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Volume M14, Issue No. 3, February 2, 2015
Intercom is published regularly and serves to inform Vanier staff and teachers of notices and special events. It is posted on the Vanier College Website and distributed
electronically. Submissions should be sent to intercom@vaniercollege.qc.ca. Submissions should be in WORD, and sent as an attachment. No formatting or bullets. Deadline:
4:00 p.m. on the Wednesday preceding publication.
Good luck to the Vanier Team participating in the 10th
Vanier College BDC Case Challenge
Peer Tutoring in English for students
Dear Colleagues,
Next weekend, thirty three topnotch teams of Marketing
students from across Canada
will face-off against one
another in the hopes of winning
a medal at the Annual Vanier
College BDC Case Challenge,
February 6-8, 2015.
th
Now in its 10 year, the Vanier
event has become Canada’s
biggest and most prestigious,
bilingual collegiate marketing
competition with contestants
hailing from British Columbia to
Newfoundland.
“Reaching our 10th year anniversary is something we are truly
proud of,” says David Moscovitz, Case Challenge organizer. “We
started this event with three local colleges in our student
cafeteria. Today with the tremendous support from so many
different people we have, in only 10 years, made this 2-day event
one of the most elite competitions at the college level in Canada.”
This year’s Vanier Marketing team competing next weekend
consists of students Salvatore Sgro, Sofia Testolina, Michael
Rattanavong and Sophie Alame, and Coaches David Moscovitz
and Jessica Andrews. They have all been practicing and preparing
for this big event for the past four months.
Good luck to all of them.
Marguerite Corriveau, Vanier Communications
I am currently looking for students who want to and/or need to
improve their English language and writing skills. Please
encourage the students in your classes who are experiencing
difficulties with English to apply for free peer tutoring by
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12. Application forms are available in an
envelope posted outside my office door (N-554) and at my
Faculty Dean’s office (B-208).
Applicants will be selected according to their availability and will
be paired with a peer tutor, a student taking my Peer Teaching
course, who will help them throughout the winter semester. They
will receive free peer tutoring (two hours per week) starting on
the fifth week of classes (the week of February 23).
If you require additional information, please do not hesitate to
contact
me
at
ext.7271
or
to
email
me
at
photopos@vaniercollege.qc.ca
Thank you.
Spiridoula Photopoulos, English Department
CRC Robotics Competition seeking volunteer kiosk judges
For the third time in four years, Vanier College will be hosting the
CRC Robotics Competition. The event will take place from
Thursday Feb. 12 to Saturday Feb. 14. This is an annual event in
which teams from high schools and CEGEPs across the Montreal
region build a robot designed to perform some task in
competition with other robots. Vanier has participated in this
competition for over 10 years, and we are lucky to be hosting the
event again this year. For three days, the Sports Complex will be
invaded by hundreds of eager and ambitious high school and
CEGEP students. This will be an excellent opportunity to show
high school students what a great place Vanier would be for their
college education.
of a college student. The atmosphere is fun and casual, and lunch
is provided!
The videoconferences take place at Vanier on Tuesdays starting
th
January 20 . Some of our sessions are from 11:30 to 12:30 and
others are from 12:30 to 1:30. Students can come to as many or
as few as they want. Participation in 3 or more sessions gets them
a letter of recognition that they can list on their CVs. They can
also use this project to accumulate volunteer hours for the STAR
program.
We are particularly interested in finding Vanier students who are
from rural communities and who can share their own experiences
adapting to college life in the city. However, all interested
students are welcome!
In addition to designing, building and operating a robot, each
robotics team must also build a display space (a kiosk). The main
goal of this message is to recruit a team of Vanier Community
members to judge the kiosks. Each kiosk covers a floor area 12
feet square and must include a space for maintenance and
repairs to the robot as well as provide information for guests and
judges. We are expecting over 30 such kiosks being set up in
Gyms B and C of the Sports Complex. Ideally, we will need about
35 to 40 judges to keep the judging load to a reasonable level.
The kiosk judging will take place on the Friday morning and
afternoon and will require about an hour of your time.
We would like to have a team of judges with a broad range of
backgrounds from technical to artistic or just people who like to
interact with students. No experience is required. Being bilingual
is an asset (but not a requirement) as many of the teams will be
from French schools. To get a better sense of the scope of the
competition, visit the CRC website, www.robo-crc.ca. If you are
interested in acting as a judge and/or if you have any questions,
please contact Mauro Di Renzo at direnzom@vaniercollege.qc.ca
by Friday, February 6. Hope to see you at the Robotics
Competition.
Mauro Di Renzo, Chemistry Department,
on behalf of the Robotics Competition Organizing Committee
High School Outreach Project
We are currently recruiting students for our winter edition of the
High School Outreach Project. This project consists of a series of
videoconference sessions where Vanier students meet up online
with students from high schools throughout Quebec!
