Media releases

• Brock Business prof named CEO of 2021 Canada Games

  Wednesday, February 20, 2019 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 20 February 2019 – R00026

  Organizers of the 2021 Canada Games have reached into the academic ranks at Brock University to find their new Chief Executive Officer.

  Barry Wright, an associate professor who has also served as Interim Dean in Brock’s Goodman School of Business, will officially move into the CEO role on May 1.

  An announcement from Doug Hamilton, who is Chair of the 2021 Canada Games Host Society, said Wright will oversee a range of key organizational activities that include human resources, volunteer programming, finance, and sport and athlete services.

  Wright will take a secondment from his Brock duties in order to concentrate on the Games, which will take place in the Niagara region in the summer of 2021.

  As a scholar and researcher, Wright has focused on operational disciplines including leadership, planning and organizational performance. He has been a faculty member at Brock since 2003, was voted Professor of the Year by Business students in 2009, and has authored or co-authored multiple books, book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles, conference submissions and other publications.

  Wright is the latest member of the Brock community to formally join the central organizing structure for the 2021 Games.  University President Gervan Fearon sits on the 2021 Canada Games Board of Directors, as do Tom Arkell, who is Brock’s Special Advisor to the Vice-President, Administration, and Michelle-Elise Burnett and Mary De Sousa, who are members of the University’s Board of Trustees.

  “This is a wonderful opportunity that will bring all of Niagara together as we welcome athletes, parents and spectators from across Canada,” said Wright. “Hosting the Canada Games will be a special moment in the history of Niagara, and it is an honour to be invited to work alongside the other members of this group.”

  Hamilton said organizers are excited to have someone of Wright’s experience and qualities take on this key role.

  “Barry’s leadership and connection with the Niagara community will be invaluable to the success of the Games,” said Hamilton. “We thank Brock University for allowing Barry to join our team.”

  Greg Finn, the University’s Vice-President, Academic and Provost, applauded the appointment.

  “Barry has extensive administrative experience and expertise in sports management at senior levels,” said Finn. “We are very pleased to see him in this role in support of the 2021 Canada Summer Games event.”

  University President Fearon said Brock is committed to supporting its community partners as Niagara prepares for the national spotlight in 2021.

  “We look forward to working with the 2021 Canada Games Host Committee on building the facilities and supporting the Games that will leave a lasting legacy and foundation for years to coming in Ontario and the Niagara region,” said Fearon.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

   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

• Brock researchers find no evidence social media use predicts future depression

  Thursday, February 14, 2019 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 14 February 2019 – R00025

  Worries that teens and adolescents who use social media are at a greater risk of developing symptoms of depression later in life may be unfounded.

  New research out of Brock University’s Department of Psychology and the Centre for Lifespan Development Research finds no evidence that social media use is a predictor of depressive symptoms over time.

  “By using data from two large longitudinal studies, we were able to empirically test the assumption that social media use is leading to greater depressive symptoms,” says Psychology PhD candidate Taylor Heffer, lead author of the paper published in Clinical Psychological Science.

  While some research has found an association between the average time spent using social media and average well-being scores, those studies tend to look at a single point in time.

  To understand the long-term relationship between social media use and depression, longitudinal studies are essential, says Heffer. In other words, researchers need to “investigate the same people over time.”

  The paper contends that association does not mean social media use leads to future depression in either males or females.

  Heffer and her team were surprised to discover that among adolescent girls, the relationship was actually the other way around: symptoms of depression predicted greater social media use over time.

  “This finding contrasts with the idea that people who use a lot of social media become more depressed over time,” says Heffer. “Instead, adolescent girls who are feeling down may turn to social media to try and make themselves feel better.”

  According to Heffer, this finding “highlights the importance of testing multiple explanations” for why the link between social media use and depression exists, rather than assuming social media use predicts later depressive symptoms.

  Results of this research suggest future avenues for exploration that can look at how different groups of people use social media, says Heffer.

  “It would be interesting to look at how the quality of social media use — for example, using social media for social comparisons, active versus passive engagement and types of social media use — might be associated with well-being over time,” she says.

  The samples used in this research came from two large longitudinal studies out of Brock. One, currently underway through the Centre for Lifespan Development Research, is following around 1,500 adolescents, ranging from Grades 3 to 8, and is investigating potential interactions of health-risk behaviours across multiple factors. The other study surveyed more than 1,100 first-year Brock University students annually for seven years. All participants responded to self-report measures of well-being and reported average time spent engaged in social media, along with numerous other measures.

  In addition to Heffer, co-authors of the research include Brock PhD candidate Elliott MacDonnell, master’s student Owen Daly, Brock Psychology Professor Teena Willoughby and Brock alumna Marie Good (PhD ’11), Assistant Professor of Psychology at Redeemer University College.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Manager Communications and Media Relations, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases