Western slips from Maclean’s Top 10
An odd rankings season closed out with some bad news for Western, as the university fell out of the Top 10, landing at No. 11 in the 22nd annual Maclean’s University Rankings issue, released Nov. 1.
For the eighth year in a row, the self-professed “holy book for anyone planning their education in Canada” ranked McGill first in the Medical Doctoral category, which boasts 15 schools. The University of British Columbia was up one spot this year to second; the University of Toronto was down one spot to third. Otherwise, the Top 10 held serve with the exception of Western.
At No. 11, Western is ahead of only Montreal, Laval, Sherbrooke and Manitoba.
Nobody passed Western, per se. Two ties in last year’s Top 10 – McMaster and Dalhousie at No. 6, Saskatchewan and Ottawa at No. 10 – gave the list 11 universities in the Top 10. Both were resolved this year and as all four remained in a Top 10 list with only 10 schools, one had to go. That one was Western.
Western peaked in the Maclean’s rankings at No. 3, where it sat for four straight years (2002-5). It has been no higher than No. 5 (2006) since.
“If there’s one trend in the rankings, it’s the rise of the west,” Maclean’s wrote. “Every university from Saskatchewan to the Pacific Ocean maintains or improves its standing. All four of British Columbia’s ranked universities placed in the top two in their categories.”
The magazine continued, “That said, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada still have some of the mightiest institutions.”
These marks come as part of a mixed bag of results for Western this rankings season.
So far, the institution had slipped in Times Higher Education magazine’s World University Rankings, released in October, and in the QS World University Rankings of the top 200 global universities, released in September.
However, for the 11th straight year, Western was tops in Canada when it comes to the most satisfied students, according to the The Globe and Mail’s 2013 Canadian University report. Overall, in the survey of more than 31,000 undergraduate students across the country, Western topped 11 of 19 categories – six led outright and five tied.
News and notes
- On Friday, Nov. 2, nearly 200 students from 10 schools in the London area gathered at Western for the French for the Future–London Local Forum. Held annually, the forum offers students a day full of activities that highlights the benefits of bilingualism through the acquisition of French. It also gives students enrolled in French immersion, core French and French first language programs the rare opportunity to meet up outside of school for a day entirely in French. Under the theme Pratiquement bilingue/Practically Bilingual, students took part in interactive workshops and presentations, which were designed to inspire, guide and help them share their passion for the language in their own communities.
- The Schulich Interfaculty Program in Public Health is hosting a Master of Public Health (MPH) Open House 1-4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 12 in the Dr. David S. Chu International Student Centre, Western Student Services 2130. The MPH is a new professional course-based masters program currently accepting applications for fall 2013. Learn about the different opportunities for faculty involvement in the next stage of program development. Faculty members interested in attending can RSVP to Diana Lee at Diana.lee@schulich.uwo.ca or ext. 82797. Visit schulich.uwo.ca/publichealth for more information.
- London photographer MJ Idzerda has brought a new show straight out of the past and the future by showcasing new photographs from old cameras as well as old photographs from new cameras.
The exhibit, Recent Images from the Trailing Edge, shows a collection of old film cameras displayed beside the new photographs made with them. What makes this unique is that this exhibit is countered by a second exhibit entitled Circa …?, a collection of one-of-a-kind, seemingly antiquated prints photographed recently using digital capture, and printed on old or low-quality ‘found’ paper.
The show is on through December in the John A. Schweitzer Gallery in Western Libraries’ Archives and Research Collections Centre in the D. B. Weldon Library. - Several members of the Western community will be honoured as part of the 11th annual Spirit of Sport and London Sports Hall of Fame inductions.
Don Getty, HBA’55, and Larry Haylor, former Western coach and parent, and Western’s Canadian champion 1990-91 basketball team are among the 10 (nine individuals and one team) inducted into the hall.
Two couples and two individuals, all with Western connections, will join the list of Spirit honourees: Dave Mills, BA’82, BEd’83, Secondary Coach of the Year; Peter Lemon, Western Kinesiology professor, Volunteer of the Year; Dave Nichol, BA’87, BA’91, BEd’92, and Susan Nichol, BA’90, Elementary Coaches of the Year; and Vaughan Peckham, BA’69, Dipl’72, and Jane Peckham, BA’69, Certif.’70, Administrators of the Year.
The event begins 5:30 p.m. today, Nov. 8 at the Carousel Room, Western Fair District. For information or tickets, visit westernfairdistrict.com. - Western Biology professor Brent John Sinclair has been awarded the 2012 Entomological Society of Canada’s C. Gordon Hewitt Award for outstanding achievement in Canadian entomology by a researcher under 40.
- CD_CROSS country photo
London will play host to the CIS Cross Country Running National Championships noon Saturday at the Thames Valley Golf Club. The event is among the largest Canadian championships in any sport featuring the best collegiate runners in the nation from 26 universities – a number of whom have already represented Canada internationally and no doubt some who will one day will compete as Olympic track distance runners.
Cross country is the most successful sport of all Mustangs sports at the CIS national level with 11 titles (seven for women, four for men). - Western Worlds is getting to be a crowded place. And Western’s Centre for Planetary Science & Exploration (CPSX) couldn’t be prouder. Since Feb. 27, CPSX has been broadcasting its news and views to more than 20,000 listeners in 85 countries with its weekly Internet radio show, Western Worlds. Last week, the show reached an aggregated audience of one million listeners.
The show includes the work of a dozen volunteers. Airing at 10 p.m. EST Mondays on astronomy.fm, each show is 30 minutes, and includes a 20-minute interview followed by a 10-minute round-table discussion of that interview.
All of the shows are available for download on the Western Worlds webpage. Follow it at the CPSX website, Facebook and Twitter. - Students from Western’s Richard Ivey School of Business students made their international marks in recent competitions. A team comprised of HBA2 students Jeremy Chad, Ethan Feldman, Adam Edgerley and Russell Citron took third place in the Citi International Case Competition in Hong Kong. The competition is the first international business case competition held in Hong Kong and the 10th year that the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has hosted this event. A team comprised of HBA2 students Connor Lyons, Samaar Haider, Samantha Hamilton and Norman Gao took first place at the CUIBE-Northeastern University International Business Case Competition in Boston. And finally, HBA2 student Kevin Zhou has made it to the final rounds of the 2012 Financial Modeling World Championship. He travels to the finals on Dec. 2 in New York.