Shelley Romoff

The Scarborough transit debate: Let's move forward, says UTSC's Bruce Kidd

lavende4 — Mon, 11 Jul 2016 20:02:54 +0000

The Scarborough transit debate: Let's move forward, says UTSC's Bruce Kidd lavende4 Mon, 07/11/2016 - 16:02

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Scarborough community, business and academic leaders have written to Toronto city council with their concerns over transit (Photo by Alex Consiglio/Getty)

Romi Levine

Shelley Romoff

Author legacy

Shelley Romoff and Romi Levine

Topic

City & Culture

Toronto

Transit

subways

Scarborough

UTSC

Bruce Kidd

The subject of transit and transit planning in Toronto generates considerable interest and debate. Tomorrow Toronto City Council is voting on Mayor John Tory’s Executive Committee proposal to develop Toronto’s transit plan until 2031, a plan includes heavy rail, LRT stops and subway.

Shelley Romoff spoke to U of T Vice President and U of T Scarborough Principal Bruce Kidd about the proposal and about steps taken by community leaders to address the issue.

Five public sector leaders in Scarborough have gotten together and taken the step of writing an open letter to the Mayor and City councillors about transit. What prompted this?

It’s simple. Almost one in every five Torontonians – 24 per cent of the population, over 625,000 people - lives in Scarborough. Yet transit in this area of the city is woefully inadequate, and Scarborough has been repeatedly overlooked when it comes to transit investment. This has negatively impacted development – scaring developers off of some projects and even spoiling the chance others could even be considered. Residents are frustrated. As leaders of the four of the largest public institutions in the east end of Toronto – institutions that serve over a half million people, Robert Biron (The Scarborough Hospital), Ann Buller (Centennial College), Andrée Robichaud (Rouge Valley Health System), and I, as well as Margaret Middleton (Scarborough Business Association) who represents the business community, agree that we have an obligation to speak up. As we say in our letter, the challenge faced by residents, businesses and institutions in this part of the city is urgent.

What does Scarborough need when it comes to mass transit and pubic transit?

First, we need to all understand that the debate – which has been going on for much longer than just the last few years – is divisive as well as time-consuming. There have been several different plans presented over the past decade. While each has merit, the un-ending discussion is affecting Scarborough’s, and Toronto’s, future.

We need comprehensive transit planning for the future. We need predictability, and results. We need to bring back confidence to planners, developers and to taxpayers.

Connecting Scarborough Town Centre to the subway makes good sense. This will create an express line to help people move to and from the downtown core to what is already an important multi-regional transit hub.

Exending the Eglinton LRT much farther east makes good sense, too. This will enormously benefit those who live in Scarborough and move around the area, and ultimately, reduce vehicular traffic.

What outcome will, in your view, present a way forward?

There is a cost to lost opportunity as well as a cost to implementing plans – it’s just hard or harder to measure. We can’t afford to keep stalling. Even though financial requirements for comprehensive transit plans may exceed what we can afford today, we still need innovative, creative planning or the future that can be implemented over a period of time.

Let’s approve and allocate funds for a comprehensive approach to transit planning for Scarborough, one that includes completing the Transit Project Assessment Process for the subway and the LRT networks.

Let’s move forward. These plans will finally allow both the public and the private sectors to have assurance about how Scarborough will develop, thrive and contribute to a better, modern Toronto.

Kidd also spoke to U of T News reporter Romi Levine. She asked him how UTSC and its students are affected in particular:

How will transit expansion benefit the student population at UTSC?

It’ll be huge. It’ll significantly reduce travelling time to and from the campus, freeing up time for further study, engagement in student clubs, engagement in student co-curricular activities such as sports and culture, engagement in undergraduate research.

The leaders of the SCSU (Scarborough Campus Students’ Union) over and over again have stood with us shoulder to shoulder on transit.

In what ways can the campus grow with better transit?

There’s the vision of growth for our campus – we have a campus master plan that looks ahead over the next 20-30 years to build out the precinct of UTSC to fill in the campus between the traditional campus south of Ellesmere and the new buildings on the north of Ellesmere.

We see adding a cultural centre, residences, further academic buildings… we planned for the LRT within that master plan, but we’ve been very reluctant to go ahead with that building until the site for the LRT is finalized. So this will enable us to move ahead with that master plan.

