Milena Stanoeva
Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology, announced Wednesday that Canada will extend permanent residency to up to 1,000 international PhD students per year through Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s Federal Skilled Worker Program. “Doctoral graduates play a unique role in the economy. They drive research, encourage innovation and pass on their knowledge through teaching,” said Minister Goodyear. “And quite simply, Canada needs more of them.”
Canada’s top emerging researchers in the social sciences and humanities were honoured at the 49th annual Canadian Association of Graduate Studies conference. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council awarded the SSHRC Aurora Prize of $25,000 to James Stewart of the University of British Columbia, the SSHRC Postdoctoral Prize of $10,000 to May Chazan from the University of Toronto and the William E. Taylor Fellowship of $5,000 to Agnès Blais of Université Laval. Congratulations to the prize recipients!
Is arts education in middle and high school a luxury in times of tightened budgets and curricula focused on preparing students for the workforce? A former high school teacher argues that the arts are crucial for engaging students and developing their creativity and critical thinking skills. Dal News also wrote about the value of the arts in young people’s lives–a group of Dalhousie University researchers is developing a community arts program that diverts vulnerable youth away from dangerous activities like prostitution and street violence, and towards different arts activities.
Research Impact has a blog post out about Philip Kelly, our October Big Thinker. Video of his lecture, “Generation Next: Social mobility of the children of immigrants,” is now available.
Several interesting books have come out lately. Steve Jobs’ biography was recently published. According to biographer Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs’ genius came from his ability to mix the humanities with science. Leadership Under Fire by former University of Windsor president Ross Paul examines the current state of Canadian university presidencies and why so many presidents end their terms prematurely. Social Knowledge in the Making by Charles Camic, Neil Gross and Michèle Lamont examines the history of knowledge creation in the social sciences.