By Melonie Fullick. Blame for lack of success falls on students, but it shouldn't. More...
‘Failure’ of graduate education is no joke
The underappreciated role of university lawyer
By Brent Davis. During a second interview for a job that turned out to be my first as a university lawyer, the dean at a university in the United Kingdom made it quite clear that, while he was all for legal review and evaluating risk, such inconvenient formalities shouldn’t stand in the way of a good deal. Such was my introduction to higher education law. More...
We must think boldly to effect change in universities
By Martha Crago. A combination of events set me to thinking about “boldness” this summer and early fall. Just before summer started, one of our researchers at Dalhousie University, Jeff Dahn, signed a contract with U.S. electric-car manufacturer Tesla Motors. More...
A good start for science, with fingers crossed for more to come
By David Kent. There has been a lot of chatter in social and news media about the recently elected Canadian Government and its “pro-science” stand. There is not one, but two, ministers who have the word science in their titles. More...
Commencing the academic job search – impetus and deadlines
By Jonathan Thon. I began my career search 2½ years into my first (and only) postdoctoral fellowship. At this time I had published 10 manuscripts (four from my PhD and six from my postdoc) and had just recently begun working in my “free time” on an innovative (i.e., risky) new approach to studying our biological question, which was purposefully outside the scope of my principal investigator’s expertise, and which he reluctantly (at first) indulged. More...
Federation chronicles 75 years of supporting the humanities and social sciences
By Natalie Samson. To mark its 75th anniversary, the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences has launched a new digital timeline marking important events in the organization’s history. “Most people don’t know we’ve been around for 75 years,” said Federation executive director Jean-Marc Mangin. “We wanted something that would be user-friendly, that could be accessed easily, to tell our story and our contribution to the world of ideas of Canada and to the intellectual development of Canada.” The launch of the timeline coincides with the Federation’s annual conference, which takes place Nov. 16 and 17 in Ottawa. More...
Conference illuminates the latest research on lighting
By Becky Rynor. The conference room at the University of Toronto Faculty Club is handsomely appointed, right down – or up – to three sweeping circular brass chandeliers bisecting the room. Slender, sculpted metal branches culminate in three tiers of metal “candlesticks,” each tipped with a flame-shaped fluorescent bulb. More...
Researchers concerned by the rise of ‘big data’ surveillance
By Tim Lougheed. Much of this information is being used without our consent or knowledge, say SSHRC grant recipients. More...