This means that all of us Vanier people are in one room and we
are connected by video to 2-4 different high schools. There is a
different topic every week and Vanier student mentors get the
opportunity to share their thoughts on a range of topics ranging
from academic skills to urban survival skills and the day in the life
We are asking faculty and staff who work with students to
circulate this information. Please send names of interested
students to Jacky Vallée on MIO, by email at
valleej@vaniercollege.qc.ca or by phone at 514-744-7500, x8323.
5 minute class visits can also be arranged!
Jacky Vallée, Anthropology Department
Teaching Tip : Let’s Talk!
When helping students to develop
effective literacy skills, it is important to
make sure that listening and talking don’t
get short shrift. In the November 2014
issue of Educational Leadership, Erik
Palmer argues that “Everything you do in
your classroom would improve if students
spoke better.” We certainly know that our
Image courtesy of
students can talk, however assigning oral
the PDO
presentations isn’t always enough. This
Teaching Tip will present interesting ways
to help your students improve their verbal dexterity. By adding
more speaking tools to their literacy toolkit, we can help them
succeed academically, professionally, and personally.
Creating a Rich Verbal Environment
It’s tempting sometimes to avoid certain terms or eliminate
figurative language and colloquial expressions from our own
talking, because of the fear that students won’t understand us. In
the long term, this approach robs our students of the opportunity
to enrich their own repertoire of words and phrases. Instead,
teachers might consider using (or even creating) a glossary and
making students aware that specific vocabulary is part of the
course content that they are expected to master. Sprinkling your
own talk with interesting phrases and expressions is also a good
strategy for enriching the overall language experience for
everyone in the classroom.
Pronunciation
A good way to start helping students acquire more competence
and confidence in their talking is to support proper pronunciation
of discipline-specific terms, both in English and in other
languages, and of the names of important theorists etc. Who
hasn’t wondered how to properly pronounce Nietzsche (the
spelling is challenging enough!), lese majeste or eukaryotes.
Luckily, tools like Pronunciation Book or sites like howjsay.com
can help students (and teachers) master the tongue-twisters
associated with different fields of study. By insisting on proper
pronunciation, we can teach our students that attention to detail
is an important aspect of their overall language and literacy skill
set.
Precision
Being able to present one’s ideas concisely and accurately is a
good skill to help students hone. One way to do so is to add a
mandatory “Word List” to group discussion activities; when each
small group reports back to the larger class, they are required to
include 5 or 6 specific terms in their response. This technique
works well with role play activities – as students act out the
different roles, they have to use a vocabulary that matches that
role. Past Teaching Tips like Making Group Work Work and Think
Pair Share can also benefit from the addition of a word list.
Referral Form: Early Alert Support
There is a new system in place for teachers to refer students to
support services. The Early Alert Support referral form is meant
to be used as soon as it becomes noticeable that a student is
likely to fail your course and requires support beyond help
understanding course content. In speaking to your student about
his/her difficulties, you must first obtain your student’s consent
to refer him/her. Once you have done so, you can fill out and
submit the online form. You will receive confirmation that the
referral has been received and the student has been contacted.
The student will then meet with a member of the Student Success
Advisory Committee, who will refer the student to relevant
resources and follow-up to ensure the student is making use of
them.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me should you want further
information about this new initiative: extension 7568 or
cloughc@vaniercollege.qc.ca
Referral form: Early Alert Support:
http://www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/student-success/referral-form/.
Explanation
Being able to explain an idea in simple, audience-friendly
language is another important skill. Students often understand
what they’re being taught, but struggle to express that
information in their own words. Teachers can ask students to
explain a specific process or concept, and, for an added challenge,
match the task with a specific audience. This can also help
students learn to speak in field-specific ways (see the Teaching
Tip: Communication Skills in Your Discipline). For inspiration,
check out The Flame Challenge - sparked by a childhood
experience of Alan Alda’s, contestants were challenged to explain
what a flame is in ways that an 11 year-old could understand. The
results are eye-opening!
Persuasion
Cari Clough, The Learning Centre
Indigenous Initiatives at Vanier College
We are proud to announce that Indigenous initiatives are growing
in quantity and frequency at Vanier! There are several ways that
people can be involved in these initiatives. One is to be a part of
the Vanier Indigenous Circle. We have regular meetings to
address how we can both improve support for our Indigenous
students and increase the visibility of Indigenous cultures,
languages and history on campus. Our meetings will deal with
very specific topics and you can attend the ones that are of
interest to you. Just get in touch with Jacky at
valleej@vaniercollege.qc.ca or
Marya at grantm@vaniercollege.qc.ca to be on the list.
