Jon Rousham: Stern and supportive

Jon Rousham walks a fine line in the fine dust covering everything in the School of Architecture lab. As the lab's senior and only technician, he has the sometimes misunderstood task of ensuring that architecture students design well for the materials they choose and build well with the wood, metal and cement available in the high-ceilinged facility. And that they do it unscathed.

Safety has been Rousham's prime concern since he assumed his post five years ago. Until last year, at least one student per year would leave the Macdonald-Harrington building in an ambulance thanks to injured, though never completely severed, fingers.

For the past one and a half years, though -- "touch wood," as he says ironically -- there's been not a single serious injury.

Cutting down on accidents was a chief goal for Rousham and he is strict with students when it comes to safety. "Only those students who really know what they're doing are allowed to use the table saw."

Knowing what one is doing is a fairly rare trait in first year architecture students, says Rousham, who qualified as a carpenter at the tender age of 21, and who has worked in design and building ever since. He estimates that only one in 50 begins with any building skills.

That fact, however, does not prevent some students from having confidence in themselves far exceeding their ability, notes Rousham.

Trained in Britain, the Chicoutimi-born Rousham treasures the high standard of work and the accompanying humility that the master carpenter he apprenticed under passed on to him. And that's something he tries to pass on to his students, frequently sending them back to the drawing board when the design doesn't fit the materials or the function. "That's where I've got this 'bad guy' reputation when I send them back, saying 'This isn't going to work,'" says Rousham.

He learned to take life seriously at a young age. He became a father, husband and homeowner all by the age of 19. Now on his fourth house -- a triplex on the Plateau that he renovated -- and his second child, 16-month-old Samantha, who is a frequent visitor at the lab -- Rousham continues to be serious, still maintaining a design and construction firm for after hours.

While he has at times worried about being too hard on the students -- coming from the tough-nosed construction sector, being sensitive was a lesson to be learned, he acknowledges -- Rousham concludes: "I couldn't justify staying here and calling myself a teacher if I didn't go all the way."

That's an attitude in Rousham that architecture professor Ricardo Castro, who teaches the second-year studio course, appreciates. "Students have poetic ambition and Jon adds pragmatics to make their dreams come true."

Teaching was an opportunity he leapt at six years ago when an opportunity opened up to run the industrial design workshop at Carleton University for a year. A break from construction, plus the opportunity to pass on his skills as well as learn new ones, such as metal working and teaching, proved irresistible to Rousham. As luck would have it, McGill's School of Architecture was looking for a lab technician just as the Carleton position was ending.

What he most enjoys in the job is the diversity of tasks. "I'm exposed to a wide variety of people and ideas. After being in construction for 15 years, it was great to have stimulating discussions."

Ironically, Rousham's first love was architecture. After leaving the family home in a fit of rebelliousness at age 17, he ventured to Europe, where, while volunteering on the renovation of a chateau in France, he discovered his love of wood and building. In England, he began architecture studies but soon realized that as an architect he was bound for desk-work which was not his cup of tea. Carpentry, on the other hand, allowed him the freedom to build and design.

Now, he reckons he has the best of both worlds and appreciates being in a position where he can help students value the wealth of resources at their disposal. "Because of not having gone to university, I can appreciate this environment where you are encouraged to ask questions and you know there is a broad range of people to answer them," says Rousham, adding that there isn't that luxury of time and accessible expertise in the work world.

Bronwyn Chester

Here's a switch. After a few years spent fretting about a modest decline in the numbers of students applying to universities, Ontario university leaders now have a far different concern -- they worry about being overrun by new students in the year 2003.

The reason for the concern is tied to recent changes to the province's education system made by the Mike Harris government. Students beginning their high school studies next year will work with a brand new curriculum. One result is that they will only need to complete Grade 12 before they attend university. The students who are a year older still need to finish Grade 13 first.

The impact of this will be felt dramatically in 2003 when all Ontario students completing Grades 12 and 13 will be eligible for university. Ontario universities expect to contend with 45,000 extra applicants as a result of this "double cohort."

A team of experts drawn from the Council of Ontario Universities, colleges, universities, high schools and Ontario's Ministry of Education have begun to plan for the barrage of students in 2003.

"The students starting high school in the fall of 1999 have a right to be concerned about the double cohort," says Wilfrid Laurier University president Bob Rosehart. "What will it do to the quality of education? What kind of facilities and faculty will you have?"

Universities are still uncertain about how to plan for a temporary surge in enrolments -- they'll need more teachers and student housing, but only for a few years until the double cohort graduates from their institutions.

Rosehart, part of the planning group preparing for 2003, says the government has pledged some extra support to help universities cope, but the details about how much support they'll get remain fuzzy.

If universities are going to accept thousands more students, the preparation for that has to start now, he stresses.

"You aren't going to build residences for three years. Or libraries. We have some concerns on how you'd ramp up a system for a few years and then ramp it back down again."

Source: Tanya Talaga, The Toronto Star

The confusion in the public is beyond belief.


Sociology professor Maurice Pinard, talking to The Times Higher Education Supplement about Quebec voters and the 1995 referendum on sovereignty. Pinard, a top polling expert, says many of the people who voted for sovereignty didn't understand what they were voting for -- about 25% of "yes" voters believed that a sovereign Quebec would still elect MPs in Ottawa.

Here's some news that the planning team behind the McGill University Health Centre might not want to hear: Their job is about to become even tougher.

That forecast was provided by Concordia University management professor Steven Appelbaum, an expert on stress and hospitals and, according to The Financial Post, one of the best business professors in the country.

Last spring, Appelbaum organized a lecture series for MUHC administrators, faculty and staff that dealt with post-merger stress syndrome.

In any merger, there are three chief periods, says Appelbaum-- the beginning, the middle and the end. The middle of the process is the most trying period and that is where the MUHC project is at.

"This is really where the grunt work has to take place. It's going to be difficult keeping everybody on track."

There is a certain excitement associated with the beginning of a merger. There is a sense of accomplishment and conclusion at the end. But in the middle, "things are bumpy," says Appelbaum.

"What you often see, as the new culture of the merged institutions begins to take shape, is a culture of resistance. People start to put up little roadblocks all over the place."

A new state-of-the-art hospital complex is a definite carrot to use to motivate people, but it only opens in 2004. That's a long time from now, notes Appelbaum.

His advice? Hire some experts to help out Ð business consultants with expertise in assisting mergers. And be honest with staff.

Managers have to try to keep staff focused on the end goal, but they have to show sympathy for the staff's concerns as well.

"It is a complex and difficult process. People feel bad. They ought to feel bad -- all their co-workers feel the stress too. The thing to keep focused on is that this process is going somewhere. Things will get better."

We want to find out why some songs send shivers down the spine.


Anne Blood, a graduate student in neuropsychology at the Montreal Neurological Institute, speaking to The Philadelphia Inquirer. Blood used PET scans to examine the brains of volunteers as they listened to various strains of music. She found that different melodies have powerful effects on regions of the brain that control and produce emotions.