News

Most of us who work in agricultural and rural development sectors have an interest about role of social media in communication for social change. Ataharul Chowdhury and Helen Hambly in their article published in the peer-reviewed proceedings of the Canadian Communication Association raise critiques on role of social media in collective change processes of agricultural and rural development. They argue that mere 'access to new media' does not suffice to enable social and collective change.

Rural Studies PhD graduate Ashlee Cunsolo Willox has taken up a Canada Research Chair position at Cape Breton University. Dr. Cunsolo Willox, Assistant Professor in Community Health, has been named a Tier 2 CRC in Determinants of Healthy Communities. Tier 2 Chairs are awarded for exceptional emerging researchers, acknowledged by their peers as demonstrating the potential to lead in their field.

More details about this position can be found from the Cape Breton University Research Chairs.  

Juri Peepre was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada on December 29, 2013 for his role in protecting the Canadian wilderness for future generations.

The School of Environmental Design and Rural Development's Post Doctoral Fellow, Dr. Ataharul Chowdhury is featured in the November 2013 edition of Top Crop Manager.  His article on pages 34 and 36 entitled "Spreading the 'Net - Using OnlineTools to Your Advantage", looks at the use of social media in agriculture.

This fall, the Ontario Agricultural College and School of Environmental Design and Rural Development (SEDRD) were proud to offer a new award. The new Thompson Graduate Studies Scholarship will be presented annually to a deserving student in the Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) program.

Leila Todd, a recent Master of Landscape Architecture graduate, has won a 2013 City of Hamilton Urban Design and Architecture Award for her Emerald Park Concept (based on her MLA Thesis) in the Excellence in Environmental Design category. The jury stated it was "a unique idea and very appropriate." The jury suggested that the City should trial Leila's idea for improving the temporary use of brownfield sites in the City of Hamilton to apply this idea across the City.

Landscape Architecture Instructor, Nadia Amoroso is featured in the December 2013 issue of the Magazine of the American Society of Landscape Architects.  The article (on page 54), entitled "Life Comes to Maps. New Tools find Intriguing Patterns Hidden Right in Front of You" features her work as Co-Founder of DataAppeal.  DataAppeal translates numerical information into three-dimensional shapes, colours and textures.  The DataAppeal models are then fed into Google Earth, which is being used as the primary program for sharing geospatial data with the public.

The Ontario Agricultural College Fall Awards Celebration were held on November 19 and 26, 2013.  This annual event provides a special opportunity to recognize OAC students who have made outstanding contributions through their academic performance, leadership and community spirit.  

The School of Environmental Design and Rural Development students received the following awards:

Undergraduate Award Recipients:

IMPACT! Sustainability Champions Workshop.  Photo courtesy of Dominique Nadeau.

This past spring, Stephanie Wilson completed her master’s degree in landscape architecture (MLA) in a little-studied topic in Canada.  Her MLA thesis focussed on enhanced cross-country course design at the University of Guelph Arboretum.  See At Guelph article.