Finally, being able to use words to persuade others is definitely a
good thing. Salespeople have long known this! One in-class
activity that can help students practice this type of talking is to
host a debate, on a topic related to your course. Having students
follow a guideline of rules for a formal debate is a fun way to
structure the experience for students and teachers. Other ideas
include challenging students to create 30-second commercials for
a specific item, concept or person; create and perform a rap to
“sell” a preferred artist, author, philosopher or scientist; write
and deliver a 1- minute political speech arguing for a specific
policy.
Keep an eye out! We have many things lined up such as
Indigenous speakers, information tables on Indigenous cultures
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and history in Canada, events commemorating the 25
anniversary of the Oka crisis and a possibly some fun surprises!
For more information regarding LCAD, reading, writing, listening,
and talking, please contact us at the PDO!
Marya Grant, David Piercey, Lisa Sparkes, & Jacky Vallée
Vanier Indigenous Circle Steering Committee
For this and more Teaching Tips, please visit the PDO web page
Jennifer Mitchell, Pedagogical Development Office
Teachers who simply wish to be informed of events on campus or
in the Montreal area can subscribe to the Vanier Native
Friendship Circle portal on Omnivox or write to
valleej@vaniercollege.qc.ca to be put on our mailing list.
Cafeteria Menu for this week and Winter Info lettre
Check out the Cafeteria menu for this week at the end of
Intercom.
Mireille Béland, Student Services
Mathematics & Science Centre
New Insurance and Financial Advisory Services program
Director General Normand W. Bernier is pleased to announce the
introduction of a new and unique Vanier program entitled
Insurance and Financial Advisory Services 410.C0. With the
introduction of this new program Vanier becomes the only
English-language Cégep to offer three options within Business
Administration covering a range of business specializations. The
other two offerings are: Accounting and Management Technology
410.B0 and Business Management (Marketing) 410.D0.
Science Week 2015: Save the date!
rd
th
This year, Science Week will take place from March 23 to 27 .
The schedule will be available in within the next two weeks, until
then, keep the dates in mind.
Biology 1 Tutorials
As per last semester, Professor Karl Laroche will be offering
several tutorials throughout the semester for students who are
looking for extra help in Biology 1. These tutorials will take place
in the Math & Science Centre (F-540) from 2pm to 4pm on the
following dates:
Biological Chemistry: February 6th
Cells and Cell Division: February 20th
Genetics: March 13th
Evolution: April 10th
Diversity of Life: April 24th
th
Ecology: May 8
No registration is required and all students are welcomed!
Pre-Med/Pre-Med
Applications
Information
Session
with
Focus
on
Vanier alumni and current pre-med and pre-dent students will be
present this Friday at 3:30pm (D-506) to share their experiences
and help review application documents of students interested in
applying for pre-med/pre-dent this semester. Interested students
must sign up at: http://bit.ly/hVuZ4y
“The addition of the new Insurance and Financial Advisory Services
program is yet another offering that makes Vanier College unique in
terms of preparing our students for the labour force of tomorrow,”
said Mr. Bernier.
Graduates of the new Insurance and Financial Advisory Services
program will be ready for interesting careers in insurance, finance
and banking, as supervisors, finance, insurance and banking
clerks, loan officers, insurance adjusters and claims examiners,
insurance underwriters, insurance agents and brokers.
Students in the new program will learn to perform various
activities related to insurance and financial services. During their
first three semesters they will share a common curriculum with
the other Business Administration programs, which emphasizes
basic business and computer skills and introduces them to major
areas of concern in the business world. Business
Administration courses offer a combination of practical and
theoretical training in order to provide the skills needed to
secure entry-level management positions in the business
world. There is a mandatory internship placement with the
opportunity of international (France) fieldwork.
For more information about the Insurance and Financial Advisory
Services program or any of the Business Administration programs
see: admissions@vaniercollege.qc.ca or 514.744.7100 or
514.744.7881; consult the website at:
www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/business-administration or contact
the
Coordinator:
busadmin@vaniercollege.qc.ca
or
514.744.7500 local 6004 or local 7011.
Marguerite Corriveau, Vanier Communications
Pre-Med/Pre-Dent Information Kiosk
In addition to the information session, on Friday, pre-med and
pre-dent students will be on site in the Math & Science Centre (F540) throughout the day to answer student questions and to sell
McGill application guides to students who are looking to find out
more about the process.
Do you have any questions? Please feel free to contact us at
msc@vaniercollege.qc.ca with any inquiries.
Furthermore, please encourage your students to visit us.
Haritos Kavallos, Math & Science Centre
Water week!
Much has happened to our water landscape in the past few years
and once again Vanier will be celebrating this fact with an
innovative set-up in the student Mall. Every day this week from
10 am to 2 pm, student volunteers will be ready to lead you
through the watershed, a conversation with water.
If you would like to bring a class to the exhibit or host a brief
presentation in your class about global water issues, then please
contact Richard Dugas, Vanier’s sustainability Officer, (extension
7888) to make arrangements.
Richard Dugas, Student Services
Vanier Launches “Leave Your Mark” Contest to Choose a
New Slogan for the College
Vanier College is launching a competition to choose a new slogan.
All members of the Vanier community, including full-time and
part-time students, staff and faculty, are invited to participate by
sending in their suggestions. Ideally the slogan should be
between four to 8 words maximum. The deadline for submissions
th
is February 13 2015 at midnight.
“The “Leave Your Mark” contest is a fun way to get students, staff
and faculty involved in an initiative that is designed to help build
a sense of community on campus. Contest entries should try to
reflect the Vanier experience and the many characteristics that
make our college unique,” said Darren Becker, Director of
Communications and Corporate Affairs.
The submissions will subsequently be judged by a selection
committee that will choose the top five entries. These entries will
then be subjected to a vote via an on-line poll on Omnivox. The
choice that receives the most votes will subsequently become the
new slogan for Vanier College and will appear on select official
college documents. The winner of the competition will be
announced in March 2015.
A total of $250 in gift certificates will be awarded to the top three
entries.
Please send in your entries to:
http://www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/slogan
The Learning Centre Services
The Learning Centre (TLC) offers an array of resources and
services for both students and faculty in order to promote
student academic success. We are located on the second floor of
the B-building (B205).
Drop-in Assistance:
Students may receive professional assistance regarding reading,
writing, speaking & study skills during our drop-in hours
MONDAYS
9:00AM – 6:00 PM
TUESDAYS
9:00AM –6:00 PM
WEDNESDAYS 9:00AM – 12:00PM and 1:30PM – 6:00 PM
THURSDAYS
9:00AM – 1:00PM and 4:00-6:00 PM
FRIDAYS
9:00AM – 4:00PM
Please note that drop-in appointments will be limited to 20
minutes. Students who need additional support will be given an
appointment with a TLC staff member.
English Peer Tutoring
Trained English peer tutors are available for students whose
English is not their first language. Encourage students who would
like to improve their English skills to apply online at:
www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/tlc/tutoring.
Rules:



-All members of the Vanier community including parttime, fulltime students, part-time and full-time faculty
and staff are eligible to participate and can submit as
many proposals as they wish.
-All students entering the contest must include a valid
Vanier College Student ID Number.
All entries remain the property of Vanier College.
Marguerite Corriveau, Vanier Communications
Poster competition for the Vanier College Symposium on
the Holocaust and Genocide
Once again, we will be holding a poster and art competition as
part of the Symposium, which will be held April 13-17, 2015.
The winner of the poster contest will receive a great prize and will
be featured in all advertisement regarding the Symposium.
The deadline is March 6, 2015.
Please see our flyer at the end of Intercom for more information.
Marlene Grossman, Psychology Department
In Class Workshops:
The following workshops can be as brief as 15 minutes or take as
long as an hour. It is possible to customize workshops to meet
specific requests. Teachers can book their workshop at:
http://www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/tlc/book-a-workshop
Avoiding Plagiarism / Referencing: This focuses on the definition
and consequences of plagiarism. Students are taught the skills
needed to avoid plagiarism, such as how to paraphrase, quote
and properly reference their sources. It is available for APA and
for MLA documentation.
Time Management and Avoiding Procrastination: This
workshops looks at what procrastination is and some methods of
addressing the problem. It also looks at time management and
some tools that can be used for managing one’s time and to help
with procrastination.
Study Skills: This workshop discusses some of the ways that the
brain learns and stores information. The workshop demonstrates
how short term and long term memory works and presents
students with different studying techniques using interactive
activities.
Oral Presentations: This workshop discusses how to prepare and
give an oral presentation. It can also include information on
creating a PowerPoint presentation.
Note-Taking: This workshop discusses different methods for
taking notes in class and while reading, including concept maps
and the Cornell Method.
Active Reading: This workshop introduces students to the
concept of active reading, which includes reading with purpose
and how to use the SQ3R method.
Essay Writing: This shows students a step-by-step approach to
writing a college-level essay. It can include discussion and
exercises on creating topics, writing effective thesis statements,
proper paragraph structure, essay-outlining and essay structure.
It can focus on different essay types or different elements in the
academic essay.
Essay Analysis: This workshop focuses on what it means to
analyze evidence for the academic essay and how to incorporate
analysis into the essay properly.
Literary Analysis: These workshops help introduce students to
the concept of literary analysis. Students learn about several
literary techniques and how to analyze them to understand a
piece of literature.
