Media releases

• Brock announces plan to pursue a modernized presence in the Hamilton-Burlington-Oakville region

  Wednesday, November 13, 2019 | Posted by Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 13 November 2019 – R00181

  Brock University, which has had a teaching presence in Hamilton for more than 30 years, is embarking on a search for more modernized facilities in the Hamilton-Burlington-Oakville (HBO) corridor.

  The University will maintain operations at its current Hamilton campus until at least Spring 2021, but is exploring options and locations for contemporary, purpose-built accommodations that will meet the changing needs of learners.

  The Hamilton campus, located on King Street East, will be listed for sale in the coming days.  A 1960s high school that Brock acquired in 2000, it has been used primarily for teacher education. Through the years it has educated thousands of teachers for school districts in Hamilton-Wentworth, Halton, Grand Erie and Dufferin-Peel, amongst others.

  Michael Owen, Dean of Education, said “a 21^st-century learning and teaching environment will allow the University to meet the growing needs of schools for professionally educated leaders, and serve the educational needs of our diverse communities for adult and graduate education.”

  Greg Finn, Brock’s Provost and Vice-President Academic, said the University wants a new facility in the region to accommodate a wider scope of programs, and that updating the Hamilton property to fulfil that mission would be cost-prohibitive.

  He said the current site, on seven acres of land near the Red Hill Expressway, should have appeal as a development opportunity in Hamilton’s east end.

  “Investing in modern, purpose-built facilities is a more sensible use of resources,” said Finn, “and will directly benefit current and future students as well as faculty members. Exploring new facilities also gives us an opportunity to expand program offerings for full-time and part-time students in the HBO region.”

  President Gervan Fearon said the University’s Strategic Plan commits Brock to making a priority of providing “a transformational and accessible academic and student experience”.

  “This will be a guiding principle in our selection and determination of a new location,” said Fearon.  “These developments reflect Brock’s role in post-secondary education across the region. Our enrolment growth, and our record for graduates finding jobs and career success, support the vitality and competitiveness of employers in these communities.”

  Finn said the University will consider different options that align with its mission and are within an affordable basis.  He said creating a modern campus that enhances student experience, strengthens communities and encourages commuter access is consistent with Brock’s Strategic Plan and its balanced budget planning process.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  Kevin Cavanagh, Brock University Communications kcavanagh@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5888

  Michelle Presse, Brock University Communications mpresse@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x4420

  Brock University Marketing and Communications has a full-service studio where we can provide high definition video and broadcast-quality audio.

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  Categories: Media releases

• Environmental racism experts to speak at Brock on Friday

  Tuesday, November 12, 2019 | Posted by Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 12 Nov. 2019 – R00180

  This Friday, Nov. 15, Charlotte Henay, Lecturer at Brock’s Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies, will be joined by two external experts in a panel presentation titled “Climate Justice, Gender, and Environmental Racism.”

  Margot Francis, Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and co-organizer of the event, explains that the panel will highlight the ways in which “minoritized communities suffer disproportionate harm from environmental toxification.”

  “The impact of environmental devastation is not currently and has never been felt equally by everyone,” says Francis. “Communities in the global south who have been least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions are being harder hit, and in Canada, Indigenous and black communities have always been more vulnerable to environmental racism.”

  The presentation includes three talks by the panel’s experts. Ingrid Waldron, an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health at Dalhousie University, will give a talk titled “Not in my backyard: the politics of race, place and waste in Canada.”

  Waldron is the director of the Environmental Noxiousness, Racial Inequities & Community Health Project (The ENRICH Project) and author of the award-winning book There’s Something in the Water: Environmental Racism in Indigenous and Black Communities, which was the basis of a documentary film that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this fall.

  Lickers Xavier is an Onondaga woman from the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory and assistant professor in the Department of Indigenous Studies at McMaster University. She will speak on “Food sovereignty, gender and sustainability at Six Nations,” describing the Our Sustenance Greenhouse project led by women at Six Nations, which is dedicated to garden production, food storage, health, self-care and traditional Haudenosaunee knowledge and values.

  In “After Dorian: a social geography of climate crisis,” Henay will examine the impact of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas and foreground local mobilizing to recover from that devastation.

  Henay says she is “looking forward to an engaging exchange about the collective impact and importance of the climate crisis resulting from colonially induced environmental changes.”

  The event, which takes place Friday, Nov. 15 from 2 to 4 p.m. in Brock’s Charles A. Sankey Chamber, is cosponsored by the Office of Human Rights and Equity, the Women’s Campus Safety Grant, and the Social Justice Research Institute, among others. All are welcome to attend.

   

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  Kevin Cavanagh, Brock University Communications kcavanagh@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5888

  Michelle Presse, Brock University Communications mpresse@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x4420

  Brock University Marketing and Communications has a full-service studio where we can provide high definition video and broadcast-quality audio.

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  Categories: Media releases