News from the social sciences and humanities

Blog
December 22, 2011

Milena Stanoeva
Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences

On December 8, Lou Hammond Ketilson, from the University of Saskatchewan, presented a Big Thinking lecture on the economic impact of credit unions. If you missed Professor Hammond Ketilson’s lecture, it’s now available on video. Professor Hammond Ketilson was also interviewed by The Western Producer.

A report commissioned by the New College of Humanities, a British for-profit college opening next year, indicates that sixty percent of UK leaders in fields such as business and politics have degrees in the humanities, social sciences or arts. The report challenges perceptions that there are few career opportunities for students graduating with degrees in the humanities and social sciences.

AUCC profiled an innovative program for undergraduates at Queen’s University–Inquiry@Queen’s. The program is open to all majors and it offers undergraduate students the opportunity to present their research to their peers at the annual Undergraduate Research Conference. This program exposes undergraduate students to research in different disciplines, teaches them to conduct their own research and helps them familiarize themselves with the processes involved in presenting research at academic conferences.

Researchers at York University’s Schulich School of Business have found a “Santa Syndrome” among holiday shoppers. The researchers explained that shoppers who believe in a just world, one where well-behaved children get good presents and naughty children get lumps of coal, are more likely to deal with doubts about the gifts they’ve bought by putting more trust in salespeople.

CFHSS wishes happy holidays to all our readers! We will be back with blog posts in the new year.