Writing Better Sentences: This workshop offers students
straightforward and easy-to-apply strategies for correcting
common sentence problems such as fragments, run-ons, and
comma splices. Students will learn key punctuation and grammar
usage rules by revisiting the basics of sentence structure.
Academic Skills Development Workshops
The Learning Centre offers a series of workshops over the course
of a semester to help your students further develop their
academic skills. Each workshop is thirty minutes and is offered
twice during the semester, either on Wednesdays at 12:00 noon
or Monday afternoons at 2:30 p.m. Students who attend at least
three of the workshops will receive a certificate of merit. Topics
include time management & procrastination, thesis statements,
writing better sentences, MLA & APA – referencing and
plagiarism, oral presentations and study skills and preparing for
exams. Information on specific dates and topics can be found on
the Events page and at:
www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/tlc/category/workshops
Tipsheets and Interactive Resources Online:
The many tipsheets (paper copies in B205), videos on study skills,
and interactive programs are available online to assist your
students. View our many resources at:
www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/tlc/guides-and-tips
Please pass on this information to your students. Feel free to visit
Joanne Ellis (Coordinator), Kim Muncey, Josh Berman, Marya
Grant, Emma Gaudet-Reichelson, and Pam Espinosa in B205.
Joanne Ellis, The Learning Centre
Vanier Indigenous Circle
Part of the Vanier Indigenous Circle’s mission is to increase
cultural and linguistic awareness on campus.
We will be presenting relevant facts and, since we are on
unceded Mohawk territory, Mohawk words.
Did you know that there are 11 Indigenous Nations within
Quebec?
The traditional name for the Indigenous nation native to the
Montreal region (Mohawk) is Kanien’kehá:ka, pronounced: ga
nyen geh ha gah. The word means People of the Flint. The
Kanien’kehá:ka are the keepers of the Eastern Door in the
Iroquois Confederacy.
Follow the link to find out more:
http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/Mobile/Nations/docs/11181_AADNC_CarteNationsQc_8.5x11-r6b_webB.pdf
Marya Grant, The Learning Centre
Black History Month
We invite our community to join us and
check out the wonderful events we have
planned for Black History Month at
Vanier.
We have a variety of entertainment,
films, music, contests and so much
more! See the list of events at the end of
Intercom. For more information, please
come to Student Services - C 203.
Dany Brown, Student Services
2015 Humanities Symposium
See the program at the end of Intercom for the complete list of
guest speakers lined up this week for the Humanities Symposium:
Imaginaries.
Speakers include CBC Radio Host Jonathan Goldstein (in
conversation with Vanier’s own Burt Covit), award-winning
author Heather O'Neill, and special guest Michael O'Brien.
Events begin this morning in the Auditorium.
Marguerite Corriveau, Vanier Communications
10:00 – 11:30 DAVID KOLOSZYC (Vanier College)
Imaginary Lives: On the Passion for Ignorance and the Benefits of Self-Misunderstanding
In the Manifesto of Surrealism of 1924, author André Breton issues a warning about the
imminent death of the imagination and calls for an artistic revolt against modern culture’s
growing obsession with logical thinking and practical concerns. Four decades later, Guy
Debord, social critic and leader of another revolutionary group, The Situationist International, declares the arrival of a new age dominated by mass media and leading to the
replacement of real human relations with imaginary ones. The aim of this presentation is
to consider these two seemingly disparate perspectives with the help of Jacques Lacan,
an influential psychoanalyst whose concept of ‘the imaginary’ figures at the very heart of
all human projects – and projections.
12:30 – 2:00 SPECIAL HUMANITIES LECTURE: MICHAEL O’BRIEN
Imaginary Gardens and Real Toads
“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere” (Albert Einstein).
The imagination is most often viewed positively, whereas the imaginary is frequently associated with the unreal and the fictitious, even with madness. Both the imaginative and
the imaginary seem to be connected, in turn, with painting, literature, and religion. Using
literature and psychoanalysis, this talk will examine some of the implications, both positive
and negative, of these terms and their relevance to our lives.
FRIDAY, February 6th
8:30 – 10:00 AVERY PLAW (UMass Dartmouth, Political Science)
Drone Strikes as Self-Defense?
Preemptive use of force by the United States over the last decade, most notably the ongoing use of armed drones operating far from conventional battlefields, is having a significant impact on the international legal regime and particularly the Jus ad Bellum. Yet this
impact need not, as many commentators and scholars have worried, be all bad. Indeed,
Plaw argues that it may have some unintended positive effects on the law of self-defense
and particularly on the interpretation of Article 51 of the UN Charter. This paper begins
by briefly reviewing the famously contentious debates over the meaning of self-defense
under Article 51 in the era before 2001, and then sketches an interpretation of how US
uses of force, and increasingly those of other states like Israel, Turkey, Russia and Colombia, are re-shaping those debates and creating a new practice permitting limited, episodic
exercises of force in response to cross-border attacks by non-state actors. This practice
has the potential to resolve some inconclusive and sterile debates over the meaning of
Article 51 and might permit states the necessary flexibility to confront immediate terrorist
threats while avoiding the slippery slope to full-scale preventive war.
