suggests that egotism and low self-esteem may be related to “greater online activity” among Facebook profiles of users […]