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.

A Musical Review

The Vanier Music and Theatre Society presents A Musical Review on Saturday May 2nd at 7:30 pm in the Vanier Auditorium (doors open at 7 pm). We will be performing scenes from various shows including Rent, Les Miserables, The mystery of Edwin Drood, and many more! Singing, dancing, acting! What more could you want from an evening of free entertainment? Of course, if you want to help the group out for future

shows, there will be a suggested donation of $10 at the door.

Come out and support this very talented troupe!

Tamara Vickerd, Music Department

Vanier Business Administration students heading to France for 6-8-week internships

Good luck to the 10 Vanier Business Administration students who left for 6-8 week business internships in France.

They will be working in major companies (GE, Alstom. GL Events), government organizations (Chamber of Commerce, BGE) and small entrepreneurial ventures in the cities of Paris, Vannes, Troyes and Belfort.

George Dracopoulos, Business Administration

Star gazing at Vanier College

We had great participation this year in the Astronomy Event that we held on April 15! We started the setup around 7:30 pm and there were already students waiting and anticipating. More Students, teachers and guests started to show up later and kept us busy till 10 pm.

We were able to setup 8 different telescopes to serve the students. The nice weather and the variety of astronomy targets in the sky, like Venus phases, binary stars and Jupiter's moons made this event enjoyable and rewarding. Definitely, Jupiter moons were the high light of this event. Around 8pm, there were only 3 moons visible and one hour later the 4th moon was

coming slowly from behind Jupiter. Student found it amazing to see that in real time.

Special thanks to members of Royal Astronomical Society of Canada-RASC to help make this event a success.

Wissam Chaya, Physics Department

Volume M14, Issue No. 15, April 27, 2015

Star Gazing at Vanier

Thank you for supporting the 23rd Annual Symposium on the Holocaust and Genocide

Thank you to all members of the Vanier community for contributing to this year’s symposium! There were so many people that offered words of encouragement when it looked like we might not have the funds to continue; it is hard to thank all of you individually for your support. There are a few people that deserve some special notes of thanks: Naomi Kramer of the Holocaust Education and Generation Prevention Foundation, Benedikt Barastsis-Gruber (Holocaust Memorial Intern), Sophie Jacmin, Mike Besner, Olga Gazdovic, Darren Becker, Glen Ethier, Marguerite Corriveau, Mélodie LeSiege, Mike Demole, and Alena Perout. Thank you to the VCTA, the Wajcer-Burman Foundation, and Hillel Montreal, and the special funding from the Canadian government. We’ve already started planning for next year, as this year has truly been inspirational! Thank you for giving us this opportunity. Below, please enjoy some pictures from this year’s symposium.

Film, Of Many: Rabbi Sarna and Imam Latif answering

Audience questions after viewing

Holocaust and Genocide Commemoration: Rabbi Reuben Poupko, Marc Bissel (Austrian Consul General),

Walter Leuchs (German Consul General) and Elisabeth Canisius (Austrian Vice-Consul).

Band Competition:

Annakin Slayd, Marlene Grossman and Glen Ethier

Marlene Grossman, Psychology Department

Creative Writing Contest Winners

Congratulations to all the winners of The Learning Centre’s Creative Writing Contest!

Fiction 1st Place: Cameron Rankin 2nd Place: Bianca Queenton 3rd Place: Michael Pratte

Poetry

1st Place: Edson Niela 2nd Place: Dylan Seto 3rd Place: Matthew Cloutier

Kim Muncey, The Learning Centre

2014-2015 Teaching Excellence Award: Call for Nominations

Academic Council’s 2014-2015 Teaching Excellence Award Committee is calling for nominations for this year’s award.

This is an excellent opportunity to show a colleague appreciation for his/her work and commitment to the profession. Nomination forms are available on the College website at: http://www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/teachers/files/2013/03/Teaching-Excellence-Form_2014-2015.pdf Copies are also available at the Faculty Deans’ offices, the Academic Dean’s office, Student Services and the V.C.S.A. office. You are strongly encouraged to submit the nomination form to the 2014-2015 Teaching Excellence Award Committee, c/o Office of the Academic Dean, academicdean@vaniercollege.qc.ca , by Friday, April 10, 2015. In addition to the nomination form, all supporting documentation has to be submitted to the Committee by Friday, May 1, 2015. All nominations and selection deliberations are kept strictly confidential.

