Recent Class Notes

Books and Beyond

  • Conversations with Chordates

    Conversations with Chordates

    Anastasia Shavrova, Artsci鈥13, MSc鈥17.

    What do extroverts, dinosaurs, snake-infested marshes, and Mongolia all have in common? They鈥檙e all featured subjects on Conversations with Chordates, a podcast launched last fall by Anastasia Shavrova, Artsci鈥13, MSc鈥17. While Ms. Shavrova works toward her doctorate in reproductive evolution at the University of New South Wales, she uses the podcast to engage fellow scientists in non-scientific conversations on an eclectic range of topics. You can find it on Spotify, Apple, and SoundCloud.

  • Evaluating Urban and Regional Plans: From Theory to Practice

    Evaluating Urban and Regional Plans: From Theory to Practice

    Mark Seasons, Artsci鈥75

    The planners who design our cities and communities often don鈥檛 know if their plans will succeed. Mark Seasons, Artsci鈥75, a professor of planning at the University of Waterloo, says understanding which practices have worked in the past 鈥 and which ones haven鈥檛 鈥 can help take the risk out of urban planning. His 2021 book, Evaluating Urban and Regional Plans: From Theory to Practice, shows planners and planning students how to learn from past successes and mistakes to make better decisions in the future.

  • Olga Onuch & Henry E. Hale The Zelensky Effect

    The Zelensky Effect

    Dr. Olga Onuch, Artsci鈥05

    What enabled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to stand his ground and lead his country so impressively against an invasion at the hands of an aggressive neighbour? Dr. Olga Onuch, Artsci鈥05, and co-author Henry E. Hale tackle that question in The Zelensky Effect, published earlier this year by Oxford University Press. They learned that the answer is less about a charismatic leader and more about a shared culture and a strong national identity, hard-won after a tumultuous history.

  • You Don't Have to Look the Part: How East Asian Women Thrive as Entrepreneurs. Winnie Wong.

    You Don鈥檛 Have to Look the Part: How East Asian Women Thrive as Entrepreneurs

    When Winnie Wong, Com鈥11

    When Winnie Wong, Com鈥11, learned that only two per cent of venture-capital funding goes to female-led startups, she decided to do something about it. Ms. Wong, a professor at the SP Jain School of Global Management in Singapore, wrote and published You Don鈥檛 Have to Look the Part: How East Asian Women Thrive as Entrepreneurs to explore the barriers Asian women face and share tips for overcoming them 鈥 from the likes of Canva founder Melanie Perkins and fashion mogul Vera Wang.

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