Men’s Volleyball

The Queen's Gaels men’s volleyball team saw their season come to a close after losing out in a five-set thriller to the Waterloo Warriors in the OUA Bronze medal match Friday evening at McMaster in Hamilton.

The opening set established a trend for the rest of match as the Gaels and Warriors went back and forth trading points throughout. Up 24-22, the Gaels had a pair of set points but Waterloo was able to extend the set, tying things at 24-24. Fifth-year veteran Marko Dakic went to work from there as he put down a pair of kills to give the Gaels a 1-0 lead taking the set 26-24. After losing the second set 25-17, the Gaels struck back for a 25-16 win to take a 2-1 sets advantage.

Facing elimination, Waterloo controlled the pace in the fourth set and took it 25-19 to force a deciding set.

In the fifth, down 10-9, Dakic picked up back-to-back kills putting Queen's ahead 11-10. The Warriors then recorded four straight points to make it 14-11. Mike Tomlinson picked up a kill to get the Gaels within two but the Warriors were able to close the deal for the five-set victory.

Women’s Basketball

The Queen’s Gaels women's basketball team’s 2015-16 season came to an end on Saturday after a 65-55 loss to the CIS No. 8-ranked McMaster Marauders in the OUA quarterfinals. 

Robyn Pearson led the Gaels with 16 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks. Fifth-year senior Jenny Wright also had a double-double in the final post-secondary match of her career, picking up 14 points, 12 rebounds and three steals for Queen's, who struggled offensively throughout the match. The team shot just under 30 per cent from the field, hit just one three-pointer throughout the game, and were 10-of-17 from the foul line.

The Gaels finished the regular season with a 14-5 record, good enough for second in the OUA East, and were seeded fifth in the conference. They defeated the Laurentian Voyageurs in the opening round on Wednesday at the Athletics and Recreation Centre by a score of 70-44.

Men’s Basketball

The Queen's Gaels men's basketball pushed the CIS No. 2-ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees to the limit Saturday in Ottawa but came up just short, losing 73-72 in their OUA quarterfinals matchup.

After trailing the Gee-Gees for the first three and a half quarters, the Gaels strung together a comeback and twice took the lead late in the fourth quarter. However, they were unable to find the winner after Ottawa moved in front with just over a second remaining.

Sukhpreet Singh scored a team-high 18 points while Tanner Graham added 15 points and eight rebounds and Mike Shoveller finished with 11 points and a team-best 15 rebounds for a double-double.

Ottawa’s Mike L'Africain had a game-high 27 points including the game-winning basket with 1.2 seconds remaining. 

The Gaels finished with an 11-8 regular season record, while picking up their first post-season victory at home in six years.

A planned power outage will affect Richardson Laboratory and Etherington Hall on Wednesday, March 9 between 7 am and 7:30 am while Physical Plant Services (PPS) staff and contractors move these buildings onto a different feeder for maintenance purposes. The switch required to be operated cannot be operated while energized.

 Please note:

• The passenger elevators in Richardson Laboratory (EL1161) and Etherington Hall (EL1281) will be shutdown at 3:30 pm on Tuesday, March 8 and will be restored to service at 8 am on Wednesday, March 9.

• There are no fire safety implications arising from this outage as the fire alarm panels and emergency exit lighting for both buildings will remain powered by batteries.

• PPS trades will attend to both buildings when power is restored to ensure that all refrigeration equipment and building systems are operational.

• Building occupants should power off all computers and research equipment prior to leaving for the day on Tuesday, March 8.

 Any questions or concerns regarding this planned outage should be directed to Fixit by phone at extension 77301 or by e-mail.

Queen’s community members working toward making the university a safer, more welcoming place were recently recognized at the annual Tri-Awards celebration hosted by the Equity and Human Rights Offices. 

Presented by Principal Daniel Woolf, these annual awards are given out to individuals and groups that contribute to the advancement of equity, human rights, accessibility and inclusion within the Queen’s community.

The Steve Cutway Accessibility Award was presented to James McNutt, a graduate student who, while currently working on his third degree at Queen’s and fourth overall, has created a video taking a closer look at accessibility at the university. The “Video Accessibility Audit Project” aims to heighten awareness of inclusivity and accessibility on campus.  