Olga Mardas, Office of the Academic Dean on behalf of Academic Council’s 2014-2015 Teaching Excellence Award Committee

The Tropics: Opportunities and Challenges

A new universal complemen-tary course entitled “The Tropics: Opportunities and Challenges - An Exploration of Human-Environment Relation-ships in Belize” will be offered in the 2016 winter semester. The course will include an eight-day field trip to Belize during spring break 2016, in addition to eight lectures prior to departure. Course topics will be addressed through a multi-disciplinary framework that will include natural resource sciences, economics, geogra-phy, international development, sociology, history and tourism. An information session will be held on April 29th at 12:00pm in A-320. Students from all programs are welcome. For additional information, please contact: Brandee Diner (Environmental and Wildlife Management) at dinerb@vaniercollege.qc.ca or Myriam Mansour (Geography): mansourm@vaniercollege.qc.ca See the photos below to get an idea of Belize.

Brandee Diner, Environmental and Wildlife Management

2015 Student Life Award

The Student Life Award recognizes those graduating students who deserve recognition for their commitment, integrity and perseverance in contributing to Vanier's student life, aside from academic achievement. Leadership, effort, and the ability to motivate and involve others are often the qualities exhibited by Student Life Award recipients.

The Tropics: Opportunities and Challenges, in Belize

To consider information about a candidate's involvement in co-curricular activities, the Selection Committee invites recommendations from those persons familiar with the candidate's activities at Vanier College. Any student, faculty or staff member of Vanier College may nominate a candidate for the Student Life Award. Please print and complete the nomination form found on the web at http://vaniercollege.qc.ca/student-services/student-development/student-life-awards.php and return it together with your letter of recommendation to the Student Life Award Selection Committee in Student Services, C-203, no later than 4pm on May 12, 2015.

Donata Parisella, Student Services

Vanier Indigenous Circle

Part of the Vanier Indigenous Circle’s mission is to increase cultural and linguistic awareness of Indigenous cultures on campus. We will be presenting relevant facts and, since we are on unceded Mohawk territory, Mohawk words. Did you know that Indigenous, Aboriginal, First Nations, Inuit, and Metis refer to different First Peoples populations? Indigenous, Aboriginal or First Peoples: Terms are interchangeable and generically refer to the first peoples who inhabited Canada. This term includes First Nations, Inuit, and Metis First Nations: Contemporary term that refers to “Indians” or people who are not Metis or Inuit Inuit: The Inuit (modern name for peoples previously referred to as Eskimo) are Aboriginals who live in the far north, not considered “Indians”. Metis: often generally used to describe people of mixed First Nations and European ancestry, Metis actually legally refers to a specific community of descendants. oh niiohtonhátie, pronounced: uh knee yog donn hah jay, means how are you in Kanien’kéha (the Mohawk language) Follow the link to find out more: http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/identity/terminology.html

Marya Grant, David Piercey, Lisa Sparkes, & Jacky Vallée Vanier Indigenous Circle Steering Committee

“Of Many” will be screened again on May 6

The film, Of Many, was originally shown as part of the Symposium on the Holocaust and Genocide on April 14th. By popular demand, we have gained permission for it to be shown a second time. It will be shown on May 6th at UB in Room A-001H. All students, staff and faculty welcome!

Marlene Grossman, Psychology Department

Math and Science Centre

STEM Centre Design Competition: Evaluation Process

Thank you to everyone from the community who came out on April 22nd to watch the student teams present their vision for the future STEM Centre. We would now like to know what you think! Students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to visit http://stem.vaniercollege.qc.ca, create an account and rate the various proposals based on five criteria: originality of the idea, feasibility of the plan, usefulness to students, coolness factor, and artistic appeal. The deadline to submit reviews is May 8th. Winners will be announced in late May based on the top rated proposals. The submitted proposals can be viewed here http://stem.vaniercollege.qc.ca/view-proposals/

Haritos Kavallos, Math & Science Centre

Liberal Arts: Literary Reading

Students in the graduating class of the Liberal Arts program will be reading some of their creative writing on Tuesday, May 12, 2:30 – 4:00 in the Boardroom (F-216). This event is open to the public and free. Refreshments will be offered following the reading.

Kevin Bushell, Liberal Arts

Third-Year Improvisation Class Says Goodbye

Sad to say that this Wednesday, April 29, beginning at noon in the Auditorium, will be the last time this particular group of students in the three-year professional music program will take to the stage for our listening pleasure. Directed by Nick Di Tomaso, this fourth and final appearance of the group is sure to be a high-energy affair. And as a bonus, instead of playing the usual jazz standards, the repertoire in this recital comprises all original tunes composed and arranged by the different members of the group. Now that is something you won’t see very often. And now that Spring has officially arrived with its mix of rain and sun, why not come down and join us at this free and unique recital for a bit of cool and a lot of hot before the rush is on to cram for exams.

Glen Ethier, Department of Music

Vanier College Choir Gives Stellar Performance

The Vanier College Choir, under the direction of (recently new papa) Philippe Bourque put on a stellar performance last Tuesday, April 21, in its final concert of the year.

The concert was held at Salle Claude-Champagne at the Université de Montréal, and included works by Liszt, Bach, Schubert, Grainger, Hindemith, and Stravinsky. The number of singers on stage was depleted because the Choeur de l’Université de Montréal had to withdraw their resources due to student protest actions. However, our talented and well-rehearsed choir pulled an amazing performance out of the hat. Both they and Monsieur Bourque are to be commended not only for making this concert a success, but for their hard work and determination over the course of the whole semester. Well done!

Glen Ethier, Department of Music

You’re invited to a conference

Attend this exciting conference on May 20 and share your perspectives on diversity on our campus and how we can make our classrooms more inclusive. The keynote speaker is Dr. Adeela Arshad-Ayaz who obtained her Ph.D. from McGill University in Comparative and International Education. She is currently Assistant Professor of Education Studies in the Department of Education at Concordia University. Her teaching and research interests are in the areas of diversity, anti-

racism, international development, and globalization, amongst other topics. The title of her presentation is Inclusive Classroom: Include What? Include Where? Include How? Kim Mathews, Rachel Jobin, and Alan Wong will be presenting Current Pedagogical Practices Regarding Diversity in the Humanities, French, and English Departments, which will highlight the results of the research they have conducted during the course of this school year with their colleagues. Your views will be welcomed as well. Register by May 15 with Jennifer Joseph, at: josephj@vaniercollege.qc.ca See the complete program at the end of Intercom.

Judy Macdonald, International Education on behalf of the Organizing Committee: Kim Mathews, Rachel Jobin, Alan Wong,

Willie Brown, Eric Lozowy, Jennifer Joseph

Vanier Indigenous Cultural Exchange – May 6th at UB

The Vanier Indigenous Circle would like to invite you to an Indigenous Cultural Exchange! Come to the front lawn during UB on May 6th for demonstrations of Pow Wow drumming and dancing, featuring Alan Harrington and other members of the Red Urban Project and Native Friendship Centre of Montreal. Bring a friend and comfortable

shoes so you can join us for the round dance!

Marya Grant, David Piercey, Lisa Sparkes, Jacky Vallee Vanier Indigenous Circle

Steering Committee

Workshop on Indigenous realities

As part of our mission to increase awareness of Indigenous cultures on campus we are offering a free, one day workshop on Indigenous realities on May 21st, 2015, from 8:30-4:30, at Vanier. No prior knowledge needed. Space is limited, if interested, please see the attached brochure or contact Marya Grant: grantm@vaniercollege.qc.ca