10:00 – 11:30 JULIE NAGAM (OCAD University, Indigenous Visual Culture)
A Snapshot of Canadian Indigenous Artists Creating Alternative Cartographies
within the Urban Landscape
This talk focuses on the concealed geographies of Indigenous histories in the city of
Toronto through selected artworks that, in visually demonstrating an alternative cartography, challenge myths of settlement situated in the colonial narratives of archaeology and
geography. Nagam demonstrates that the artworks of Indigenous artists such as Rebecca
Belmore, Robert Houle and Jeff Thomas narrate Indigenous stories of place by using the
memories and wisdom of Indigenous people in the areas of art, archaeology and geography. Using her own scholarly interventions and artistic work, this talk expands on Nagam’s
past and current research into concepts of Native space, the significance of the embodied
knowledge of Indigenous people, and the importance of reading the land as a valuable
archive of memory and history.
With thanks to the Faculty of Science and General Studies for its generous support.
The 2015 VANIER COLLEGE HUMANITIES SYMPOSIUM
February 2nd – February 6th
have “cinematic experiences” in new and unexpected ways. COTB is a completely bicycle
powered cinema that relies on audience participation to run, and which can be set up in
almost any environment. What remains of cinema when we take it on the road, and what
happens to our experiences when we have new contexts, environments, and publics for
cinema events?
This year’s Humanities Symposium will offer a space to reflect on the theme of Imaginaries. The ‘imaginary’ addresses the ways in which individuals come to imagine themselves,
their relations with other people, and their communities. Similar to a worldview, an imaginary develops out of the interaction between an individual and a society’s particular way
of seeing. In recent years, many have argued that imaginaries have important implications for how each of us self-identifies, acts toward others and navigates our social space.
10:00 – 11:30 HEATHER O’NEILL (Author of The Girl Who Was Saturday Night)
IMAGINARIES
What is the nature of these imaginaries? From what sources do they take shape? How
active or passive are we in their making? To reflect on this theme is also to reflect on
whether and how we may re-imagine our world, ourselves, as well as our place within it.
Open to the public, with a special invitation to the Vanier community of students, teachers and staff. All events will take place in the auditorium (A-103).
MONDAY, February 2
nd
10:00 – 11:30 VERONIQUE FRASER (University of Toronto, Bioethics)
The Case of Michael S: Medical Decision-Making and the Ethical Imagination
Making medical decisions on behalf of patients who do not have the ability to provide
consent to treatment is one of the most common ethical issues encountered in health
care today. When a patient’s prior wishes for treatment are unknown, a decision maker
must make a decision based on medical “best interest” and what they think the patient
would have wanted if he or she were still able to make a choice. This process raises several
notable questions: Can we predict with any accuracy which medical interventions a loved
one would want? How should we deal with our own biases, values and preferences when
making a decision on behalf of someone else? This talk will address some of the key questions and tensions that arise in substitute decision-making and explore how the concept
of the ethical imagination might help inform this discussion.
2:30 – 4:00 KEYNOTE EVENT: JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN (CBC Host of WireTap)
An Evening in the Afternoon with Jonathan Goldstein (in conversation w/ Vanier
College’s Burt Covit)
CBC Radio host, National Post columnist, author, This American Life frequent contributor,
gadfly and Vanier College alumnus Jonathan Goldstein will be on stage in conversation
with his early mentor, photographer, boulevardier, gadfly and Vanier College employee
Burt Covit. Clips from Goldstein and Covit’s radio collaborations will be played and the creative process will be discussed. Discussed, too, will be Vanier College of the eighties, a time
when students and teachers alike smoked in the building and wrote in paper notebooks.
As well, there will be a slideshow. It will involve drawings on Post-it notes. There will also be
sponge cake. If you bring sponge cake.
TUESDAY, February 3rd
8:30 – 10:00 ALANNA THAIN (McGill University, English & Program for World
Cinema)
Cinema out of the Box: Collective Experiments with Mobile Movies in Montreal
Cinema Out of the Box is a research-creation project founded by Alanna Thain, in collaboration with her students at McGill, to develop practical tools for a mobile cinema.
