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(February 8, 2001, Gazette)

A sampling of stories from university press across Canada

Canada’s only fine arts research chair
EDMONTON – The appointment of Sean Caulfield as Canada Junior Research Chair of Printmaking is a coup for the whole country, said Dr. Jetske Sybesma, chair of the University of Alberta’s Department of Art and Design, reported the U of A Folio.

“It’s a boon for all of Canada and not just U of A printmaking,” she noted, adding that Caulfield was the only fine arts research chair named for all of Canada as part of the federal government’s $900-million program to assist universities in attracting and retaining the best researchers.

Caulfield’s appointment, Sybesma added, allowed the U of A to lure the 33-year-old artist back to Canada from Illinois State where he was an assistant professor. The printmaker originally earned a MFA in 1995 from the U of A where he won several international awards, including the 21st Century Grand Prix in Tokyo and second place in the Great Canadian Printmaking Competition.

Sybesma said the successful application for the research chair was built upon the printmaking department’s long history of excellence. “We focused on the quality of the printmaking section, the fact that it’s been named a centre of excellence for two concurrent four-year terms, and we concentrated on what we are good at, underlining how we help to promote excellence in research, which is the goal of the program.”

IP policy almost done
MONTREAL – The long saga of McGill’s proposed Intellectual Property Policy is drawing to a close, says the McGill Reports.

Senators are being asked to vote on the proposed policy. At issue will be about a dozen provisions on which Vice-Principal (Research) Pierre Bélanger and a Senate workgroup chaired by economics professor Myron Frankman have agreed to disagree.

In many cases, their disagreements are subtle. On other points, the disagreements are more substantive.

While Senate will have its say, Principal Bernard Shapiro made no promises about the extent to which Senate’s views on the policy will affect the version of the document that ultimately goes to the Board of Governors for a final vote.

The proposed policy was presented to Senate last week for its consideration. The document contained duelling versions of some of the policy’s provisions, one version reflecting Bélanger’s views, the other representing the workgroup’s take on things.

The main points of contention revolve around issues of ownership and inventor control.

At a recent session of Senate, Bélanger spoke about some of the facets of the new policy.

He said that the new policy makes it “explicit” that researchers don’t have to commercialize their discoveries if they don’t want to.

But if a researcher is interested in taking his discovery to market, he has to disclose that fact to the University and play by McGill’s rules governing the process.