Media releases

  • Brock’s Goodman School of Business wins prestigious competition title

    MEDIA RELEASE: R00002 – 10 January 2017

    One of the most coveted trophies in Canadian university business competitions has a new home: Brock University’s Goodman School of Business.

    Goodman students captured the top-prize School of the Year award in Ottawa on Sunday, Jan. 8 at the JDCC case competition, which is central Canada’s largest undergraduate business school competition with 700 students from 12 institutions in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes.

    When the bus carrying Team Goodman pulled on to the St. Catharines campus late Monday afternoon, the 40-plus students spilled out proudly carrying their new trophy.
    The JDCC, often dubbed the “business school Olympics,” is actually three days of exhaustive competitions encompassing academic cases in eight fields of business, parliamentary style debates, sports tournaments, social competitions and charity contributions.

    Goodman students took first place for both finance and marketing, as well as the all-encompassing Academic Cup. They also placed second in sports, debate, international business and entrepreneurship, and finished third in the participation and Management Information Systems events.

    The School of the Year award takes all aspects of the competition into consideration and includes volunteer hours and the nearly $1,200 raised in funds for charity by the team.
     
    “We are so proud of our students’ successes,” said Goodman School of Business Interim Dean Barry Wright.

    “These results are a true testament to the hard work and perseverance they have put forward over the past semester. We are honoured to hold this title and to have others recognize their passion, excellence and Goodman spirit as well,” he said.

    Brock’s 2017 School of the Year victory comes after the prize had been won for seven consecutive years by another Ontario university.

    Under the guidance of team captain Dan Giddings (BBA ’16), the Goodman team was well-supported by staff, faculty and alumni who devoted hours to preparing students for the competition. Faculty members Eric Dolansky, Wesley Helms, Teju Herath, Glenn Skrubbeltrang, Lewis Stevenson and Peter Yannopoulos, and staff and alumni members Brittany Smith and Alyssa Freeman, coached teams and the final results prompted a steady stream of tweets from proud Goodman graduates, many of whom also dedicated many coaching hours last semester.

    Goodman graduates and JDC Central veterans Sohail Ahmed, Sean Bouwers, Julia Chiarelli, Scott Darlow, Bryan Dizon, James Fioretti, Matt Leslie, Zurain Malik, Anthony Marotta, Jordan Menchella, James Riley Osler Percheson, Brittany Smith, Dayna Stephenson, Derek Visser and Aqib Zia all supported this year’s Goodman JDCC team by devoting some of their weekends last semester to the cause.

    Making up the full Goodman JDCC team were:
    Accounting: Namrata Mistry, Shivam Patel, Amber Williams
    Business Strategy: Jenny Doan, Max Muria Courchesne, Mikayla Zolis
    Entrepreneurship: Justin Enns, Nick Hollard, Srujal Patel
    Management Information Systems: Christian Mindo, Vik Narula, Sean Pereira
    International Business: Farook Al-Yassin, Zach Ferry, Monica Upadhyay
    Human Resources: Emma Lahay, Bianca Read, Amy Rudnicki
    Marketing: Bianca Koop, Ashley Howard
    Finance: Jake Berec, Summer Gullage, Jacqueline Kope
    Debate: Holly Arruda, Josh Hall, Mitch Ledgerwood, Dylan Pereira
    Social: Spencer Bird, Rosie Di Matteo, Daniel Garner, Alexa Ogilvie-Robinson
    Sports: Julia Baird-Oryschak, Max Burtcher, Mitch Cowan, Shreeta Dhingani, Aidan Gilhula, Leanne Karat, Tomash Konefal, Will Spence
    Godparents: Max Muria Courchesne, Kristy-Anne Wytenburg
    Volunteers: Daniel Danaher, Kartika Gaur, Yash Kapadia
    Captain: Dan Giddings

    For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

    * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University [email protected], 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

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    Categories: Media releases

  • Brock’s first online continuing education course breaks new ground for wine industry

    MEDIA RELEASE: R00001 – 5 January 2017

    Brock University’s continuing education offerings are going digital, and when the Certificate in Ontario Wine online course begins next month, it will also be the Ontario wine industry’s first integrated online program specific to VQA wine.

    Offered by Brock’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI), the course is designed for a wide audience, from wine enthusiasts to professionals working in a winery, hospitality or retail sales environment.

    The five-week program will see students study alongside peers under course designer and instructor Marc Pistor, an Ontario winemaker who is also a Brock Oenology and Viticulture alumnus (BSc ’06). Using an interactive format that includes videos, forums and chat discussions, students will put in about six hours of work each week around their own schedule. They will receive suggestions and recommendations on Ontario wines to taste and will be able to share their tasting notes with their classmates.

    Graduates will receive official certification through CCOVI at Brock University and are also eligible to write the Wine Council of Ontario Certification.

    “In Niagara there are options and opportunities for wine education but beyond our region, those opportunities are limited,” said Pistor. “Creating this course helps to get the word out about Ontario wine across the province.”

    The course will run five times each year in February, April, June, August and October. Registration is $195.

    “This is the first online course of its kind,” said Barb Tatarnic, CCOVI’s manager of continuing education. “Offering this course online will remove both geographical and time barriers for people interested in a formal introduction to Ontario wine.”

    During a trial run of the course, participants were able to test out the system and work through the course material.

    “I would recommend this course to anyone working, or aspiring to work in the Ontario wine industry as this course would be hugely beneficial,” said trial participant Malcolm Lamont, LCBO Product Consultant in St. Catharines.

    Laurie Macdonald, VQA Ontario’s Executive Director, said industry partners including VQA Ontario welcome the new course, and are looking forward to working with CCOVI to increase consumer knowledge about VQA wines.

    “Consumers will benefit from a better understanding of Ontario’s diverse regions including the role grape origin plays in the character and taste of our wines,” Macdonald said.

    Registration for the February session closes January 27 and the course begins February 11. For more details visit: ccovi.ca/ce/node/2833

    For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

    * Kaitlyn Little, Marketing and Communications Officer, Brock University [email protected], 905-688-5550 x4471

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    Categories: Media releases