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Accolades 

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Pragasen Pillay (Electrical and Computer Engineering and Hydro-Quebec Chair in renewable energy) was awarded the Order of Mapungubwe, Silver Level on Oct. 28 in Pretoria, South Africa. This award is given by the President of South Africa for international achievement serving the country's interests. Pillay has published widely in his field of power engineering and renewable energy. Pillay joined Concordia’s faculty after several appointments (including one in Cape Town).

Maïr Verthuy will be granted a Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case on Nov. 7 at Rideau Hall in Ottawa. Michaëlle Jean will bestow the award named for the groundbreaking 1927 case of five women who challenged the legal distinction between women and persons, taking their claims all the way to the British Privy Council. Since the 50th anniversary of the ruling that women were 'persons,' the Canadian government annually honours those who promote gender equality and the full participation of women in the economic fabric of the country. Verthuy was one of the founders of the Simone de Beauvoir Institute, currently celebrating its 30th anniversary. She helped organize the first worldwide conference on Research and Teaching Related to Women – a trilingual conference that included 350 participants from over 80 countries. Verthuy is a past president (and current secretary) of the Montreal Council of Women and of the Thérèse Casgrain Foundation.

Dongqing Wei and Gilles Peslherbe, both members of the Concordia-based Centre for Research in Molecular Modeling, co-chaired the International Conference on the Theory and Applications of Computational Chemistry (TACC) on Sept. 23-28 in Shanghai, China. The scientific program covered diverse topics including quantum chemistry, bioinformatics, drug design, nanomaterials, and modeling for a sustainable environment. The conference also included two keynote lectures, 50 plenary lectures, 230 contributed talks and over 450 poster presentations.

Congratulations to Meaghen Annett and Sandy Poiré, the winners of the 2008 Ethics Case Competition organized by the Eller College of Management, University of Arizona in Tucson. The two JMSB students represented the only Canadian university competing against 21 other teams from various undergraduate business programs from the United States. The Eller competition presents students with a real world ethics case meant to challenge students' moral reasoning, and raise awareness of the importance of corporate social responsibility.

Meanwhile, the JMSB teams earned a gold and silver medal at the 5th edition of the Ottawa Accounting Competition hosted by the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa. Teams from Ontario and Quebec competed in the following disciplines: managerial accounting, financial accounting and tax. At the same event, JMSB student June Svetlovsky (at right) won the Golden Calculator Award by achieving the highest individual score on a 30-question examination.

Last month marked a farewell to journalism professor Enn Raudsepp who has retired after 30 years in the classroom. The reception and dinner were held at the Hotel Le Place D’Armes in Old Montreal. The festivities attracted over 110 faculty, staff, and current and former students, some of whom danced into the wee hours.