Today, our media is defined by mobility—devices that can go anywhere for bodies that
are always on the move. For some, this means that a “cinematic specificity,” associated
with the experience of going to a movie theatre (sometimes called the “cathedral of cinema”) has been lost. But on the contrary, the new mobility of cinema means that we can
The Artist Before Twelve
Author Heather O’Neill will examine the way in which the influences of an artist’s childhood
affect their work for the rest of their lives. She will show how an artist’s inspirations may
range from a toy in a cereal box to a paperback book of philosophy, and how these inspirations are then synthesized into a coherent and idiosyncratic portrait of their life. She will
reflect on her own personal influences and inspirations from childhood, as well as the way
they have shaped her literary work, in order to illustrate this phenomenon.
WEDNESDAY, February 4th
10:30 – 12:00 DAVID MEREN (Université de Montréal, History)
Yaks to Ungava: Canadian Imaginings of ‘Development’ from the Global South to the
Arctic, 1945-1960
This talk engages with the entangled histories of Canadian foreign aid and relations between Aboriginal peoples and Canada. Specifically, it traces a proposal in the early 1950s
to use the Colombo Plan – the Commonwealth technical assistance program in which
Canada was a participant – to transfer yaks from India for use in the “development” of the
Inuit population in northern Quebec. While the transfer was ultimately never realized, the
episode reveals how questions of race and empire, along with preoccupations to facilitate
“modernization” according to a liberal capitalist worldview, informed the imaginary underpinning the Canadian state’s engagement with Aboriginal populations and the Global
South. As such, this talk seeks to understand how the history of encounters between natives and newcomers informed Canadian attitudes regarding foreign aid, and vice versa.
3:30 – 5:00 MAGGIE KATHWAROON (Vanier College)
The Expendable Male: Masculinity for the 99%
Despite the progress made in redefining what it is to “be a man” in the 21st century,
certain traditional gender notions linger that may contribute to some men accepting that
their lives are secondary to other interests. An example of this is the professional athlete.
There is mounting evidence that accepted styles of play in both American football and
hockey, for example, contribute to brain damage, early death, depression, mood swings,
and suicide. However, leagues, fans and the players themselves fail to consider that what
is asked of professional athletes is to slowly sacrifice their lives for the sake of spectacle
and profit. Given that professional male athletes serve as a powerful model for contemporary masculinity and are often lauded as examples for young boys and adult men, to what
extent is their expendability a part of the contemporary masculine imaginary?
th
THURSDAY, February 5
8:30 – 10:00 BRIAN ABOUD (Vanier College)
Risk Imaginaries and Imaginary Risks: Danger and Uncertainty in the Tempo of our
Time
We, individuals of the contemporary West, are conscious of, focused on and concerned
with threats, dangers and mishaps in ways and in degrees that are unprecedented. This
attention, in thought and action, to potential future harms and losses flows from, while
also giving form to, a particular way of imagining the world, the specific social setting of
which we are part and our condition in it. At the heart of this particular imaginary is the
notion of risk. This presentation will argue that, in the current time, risk has become a
central and pivotal component of collective, personal and organizational imaginaries.
Vanier College
MENU WINTER 2015
Week 3
SOUPEMPORIUM
CULINARY
TABLE
(VEGETARIAN)
CULINARY
TABLE
(CHEF’S
CHOICE)
STIR FRY
STATION
Friday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Creamy Mushroom
Soup
Basil Vegetable Soup
Parmentier Soup
Lens Soup
Cream of Carrot and
Turnip Soup
Stir-Fry Plantain
Bananas with tofu,
African Style
Vegetarian Beef Pie
Stir-Fry Cheddar
Vegetable Perogies
Vegetarian Beef Wrap
Western Frittata
Veal Hamburger
Steak
Pork Escalopes with
mushrooms
Beef Burritos
Salmon Pie
Turkey meatloaf,
orange-ginger Sauce
Monday
Thursday
BUILD YOUR PLATE!
Your choice of sauteed fresh vegetables, choice of one protein (chicken, beef, shrimp, tofu, pollock …),
choice of sauce (thaï, teriyaki, orange ginger, sweet and sour …),
served on rice noodles or steamed rice
As a variation, you can ask that this offer be served as a warm salad.
BAJA FLATS
Pizzan
General Tao Chicken
Special
Setting the table
Menus are subject to modifications due to availability and seasonal products.
Smoked meat
Sandwich
Mega Burger with
your choice of
toppings
VANIER CELEBRATES
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
February 2 – 27, 2015
Feb. 2 – 27
Vanier celebrates Black History Month – “Defining Your Character for Success”
Feb. 1-28
Display Cases in Carrefour
Feb. 4
Black History Month Kickoff*UB*Student *Mall
Feb. 13
Valentine’s Day Cupcake Sale for Malawi *10-2*Student Mall
Pick up your beautiful & tasty Valentine’s Day muffins. All proceeds will go to the Malawi
Nursing program.
Feb. 16 - 20 Black History Quiz – C-203
Pick up the Vanier Black History quiz and test your knowledge of Black History. Prizes!!
