Media releases

  • Goodman Accounting programs re-accredited by CPA Ontario

    MEDIA RELEASE: 10 May 2018 – R00103

    Brock’s Goodman School of Business has been re-accredited by Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA) of Ontario to the master’s level.

    Goodman’s CPA pathway including the Bachelor of Accounting program, followed by the Master of Accountancy, underwent a months-long CPA Ontario review process, which formally ended last week.

    “The outstanding accounting and business education being received at Brock University is exemplified by the designation for our CPA pathway,” said President Gervan Fearon. “As a CPA myself, this is a very important development for the Goodman School of Business and the Accounting program at Brock.”

    He said the University is “committed to excellence in its professional programs and innovative academic programming that meets our students’ needs and builds their professional skillset for success in their professions.”

    CPA Ontario reviews all accredited programs systematically to ensure that they continue to offer the best in accounting education.

    Through a rigorous process overseen by CPA Ontario with an external review team, the re-accreditation involved a thorough examination of the programs’ courses and documentation to ensure Goodman continues to meet the CPA Accreditation standards.

    “It’s a significant seal of approval that shows the success of Goodman’s Accounting programming and that Goodman is a trailblazer in Ontario,” said Goodman School of Business Dean Andrew Gaudes. “The strength of our faculty helps us to continue to position our programming so that it is not only recognized by CPA Ontario, but it also gives our students the experience they need to be successful.

    “I am very proud of all the work and effort that went into this. This accreditation recognizes the collective effort of all disciplines within the business school and the support of the University in making sure that we’re able to excel in the areas of the competencies required by the CPA profession.”

    When CPA Ontario unified three legacy accounting designations in 2013, the Goodman School of Business responded by modifying its Accounting programming to offer a streamlined student experience that leads to the CPA designation.

    The result meant a redesigned Master of Accountancy program that would allow Bachelor of Accounting graduates to fulfil the CPA education requirements while obtaining a master’s degree.

    Students who complete both programs are eligible to proceed directly to the Common Final Examination, CPA’s qualifying exam.

    “We’re very pleased with the outcome of this review as we value our long-time partnership with Brock University,” said Richard Piticco, Vice-President, Student Services for CPA Ontario. “Many of our members are Brock alumni and we eagerly look forward to welcoming more Brock graduates into the profession in the years to come.”

    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 professor to be featured in police training video

    MEDIA RELEASE: 10 May 2018 – R00102

    A new training video produced by Innocence Canada will feature a Brock University criminology expert.

    Voula Marinos, Associate Professor of Child and Youth Studies, who holds a PhD in Criminology, has devoted the past 13 years to exploring the complexities of the justice system’s responses to persons with mental illness and intellectual and developmental disabilities. She researches the gaps between law and practice, and how judges, lawyers and police are trained on the human rights of vulnerable populations.

    “I care deeply about how the criminal justice system responds to individuals suspected or accused of a criminal offence,” says Marinos. “These are often marginalized and vulnerable populations.”

    Innocence Canada says it’s producing the video because beyond just identifying vulnerabilities, “police need expert training on how to adapt their standard interview technique when dealing with suspects from marginalized communities and other vulnerable suspects.”

    Marinos will contribute training that will help prepare law enforcement officers to identify persons with mental health, intellectual and developmental disabilities and interact with them more effectively.

    Alongside its work in exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals — including David Milgaard, Guy Paul Morin and roughly 80 claims under review — Innocence Canada (formerly known as the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted) has been developing training for police services since 2015.

    Marinos first became involved with the organization last fall when it asked her to present some of her research to the Ontario Bar Association — research that will now inform her portion of the training video.

    The talk, “Between a Rock and a Hard Place: False Guilty Pleas and Wrongful Convictions,” was based on research funded by the Council for Research in the Social Sciences on plea bargaining, how guilty pleas are made by clients and the advantages and disadvantages of those decisions for accused, the system and lawyers.

    The presentation focused on work conducted by Marinos, along with her colleague Dorothy Griffiths and several graduate and undergraduate students in Brock’s Department of Child and Youth Studies, on the challenges faced by persons with mental health and intellectual and developmental disabilities within the criminal justice system.

    “In the video I acknowledge the difficult job police officers have in being the main gatekeepers of the criminal process,” says Marinos. “One of the biggest challenges for a police officer is to be prepared to respond to individuals regardless of their range of backgrounds from differences in age, gender, race or ability to different personalities, expectations and emotional states.

    “By understanding how a person with an intellectual and developmental disability might present or behave, police can also consider whether they should be accepting at face value everything that is said or communicated. This is critical when it comes to individuals answering questions by police and giving potentially false confessions and guilty pleas.”

    In the training video, which was filmed in April, Marinos offers a number of key indicators police can use to identify persons with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

    Marinos’ research has shown there is sometimes confusion among lawyers and police about the distinction between mental illness and intellectual and developmental disabilities. When this confusion is combined with assumptions that an individual’s disability will be easy to spot, or that an individual will disclose their lack of understanding and ask for clarification and assistance, serious problems can arise.

    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