“It’s nice to be recognized but it’s secondary to the goal,” Mr. McNutt says. “The goal is to have the video used to make changes in the way we manufacture the physical space at Queen’s.”

The Employment Equity Award was presented to the Young Women at Queen’s Employee Resource Group. Formed in 2015, this group aims to provide professional development and mentorship programming specifically for women on campus.

The Queen’s Human Rights Initiative Award was presented to the Kahswentha Indigenous Knowledge Initiative (KIKI) which brings together students, faculty, staff and administrators to open up greater discussion about Indigenous languages, history and representation on campus. To achieve this goal the group has organized teach-ins, retreats and other events.

The Tri-Awards are coordinated by the Equity Office and the Human Rights Office.

The first Tricolour Expo was held on Tuesday, March 1, offering Queen's students the chance to connect with on-campus clubs, faculty societies, and the Alma Mater Society.

At the event, held in Grant Hall, students were able to discover the volunteer and paid opportunities through the AMS for next year as well as to connect with one of the many clubs available on campus.

It is an interesting time for Cuba as the process of normalizing ties with the United States continues.  The same holds true for those with connections or a study interest to the Caribbean country, such as Queen’s University.

Now in its ninth year, the Queen’s University-University of Havana collaboration in the Global Development Studies (DEVS) course “Cuban Culture and Society” will see a group of up to 40 Queen’s students travel to Cuba this May. Through a second agreement between the universities, Queen’s students study on exchange in Havana, and a scholar from the University of Havana visits Queen’s to give lectures and speak with students.

This year, however, a pair of visitors will visit Queen’s, and that has Karen Dubinsky (Global Development Studies), co-teacher on the DEVS course with Susan Lord (Film and Media), very excited.

Economist Laneydi Martinez Alfonso, who recently received a joint doctorate from the University of Havana and the Sorbonne, will be visiting Queen’s from March 14-24. With a specialty in Cuban-Caribbean economic relations, Dr. Martinez will be able to provide great insight into this era of change.

“We wanted to invite Dr. Martinez Alfonso because she is an economist and the Cuban economy is undergoing such changes now that we thought that would be the perfect field to bring to Queen’s to explain further what is going on,” Dr. Dubinsky says. “Nobody knows where these changes are going to lead, so I am really keen to hear what she has to say to everybody about that.”

While at Queen’s, Dr. Martínez Alfonso will join classes in geography and global development studies and will present her research to the Studies in National and International Development (SNID) seminar series. 

Also arriving at Queen’s is pianist Aldo Lopez-Gavilan, who last year accompanied visiting musician Carlos Varela. Lopez-Gavilan will be speaking to cultural studies students about contemporary Cuban music, and will perform a much-anticipated solo concert at the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts on Wednesday, March 23, starting at 7:30 pm.   

As Dr. Dubinsky explains, it is difficult to pin down Lopez-Gavilan’s style. But that is part of what makes his performances so captivating.

“One of the reasons I think it will be interesting to hear him, as well as to listen to him musically, is that he’s versatile,” she says. “He comes from classical training, he’s from a well-known classical music family, as so many musicians are, but he’s branched out into jazz and what he calls world music.”

The opening of relations between Cuba and the US will likely have an effect on the universities’ collaborations but Dr. Dubinsky is confident that they will continue to flourish. She points to the continuing focus on reciprocity for nearly a decade now, with both sides benefitting.

“We’re both apprehensive and optimistic now that Cuba is changing,” she says. “It’s interesting to be a kind of participant observer in a place that is not your own but I am really watching these obvious, obvious changes. Every time I go we can see different changes that are taking place.” 

To further cement the relationship Dr. Dubinsky hopes the program will expand to allow a Cuban student to visit Queen’s as well. In connection with this a portion of the proceeds from the concert will go to the Sonia Enjamio Fund at Queen’s to support Cuban and Canadian student exchange programs. 

Advance tickets for the concert are: Students $12, Regular $15, at the door $20.

All tickets are general admission and  can be purchased at the Global Development Studies Department Office, Mac Corry B401, at Novel Idea Books, 156 Princess St., or online.