Concordia Journal Home > Archives > January 15, 2009 issue >

Accolades 

Concordia Chancellor David P. O’Brien has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada for his contributions as a respected corporate leader and for his generous support of post-secondary education across Canada. Governor General Michaëlle Jean announced O’Brien’s appointment among 89 new recipients who will be invited to accept their insignia at a ceremony to be held at a later date.

Jillian Kestler-D’Amours was one of two Canadian journalism students to win the Hong Kong Student Fellowship. The honour was conferred by a panel of three judges, named by the Canadian Association of Journalists’ (CAJ) national board of directors. Kestler-D’Amours will have expenses paid for a week-long trip to Hong Kong over the next year.

The Mirror just published their annual list of noisemakers and Concordians feature prominently in this crop of up-and-comers. Activist duo/couple Nora Rohman and Kate Lamothe are galvanizing the queer community by organizing cultural and political events of all types. Promoters of The Pirates of the Lachine Canal also have Concordia connections.

Tao-Nhan Nguyen has turned his engineering degree into half of musical duo FM Radio Gods. Über-geeks Howie Pun and Jonathan Starr met at Concordia, as did Pistol Press Publishers Jp King, Gil Filar and Hillary Rexe. J.R. Carpenter also got her literary start here. Meanwhile, filmmakers Ray Klonsky and Marc Lamy made the list. Concordia must have noticed the sculpting skills of grad Maskull Lasserre, because he's now teaching here. Dancer Andrew Turner was featured in last November's faculty showcase. Dancer/promoter/musician Lunice Fermin Pierre II is currently studying here will pursuing a range of activities.

Yung Chang (BFA 99 Film Production) has been enjoying great success this past year. His documentary, Up The Yangtze, was recognized as one of the year’s best reviewed films in the U.S. on the metacritic web site, www.metacritic.com/film/awards/ Meanwhile Chang is one of four filmmakers chosen to participate in the inaugural CFC/NFB Feature Documentary Program. Created by the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) and the National Film Board (NFB), the program launches this month with the goal of developing successful original feature length documentaries for international cinema audiences.

George Vatistas (Mechanical Engineering) has been honoured for one of the top ten discoveries of 2008 by Québec Science magazine. Vatistas found himself working in the realm of physics and was able to physically prove an existing theory on vortex rings. (See Journal, April 17, 2008.) His discovery has multiple applications from forecasting tornado development to improving the design of turbine machinery.

The John Molson School of Business delegation won an award for International Management in the Academic Component at the 2009 Jeux du Commerce TD Insurance Meloche Monnex, held from January 2 to 4. Over 1 000 students from 13 universities in eastern Canada participated under the theme, ‘Challenges for the Future.’ The bilingual games have been held for the past two decades.