BHM Essay contest
Write an essay of between 250-500 words on an important event or movement in Black History
and explain how this event or movement is significant or inspiring to you personally.
Submissions are due in C 203 before noon Feb. 20th. Prizes will be awarded. For more info,
come to C-203.
Feb. 16
Film – “Akeelah and the Bee” – 2:00pm * Auditorium (112 minutes)
Akeelah is a student who gets picked on for being smart. Wanting to fit in, she dumbs herself
down so the mean girls will befriend her. This attempt fails when she aces a school-wide
spelling challenge. Sitting in the audience is a college professor who sees her potential and
challenges her to spell 30-dollar words on the spot. The entire school is impressed until she
spells a word wrong, then the teasing begins again. Tired of being trapped in a system for
people going nowhere, Akeelah must risk her safety, defy her mom and step into an unknown
world to compete in a spelling bee that she sees as her game changer.
Feb. 17
Film – “Black Nativity” – 2:00pm * Auditorium (93 minutes)
Feb. 18
Film – “The Butler” – 1:45pm * Auditorium (132 minutes)
LEE DANIELS' THE BUTLER tells the story of a White House butler who served eight American
presidents over three decades. The film traces the dramatic changes that swept American
society during this time, from the civil rights movement to Vietnam and beyond, and how those
changes affected this man's life and family.
Feb. 19
Black History Month Virtual Classroom - Mentorship, Dream Jobs, and Giving Back to
the Community– 1:00pm-2:30pm * Auditorium
In our newest Virtual Classroom, highly accomplished Black professionals and community
leaders—including Olympian and broadcast journalist Rosey Edeh and Toronto's Poet Laureate
and Governor General's Award-winner Dr. George Elliott Clarke—will prepare participants to
reach for their career goals with confidence, ambition and the support of outstanding mentors.
They'll also advise students on giving back to their own communities, sharing inspiring stories
from their own experiences with an exciting variety of not-for-profit groups.
Feb. 19
Film – “The Watsons Go to Birmingham” – 2:00pm * Auditorium (86 minutes)
Feb. 20
Film – “Malcolm X” – 1:00pm * Auditorium (202 minutes)
Feb. 21
Black History Month Poster Contest
Help keep memories alive by submitting a poster for the Black History month Poster Contest.
Poster must illustrate the beauty and culture of Black History. Must be submitted to C 203 by
Feb. 21st noon. Prizes will be awarded. Winners will be announced on Feb. 25th during U.B. in
the Mall.
Feb. 26
Soul Call * UB * Mall
Join us for a celebration. This year we have TR3s, a truly amazing band & rap singer,
composed of mostly Vanier Music Students and Music teacher and alumnae, Nasyr Abdul alKhabyyr.
We will have great food, amazing entertainment, and culture.
This event is not to be missed!
A street-wise teen from Baltimore who has been raised by a single mother travels to New
York City to spend the Christmas holiday with his estranged relatives, where he embarks
on a surprising and inspirational journey.
The Watsons set out on a family road trip where their experiences give them a newfound
courage to stand up for what is right and helps them grow stronger as a family in the
process.
Born Malcolm Little, his father (a Garveyite Baptist minister) was killed by the Ku Klux
Klan. Malcolm became a gangster, and while in jail discovered the Nation of Islam writings
of Elijah Muhammad. He preaches the teachings when let out of jail, but later on goes on a
pilgrimage to the city of Mecca, there he converts to the original Islamic religion and
becomes a Sunni Muslim and changes his name to El-Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz. He is
assassinated on February 21, 1965 and dies a Muslim martyr.
(For more information, please contact Student Services C 203 or the Language School B 228)
Vanier College/ Holocaust Education and Genocide Prevention Foundation 23rd
Annual Symposium
Our World, Our Responsibility: Your Action!
April 13-17, 2015
Poster Competition
For those of you not familiar with the Symposium, its goal is to educate students about the
Holocaust and genocide as well as to sensitize young people to the dangers of racism, bigotry,
stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination.
Our theme this year is Our world, Our Responsibility: Your Action.
The winner’s artwork will be included in this year’s poster and used to inform Vanier students as
well as the public-at-large. Winners of this year’s poster contest will win $100.00 and the poster
will be featured in all of the symposium’s advertisement.
It must include the title of the symposium: Vanier College/Holocaust Education and
Genocide Prevention Foundation 23rd Annual Symposium: Our World, Our
Responsibility: Your Action! April 13-17, 2015.
Submission deadline is March 6, 2015 at 12:00 pm to Nora Soukiassian in room A286.
Use the link below if you would like to see information from past years.
http://www.preventinggenocide.org/joomla/symposia.html
The winner will receive $100.00 and will have their artwork displayed throughout the
College!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!