McMaster University
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Thursday is fall convocation! It's not the ceremony anyone expected at the start of the year, but everyone in the McMaster community is extremely proud of our outstanding students. Click the story to learn how and when to join in the virtual celebration.

Researchers with Mac's Global Nexus for Pandemics and Biological Threats work together to come up with "complex solutions to complex problems" -- including pandemics and antimicrobial resistance. Find out more at their website: https://bit.ly/39d5kLF

Public health now recommends using non-woven polypropylene as a filter in cloth masks. If you're thinking, "Great, but what IS polypropylene?" here's everything you need to know about this suddenly famous material: What it is, where to get it (luckily, it's not hard to find), which kind NOT to use, and more.

With Hamilton in the red zone, what’s going to change at McMaster? Not that much, actually: Precautions and protocols in place for classes, exams and research remain the same, including the requirement to wear a mask if you’re indoors on campus. Seating in the student centre will change to reflect the new guidelines, and only 10 people may be in La Piazza at any time. Today’s update has more details, as well as information on the employee flu shot clinic and mandatory online training for anyone coming to campus.

Today is the Transgender Day of Remembrance, when we acknowledge and honour the lives of transgender and non-binary people who have died due to transphobia. There is peer support and programming to commemorate the day at MSU Women and Gender Equity Network - WGEN, MSU Pride Community Centre - PCC and Equity and Inclusion Office, McMaster University.

Today, on #NationalPhilanthropyDay, we celebrate how much we've accomplished together. Thank you for making an impact with our students, our faculty and our researchers. Your contributions to the Mac community made this year remarkable.

The Systemic Review of the Black Student-Athlete Experience and the McMaster Athletics Climate is now complete. The experiences of Black student athletes within the report point to a culture of systemic anti-Black racism within the Department of Athletics and Recreation. On behalf of the University I apologize for the anti-Black racism you experienced, writes President David Farrar. I am deeply sorry that effective action was not taken to prevent this; there are no excuses... for the behaviour you endured. I assure you that we are listening and that action is already being taken to implement the report’s recommendations and to begin the work with the Department and the broader university community to help us eliminate systemic racism. I encourage everyone to read the student testimonies in this report. Not only are they powerful, they will also increase your awareness and understanding of those whose experience at McMaster may have been very different than your own. Dean of Students Sean van Koughnett has launched an action plan to implement recommendations in the report. This includes hiring a senior advisor of equity, inclusion and anti-racism, who will be responsible for collaborating with key contacts within McMaster’s Black community, including a new Black Student-Athletes Council. For more information, read President Farrar’s complete letter, which links to the full report and the action plan.

ICYM today's online convocation, here's Chancellor Santee Smith celebrating David Farrar's installation as president with an original song.

We could save millions of people from experiencing serious heart disease or stroke. Taking aspirin in combination with a polypill of blood pressure medications can cut the risk of heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular incidents by a whopping 40 per cent. New research co-led by McMaster's Salim Yusuf and published in the New England Journal of Medicine has the potential to transform how we prevent heart disease.

Joe Biden's commitment to act on climate change has significant implications for Canada and Canadians. In fact, our country could learn from the Biden plan when it comes to programs that target assistance to Indigenous communities and others that have been disadvantaged by fossil fuel development, writes Robert O'Brien from McMaster Faculty of Social Sciences.

If there was one thing about our University, or our campus that you could change, what would it be? Share your thoughts with president David Farrar here: https://bit.ly/MacToTheFuture5

Explore the "battlefield of the mind" with Mac Libraries on November 5. From selling war bonds and collecting scrap to recruitment and anti-espionage campaigns, see how governments used propaganda in the two largest conflicts of the 20th century.

An important update on Winter Term: Classes will start a week late, on Jan. 11, 2021. The university will reopen after the break on Jan 4, and faculty and staff will spend the week preparing to deliver the best possible experience for our students. Reading Week will still be the week of Feb. 15. More details on classes, schedules, exams, and a few exceptions to the delayed start date are in a letter from Provost Susan Tighe.

Cancer biologist/professor Juliet Daniel and Leila Springer, executive director of The Olive Branch of Hope, have won the President's Award for Community-Engaged Research for their untiring work raising awareness of the risks of triple-negative breast cancer, especially for women of African ancestry. You can celebrate their award and their amazing work at a virtual event on Wednesday, October 28 at 5:30 pm. (A registration link is in the article.)

Why did the Great Plague of 1665 spread four times faster than the Black Death of 1348 -- and what can the answer tell us about the spread of COVID-19? Check out the video, then click the link to find out more about the deep dive Mac researchers took into historical records from almost four centuries ago. https://brighterworld.mcmaster.ca//scientists-find-mediev/

Trump is the outcome of a past that needs to be remembered and analyzed for the lessons it can teach us about the present, writes Henry Giroux from McMaster University Faculty of Humanities. Americans can survive even a second term if they resurrect a language of critique and possibility that draws from history and provides the economic, cultural and political conditions to lift the U.S. out of the present-day socio-political morass.

Thanks to a generous donation from graduate Elaine Campbell '76, McMaster library conservators were able to use new, experimental techniques to painstakingly restore a rare 1859 map of the County of Peel by famed map publisher George Tremaine. And that's a map! (Ha ha? Groan? We'll go now.) | https://bit.ly/34iwyxB

Interleukin-6 is a protein that's produced when the immune system fights off a COVID-19 infection, and its concentration in the blood provides valuable information about the stage and severity of the illness. The problem? It's been almost impossible to measure -- until now.

1 bacteria, 2 plagues, 300 years apart. Vastly different transmission rates. New research by mathematician David Earn and biological anthropologist Hendrik Poinar shows that the Great Plague of 1665 spread 4 times faster than the Black Death of 1348 and the reason why could help us understand the spread of COVID-19.

What is the most impactful thing McMaster could do to help create a brighter future for our City and Region? Share your thoughts with president David Farrar here: https://bit.ly/MacToTheFuture4

Meet Jennifer Couturier and Ryan Van Lieshout, McMaster Faculty of Health Sciences researchers who are developing mental-health solutions for kids, teens and new mothers during the pandemic. Couturier's team will train clinicians around the province to use a virtual adaptation of a specialized treatment for children and adolescents with eating disorders. Van Lieshout is running a Canada-wide randomized controlled trial of online cognitive behavioural therapy-based workshops for postpartum depression.

If you know an older adult taking five or more medications a day, there's a word for it: Polypharmacy. Unfortunately, taking that many meds can lead to problems, resulting in an estimated 70,000 preventable hospital admissions each year. A program named TAPER aims to reduce the number of unnecessary meds patients take. Led by McMaster Faculty of Health Sciences, it's being tested in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Most importantly, it puts the patient at the centre of all decision-making.

Are cloth masks infallible? No, but widespread use of an imperfect mask can still make a big difference in how the virus spreads. So that two-layer mask you made out of an old pillow case? Way better than no mask at all. If you have a question about cloth masks, check out this FAQ by researchers at McMaster and other universities, who have been looking into the use of cloth masks since the pandemic began.