Marya Grant, David Piercey, Lisa Sparkes, & Jacky Vallée — Vanier

Indigenous Circle Steering Committee

Teaching Tip: Course Packs Made Easy

Are you a teacher who prefers to use course packs? If so, would you like to improve the contents or add to them? Here are some recommendations to make this process a little easier. Selecting the Readings The first step in the building process is to determine what you want your students to read. A good document to consult before

deciding is your course outline, or more specifically your course’s learning outcomes. This approach matches the backward course design process. Once you determine the type of readings you want to include, you will be able to align your teaching, learning activities, and assessments with a great course pack. Consult the Librarians Before you begin to gather all your material, it is highly recommended that you meet with the librarian who is your department’s liaison. Librarians can help you find books, articles, images, and multimedia to support your teaching. They can also show you how to create a bibliography quickly, and guide you through any copyright challenges you may experience. Searching the Library Databases Included in the Library’s budget are subscriptions to databases. These databases provide teachers, students, and staff access to thousands of credible and scholarly resources for college-level research. Using these sources for teaching your courses will help students succeed here at Vanier, as well as in university (universities subscribe to the same databases, as well as many more). Databases can be accessed at the College or from home (log in with your e-mail or Omnivox username and password from the Library’s Web page). Below are some database companies that provide us with excellent resources:

EBSCO Vanier subscribes to several EBSCO databases to

access articles and journals from a wide variety of academic

disciplines and sources. It is possible to search each

individual database, or search all of them at the same time.

EBSCO also allows you to create folders and store articles for

future consultation

JSTOR is a humanities database with access to older

academic journals and books, as well as new ones.

Gale Vanier subscribes to three databases from this

company. Virtual Reference Library is a collection of subject-

specific reference books and handbooks, searchable either

by each book, or all at the same time. Opposing Viewpoints

and Global Issues create “packages” of information about

contemporary topics. There is an option to annotate and

highlight your selected readings. These databases provide

access to audio files and articles can be downloaded into

MP3s.

ScienceDirect (Elsevier) is a highly scientific resource for all

disciplines, including the humanities and social sciences.

Books are available by chapters for easy searching, and links

to other articles in the bibliographies are often included in

ScienceDirect.

Getting the Resources to your Students Most of the databases provide a way to share information with your students. Some offer permalinks that you must share through a secure network, like Omnivox or your Moodle course. Another way to assign readings is to print them out and place them in a course pack. If you want your students to read a book, ask the librarians to purchase it and then place it on Reserve. This information will be reported to Copibec and the publishers and authors will be paid to comply with copyright laws. You could also place the citation of the article you want your students to read in your course outline, show them how to go on to the appropriate database to search for the article and then ask them to read it. This will teach your students how to use the databases and help them to become more information literate. They will learn a research skill that will be valuable throughout their studies and beyond. Many students prefer to access their readings on a computer, tablet, or smartphone, and some of these resources allow for this method of learning. For strategies you can use to encourage students to read your course pack, please consult the Teaching Tips Getting Students to Read (Effectively) Part I and Part II. For more information on course packs, reading, and learning, contact us at the PDO! For this and more Teaching Tips, please visit the PDO web page Source: Bissonnette, Susan. "Creating Great Course Packs." Vanier College. Montreal. 16 Apr. 2015. Workshop.

Tim Campbell-Comerford, Jennifer Mitchell, Wilma Brown Pedagogical Development Office

Image courtesy of Boians Cho Joo Young /

Freedigitalphotos.net

French Ciné-Club

Would you like a fun way to improve your French? Every Friday at lunch time we’re offering a French Cine-Club during witch we’ll watch French movies from Quebec, France and other French-speaking countries in the world! Our next movie is “Les Choristes”, a French movie about Mr. Clément, a former music teacher who arrives in a boarding school for orphans as an inspector in 1949. The place is administrated with an iron fist by a cruel director. Mr. Clément will change the lives of the boys, of the other employees and his own. You may come and watch the first part of our next movie “Les Choristes”, on May 1st, in room D 541, from 12:00 to 1:00 PM. (Please note that in case of a strike, this viewing will be postponed for a week). English subtitles will be provided. Bring your lunch and let the fun begin! For more information, please contact Isabelle Rivest, French Department, extension # 7853

Isabelle Rivest, département de français

Therapy Dogs Coming to Vanier

Spending time with a cuddly dog is a great way for students (and faculty and staff!) to relieve some of that end-of-semester stress. Furry friends from the Blue Ribbon Therapy Dogs organization will be on site Wednesday, April 29, from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00p.m. in the Carrefour. For more information: Facebook.com/BlueRibbonTherapyDogs Everyone is welcome! Please spread the word.

Cari Clough, Academic Advising

Academic Council Agenda

Friday, May 1, 2015, 1:00 p.m., room F-216 1. Approval of the Agenda 2. Approval of the Minutes of March 13, 2015

3. Business Arising from the Minutes

a) Membership and Mandate of Subcommittee on Faculty Guidelines for College-Wide Guest Speakers (J. Plante)

b) Working Group for Pedagogical Activities & Student Success

(PASS) Day (E. Lozowy)

4. Reports, Announcements and Correspondence a) Board of Directors b) Joint Coordinators c) Others d) Special Academic Council Meeting, Strategic Plan – June 8, 2015

5. Main Business a) LEARN (Leading English Education and Resource Network) MOU (A. Perout, M. Grossman) b) Student Proficiency in Language of Instruction (SPLI) Policy (C. Hanrahan) c) Student Proficiency in Language of Instruction (SPLI)

Procedures – For Information Purposes (C. Hanrahan) d) Strategic Plan Consultation (M. Lesage & S. Pettifer) 6. Varia 7. Adjournment

Danielle Lafaille, Academic Dean

Capsule de français

Bonjour à tous et à toutes! Vous désirez vérifier vos connaissances en français? Rien de plus facile avec les capsules linguistiques. Voici les réponses de l’exercice de la semaine dernière :

1. Voulez-vous aller au théâtre OU au cinéma? 2. Sais-tu OÙ tu vas aller en vacances? 3. Mais OÙ sont mes clés? 4. Tu préfères la crème glacée au chocolat OU à l’orange? 5. Pose ton manteau OÙ tu veux.

Bravo à tous ceux et celles qui ont participé au concours!

Cette semaine, l’exercice est de niveau avancé. Voici une nouvelle règle et l’exercice correspondant : « Quelques » et « quelque » : « Quelque » peut être adjectif indéfini ou adverbe. L'adjectif indéfini « quelque » détermine le nom qui le suit et s'accorde en genre et en nombre avec ce nom. Par exemple: « J'ai réussi quelques problèmes de mathématiques. » « Quelques belles qualités que vous possédiez, vous devez toujours vous améliorer. » « Quelque » peut être aussi adverbe. Il signifie alors « environ » et il est invariable. Par exemple: « Quelque deux mille personnes assistaient à la soirée. » « Quelque ambitieux que vous paraissiez, vous ne parviendrez pas à me convaincre. » Exercice: Complétez les phrases suivantes en utilisant les mots « quelque » ou « quelques »: 1. _____________ moutons paissaient dans le pré du voisin. 2. Nous demeurons à _____________ centaines de mètres de chez toi. 3. Nous avons _____________ trois cents billets. 4. Sans les _____________ cinq mille dollars reçus, je n'aurais pas pu participer à la compétition. 5. Il a effectués _____________ travaux sur sa maison. Remplissez le coupon de participation suivant. Apportez vos réponses avant le vendredi 1er mai 2015 à Isabelle Rivest, Département de français, soit par courrier interne, soit dans l’enveloppe que vous trouverez sur la porte du bureau K 307. À la fin de la session d’automne, un prix au goût de la France sera décerné à la personne ayant apporté le plus grand nombre de bonnes réponses.

Bonne chance à tous et à toutes!

Isabelle Rivest, département de français

Coupon de participation

Nom_______________________________________________________

Adresse courriel/email_________________________________________

Numéro de téléphone_________________________________________

Graduating students from the Liberal Arts program will read their creative writing. This

event is free and everyone is welcome. Refreshments will be served.

VANIER COLLEGE

LIBERAL ARTS PROGRAM

LITERARY READINGGRADUATING STUDENTSTUESDAY, MAY 12TH, 2:30 - 4:00

• BOARDROOM (F-216)