Will better transit strengthen ties between UTSC and the Scarborough community?

There are physical transit barriers to easy accessibility. This is a car campus for the most part – we are on the east side of Highland Creek. There are impoverished priority areas on the west side of Highland Creek. For some of them, even though on a bike it would be 15 minutes, by public transportation it would be 45 minutes because you’d have to take three different rides. It’s horrible. This would make the campus and the cultural, athletic, intellectual resources here much more accessible to the eastern part of Scarborough on the other side of Highland Creek.

Will better transit links to UTSC create better connectivity between U of T campuses?

Oh come on, for sure! One of the barriers to bringing people out here, one of the barriers to moving students downtown is inadequate transportation. The SCSU lobbies every day and every week for strengthened transit links to downtown… so this will make that a lot easier, a lot more convenient. It will enable students on both St. George and UTSC to make better use of the richness of both campuses.

Read more about Principal Bruce Kidd’s perspective on transit for Scarborough in Intervals: the Principal’s blog.

'Roid rage and Arctic ground squirrels

sgupta — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 08:24:02 +0000

'Roid rage and Arctic ground squirrels sgupta Thu, 11/06/2014 - 03:24

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Arctic squirrel (photo by Dr. Tim Karels)

Shelley Romoff

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Shelley Romoff

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Subheadline

How rodents bulk up for winter without going nuts

When Arctic ground squirrels need to bulk up for winter, they get a boost from an enormous spike in the levels of steroids in their blood.

So why doesn't it lead to 'roid rage?

In humans, anabolic steroids are known to build muscle but also produce negative side effects such as aggressive behaviour and compromised immune systems. Yet Arctic ground squirrels have found a way to pump up with steroids without the risks, University of Toronto researchers say.

A new study, published this week in Biology Letters, by Professor Rudy Boonstra of the University of Toronto Scarborough with University of Toronto Mississauga Professor Douglas Ashley Monks and Research Technician Kaiguo Mo, shows the answer lies in the squirrels' androgen receptors.

Most hibernators only add layers of fat in preparation for winter but Arctic ground squirrels hibernate in frozen ground at subzero temperatures, so they need to burn muscle mass as well as fat to get through the harsh winter and supply key tissues in the brain and heart with the glucose they need.

A previous study had shown that, in the weeks before hibernation, Arctic squirrels were able to increase their muscle mass by 30 per cent thanks to a massive spike in their anabolic steroid levels. In this new study, researchers compared Arctic squirrels to Columbian ground squirrels found in Alberta and discovered the Arctic squirrels were able to bulk up safely because they had four times as many androgen receptors in their muscles than the Columbian ground squirrels.

“They have more steroid receptors within their muscle cells, and fewer in other types of cells, like immune cells, that could be negatively affected by the steroids,” said Boonstra. “The Arctic ground squirrel has evolved this trait to make muscle to cope with hibernating in a deep freeze.”

This ensures that, unlike humans, Arctic squirrels can receive the benefits of high anabolic steroid levels without the costs.

This research was supported by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The research is available online and will be published in the upcoming edition of Biology Letters.

(Read the CBC's story,)

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UTSC celebrates 50 Years

sgupta — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 10:33:10 +0000

UTSC celebrates 50 Years sgupta Mon, 10/06/2014 - 06:33

Shelley Romoff

Author legacy

Shelley Romoff

UTSC

Features

The 1960s are remembered as an era that rocked the establishment, ushering in enduring cultural change.

In 1964 Ontario’s population was booming. Canada’s new immigration regulations revolutionized policy, opening an increasingly wider door. Suburbs rapidly grew to the north and east of downtown Toronto. The Beatles became internationally famous. Marshall McLuhan published his insightful analysis of television’s impact on society, Understanding Media: the extension of man. Defending champions, the Toronto Maple Leafs, won the Stanley Cup at Maple Leaf Gardens.

Against this backdrop, the University of Toronto established a campus in the eastern GTA – its first of two new campuses – with 16 faculty members in three divisions: social sciences, humanities and science. The next year 191 full-time students began their training as future leaders and members of the first class of Scarborough College.

Today the campus is known as University of Toronto Scarborough.

