Aurora Coltman
Silhouette Intern
McMaster University will soon be exploring the method of conservation corridors in its own backyard.
Conservation corridors are plots of land conserved or restored that acts as a bridge to connect multiple plots of larger land. This connection promotes animal movement and migration, potentially bettering living conditions for wildlife.
McMaster professors Susan Dudley and Chad Harvey have organized a group of student volunteers who are working to help create a conservation corridor. The corridor is situated between the Dundas Valley Conservation Area and Cootes Paradise, off Lower Lions Club Road near Wilson Street.
“McMaster has the good fortune, and it looks like kind of by accident almost, of holding a really nice piece of property that has tremendous ecological diversity on it,” said Dudley, referring to the plot, which was purchased by the university in the 1960s for $1.
However, the plan for the land does not end at transforming it into a conservation corridor –the project will also transform the land into the McMaster Conservation Corridor Teaching and Research Facility. The 48 hectares of land will serve primarily as a research facility for science students, but the space will not be closed off to the public.
Dudley and Harvey hope to be able to employ the Smithsonian Dynamic Forest Plot Technique, in which land is divided into 20 by 20 metre gridlocks. All flora and fauna within each grid will be tagged and placed. As records are updated, it presents an opportunity to show what prospers where, and how to better use the space.
The two professors are able to go forward with their plan after receiving a grant of $5,000 from President Patrick Deane’s Forward with Integrity movement in December 2012, and having the grant matched by the Faculty of Science. Most recently, they received a $140,000 grant from the W. Garfield Weston Foundation.
Dudley explained that with the grant money, the group would be able to build the gridlock, resettle the trail on the property, manage the space, and provide maintenance for it. They hope to be able to hold long-term experiments on the property in the future, such as scrutinizing the flow of fauna through the plot, and conducting other observatory experiments involving insects and bees.
“What we’re thinking about is we may start to put in native plants, we may ask schools to grow some special plants that you would have to plant in rather than sow as seeds,” said Dudley.
The group of McMaster students and professors have high hopes for the project, and fully intend to realize those goals.
“We have a chance to learn a lot from this site,” said Dudley.
In using their grants and dedicated volunteers, Harvey and Dudley plan to take full advantage of that chance to have the project move forward and to become a leading resource in forestry.
J.J. Bardoel
Silhouette Intern
Humanities has introduced a new honours program to McMaster, Justice, Political Philosophy and Law, following approval from the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. The program is the outcome of two years of steady preparation from the Department of Philosophy.
The program went through a long process of approval from department faculty, the university and the ministry. Those advocating for the program creating a detailed brief outlining the programs structure, aims of the courses and benefits for students involved, as well as the unique traits the program could potentially bring to the campus.
“In our case, the consistency with President Deane's Forward With Integrity was an important part of the case we made for the JPPL,” said Chair of the Department of Philosophy, Elisabeth Gedge. “The JPPL Program will instantiate the values set out in FWI in a unique way.”
The main focus for students in the JPPL program will be to help develop an understanding of law and legal institutions, as well as perspective on political and moral theories. The ideologies will be reflected throughout the wide range of courses available, ranging from law and global politics to feminist jurisprudence and human rights.
The majority of students already involved with the program are currently aiming to attend law school, although Gedge emphasized that JPPL will also prepare students for potential careers in other fields, including politics, philosophy, human rights or public policy. “More broadly, JPPL should appeal to any student interested in becoming an informed and engaged Canadian and global citizen,” she said.
The centralized focus on law with the heavy emphasis on philosophical reflection and theology make the program unique in Canada.
Those in the program say the program’s feasibility is based on its faculty; the Department of Philosophy currently has two faculty members with law degrees, and a professor who is Chair in Constitutional Studies.
“It builds on strengths we currently have in the Philosophy department in areas of legal philosophy, political philosophy and applied ethics,” said Violetta Igneski, assistant professor in the Department purchase propecia of Philosophy.
The program hopes to offer experience and opportunities for internships, placements and community engagements in legal clinic, round tables and immigrant centres. Senior undergraduate students will also have the benefit of the Department of Philosophy’s active membership in the Ontario Legal Philosophy Partnership, a joint agreement between the philosophy departments of McMaster, York University and Osgoode Hall Law School, which allows for constant collaboration between the three parties.
In order to qualify for the program, students are recommended to complete Humanities I with at least three units of Level I philosophy, along with submitting a supplementary application form in March of their first year in McMaster. Enrolment will be limited, with roughly 60 students expecting to be admitted.
“Lots of students and parents ask, ‘What can I do with my degree?’” said Igneski. “This program has an answer to that.”
Yaman Al-Nachawati
The Silhouette
The speech given by Michael Lee-Chin, Chairman of Portland Holding Inc., to McMaster students on Oct. 7 was more than just inspiring; it was symbolic. By taking us through his journey as a McMaster Engineering alumnus, one that began as a bouncer upon graduation and eventually led to becoming one of the more generous billionaire philanthropists in the world, his past became the representation of the fruits McMaster University wishes to bear in the future.
Speaking directly to students, he urged we “discover a dysfunctionality and make it your cause to change it. It is your passion that enables perseverance, and passion comes from the confidence that you are doing the right thing.»
The environment that allows one to follow their passion is very important, and has been much of the focus of the McMaster administration in recent years. In 2011, President Patrick Deane sent an open letter to the McMaster community outlining the principles that he hoped would guide the university’s future “Forward with Integrity”.
The letter highlighted experiential learning, self-directed learning, inter-disciplinarity and internationalization as the themes McMaster must follow in order to continue to generate leaders who solve the problems of the future.
These themes are very much enshrined in Lee-Chin’s life. He has found a way to use his Engineering degree as a stepping stone to becoming one of the leaders in the mutual fund industry, making his passion for self-directed learning and inter-disciplinarity easy to spot.
He was a pioneer in calling for the reinvestment of profits in developing countries locally, adopting a new method for internationalization. Fuelled by his confidence in doing the right thing, he rose above the perceived dichotomy of “doing good” and “doing well” in business, piloting the program in his home country of Jamaica. His company’s shares increased almost instantaneously.
I believe that the vision has also resonated with the students here at McMaster. Indeed, with this year’s first winds of autumn came a subtle wind of change in culture among students. While I personally may not see what comes of this new culture here in, I am excited by what’s to come from this university after I graduate.
Having attended the McMaster Social Innovation Lab and Entrepreneurship Association club launches, both in their first years, I was impressed with the eagerness shown by students to seek solutions that solve real-world problems. I also see this enthusiasm first hand in SUSTAIN 3A03, Societal Tools for Systemic Sustainable Change.
I believe this course changes the story students write for their script after university life, proving to them that the skills learned in their degrees can in fact be used to do help improve the world. The multi-disciplinary fabric of the course, as well as its self-directed learning nature, have also gone a long way in making me more comfortable to take on problems that I would have otherwise thought were out of the scope of my degree.
At the end of his homecoming, Lee-Chin left us with the most important formula we will learn in our time here: “Fulfillment is a function of doing well, doing good and having fun in between.”
Now knowing where the path Forward with Integrity leads, I think I have found the direction to walk after my graduation ceremony this year.
A day that celebrated the achievements of Forward with Integrity initiatives left the overall state of the academy largely undefined.
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David Wilkinson, Provost and Vice-President (Academic), gave his State of the Academy address on Oct. 10 after presentations and receptions of various Forward with Integrity had taken place throughout the day.
"Forward with Integrity," an open letter by McMaster President Patrick Deane in 2011 was turned into an initiative allowing students to apply for funding to complete projects that would make Deane's vision a reality. 78 projects have been funded since, including the Learning Portfolio on Avenue and a psychology project studying how people can be perceived differently when conducting job interviews over Skype.
Beginning at 11:30a.m., presentations of numerous FWI projects filled the schedule at CIBC Hall, leading up to the State of the Academy. Wilkinson called his own address “window dressing” to a day of celebration.
“We decided this year’s State of the Academy Address, as it was originally called, to turn it into a whole day event of celebration,” said Wilkinson.
Wilkinson’s address, to a room filled with faculty and staff, highlighted academic research issues and remained vague regarding the overall state of McMaster University.
The Provost highlighted a few FWI projects with positive fanfare and video presentations. The Learning Portfolio received strong attention and was touted as a growing success.
“It really is an opportunity for students to integrate their learning into one place,” said Wilkinson.
With the address, Wilkinson said that he hoped to develop an identity for McMaster as both a research-intensive and student-centred school.
“Strong linkage between student centered-ness and research focus is really how we intend to define ourselves as an institution," Wilkinson said.
When it came to more technical matters, Wilkinson left a few questions unanswered.
He chose not to speak to the school’s budget in his address, instead referring the audience to the University Factbook for details.
“The State of the Academy can be all about budgets and numbers. I didn't want to do that last year and I’m not going to do it this year either. So we won’t talk a lot of budgetary situations,” said Wilkinson.
“The University Factbook…was released a couple days ago. It has an update of all of the numbers.” The document is available on the Office of Institutional Research and Analysis website.
Wilkinson was also vague with when it came the Ontario government’s push to have post-secondary institutions specialize further.
On the matter, he said “The government pays the freight, and when they want to change something, we have to pay attention to that.”
Wilkinson explained that McMaster will have to negotiate with the provincial government over the course of this academic year.
He was relatively unclear in what the school will be doing to prepare for this, saying, “One of the key things for us to do as an institution is to get our ducks in order and be prepared to state how we wish to be seen as a differentiated organization compared to other universities in the province.”
“I think, actually, we’re in pretty good shape to develop that process.”
With regards to McMaster’s internationalization, Wilkinson said, “This is the one area of Forward with Integrity that hasn't received the attention it deserves.”