Interim Principal Bruce Kidd says the original campus was both an ambitious social exercise and an architectural one. “UTSC has always pioneered new paths for the well-established U of T, Canada’s leading research university,” he notes. “From the beginning, the campus aimed to offer students higher education that is innovative, inclusive and equal to the excellence that is the University’s hallmark.”

John Andrews designed Scarborough College’s buildings to forge interaction among disciplines, teachers and students. The internationally-renowned science and humanities wings also included a 6,000 square-foot (560-metre) television studio to develop and transmit closed-circuit lectures, a unique experiment in pedagogy.

Today’s UTSC offers a comprehensive range of opportunities for 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students from 80 countries. It boasts 350 faculty, a full array of student services, highly-regarded research centres and 43,000 alumni who have found their place in the worlds of politics, sports, education, entertainment and industry. The campus’s expansive footprint is larger than that of the University’s downtown campus, occupying 300 acres stretching from the Highland Creek Ravine to the new Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, home to UTSC’s department of athletics and recreation.

UTSC’s academic program offers 180 undergraduate and graduate programs, from international business to global Asia studies to clinical psychology, including 53 co-operative education programs. More than 200 student clubs and associations guarantee an engaged student experience.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, this is an exciting time to be on campus as UTSC looks to its past even as it ponders its future. Events have reached out to alumni, the local community, and across the University. A celebration of the campus’s official establishment by U of T’s Governing Council happens on October 6th and the program of festivities, symposia, lectures and events continues into the new year, when UTSC hosts nine events for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games, welcoming hundreds of thousands of visitors, the technologically-advanced environmental science and chemistry building opens its doors and the university introduces UTSC’s next principal.

While much has changed, Kidd says the campus remains true to its roots, still pushing the boundaries of traditional structures, and offering a program that is challenging, current and both locally and globally relevant.

“We’re actively engaged with our communities, so the UTSC experience doesn’t stop at our campus borders – it’s a key part of the student experience. Being located in an area with the highest density of diversity in the country adds a level of energy, creativity, culture and engagement that is uniquely UTSC.”

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David Onley, Ontario's 28th lieutenant-governor, joins U of T

sgupta — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 09:18:39 +0000

David Onley, Ontario's 28th lieutenant-governor, joins U of T sgupta Thu, 09/25/2014 - 05:18

Shelley Romoff

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Shelley Romoff

Job seekers: remain calm during tests

sgupta — Mon, 11 Nov 2013 12:57:21 +0000

Job seekers: remain calm during tests sgupta Mon, 11/11/2013 - 07:57

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Standardized tests can be stressful for job applicants (photo by Ken Jones)

Shelley Romoff

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Shelley Romoff

Topic

Job interviews can be stressful but if a standardized test is involved it's crucial to remain calm – even if you hate taking tests, says a new study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

Research shows candidates' reactions can affect their performance on the test, said Julie McCarthy. The associate professor in the Department of Management at the University of Toronto Scarborough and the Rotman School of Management was part of an international team of researchers working on the study.

"The findings are an important consideration both for organizations and for applicants," McCarthy said. "There is clearly value in training programs to help applicants minimize test anxiety and stay motivated."

Working with researchers in the United States and Belgium, McCarthy also found that doing well on a job test predicted strong job performance.

"Candidates who experience high levels of anxiety, for instance, will have low test performance while those who are motivated by tests will perform better, both on the test and on the job," McCarthy said.

The researchers also determined that skepticism about standardized tests or the fairness of the application process did affect candidates' performance on the test itself but did not reliably predict their performance on the job.

McCarthy partnered with Chad Van Iddekinge of Florida State University, Filip Lievens of Ghent University, Mei-Chuan Kung of Select International in Pittsburgh, Evan Sinar of Development Dimensions International in Bridgeville Pennsylvania and Michael Campion of Purdue University. The researchers examined data from studies on three continents.

The research was partly funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Shelley Romoff is a writer with the University of Toronto Scarborough.

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UTSC welcomes Wheelchair Basketball Canada’s new year-round training academy

sgupta — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:30:05 +0000

UTSC welcomes Wheelchair Basketball Canada’s new year-round training academy sgupta Fri, 04/05/2013 - 12:30

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Canada's elite wheelchair basketball athletes will train at the University of Toronto Scarborough (all photos courtesy Wheelchair Basketball Canada)

Shelley Romoff

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Shelley Romoff